Running Sonic Core alone vs. Sonic Core with Audiophile 192?

[VoicOfReason]

I've got an M-Audio Audiophile 192 PCI card right now. It's got pristine audio output and dba. I can crank the volume up to max and I hear not a sound from my studio monitors. I ordered a Sonic Core home card in order to off-load DSP processing from my CPU.

So, here are my questions:

1. Should I keep the Audiophile 192 card? Does the Sonic Core have as good sounding output using I/O as the audiophile 192? I noticed the dba isn't as high.

2. If I do keep the Audiophile 192 card, how do I mesh them together? Do I have to run the s/pdif output from the Sonic Core to the s/pdif input of the audiophile 192? Or, is there some other way to route internally? I use Cakewalk Sonar 8 Producer.

Thanks!

[alfonso]

I think that the home card is not the best choice as a dsp source as it has a very little dsp power...that card has a sense more as an audiocard with just a little dsp power to add some good routing, and few voices of a synth or a couple reverbs...I don't recommend it in your case. You should get a scope project or professional to have some real dsp power.

[VoicOfReason]

Wow. That's helpful.

As far as the quality of the output on the Sonic Core. Given it is a professional audio card, I can't imagine it wouldn't be of the highest quality. When it comes down to it, I don't NEED the I/O to be of the highest possible quality since most of what I do is going to be internal and in the digital realm. But, what about dba?

Thanks again.

[Fluxpod]

I wouldnt worry about dba too much.There are more important things when it comes to good converter quality.The analog circuit "driving" the ad-da chips is way more important and expensive then the converter chip alone.Imo the Soundquality on the newer scope boards(not the pulsar1) is good.It will atleast compare with the audiophile.I wouldnt worry about the samplerate too much aswell.Even if the audiophile can convert in 192k....Very few People using the format and the load on the host is immense.

[VoicOfReason]

Good to hear. 1 more question: can I use the Sonic Core 4.5 software on Vista? Will it run at all on Vista, or do I need to wait for v5 to even be able to use it at all?

I'm not referring to vista 64 bit, but vista 32 bit.

[Fluxpod]

I dont know if you can run 4.5 in vista under xp compatibility mode....Its not supported.Version 5 will work on vista and will hopefully be out soon.I hope you will not be dissapointed with the 3 dsp home card.Its really...not much,maybe you can get a 6 dsp card used to get 9 dsps.If you just want advanced routing 3 dsps are ok but forget about much synth sampler use.

[VoicOfReason]

It's OK. The order hasn't shipped yet so I am probably going to upgrade now to the 6 DSP. I found a good deal. Do you know of anyone running it under Vista?

I suppose I could dual-boot into XP just for music writing. Hmmmm....

[Fluxpod]

6 dsps is a good start.I dont know anyone in person who is running vista for music stuff If you want to run scope in vista i think its best to wait a bit for scope 5 or run a dualboot.

[VoicOfReason]

Oh, ok. So Windows XP is very well-suited for music writing?

[garyb]

yes.
at least for the moment it's the best solution.

[Fluxpod]

Imo yes,it does all i want and i havent had a crash with it including cubase 3.1 in a half year.I have my scope cards in a seperate pc dedicated for em tho.Connects via adat and midi to the "main" pc.
I honestly never tried vista and i think i completly skip it and wait for windows 7 sp2 or so.....or i skip that aswell.

[VoicOfReason]

How do you hook up a separate computer? I'm guessing the second one needs an O.S. installed, then what else?

[VoicOfReason]

Sorry for being uninformed about this, but can you then use the 2nd computer's CPU for VST and processing, or is it just to host the second Scope card?

[Fluxpod]

Yes you can if you want:) The reason i have it in a second pc is mostly that my new one only has 2 pci slots and one is already used with my rme card.When i run out of power on my main pc(didnt happen yet) then i could use vst plugs on the scope rig.