Soundcards

The ultimate soundcard for high-end musicians? Creative Labs' Soundblaster products may have dominated the consumer soundcard market, but can they take the next step up with its successor?

A new wave of dedicated DSP cards is helping computer musicians boost their plug-in power. The latest to appear is Universal Audio's UAD1, which offers recreations of vintage compressors as well as a high-quality reverb.

Martin Walker tests an inexpensive, high-quality soundcard which uses virtual outputs to allow multiple PC applications to share its hardware outputs.

Many musicians with computer-based studios don't need lots of inputs and outputs, but that doesn't mean they're happy to put up with poor audio quality and design compromises of consumer soundcards. However a new type of affordable, high-quality soundcard is now emerging to meet this need. Martin Walker puts two or the leading candidates to the test.

A new selection of soundcards from Germany promises excellent audio quality at extremely competitive prices, with a selection of I/O options to suit most buyers. Martin Walker tries out the first model in the Marian range.