[linux-audio-user] Delta 66/new mobo question

[David]

On Mon, 30 Aug 2004 09:31:42 -0400
Dave Phillips <dlphilp at bright.net> wrote:

> Greetings:
> 
>   eBay lists a number of these cards for sale, some with pretty good 
> prices. However, I do have a couple questions before laying out the
> dinero:
> 
>     Is the Omni breakout box just as usable under Linux as the regular
> 4x4 box ?

It is. You can see it as an analog mixing console (A/D converters sit
on the PCI board) that is very useful when recording (e.g. you can add
a little reverb from an external effect rack during the takes).
I am no specialist but, from what I hear, the two instrument/mic
preamps of the OmniI/O are pretty quiet and clear sounding. Hardware
mixing and monitoring is really useful, you don't have to worry too much
about latency. The envy24 chip is very well supported by ALSA, and you
have perfect control over it thanks to envy24control.

>     Is the S/PDIF fully supported under ALSA ?

I think so but I haven't tested it.

>     Is the MIDI I/O fully supported by ALSA ?

As others said, no MIDI port on this one, but in my setup, an USB MIDI
only box does the trick flawlessly.

>   I  realize that the ALSA  site answers these questions, but I want 
> input from users.
> 
>   I'm also in the market for a new mobo, but I can't break the bank on
>   
> it. I'm currently using an 800 MHz Duron CPU: what would be a
> suggested upgrade for a Delta 66-based studio, especially WRT the CPU
> ?

What I am using is an Athlon 900MHz on a KT133 based mobo. The only
thing I had to do was flash the BIOS to the latest version. Before that,
my takes where a bit noisy (PCI problems ?). Now, everything is perfect,
if only my playing was on par ! ;)

>   Any and all suggestions will be vastly appreciated !

I'm pretty statisfied with this soundcard and I'd recommend it. I have
no experience with other mutichannel cards though.

> Best,
> 
> dp

Thanks for what you do for Linux Audio and good luck for your new setup.

--
David