Sound Card for 5.1 Monitoring

musicvid10 wrote on 2/4/2008, 10:16 AM
After successfully completing a big (for me) multicam DVD project with one stereo and two mono audio feeds in V8, I am finally ready to try it in 5.1.

My USB device doesn't do 5.1 playback, nor do any of my older PCI cards. I am looking for a cheap (~$100) solution that will do at minimum 24/96 native and 5.1 analog out. I really intend to use it for monitoring, not for primary I/O. PCI would be OK.

Open to "most" suggestions ;?)

Comments

musicvid10 wrote on 2/4/2008, 10:41 AM
A few details on the audio mixes, if anyone wants to help me get started:

1) Stereo track -- Ambient stereo from 2 cardioids in the back of the auditorium -- great bass, 20ms room delay from the program, and audience response. Really a great room. Sounds great in a stereo mixdown with the two dry feeds (below).

2) Mono vocals mix -- 2 PCCs, 2 PZMs, 2 Countryman hanging, 2 Pro45s for offstage chorus, 1 SM81 for isolation, and 14 bodypacks (I know...). Great dry mix from a pro board guy. Had to ride gains in some spots. Panned dead center right now.

3) Orchestra mono mix -- 4 SM81s, 1 SM57, Shure Drum Kit, 3 DI lines from keys and bass, currently set up for simulated stereo using Multi-Tap Delay (keeps the orchestra in the room but out of the way of the vocals.

Note: Light compression and EQ on dry tracks, esp. vocals, rolled off bass on ambient track a bit due to room resonance. Sounds like a prof mastered DVD in stereo, wish I could say the same for the camera work, but that's a rant for another time . . .
drbam wrote on 2/4/2008, 1:04 PM
I personally would look for a used Echo Gina 24 (8 analog outputs). Very solid and reliable. In fact, I'd jump on this one if you catch it in time (apparently the seller has 2 of these).
http://cgi.ebay.com/ECHO-GINA-24-PCI-AUDIO-INTERFACE-SOUNDCARD-GREAT COND_W0QQitemZ280194629199QQihZ018QQcategoryZ41784QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
pwppch wrote on 2/4/2008, 5:43 PM
Please fill out your system specs in your user profile.

To mix a 5.1 project in Vegas you do not need a card that supports 5.1 playback. You need a card that has 6 physical outputs. You map these to the specific channels in Vegas' Audio Device preferences page according to how you have the outputs of your hardware connected to speakers.

Even if you use the Direct Sound Surround Mapper audio device in Vegas, this requires that the hardware has a mechanism to send the output to physical outputs - unless the hardware has a hardware AC3 encoder that takes the 6 channel PCM audio from Vegas and encodes it in real-time to an AC3 format.

To be clear, Vegas (and ACID) does not stream 5.1 encoded audio to hardware. It outputs 6 audio streams : Front Left, Center, Front Right, Read Left, Rear Right, and LFE. You need an audio hardware device that exposed 6 audio outputs or that supports the Direct Sound standard mapping.

Peter


musicvid10 wrote on 2/4/2008, 6:33 PM
** . . . unless the hardware has a hardware AC3 encoder that takes the 6 channel PCM audio from Vegas and encodes it in real-time to an AC3 format.**

In that case, I would still need an outboard amplifier that will decode the AC3 5.1 to six discrete channels, is that right?
The home entertainment center is all set up to do that, but the easiest way in the studio/office would be with six separate outputs on the sound card, if I understand right?
pwppch wrote on 2/4/2008, 7:24 PM
In that case, I would still need an outboard amplifier that will decode the AC3 5.1 to six discrete channels, is that right?
Correct.

..the easiest way in the studio/office would be with six separate outputs on the sound card, if I understand right?
You understand correctly.

Peter
Siby wrote on 2/6/2008, 4:44 PM
Peter, Is there any specific sound card you can refer to meet this requirments. My audio card is broke and I am also looking to buy a new one which supports 5.1 using Vegas Pro.
Thanks
pwppch wrote on 2/6/2008, 11:43 PM
Any card that exposes 6 outputs will work.

Lynx Studio, MOTU, Digidesign, M-Audio, Creative Labs, Echo, RME, and many other vendors make such cards. Depending on your budget you can get any number of bells and whistles.

I would look for something that supports ASIO. All of the vendors I mentioned above support ASIO as well as other driver models.

I tend to avoid USB based audio cards when requiring multiple outputs. I am sure there are some USB devices that work well, but I have experianced problems that require higher latencies to work correctly.

I don't like to recommend specific audio solutions. If I did, and something doesn't work for you, it could become a problem. Not all systems are the same, and mileage can vary with different audio hardware.

Peter
drbam wrote on 2/7/2008, 6:31 AM
If you're on a tight budget, you can't go wrong with a used Echo Gina 24 or Layla 24. Biggest difference is that the Layla has more inputs but both have a total of 10 outputs (8 analog, 2 digital). Very solid, reliable units. If budget allows, I'd go for an RME unit like the Multiface or Fireface models.