The Psycho Would Like Some Advice - QUICKLY!!!!!

[PsychoNick]

Hi Everyone!!
I finally sold my Tascam US-122 souncdard, and am now worrying about what to get next. Being a humble student, I have my eyes set on either the ECHO INDIGO I/O, or Mackie's SPIKE (USB, again!) soundcard. My last soundcard wasn't self powered, and really got on my t*ts - the SPIKE, however, is externally powered @ 9 volts. This ECHO is powered by my laptop, and i'm worried that it will cause problems (because I constantly worry about these things).

Help me please (postman pat included!!)you're the only people who understand this stuff (my landlady listened attentively to my dilemma - took a prozac, then cried on my shoulder during Emmerdale )

I can't live like this, I need a soundcard NOW!!!!

Thanks,

Nick

1.2 AMD Toshiba Laptop, 256 RAM, Tracktion 2, 2.1 Speaker Setup, Kawai Digital (88-key) Piano, Clairemont Upright Piano, Recorder (don't ask!)

[djsubject]

i haven't tested much in your price range that will work on a laptop

i have read good things about the spike & i do like the look of it, you also get a free extra copy of Tracktion


maybe you could post about these two cards in the hardware forum here to get a quicker response on how well they work in general as well as waiting to see how tracktion users are getting on with these cards,

best of luck

Subz

[multree]

if you have a Firewire connection try the Mackie Onyx Satellite which is an amazing piece of gear. great sound and very good drivers

[valley]

if you have a Firewire connection try the Mackie Onyx Satellite which is an amazing piece of gear. great sound and very good drivers

Amen.

I stripped my AudiophilePCI out of my PC and switched to using the Satellite as my primary audio device. I managed to ditch my headphone amp, MIC amp, a small patch unit, and a small glut of cables as a result. I'm very happy.

[Lunch Money]

Agreed. However, be aware that laptop firewire connections don't provide power, so you'll need to use the (included) power adapter.

[valley]

Some PCMCIA ones do. You can pick them up for about 30US, but obviously that's an added cost if you want true portability.

[Lunch Money]

Cool to know. None of the PCMCIA cards I found offered bus power. Might have to redouble my efforts.

[valley]

I only found a couple that did. Honestly, I was never sure if it was smart practise as I didn't think the PCMCIA port was designed to provide external power like that, but whatever.

Another thing I saw once (may have been a rotoc card but I don't recall) was a breakout on the PCMCIA card that had its own rechargable L-ION battery. A little extra weight, but less than a power adaptor.

[valley]

Yeah, so looking into this, either the PCMCIA card I saw was a really dodgy piece of crap[1], or it was actually DC powered, but the manufacturers were too cheap to include the DC adaptor, and I didn't read the box carefully enough.

Either way, bus powering firewire over PCMCIA is about as dodgy as I was thinking it was.


[1] to be fair this was before the widespread use of external hard drive enclosures and the like, so there may have been a legitimate purpose for it.

[PsychoNick]

Thanks for your advice people. I bought a midi/audio keyboard on impulse instead last night. I didn't really want it, I just didn't want to lose the bid.

My landlady is much better now

Cheers guys

Nick

[musikmachine]

Thanks for your advice people. I bought a midi/audio keyboard on impulse instead last night. I didn't really want it, I just didn't want to lose the bid.

My landlady is much better now

Cheers guys

Nick

Was it an xstation PsychoNick?

[PsychoNick]

Nah mate - It's an M Audio Ozone 25 key thingy (i know... don't tell me off for buying another toy )