I've played with a few USB cards for various reasons. Out of all of them the EMU 0202 works pretty nicely, the only drawback is I can't remember if it is balanced:
http://www.creative.com/emu/products/product.aspx?category=610&pid=15186 Its been going strong for years and survived being bashed about on several OBs. The only thing I don't like is under Linux the monitoring interferes with the output (I haven't used it under Windows for a long time). So just don't use the monitoring if you're broadcasting with it. Its probably an alsamixer setting somewhere but I never bothered to figure it out. I've been using it at the end of a broadcast chain with JACK to do both Internet streaming (via Icecast/darkice) and compression with Jamin. Its been running constantly with no interruptions since Christmas. I've also got an Edirol UA-25 which is solid (http://www.roland.com/products/en/UA-25/). I only use it to take a feed from a soft phone (via a laptop) but its doing the job. It was quite touchy about the signal level though and I found that the output from our old analog desks (circa 1993) was only just passable without clipping at the lowest gain and signal levels. Its been working for a few years either way and was in a box of spares before that. The Echo Gina 3G was ok once I unmuted the right output in alsamixer (no idea why that was muted by default). I haven't used this long term though so I have no idea on reliability. Finally, I didn't have much luck with an Alesis io 2. It was a bit fiddly to setup (it seemed to distort quite horribly) and then died after 6 months. I might have just ended up with a faulty unit but I wouldn't rush back to them in a hurry. On Sun, 25 Mar 2012 02:51:04 +0100, James Harrison <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi all, > > I'm wondering if anyone has a recommendation for a cheap (sub-£150) > sound card, ideally USB, which just has two inputs (optionally two > outputs) on XLRs (or jacks), balanced, with the ability to handle > pro-level or consumer-level input, no gain or silly nonsense, just a > really straightforward rugged ADC (optionally a DAC) with an input level > select switch (+8), maybe some little screwdriver-operated gain pots? > > Just hunting around for cards for a streaming encoder and I simply can't > find anything close to this - everything's got big friendly gain knobs > or the connectivity sucks or it's absurdly expensive. I'm pretty sure > there must be something out there like this, I'm just not looking in the > right places. ASI cards are all too expensive for us, even the cheap > ones. > > Any experience on what cards you've gone for in this situation? (It's > being fed by a Sonifex DA6G distribution amplifier - the PC sound card > we're using presently is turned right down and it's still clipping, as > to be expected I suppose...) > > (USB preferred because the box is a half-height chassis, and USB is a > bit more versatile, but I'd be interested in anything - can always > rehouse the box...) ####################### Scanned by MailMarshal ####################### ############ Attention: The information contained in this message is confidential and intended for the addressee(s) only. If you have received this message in error or there are any problems, please notify the originator immediately. The unauthorised use, disclosure, copying or alteration of this message is strictly forbidden. Christian Vision or any of its subsidiaries will not be liable for direct, special, indirect or consequential damages arising from alteration of the contents of this message by a third party or as a result of any virus being passed on. Please note that we reserve the right to monitor and read any e-mails sent or received by the company under the Telecommunications (Lawful Business Practice) (Interception of Communications) Regulation 2000. Christian Vision is registered in England as a limited company 2842414 and as a charity 1031031 ############ _______________________________________________ Rivendell-dev mailing list [email protected] http://lists.rivendellaudio.org/mailman/listinfo/rivendell-dev
