Been a long time since i’ve looked at this end of the market, but i have a relative who want to start playing keys again, i’ve given him my last studio PC, i9 9900k, 64 GB Ram etc, so it’s still pretty powerful.
He’s not really looking at DAW usage, yet, if at all; he’s mainly interested in standalone instruments.
He needs something capable of the above, with 3.5mm trs output at -10dB as he’ll be running it into a domestic hi-fi amp, at least initially.
In the old days i’d have just got him a soundblaster audigy, but i’m so out of touch with that end of the market now i have no idea where to start.
The only PCIe audio interfaces worth buying are not cheap (I’m thinking RME). Is there any specific reason why you would need a PCIe card? These days, cheap means USB.
As i said in the original post, he’s really only after it for playing standalone instruments.
I have a spare RME Multiface II here if he wishes to take things further, but it’s far too complex for a complete beginner.
He needs something simple to start with. @raino Lol yes mate i’m WELL aware of that, he’s a smart lad though and gets most concepts pretty quickly.
It’s all down to whether he wishes to go further than just learning keys again for his own pleasure, hence wanting to keep things as simple as possible.
Hi and thanks for the replies… @Googly_Smythe@MrSoundman as i said, he has zero interest in DAW usage, has no experience with audio at all and it’s MUCH too complex for a complete noob should something happen. All he’s interested in is playing mainly piano, electric and acoustic and possibly some synths at some point; purely for his own pleasure.
The RME unit is massive overkill, it’s a 36 channel interface and there are plenty of more experienced users out there who are completely freaked out by TotalMix… the poor bloke’s head would explode.
@Nico5 yes it has onboard sound, just crappy intel iirc, which struggles latency wise.
@raino well done Sir! you win the… errrr… ‘prize’…
Yep, we’re in different locations and i’m unable to travel to him for health reasons, hence needing to keep this as simple as possible.
The trouble with a cheap card without asio is latency. He won’t be able to play stand alone instruments without a lag. I would try the onboard sound with asio4all driver. It should work on the lowest buffer setting with that PC since only one instrument will be playing at a time
I think we’ll try a combo of the onboard intel sound and asio4 all initially.
I’m sure i tried it for a laugh when i initially got that machine and it was dreadful as expected, we’ll see though.
