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sound card for computer radio automation

S

Shay O Boyle

Guest
Hey Guys,
I’m back again with another question for you all. Short and sweet. What the best sound card for computer radio automation out there at the moment?

Thanks

Shay…
 
what automation system are you using?the audioscience 5111 should work fine and it's around 500.00 or the other high end Audioscience cards will work, as well as digigram,Lynx.Even the echo mia should work ok.i would hope you're running linear uncompressed..Several cards will work depending on application and budget.
 
Agreed - it depends on the system. Can't go wrong with any ASI card, however. The 5111 is good if you're not running MPEG compression, and if you are - get the 6520 as it decompresses MPEG on-board.

As for Digigram, Lynx, M-Audio - fine for production, not capable enough for on-air 24/7 usage.
 
Get the Audio Science cards. Seriously. I've used Digigram cards, like the ASI's drivers better. I have two floors of DAD running those cards, they "just work". I use the little Echo Mia cards for stuff like editing workstations at someone's desk. They're dirt cheap ( balanced I/O, too, albeit tip/ring/sleeve 1/4" phone jacks, but for $129 or so, ya can't complain :) ).
 
I have an M Audio Delta 196 and it sounds great. Unfortunately, M Audio makes lousy drivers-the newest one for example won't work with XP, even though their site says it does.

One of the best sounding cards out there is the Turtle Beach Santa Cruz. Yes, it's old, but it still holds its own against cards selling for 4X its price.

I keep a Turtle Beach Audio Advantage Micro in my bag (with the drivers on my pen drive). It's saved my butt any number of times. Sounds great and has SP/DIF optical output to boot.
 
Goat Rodeo Cowboy said:
Rob Stutson said:
As for Digigram, Lynx, M-Audio - fine for production, not capable enough for on-air 24/7 usage.
Click to expand...

Not capable in what way(s)?
Click to expand...

You'll need to ask that question to the automation software providers. They're the ones who specify ASI and SOME Digigram cards - and skip the rest (except for production).
 
SeattleRadioPro said:
Goat Rodeo Cowboy said:
Rob Stutson said:
As for Digigram, Lynx, M-Audio - fine for production, not capable enough for on-air 24/7 usage.
Click to expand...

Not capable in what way(s)?
Click to expand...

You'll need to ask that question to the automation software providers. They're the ones who specify ASI and SOME Digigram cards - and skip the rest (except for production).
Click to expand...

I'm learning from this. Please do not take offense at my questions. La-Guy just confirmed one of my suspicions. My M-Audio card was transferred to my new computer. Many, many problems. Apparently their drivers do not like XP Media Center Edition.

I'm still trying to figure out what the ASIs do that the other brands fail at. If the other brands are o.k. for production, then I assume their problem is not the ability to convert analog to digital on record and digital to analog on playback. I assume it is not a distortion problem. (If this were a problem, they would not be suitable for production.)

Are we talking about the ability to pull up and execute audio files in the rapid-fire order that on-air automation demands?
 
We have a mediatouch system. We run an ASI 5042 on the on-air machine and Delta 44 on both the production and logger machines.

The ASI doesn't necessarily sound better than the Delta 44; however, an ASI is one of the bests options for mission critical applications, such as an on-air machine running 24/7. The Delta 44 works fine for an application, such as production, that does NOT run 24/7.
 
Goat Rodeo Cowboy said:
SeattleRadioPro said:
Goat Rodeo Cowboy said:
Rob Stutson said:
As for Digigram, Lynx, M-Audio - fine for production, not capable enough for on-air 24/7 usage.
Click to expand...

Not capable in what way(s)?
Click to expand...

You'll need to ask that question to the automation software providers. They're the ones who specify ASI and SOME Digigram cards - and skip the rest (except for production).
Click to expand...

I'm learning from this. Please do not take offense at my questions. La-Guy just confirmed one of my suspicions. My M-Audio card was transferred to my new computer. Many, many problems. Apparently their drivers do not like XP Media Center Edition.

I'm still trying to figure out what the ASIs do that the other brands fail at. If the other brands are o.k. for production, then I assume their problem is not the ability to convert analog to digital on record and digital to analog on playback. I assume it is not a distortion problem. (If this were a problem, they would not be suitable for production.)

Are we talking about the ability to pull up and execute audio files in the rapid-fire order that on-air automation demands?
Click to expand...

Hey, no offense taken. We're all here to help! :)

ASI cards and some Digigram cards have on-board digital audio processors - essentially a separate computer just to play audio. The host computer then doesn't waste its resources processing the audio FIRST then sending it to the card. On-board DSPs are a more robust design and that's why they're best for 24/7 use.

Most other "pro" sound cards like the M-Audio Deltas and the Digigram VX series do not have on-board DSP processors. In a production environment these cards aren't doing real-time continuous processing, so the lack of on-board DSPs isn't a great loss.

As far as audio quality goes - for all but the most golden ears - you won't hear a huge sonic difference between ASI cards and other pro cards.
 
What are people's impressions and comments on the Antex LX-44 cards? One of the stations I work for has started to use them.
 
Slightly Off Topic.

If you use a soundcards WDM drivers with an application that uses pure PCM audio is there bit mangleing going on with in Windows or does PCM pass bit perfect regardless of the driver being used.

I have a high school station using a Digigram VX222v2 with an automation system (with all linear PCM files) that's only stable using WDM and I'm wondering if we're losing any sound quality.

Any thoughts?
 
How about the Henry Engineering USB Matchbox?
 
Bill Wolfenbarger said:
How about the Henry Engineering USB Matchbox?
Click to expand...

Good choice for production (albeit a spendy one). But it has no onboard DSPs and uses a generic Windows driver that isn't MME compliant, so that rules it out for on-air playback.
 
The ASI sound cards have software that allows sequential mixing of files being played back, or incoming audio with files being played back. BSI's Simian uses this ability to segue playback of audio files or to have a "radio station in a box" for satellite stations, using the record input for the satellite feed which can be mixed (or not) with local content from the hard drive (thus eliminating the need for an external mixer or switcher device). You can use other sound cards with the Simian system, but you loose the ability to overlap audio on playback. Other automation systems favor different sound cards because they are using particular functions available with those cards. So your "best sound card" search should start with the recommendations of your automation software supplier.

That being said, I can hear a certain amount of coloration to the sound "run through" the low end ASI cards (that is, audio in analog>to digital>to analog) which I don't hear on the Digigram standard low end card.

Wouldn't recommend a low end card for on-air, though they have their place where audio is not critical--such as for spot previewing at office work stations. We have an M audio card in use which seems to be an OK card for the price. But we are using it for a "remote" studio--voice only recordings by our ops manager during the week. He's a full-time college student--he cuts weather forecasts, school closings, etc. in his apartment (RE-16 into Mackie mixer then into sound card) & inserts them into the log over a broadband connection. Audio quite adequate but not exceptional--but consider the acoustics, just to start. Any complicated production he does on the weekend at the station.
 
I put a couple of M-Audio cards last year in a couple of Dell's. They are running XP. I had to horse around for a while but finally got them happy.
 
If you want reliable on-air machines, go with Audio Science cards - from my experience.
 
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