Is it a Good Idea to Add a Second Audio Card?

[Kalamata Kid]

Hello,

I now have the Presonus Firebox (firewire)
https://www.presonus.com/products/FireBox
and am wondering if it will be helpful to add a second audio card to my PC.
I have in storage an ESI Waveterminal 192X PCI card.
http://www.esi-audio.com/products/wt192x/

If I do this I will also need a second set of speakers correct?
Or can I route the audio internally to go to my Event 20/20 bas speakers.
Or use “y” cable and feed the signal to the speakers?

I use the ASIO4all
http://www.asio4all.com/
as it is a requirement when I use the
iConnectMIDI2+
http://www.iconnectivity.com/iConnectMIDI2plus

Will then be able to have two DAW’s open.
What other benefits are there to a second audio card?

[BertKoor]

I have used multiple soundblasters in CoolEditPro to get 4 track I/O with regular stereo cards. If you have a hw mixer, no extra speakers are needed, Asio4all can aggregate them into one virtual multi-channel device. You could plug the output of one as input of the second, but I see no benefit in that.

The WaveTerminal is decades old, is there a Win7 driver available?

[Kalamata Kid]

I have used multiple soundblasters in CoolEditPro to get 4 track I/O with regular stereo cards. If you have a hw mixer, no extra speakers are needed, Asio4all can aggregate them into one virtual multi-channel device. You could plug the output of one as input of the second, but I see no benefit in that.

The WaveTerminal is decades old, is there a Win7 driver available?

So having two or more audio cards installed is a good idea. Good to know that. I am still a bit uncertain what the benefits are by adding the WaveTerminal.

I checked and there is a WaveTerminal Windows 8.1 32 and 64 bit driver. It should should work in Windows 10.

The Presonus Firebox is not a card but a firewire external device. Not sure how to have the external Firebox and the PCI WaveTerminal aggregate in ASIO4all.

I do not have a hardware mixer. Perhaps use two "Y"'s to combine the audio going to the speakers? Or get a four channel mixer?

How about going out from the WaveTerminal and going to line in into the Firebox and have the audio mixed internally?

Perhaps face reality and upgrade the Firebox and or WaveTerminal? Not anxious about spending money but may consider it to get a better audio. All my work is virtual so the sound cards are used only to hear the audio. All the recording is done inside the computer.

[T-CM11]

So having two or more audio cards installed is a good idea.

No. The best you can hope for is no driver instability, audio sync problems, and not too much added latency.
On Mac, aggregating works a bit better, but it's not ideal either.

That's why I have a MOTU interface... I can add more of them and they'll all work with the same driver. (I'd love to have gotten an RME, but they're beyond my budget )
The only iConnect device I'd ever get would be that one with the audio outputs

[T-CM11]

Perhaps face reality and upgrade the Firebox and or WaveTerminal? Not anxious about spending money but may consider it to get a better audio. All my work is virtual so the sound cards are used only to hear the audio. All the recording is done inside the computer.

So you only want to have a second audio interface to use 2 DAWs at the same time?
I can do that with only one audio interface. (MOTU Ultralite Mk3 Hybrid, but I'm sure it's also possible with the more basic model)

btw. why do you think you have to connect them physically? You're already using 2 audio interfaces (Firebox&iConnect) with only one of them connected to your speakers.

[Kalamata Kid]

So having two or more audio cards installed is a good idea.

No. The best you can hope for is no driver instability, audio sync problems, and not too much added latency.
On Mac, aggregating works a bit better, but it's not ideal either.

That's why I have a MOTU interface... I can add more of them and they'll all work with the same driver. (I'd love to have gotten an RME, but they're beyond my budget )
The only iConnect device I'd ever get would be that one with the audio outputs

Hmmmm! I thought about it for a while and decided that I do not want "driver instability, audio sync problems, and not too much added latency".

Looks like I will not add the WaveTerminal 192X PCI audio card to my music computer. Perhaps I was trying to solve a problem that I am not aware off. I will put the WaveTerminal back in the storage bin.

[Kalamata Kid]

Perhaps face reality and upgrade the Firebox and or WaveTerminal? Not anxious about spending money but may consider it to get a better audio. All my work is virtual so the sound cards are used only to hear the audio. All the recording is done inside the computer.

So you only want to have a second audio interface to use 2 DAWs at the same time?
I can do that with only one audio interface. (MOTU Ultralite Mk3 Hybrid, but I'm sure it's also possible with the more basic model)

btw. why do you think you have to connect them physically? You're already using 2 audio interfaces (Firebox&iConnect) with only one of them connected to your speakers.

The iConnectMIDI2+
http://www.iconnectivity.com/iConnectMIDI2plus
Is used to get audio and midi to and from the iPad and the PC.

To accomplish this the ASIO4all
http://www.asio4all.com/
is required.

[BertKoor]

Y-cables can be used for splitting, but for combining it's a big nono. Bad idea, it might really break stuff.

Again, what do you think is the benefit of multiple cards? Having several DAWs open is really awkward workflow.

[Kalamata Kid]

Y-cables can be used for splitting, but for combining it's a big nono. Bad idea, it might really break stuff.

Again, what do you think is the benefit of multiple cards? Having several DAWs open is really awkward workflow.

Thanks for the NONO advice!

Looks like I will not add the WaveTerminal 192X PCI audio card to my music computer. Perhaps I was trying to solve a problem that I am not aware off. I will put the WaveTerminal back in the storage bin.

I was wondering what the benefits are to having more than one Audio card.