How to make your PC the best recording experience by upgrading your sound card
Most computers today are sold with almost everything installed to meet your needs. Whether it’s video or audio performance, you name it, modern computers have them. However, if you plan to record music or use your PC to edit music for production, your PC may not be up to the task, as most integrated sound cards and even those sold at the computers are made for gaming.
In this case, you may want to look for a sound card that can handle the entire task while providing the best output for your tracks. Generally, there are 2 types of sound cards that you can use to upgrade your PC. Internal and External Devices.
Internal devices include:
The most common being PCI. This stands for Peripheral Component Interconnect, and most computers have built-in slots for PCI. The advantage of this is that you can transmit more information in an instant. This makes it better if you are recording large raw tracks. However, the size of the PCI does not accommodate most recording software needs. Therefore junction boxes are sold separately to improve performance.
PCMCIA stands for Personal Computer Memory Card International Association. This also means the laptop version of the PCI. They work more or less the same and the limitation is also the same, since the PCMCIA is as small as a credit card. Therefore, they also have a junction box that is sold separately to improve performance.
Regarding external devices:
Most people are familiar with the USB 1.1 device which also comes in the form of a sound card. Being useful and being a junction box has a price to pay. USB can only transmit information at 12 mbps, which makes it much slower than PCI and PCMCIA. Also, USB can only entertain 1 channel for data transmission. It can be the input or the output, but never both.
USB 2.0 is the upgraded version of USB 1.1 and makes a huge leap forward by transmitting 480 Mbps of data which makes it really useful. But USB 2.0 is made for general use and not for sound card function, so this is not a preferred external device for recording.
The Fire Wire 400 interface transmits as its name, 400 mbps of data. And this is mostly found on MAC computers. Although you can use it if you buy a Fire Wire port and install it on your PC, regardless of the operating system you use. Most sound card manufacturers prefer this as it can transmit large amounts of information while using both the input and output channels.
But who would have guessed that the Fire Wire 400 has an even better version, namely the Fire Wire 800. Yes, and you guessed it. It can transmit 800mbps of data, which is currently the largest device you can use for recording. However, the Fire 400 cable is enough or even more to handle complex music software, so you don’t really need to make use of this.
Overall, getting the best out of your computer to handle your music needs definitely requires an upgrade. However, make sure you know what your needs are so you can upgrade accordingly and avoid spending too much on unnecessary expenses.