Over the last few weeks, I have played with AudioMulch, and I really like it. So far I have used it with an old laptop and a reasonably cheap (i.e. non-professional) soundcard. I am now ready to get a new PC and a new soundcard to be able to get the most out of Audiomulch.
Among other things, I would like to be able to take the audio signal of my TV, feed it into Audiomulch, do some processing, and listen to that signal while watching TV. At the moment my problem is that I need to use quite a large buffer size in the order of 92.8 ms for input and output. If I go below that, the sound becomes awful. And if I set buffer to such a large value, the audio signal is clearly delayed relative to the video signal.
So I have a couple of questions and would be greatful for advice:
- can you minimize buffer size by chosing a suitable soundcard?
- what is more important - the soundcard or the speed of the processor?
- does the chosen driver type have an impact? With my current soundcard, it appears that I can only use "Windows Multimedia". Might "ASIO" be better?
Are there soundcards that people can recommend?
Thanks for any input
Holger
Hi,
ASIO is better.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audio_Stream_Input/Output
A good soundcard with good drivers also helps even better. A fast pc also helps cuz at lower buffer size, there's a lot more processing going on.
If your current soundcard doesn't support ASIO, you can try ASIO for all. It sort of turn your card into an ASIO capable one. You'll be able to get lower buffer settings without any crackles.
I personally use an audiophile and a delta 1010 for the desktop and the asio drivers that are supplied are very good. For the laptop though, I'm using ASIO for all.
ASIO4ALL driver is here:
http://www.asio4all.com/