Crystal Laptop soundcards

ccuny · Jun 13, 2003, 03:59 PM

Hi,

thank you for teh project. I hope I understand correctly but amongst other things, you are aiming to provide ASIO capability to currently non-ASIO cards. Is that right?

If so, I did not see the Crystal SounFusion card listed. It's the card by Cirrus Logic that is shipped with many, if not all, laptops. I may have got the exact spelling slightly worng, but it is a WDM card and I wondered whether you had considered it. Laptopusers are feeling pretty left out and many of us are trying to buiild laptop based music studios without buyinmg external cards (which right now are not totally adequate anyway because they have to be USB and tend to introduce extra latency).

Please let me know. Any tips welcome in addition.

Thank you!

Christophe

Daniel Drummond · Jun 13, 2003, 07:34 PM

Read the FAQ in main site www.kxproject.spb.ru . KX drivers work only with gear based on emu10k and emu10k2 chips.

rubber_glove · Jun 14, 2003, 07:09 PM

i too have spent time considering a laptop based studio/performance rig. it sounds good, carrying only the one notebook instead of computer-monitor-keyboard-mouse combination... but good external soundcards are a little out of my reach financially and are, as you said. limited performance-wise (though there must be some firewire based cards out there, no?).

not one to give up, i've come up with two solutions:

1. external pci box. basically just a little box with one or more pci slots in it and an interface cable which connects to a pcmci slot in your laptop. the nice thing about that is that you could load any soundcard you want into it. they exist, but still too expensive for me (and i wonder how stable the drivers would be on such a thing).... so:

2. network solution. i've got a desktop computer and a laptop. so i just network them together and use the laptop (gimptop, i call it) to control the big box (i use a freeware program called RealVNC, which lets me see the big computer's desktop). this means all i need to lug around is the big box, which can stay on the floor while i use the laptop. there's a slight latency in moving the mouse, screen refreshes etc, but the sound latency is the same as the main box (since, well it IS the main box... nothing is actually running through the laptop, unless i want to add some noise into the mix). compared to the rest of the gear i need to lug around, the computer case on it's own is a piece of cake. it's worked for me just fine on stage, the main computer is effectively just a big external soundcard.... but cheap and multifunctional....

-martin erna.wherethefuckaremypants.com

Mata Hari · Jun 14, 2003, 07:19 PM

Not a cheap solution, but check the list at the end of this post:

http://www.hardwareheaven.com/showthre...threadid=17281

for the vnc solution, while it is perfect to play audio, it wouldn't be perfect to record... (one of the main advantages of recording with laptops, is the exclusion of noise coming from ythe power supply)

ccuny · Jun 16, 2003, 09:32 AM

Daniel: thank you. I tried to read the FAQ. If I had any idea what an Emu was apart from a large bird and a great vintage synth, I would have got it, I am sure

I don't understand much of this. I just read about WDM and thoughtm well, maybe they can integrate the Crystal SoundFusion since it is a WDM card. Naie, but there you go.

Mata Hari: recording audio in ona laptop is difficult whatever the solution. Latency is a bif issue, but if you don't want to record live, then an audio capture unit like teh smallest Edirol one is fine. But there are some solutions for integrated external soundcards, though none is perfect. Aardvark do a USB input with low latency for a USB but I am not sure whether it replaces teh soundcard. Teeractec are bringing out a card called a Phase24 I think, but although it looks good on paper, I am not sure it incorporates a pre-amp for MIC or Guitar with some Aardvark cards do. Etc, etc,. Anyway, there are, supposedly, a number of external cards cming out before year end that will work on FireWire. Believe it or not, I don't know whether FieWire allows for self-powered external devices (lame, I know, but my only experience with FireWire is recent , with an Iomega external hard drive, and that needed external powering). Will look at the link now.

Still, as rubber_glove says, it's all a bit expensive and really, there is no perfect solution. Onteh adverts, Midge Ure is pictured using a laptop, a little keyboard and an M-Audiophile card so that ought to work. What it doesn't say is taht he probably does his mock-ups only on laptop, taht he's got a power supply in his Range Rover and a bloody great big studio elsewhere were the reall work happens.

Still, since I can't ply and I can't sincg, guess it really doesn't matter afte all

Jun 13, 2003, 03:59 PM	#1
ccuny DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Jun 2003 Posts: 2 Rep Power: 0	Crystal Laptop soundcards Hi, thank you for teh project. I hope I understand correctly but amongst other things, you are aiming to provide ASIO capability to currently non-ASIO cards. Is that right? If so, I did not see the Crystal SounFusion card listed. It's the card by Cirrus Logic that is shipped with many, if not all, laptops. I may have got the exact spelling slightly worng, but it is a WDM card and I wondered whether you had considered it. Laptopusers are feeling pretty left out and many of us are trying to buiild laptop based music studios without buyinmg external cards (which right now are not totally adequate anyway because they have to be USB and tend to introduce extra latency). Please let me know. Any tips welcome in addition. Thank you! Christophe

Jun 13, 2003, 07:34 PM	#2
Daniel Drummond DriverHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Brazil Posts: 1,137 Rep Power: 0	Read the FAQ in main site www.kxproject.spb.ru . KX drivers work only with gear based on emu10k and emu10k2 chips. __________________ www.palcomp3.com.br/ed

Jun 14, 2003, 07:09 PM	#3
rubber_glove DriverHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: montreal Posts: 66 Rep Power: 0	portable studio on the cheap... i too have spent time considering a laptop based studio/performance rig. it sounds good, carrying only the one notebook instead of computer-monitor-keyboard-mouse combination... but good external soundcards are a little out of my reach financially and are, as you said. limited performance-wise (though there must be some firewire based cards out there, no?). not one to give up, i've come up with two solutions: 1. external pci box. basically just a little box with one or more pci slots in it and an interface cable which connects to a pcmci slot in your laptop. the nice thing about that is that you could load any soundcard you want into it. they exist, but still too expensive for me (and i wonder how stable the drivers would be on such a thing).... so: 2. network solution. i've got a desktop computer and a laptop. so i just network them together and use the laptop (gimptop, i call it) to control the big box (i use a freeware program called RealVNC, which lets me see the big computer's desktop). this means all i need to lug around is the big box, which can stay on the floor while i use the laptop. there's a slight latency in moving the mouse, screen refreshes etc, but the sound latency is the same as the main box (since, well it IS the main box... nothing is actually running through the laptop, unless i want to add some noise into the mix). compared to the rest of the gear i need to lug around, the computer case on it's own is a piece of cake. it's worked for me just fine on stage, the main computer is effectively just a big external soundcard.... but cheap and multifunctional.... -martin erna.wherethefuckaremypants.com

Jun 14, 2003, 07:19 PM	#4
Mata Hari HardwareHeaven Lover Join Date: Feb 2003 Posts: 213 Rep Power: 0	Not a cheap solution, but check the list at the end of this post: http://www.hardwareheaven.com/showthre...threadid=17281 for the vnc solution, while it is perfect to play audio, it wouldn't be perfect to record... (one of the main advantages of recording with laptops, is the exclusion of noise coming from ythe power supply)

Jun 16, 2003, 09:32 AM	Thread Starter #5
ccuny DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Jun 2003 Posts: 2 Rep Power: 0	Daniel: thank you. I tried to read the FAQ. If I had any idea what an Emu was apart from a large bird and a great vintage synth, I would have got it, I am sure I don't understand much of this. I just read about WDM and thoughtm well, maybe they can integrate the Crystal SoundFusion since it is a WDM card. Naie, but there you go. Mata Hari: recording audio in ona laptop is difficult whatever the solution. Latency is a bif issue, but if you don't want to record live, then an audio capture unit like teh smallest Edirol one is fine. But there are some solutions for integrated external soundcards, though none is perfect. Aardvark do a USB input with low latency for a USB but I am not sure whether it replaces teh soundcard. Teeractec are bringing out a card called a Phase24 I think, but although it looks good on paper, I am not sure it incorporates a pre-amp for MIC or Guitar with some Aardvark cards do. Etc, etc,. Anyway, there are, supposedly, a number of external cards cming out before year end that will work on FireWire. Believe it or not, I don't know whether FieWire allows for self-powered external devices (lame, I know, but my only experience with FireWire is recent , with an Iomega external hard drive, and that needed external powering). Will look at the link now. Still, as rubber_glove says, it's all a bit expensive and really, there is no perfect solution. Onteh adverts, Midge Ure is pictured using a laptop, a little keyboard and an M-Audiophile card so that ought to work. What it doesn't say is taht he probably does his mock-ups only on laptop, taht he's got a power supply in his Range Rover and a bloody great big studio elsewhere were the reall work happens. Still, since I can't ply and I can't sincg, guess it really doesn't matter afte all