Sound cards? DAWs? I need help!

Hey everyone

I used to be very active on this forum, years ago. It's nice to see it going strong 

Basically, I've got a pretty basic set up for both composing and recording and I've decided to splash out a bit on some new equipment. I'm actually perfectly happy with my composing and recording software (Sibelius and Cool Edit Pro respectively), but for hardware I've really no idea where to start.

My main priorities are:

1. To have half-decent synthesized sounds (at the moment I use software-loaded sound fonts - they're a step up from General MIDI, but I know there's way, way better out there)

2. To be able to record with a jack lead (an XLR input would be a bonus)

Would an external sound card be able to help with both of these? What sort of things do I need to consider?

I guess I could stretch up to say £100 for this. If you have any suggestions I'd be really grateful!

Oh and also... if you read this and think I really don't have a clue and need a basic education in this stuff, feel free to say so (politely!) and point me in the direction of a learning resource :) 

Thank you!

I'll give you three suggestions.

1. Go to Sweetwater.com and request a catalog of their products. But a hundred pounds won't buy much. They give good advice so don't be afraid to ask.

2. Garritan Personal Orchestra is not bad and it's in your price range. BUT... that's a whole different issue than your external sound card. It sounds like you want a sample library AND a sound card.

3. Get the book "The Guide to MIDI Orchestration," by Paul Gilreath. A very comprehensive book and easy to understand.

Good luck!

Thanks! Yeah, I think you're right - I do want both a sound card and a sample library.

[deleted post]

22 hours ago, Ken320 said:

I'll give you three suggestions.

1. Go to Sweetwater.com and request a catalog of their products. But a hundred pounds won't buy much. They give good advice so don't be afraid to ask.

2. Garritan Personal Orchestra is not bad and it's in your price range. BUT... that's a whole different issue than your external sound card. It sounds like you want a sample library AND a sound card.

3. Get the book "The Guide to MIDI Orchestration," by Paul Gilreath. A very comprehensive book and easy to understand.

Good luck!

 

I don't know about version 3. I have version 7 and it allows for external sound sets. Does yours? You should upgrade.

On 11/7/2016 at 7:06 AM, Ken320 said:

I don't know about version 3. I have version 7 and it allows for external sound sets. Does yours? You should upgrade.

 

I have 7 too but I really don't like composing on it. I usually use 3 to compose and then 7 to spruce the score up. Hmm, I must be able to find out somewhere if 3 accepts it. It certainly accepts other external sound sets like soundfonts and that sort of thing. Maybe I'll try posting on a Sibelius forum about that.

What do you think of this? http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/AudioBoxUSB

Sorry, I don't know anything about Soundfont. This is a video describing one use of how manual sound sets can be used on S7. Again, I don't know about S3. https://youtu.be/DozCPsME2E4 - The Prosonus has a lot of features for the price. The specs do not indicate some important audio metrics. And remember, you get what you pay for. That's why I referred you to Sweetwater. They can answer these questions for you. Generally speaking, if you're buying something without hearing it first, you should look for S/N (signal-to-noise ratio) 97db or better, and total harmonic distortion < 0.5

edit: I'm sorry. < 0.05

20 hours ago, Ken320 said:

Sorry, I don't know anything about Soundfont. This is a video describing one use of how manual sound sets can be used on S7. Again, I don't know about S3. https://youtu.be/DozCPsME2E4 - The Prosonus has a lot of features for the price. The specs do not indicate some important audio metrics. And remember, you get what you pay for. That's why I referred you to Sweetwater. They can answer these questions for you. Generally speaking, if you're buying something without hearing it first, you should look for S/N (signal-to-noise ratio) 97db or better, and total harmonic distortion < 0.5

edit: I'm sorry. < 0.05

 

 

Great, thank you very much for your advice Ken!