where to buy a Soundcard

piens is good,and cheaper iff ya buy online>>ya can also buy the equipment in parts but there is a minimum price before ya can pay it in pieces

check www.piens.be

Or Keymusic. (http://www.keymusic.be)

I've been to their outlet in Sint-Niklaas. It's a big shop where you can easily try out the instruments yourself without the pushy salesmen from Piens. You will even get 5% off if you buy online.

If you're only interested in the price, I'd check out the German online stores (You only pay 16% taxes!): Musicstore or Thomann

I already bought from all the companies mentioned above without any complaints (even from Piens ;-)).

What kind of audiocard are you looking for? What are you planning to use it for? How many inputs & outputs do you need? Do you need analog or digital I/O's? What is you budget?

A great card for 200€ is the M-Audio Delta Audiophile 2496.

I don't go over 500 € and it's really to get a cut cleat sound, pro

latency as low as possible It's mainly for software usage but maybe some hardware in the future too

I don't have Visa so I can't buy it online

Is there really nothing in Antwerp for this?

Yeah I know Key music, bought my guitar there but I don't know the way, drove to it with a friend

Originally posted by : Romek I don't have Visa so I can't buy it online Doesn't everybody in Antwerp has a VISA paid by the tax payer? :D

With most online shops, you can pay with a bank transfer (overschrijving). It's a bit slower than paying with VISA, but it's a lot cheaper. Since the 1st of July 2003 bank transferts within Europe should cost you the same as a bank transfert within Belgium. Just ask for their IBAN number.

To get a clean sound, I'd recommend a soundcard with 24bit/96khz converters, ASIO drivers, high S/N (signal-to-noise) level and a low THD (total harmonic distortion).

Best candidates in the sub 500 € market are: 1>RME Hammerfall or Digi series 2>Echo Mia 3>M-Audio Audiophile 2496

I just have one advice ...

AVOID MIDICIAN (the crappy "pro"-audio store in Gent)

thank you all for the advice!

the RME's are the most expensive of the those three, does it mean they are the best?

I really want to have the best audio card with the limit set to 500 euros

the fattest sound good drivers easy to use

etc.......

"When users demand a digital system to play back the data identical to those recorded before - 1:1 in every situation - this should be nothing to be worth mentioning. Unfortunately it is. 'Digital' alone does not guarantee such a behavior. Look around which manufacturer ever claimed his card to behave like this - you will find only us."

Is this still true?

Originally posted by : Romek

the RME's are the most expensive of the those three, does it mean they are the best?

I really want to have the best audio card with the limit set to 500 euros

the fattest sound good drivers easy to use

etc.......

"When users demand a digital system to play back the data identical to those recorded before - 1:1 in every situation - this should be nothing to be worth mentioning. Unfortunately it is. 'Digital' alone does not guarantee such a behavior. Look around which manufacturer ever claimed his card to behave like this - you will find only us."

Is this still true? Difficult matter, getting a soundcard. I've got an m-audio delta 10/10, price around 500 euro, and I'm rather happy with it. Good for u? I dunno....... Cos' the real question u've got to ask urself is which soundcard will fit best in my personal setup (which software sequencer do u use, midi equipment and that kind of stuff). So before buying anything u should really know what type of soundcard u need.

One word of advice: check different stores, talk with different persons, u'll see who know and doesn't know stuff about such things, compare prices and so on. That's what I always do and me thinks it's the best way to get a good deal, without being ripped off.

PS RME's and M-Audio have such little latency-values that u don't notice it, so that's won't be the real problem. The problem is always the compatibility with ur other gear and software/OS.

I'll try to get to as many ppl as I can

as today, I use Reason software to produce sometime Cool edit for some mixing

I would like to get myself a good piece of hardware some day, so it definitely needs midi

I only buy online or second-hand. If I buy online, I only use Thoman Netzmarket and feedback.nl 8)