Re: need recommendation on PC sound card

[Christian Borss <christian.borss@xxxxxx>]

Am 21. Feb. 2010 um 19:12 Uhr schrieb G. Robert Arrabito:

> I did a quick search on the last two years of the auditory mailing list 
> archives  on pc sound  card recommendations and didn't find much on the 
> topic so hence  my post to the list. I am looking for recommendations for 
> an internal PC high quality sound card that will be used to output 
> auditory stimuli in my experiments.

That depends on your

  - system architecture
  - operating system
  - number of input/output channels
  - kind of interfaces (analog/digital...)
  - budget
  - ... .

In our lab we have good experience with RME Multiface sound cards[1].

> Would also be nice if there is an accompanying software development
> kit. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated. Thanks.

A sound card shouldn't require a special SDK. Instead, use one of the
sound APIs of your operating system. If you are using Linux, use ALSA[2]
for general purpose audio applications and JACK[3] for low-latency
applications. If you are using Windows, then ASIO[4] is probably your
choice for pro-audio equipment. If you want to support any sound card,
you can use DirectSound[5] for older Windows versions and Core Audio[6]
for newer Windows versions (Vista and 7). OS X users can use Apple's
Core Audio API[7].


Regards,
Christian

[1] http://www.rme-audio.de/en_products_multiface_2.php
[2] http://www.alsa-project.org/
[3] http://jackaudio.org/
[4] http://www.steinberg.net/en/company/3rd_party_developer/sdk_download_portal.html
[5] http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee416797(VS.85).aspx
[6] http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd370802(VS.85).aspx
[7] http://developer.apple.com/audio/overview.html
-- 
Christian Borß, Dipl.-Ing.          ||   Institut für Kommunikationsakustik
http://www.ika.ruhr-uni-bochum.de   ||   Ruhr-Universität Bochum
Tel.: +49-(0)234-32-22470           ||   Universitätsstr. 150, IC1/33
Fax.: +49-(0)234-32-14165           ||   D-44780 Bochum (Germany)