Soundcards

[Macker 0]

Ok, so being a (music) producer, I use a high end soundcard - but have found that on a handful of games it doesn't work. It's an E-MU 1212m, and although it's a company owned by creative professional, i'm wondering if ArmA will run on it?

Anyone care to shed any light on the matter? I'm not going to downgrade my audio card to a x-fi or whatever it is.

[wex-q 0]

Since you're not downgrading to an x-fi, download the demo and test.

But, what's the difference between an E-MU 1212m and an X-FI?

[Macker 0]

Audio quality. The 1212m uses Pro-Tools HD192 A/D & D/A converters, which are among the VERY best out there - for a pro tools core card you're looking at a minimum of 5 grand, and anything upto 10 grand.

The 1212m is just fantastic value for money in terms of audio quality & in/out options - it even supports AES/EBU & there's an optional daughter card for wordsync.

[shinRaiden 0]

If only they'd bring back soundstorm...

I was going to say that I don't know what the EAX support is on the pro lines, then I remembered that ArmA uses OpenAL instead so scratch that worry.

There's two parts to a quality audio system for gaming - one is the compatibility for multichannel surround sound (the emu series should have adequate OpenAL support if it's new enough); the second is digitally exporting the audio to a proper external receiver.

That's what I did with my old rig, it had a soundstorm chip on the nforce2 mobo that did real-time repackaging of the multi-channel audio to Dolby Digital, which was then pushed out via SPDIF to the front of my Audigy2 platinum. That alone gave me more than enough processing to have crystal clear audio with no interference at all.

I've got an Auzentech Meridian on order that I'm curious to see how it performs.

[Macker 0]

Again, those are consumer cards though and tend to be more geared towards games & movies and general multimedia than professional cards are - so although support for pro cards & the software that they're meant to work with is absolutely top notch, i find support for games to be pretty poor.

[dmarkwick 261]

I think it's possible to have 2 soundcards installed? Then you can alternate between a game boot-up and work boot-up. I know someone who uses onboard sound for ventrilo teamspeak etc and a soundcard for games. He wears a headset to use ventrilo and gets speaker performance for the game he's in.

[daikan 1]

I think it's possible to have 2 soundcards installed?

Indeed. Being a music producer myself i used to have 3 soundcards in my rig (RME Hammerfall DSP, Audigy2, Onboard). Was never a problem at all, even without disabling some of them in bootup profiles. A good idea is to choose the right pci slots in order to avoid interrupt sharing. But i think newer cards and drivers shouldn't have problems with sharing interrupts anymore.

[frederf 0]

What is the best EAX/Gamer type card that still retains the front-panel internal pinout connector on the card?

I know the X-Fi series don't have that connector.

[-Puma- 2]

audigy 4 is cheap, supports EAX 4.0, and comes with remote and a neat docking station, that u can put on ur desk and plug all the cables.

http://creative.com/product....t=10853

I have audigy 4 se and I love it all the way

[frederf 0]

audigy 4 is cheap, supports EAX 4.0, and comes with remote and a neat docking station, that u can put on ur desk and plug all the cables.

http://creative.com/product....t=10853

I have audigy 4 se and I love it all the way

I am looking for a card with the internal front panel connector. It's 2x4or 2x5 pins, I don't remember which.

[-Puma- 2]

audigy 4 is cheap, supports EAX 4.0, and comes with remote and a neat docking station, that u can put on ur desk and plug all the cables.

http://creative.com/product....t=10853

I have audigy 4 se and I love it all the way

I am looking for a card with the internal front panel connector. It's 2x4or 2x5 pins, I don't remember which.

why u want frontpanel, when u can get all the connectors in a box???

[frederf 0]

The front box is:

1. More expensive

2. Leaves the front panel ports non-functioning

3. Looks hideous

[jakobole 0]

I'm using a M-audio Audiophile 24/96 which is a "Semi"-pro interface. I've had 0 probs with it in games, allthough some games prefer either higher or lower latency settings. I'd get either half er lost sound/s. Try playing the the latency of the card as, on my card, it doesn't ONLY pertain to ASIO.