Starting out in Home Studio - Omni Studio vs. Aardvark 2496 vs. ?

[MattMackay]

I am just piecing together components for putting together a personal home studio and am looking for opinions on the different audio interfaces/sound cards that fit into about the $200-$450 range.

I have heard great things about Omni Studio... as well as the Aardvark... but what are the pros and cons that you guys have come across?

Any other suggestions for interfaces?

I will mainly be laying one or two tracks at a time, so I won't (initially) need the capacity of say an Omni 1010, but am I not leaving myself room for expansion later? Would I be better off getting the omni studio and if I need more inputs and outputs later, I can just buy an omni1010 or a layla 8 or something? Is it worth stacking the aardvarks?

Is it a valuable thing to have a compressor onboard the aardvark? Could I go a separate compressor and use it with the omni studio and it still be cheaper?

Advice much needed...

Thanks for your help,

Matt

[MattMackay]

Also what do you guys think of the ST Audio DSP2000 C-Port ??

[Nick Driver]

I have an Aardvark DP 2496. It's a love-hate relationship. This audio device is rather particular about what other hardware it can co-exist with in the same computer. It is also rather picky about what mobo/processor you have. It gets along very well with pure Intel systems (i845 or i850 chipsets) and P4 processors, and people have mixed results with AMD-based systems, with VIA chipset mobos usually having troubles.

Now having said all that, once I got my rig stable, it does sound very good and clean and have pretty low latency. It is very easy to use. I use mostly Sonar 2.2 XL as my software, and also fool around with Fruity Loops too. The built-in software-based mixing console with compression, reverb, etc, is kinda nice and very handy for me in that I do not need an outboard mixing console for the home-studio kind of recording that I do. Having the built-in midi interface is nice too, since I loathe using those joystick-port based cheap midi adapters, and I prefered a combo audio-midi unit with 4 inputs.

[Nick Driver]

I looked very closely at the C-Port when I was shopping, and almost bought it instead. The software mixer dsp effects of the Aardvark is what swayed my opinion. If I had to go back and choose all over again, it would be a tough decision, The C-Port sure has a lot of I/O channels for the price and has two XLR inputs with phantom power which I needed..... a tough decision indeed.

[This message has been edited by Nick Driver (edited 07-28-2003).]

[bubba freaktree]

i just got an echo mia midi card.
i believe the sound is a cut above my friends m-audio omni studio (even though the feature set is different).

but i'm having a dog of a time getting it to settle into my setup.

if you don't need a lot of ins and outs, digital audio lab's
"Card Deluxe" is a nice card. but i don't think it has gsif drivers so i shied away from it.

check out esi waveterminal 192x stuff. but it seems like you like the breakout box stuff. in that case terratec dmx-6fire is another option.

just some thoughts to confuse the situation further!

[trock]

I used to have both the Omni Studio and the Aardvark 2496. For my purposes, I found the Omni Studio much more flexible in terms of IO routing and I found the DSP effects of the Aardvark to not be good quality so I sold it soon after acquiring it.

The Omni Studio stayed with me a lot longer and yes it has inserts for external compressors (the FMR RNC is a good inexpensive choice). Neither is a bad card but I found that the converters on both cards were not too good at capturing high harmonics and they dulled the sound slightly.

trock

[MattMackay]

Wow... thanks for the quick and helpful replies!!

I like the omni studio.. it seems pretty flexible and more than suited to my needs.

I initially looked at the terratec... but I can't find any online prices for it!! Got any links?


The C-Port looks nice and has more inputs and outputs than the omni studio. Any clear distinctions between them in terms of quality?? Because price-wise... they are practically the same $379 for Omni Studio from midi-store.com and $395 for the C-Port from doctoraudio.com.

Which would you pick out of the two of those?

And more importantly why?

Anybody have actual experience with C-Port?


I looked at the mia midi... but there are not many inputs... no xlr's and only the 'virtual outputs' over digital. What do you guys reckon?

[MattMackay]

Everyone has gone quiet...

What do you guys think about the CPort???

I want to buy one... just which one can you guys recommend.

Opinions appreciated

- Matt

[TeleCarlos]

You asked....

I have an Omni/Delta66 and I think it is great. It works for me, I only track guitar and voice, the rest are VSTi's. I don't have a need for more inputs. I'm only a hobbyist in this recording stuff so... whenever the need arises for more inputs, then I'll get a card with more inputs.

I plug my guitar to the front thing, the rest is done within the software. I'm certain I should be using an outboard compressor before going into the Omni, to "keep a constant level" and avoid going into the "red". Will be getting one soon.

Reading this forum, I would avoid Aardvark...

Do check out the new Maudio 410. Looks just like the Omni except it's firewire.

As always, get what works for you.

[trock]

Hi TeleCarlos,

The Omni Studio has 14 inputs that can be submixed to 6 inputs (4 analog, 2 digital) for the PC. It also has 2 inserts in the back for compressors.

trock

[trock]

Hi TeleCarlos,

The Omni Studio has 14 inputs that can be submixed to 6 inputs (4 analog, 2 digital) for the PC. It also has 2 inserts in the back for compressors.

trock