external soundcard for the laptop

[vnvmod]

hey, there were several topics about soundcards here but i didn't read them all through because the topic was only "soundcard" and a pci-card is out of question with a laptop so i got lazy and decided to place a new question.

 

do you know any good and cheap / moderately priced external soundcards that would fit my current laptop, which is running Win XP and is a 366MHz PII ThinkPad with 288MB, or the coming one which will probably be a 650MHz P3 ThinkPad with 320MB or more. am also going to get a pc-card with usb 2.0 and FireWire.

 

so far i've found this one which looks simple and promising but isn't that good-looking. i'd prefer a more simplistic dark or black finish... it would seem to support the AC3-thingie which to me seems i would be able to get a 5.1 sound out of the many compressed video formats if i had a multi-channel amp.

 

http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/Transit-main.html

 

[Spindrift]

a pci-card is out of question with a laptop so i got lazy and decided to place a new question.

241077[/snapback]

It's not.

Been running a creamware pulsar with my laptop for more than four years now.

Just add one of these sweet little boxes to your setup:

http://www.mobl.com/expansion/pci/1slot/index.html

Then you can run Scope, Protools and RME cards at least.

I guess they work fine with Powercore and UAD-1 as well.

[vnvmod]

okay, thanks! that sure looks interesting but still i guess the transit will be my choice. for one - it's probably cheaper, two - it's more compact, three - i won't be making any music (in the near future at least), four - it uses usb (i don't like special cables and connections).

 

a few days ago thomann.de was selling it for 77e. that's quite a moderate price already, i think.

[pixxxan]

get echo indigo... wont regret it...

[Subsonik]

Or you could try the Audigy 2 NX. Supports 7.1 and digital. It's silver, not black unfortunately. Good card, even for production. Got some great effects and a hardware EQ.

 

My friend has one - does well. Has ASIO drivers too.

 

Look at amazon.co.uk if you don't have somewhere to buy hardware for cheap. Or maybe the creative website.

[vnvmod]

okay thanks to you too! those were nice ones as well. read some reviews but still i'm leaning towards the transit! it's small, and simple. digital ins and outs and can forward the AC3 to a multichannel amp which probably is something i will some time have.

 

a "real" volume control would be nice though.

[pixxxan]

okay thanks to you too! those were nice ones as well. read some reviews but still i'm leaning towards the transit! it's small, and simple. digital ins and outs and can forward the AC3 to a multichannel amp which probably is something i will some time have.

 

a "real" volume control would be nice though.

256710[/snapback]

 

creative not trustworthy for production. echo indigo is teh best pc laptop card in its price range and has a hardware volume control. i got the in/out and the dj (two stereo outputs) and itsssss greaaaaaaaatttt.. handles several audio progrms at same time cubase ableton live reason and trktor with no problems .!!!

if i didint had it ifd get it agaain!

[vnvmod]

but the Echo hasn't got digital ins or outs. that's a minus in my book.

 

yet actually i've now refocused myself onto this little gadget:

 

the HeadRoom BitHead:

 

it's actually a headhphone amp but also works as an external soundcard connecting to the usb.