good soundcards or good sound???

[Markus S]

Hi!
I just got GS and I was wondering about soundcards. Does the quality of the sound depends on the saples (how they were recored) or the sound card (or both)? I mean I have a quite cheap sound card (maya 7.1) about 100 dollars and I think it sounds ok to me. would it be better to get a real good card or to buy better sounds? hm... I hope this is clear...
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Thanks for your advices images/icons/smile.gif
Markus.

[Markus S]

Hello Hello (ok, ok, wasen\'t even funny the first time... images/icons/wink.gif ),
I am trying to answer to my own question:
You don\'t need a real good soundcard to PLAY the gigasound, but you need one if you want to RECORD them. Am I right?
I was trying to record on mine, but there was a loss of quality.
Can somebody tell me what soundcard is good to transform midi to audio - without quality loss?
Thanx
Markus.

[hello]

It depends very much on both factors!

Most giga libraries are of very high quality, and shouldn´t sound bad...
If you´ve collected soundfonts on the net OTOH, they can range from poor to good depending on how they were made.
It also depends on what sound you´re after.

On the hardware side it´s your soundcard (and of course mixer/amplifier/speakers) that decides if you can get good quality listening sound.
I don´t know your soundcard, but in my giga machine i use an M-Audio Audiophile 2496 semi pro audio card that sounds great, and it´s about $150 i think... There are of course other alternatives, and i´m shure someone else knows more about your specific card !

Bottom line: you can spend A LOT of money on both, but what is most creative for you, only you can answer !

Cheers images/icons/smile.gif