Anyone using the Audigy2 series cards?

n-Track Studio Discussion Forum
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Shopping for a card with SF capabilities

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Guys,

I am looking at the Audigy2 series so I can get into sound fonts.

I have heard both very good and very bad things about them. Anyone using the Audigy2 cards and with what results. The price has dropped a lot. Does that mean they are being phased out, or what?

Thanks,

Don

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Hi Don, I use the ZS and I think it’s maaszy who uses the ZS platinum, so you might try PMing him, and Doug W is a knowledgable KX user, so someone else worth speaking to.

Avoid the LS, it uses a different chip, and is not supported by KX (the KX drivers are highly recommended if using Audigy or SBlive).

Here

I’m quite pleased with my card, the sound is very good, especially using 24/96.

It’s supposedly only stereo in, but if you’re handy with a soldering iron, you can make it 6 in, or even more. (see kx site for details).

It handles SFs well, but only up about 380Mb, if you’ve SFs bigger than that you need to use SFZ or something.

The great thing about the Audigy2 ZS range, (and most of the SBLive/Audigy family), is the on-board DSP. Latency free FX, clean routings for recording, latency free FX’ed routing for monitoring, etc.

the bad thing, is the Creative software, it doesn’t exploit the possibilities of the hardware, which is the reason for the KX drivers.

So, if you’re just recording yourself, I’d say go for it, expecially if you can buy it at a good price. :)

But I must confess, as I’m starting to get a wee bit more ambitious in my recording outlook, I’m now looking at the Delta 1010LT.

Ali

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I have used the Audigy 2 for a while, both with the kx drivers and the Creative ones.

Overall it a good card but I have experienced synchronisation problems (due to the fact that the card runs internally at 48k and has to do an internal conversion from 44.1k). I have also had problems with stability with the kx drivers.

I am planning to buy an e-mu 0404 or m-audio 2496. Although they do not have native SF support, the ASIO drivers for the m-audio are far superior (according to the reviews I have read) - you can pick up either card for £60 new.
http://www.computermusic.co.uk/reviews/audiophile//audiophile.asp

Also - you can get SF-Play, a free VST soundfont player - http://odosynths.panicnow.net/vst.htm. I believe this allows you to load and play soundfonts without a Creative card (?)