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New External Sound "Card"

Posted by timothy on from the never-heard-of-downsizing dept.

(startx) writes: "Well, it looks like creative has done it again. This time they've created an external sound"card" that connects through usb to your computer or laptop. It's called the Extigy, and looking at the specs, it appears as though it's got every possible audio connector you can possibly think of, along with the standard ir port with remote control. With this, a usb HDD, and a usb cd-rw, it looks like I can have most of my box, outside the box, just for the geek factor :-)" I don't think it's quite as cool-looking as the Stereolink 1200 (which I've never actually heard), but for a few bucks more the Creative crams in a lot of features.

2 of 347 comments (clear)

  1. Re:USB sound is pretty old by anser · · Score: 4, Informative

    I have been using the Roland (Edirol) UA-30 with similar features (optical/coax/analog in/out, plus a 2-channel mixer, jacks for guitar & microphone & headphone with a volume dial) for a couple of years. Powered by the USB connector, it needs nothing extra & is very light. I use it with the 7-pin Datman adapter cables from Core Sound to transcribe DAT tapes.

    They recently reissued it as the Edirol UA-3 and added a more upscale 1/3 rack desktop model, the UA-5.

    There have also been a stream of no-brand import USB sound devices from Taiwan over the last couple of years, but finding one when you needed it could be difficult.

    Based on past performance, Creative's product will probably be less than perfect, but it'll be nice to have another option.

    For the person who asked about Firewire - Stereo audio bitrates are fine for USB, you just need to have a little buffering in the device. I think the reason nobody's bother to put a 1394 chipset in an external sound box is that if you have Firewire you probably already have decent sound. This may change, or with USB 2.0 it may not.

  2. Re:I want multiple tracks! by davidesh · · Score: 4, Informative

    there are plenty of these products on the market, check these out

    plus you don't want to use a consumer card for recording multiple tracks

    More Computer Audio hardware

    Tascam US428

    M Audio(TM) Delta 1010 Logic System

    Roland® Studio Pack

    Aardvark(TM) Direct Pro Q10 Studio Nerve Center

    Aardvark(TM) Direct Pro 24/96 Pro Studio Package

    it's really not consumer.. or pro... this stuff... "prosumer" (how i hate that word)