AudioPCI noise Problem

[lear133]

I'm no pro at this, I only tinker around, recording clips to jam with or when composing something so my setup is cheap and basic. Here's my problem:

My old pc was junky and slow, but with win98 and an old set of win95 drivers, my ensoniq audiopci (1370) gave me a -71dbA noise floor.

My new pc (athlon, abit KR7a-R, 1gig ram,ect) running win2k and the default SB audiopci drivers yields a noise floor of -56dBA at best.

There are no other drivers available for my ancient card with win2K. I remember when I used a new SB general driver with my old pc for the card, I got similar noise problems. I found an old archived version of the original ensoniq 1370 drivers and was rewarded with a good SNR.

Does anyone know of a possible fix to get my SNR back to good? If I'm doomed, any suggestions for other cheapo cards with which I can get decent results for my tinkering?

Thanks to all

[brzilian]

If this is just a hobby, the SB Live and the orginal Audigy's can be bought for around $50 in the OEM Value versions.

[GZsound]

My understanding is the SB cards are all noisy. I had someone explain to me that cassette decks usually operated at -65db so your system is noisier than a cassette at this point.

I have a TerraTec EWS 88D PCI card installed in my 500 mg Celeron and it measures -91db at 43hz and -109db above that.

Make sure your card is away from anything that can cause noise. I just use my computer for music so no consumer sound card, no printer, no modem just a SCSI controller card and my PCI soundcard.

[Pretty Pretty Cyanide]

You might even try to see if your 'line in' is activated as well. And uninstall the SB's dos drivers.

And next time you buy a soundcard don't buy SB. Unless you are buying for DOOM or other games.

[lear133]

Thanks for the replies guys. It's actually not a SB card, but the card ensoniq used to make, oh 10 years ago. The sound floor levels I mentioned, were with an open mic set to the correct input levels for recording at full volume through my soundcraft mixer and then into the line in of the card.

There are no dos drivers installed. The card was $8 and served it's purpose very well previously. It seems as though not being able to use the dedicated ensoniq drivers is the problem. The SB drivers are terrible.

As an Electrical Engineer working in audio enviornments, I know the importance of quality components, noise isolation, and proper set up. The ensoniq card was supprisingly good for the time. It's a shame there is no longer a company to provide proper support for it. I think it may be time to bite the bullet and set aside a chunk of change for a low end recording audio card.

Again, thanks for the comments

[Johann F]

I have just been running a sound analysis program on my new M-Audio 2496 card and it keeps the noise floor below -105db across the board which is pretty impressive. When I connect up my phono stage I can pick up mains hum at 50htz and harmonica at 150 200 and 250 but it's still below -90db. The main thing is that It doesn't seem to be picking up significant noise from within the PC - a problem I was told would pague all PCI sound cards.