Someone gave me a Sound Blaster Live CT4830 (value model??)- a std PCI card. I currently have only the integrated audio on my Intel MB D815EEA2. The integ audio controller is "Intel 82801 AA/AB/BA/CA AC '97". But Windows System Info shows it as Intel 82801 BA/BAM AC '97.

I was trying to find some specs on the CT4830 on Creative's site, or other. Did find the User Manual & drivers / patch, but no real specs.

For purposes of recording old vinyl LPs & reel to reel to HDD to burn to CD or convert to mp3, is this Creative CT4830 (Very likely / Possibly / Not likely) to have better sound quality than my integrated audio?

Or, is this sound card just a dinosaur and likely to be more trouble than...well, it was free, but...

Keep in mind, for now, the main consideration is capturing analog audio from LPs & R-R.

Many thanks!

That is a crappy SB card. Stick with the onboard Intel sound card, it will be better. Sound Blasters aren't known for their great fidelity and signal to noise ratio. There great for gaming but not so good for recording no matter what model of Sound Blaster it is.

Thanks Kurt,

If the Sound Blaster CT4830 is not as good as the Intel integrated audio I have, then how good of results could I expect using the integrated audio to capture the analog from LPs & R-R. It may? not be all that great either? But, I'm not going to spend $100 - 200+ on a sound card either. If a sound card that's superior to my integ audio could be bought for $50 or less (sale?), I might do that.

This is all w/ the understanding that a clean-up program / utility is going to be used to remove static, pop, etc., after the albums are recorded to HDD? I'd expect to use something like Nero 7 Wave Editor (I have it) or Grove Mechanic, etc.

My understanding is that a wave editing program (logically) can't clean / repair what the sound card never transferred from the source (LP) to the HDD.

i have used a few computers for transferring vinyl to CD, all using the on-board sound card. All have sounded fine to me.

You're not going to find anything better then the Intel for for $50. it's a decent card and will do the recordings nicely. Since LP's and reel to reel tapes are rather noisy anyway (without using Dolby or DBX noise reduction) I doubt you would hear any noise introduced by the sound card.

Wave editing programs such as the one that comes with Nero or Audacity (another wave editing program that does quite well and is free) will do good to remove the clicks and pops on an album or reduce tape hiss from the reel to reel.

Thanks for the input!

You're welcome

Yeah, I've read a little about Audacity, but not used it - have you? I wonder how it compares to a commercial program like nero's Wave Editor.

Some free / shareware programs are actually better in certain instances than commercial.

Part of the reason for that (in some cases, I believe) is the speed. Commercial developers (or at least their marketing depts) sacrifice maximum quality (or say, a wave editing, or secure erasing util) for speed of operation. We're a very impatient society.

In this case, I'm not concerned how fast the wave editor is, assuming I'm not editing songs note by note, pop by pop.

I haven't used either but it looks like Audacity has more features then Nero's wave editor.

If you're curious, try both on a song you are familliar with. See if there is a difference in the noise reduction or click and pop remover. Different programs use different algorythms for filtering so one may prove to be better than the other.

"That is a crappy SB card. Stick with the onboard Intel sound card, it will be better"

I wholeheartedly disagree.
They've been pretty good since PCI 64 and PCI 128 cards came out, the precursors to the Live series, as far as I've seen.

I took at look at the mboard manual for this mboard. The onboard audio on this PIII mboard is merely adequate.
The Soundblaster Live card would be noticably better, and probably has newer technology than the onboard audio.

Besides, you got it free, so you might as well give it a try.

There may be several different main chips used for the SB Live series, and some may require different drivers. If you don't have the drivers that came with it (does your friend still have it's CD? If it doesn't have XP drivers on it you can use Win 2000 drivers), XP may already have and install drivers for it but it may install ones for the wrong chipset.
If the sound doesn't work or doesn't work properly with the Windows drivers, or if XP doesn't have built in drivers, you need to search the Soundblaster web sites for drivers using the model number on the card, and/or search for drivers for the model of main chipset used on the card. Sometimes you have to look in several regions to find the right drivers - e.g. if The US site doesn't have the right drivers, Europe might.
If you don't find XP drivers, Win 2000 drivers will work.
.....

If you're going to be coverting tapes and records to digital files, it would be a good idea to use software that removes the hiss from the tape sounds, and noise, clicks, and pops from record sounds. You can get such software separately e.g. Nero has it,
or you can get a hardware box that allows you to more easily connect devices to your computer sound and has that software included.
E.g. http://www.adstech.com/products/RDX...
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicat...
Or if you pay a little more, you can get a hardware box that has a special chipset and that allows you to more easily connect devices to your computer, has that software included, and bypasses using your computer sound altogether when recording.
E.g.
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicat...

An AC 97 chipset will smoke any SB card for signal to noise ratio.

"They've been pretty good since PCI 64 and PCI 128 cards came out,"

No they haven't. They are horrible in the noise department. I'll say it again, they are great for gaming but for any type of recording, they come up very short.

Yes you can get all sorts of great signal processing hardware, but if he doens't even want to spend $100 on a decent souncard I doubt he is going to go and spend money on hardware to do this.

Whatever. I've found them to be pretty good, and that onboard audio is relatively old.
The name peg doesn't sound like a he.

oops, sorry, she.

Old isn't nessessarily bad. Many recording studios still use Telefunken, Neumann, and RCA ribbon microphones from the 50's along with tube preamps. A good design doesn't need changing.

Ever try multitrack recording with an SB card? after adding a few tracks together the noise becomes unbearable. Not to mention the internal clock on the card is so bad the tracks go out of sync with each other. You have to tell the recording application to use the computers clock just so they sync up properly.

"Old isn't nessessarily bad. "

I realize that, but it can be, when you're talking of computer sound.
I have a pair of ancient Altec Lansing speakers in custom PA cabinets myself, the same 15" ones used in the "Voice of the Theatre", the A7 - 50's vintage. I have noticed many musicians still prefer tube amps. And I am still using a few old well made IBM keyboards and Microsoft serial mice.
Asus made a mboard not too long ago that has a tube audio amp on it.

"Ever try multitrack recording with an SB card?"

No, but I doubt peg would be doing that. It sounds like she only needs to convert sound on tapes and records to digital files, and that can be done one device at a time, and the SB card may work fine for that.
She can get more expensive boxes for multitracking with a computer, which probably bypass the computer sound too, if she was into that.

If she were using something like that product in the last link in response 9, it wouldn't matter what onboard sound or sound card she had, or whether she used the SB card or not.
....

Which particular SB card model did you have those problems with?
Sometimes loading different or newer drivers cures timimg problems.

We were using an Audigy card over at a friends house. We noticed after putting a few tracks together that alot of hiss was creeping into the mix. We brought the card over to my house and put it in a system which has an onboard AC97 card. Then A/B'd them against each other by shorting out the inputs and recording a bit of silence using Adobe audition. You can not only hear the difference but you can see the results on screen.

However, it isn't a driver issue. Go to any pro audio forum and ask about SB cards. Everyone will tell you they just aren't up to par when it comes to recording.

Well, we certainly kicked the tires on that one, didn't we? All the opinions are appreciated. Thanks.

But peg's wife would heartily disagree that he, uh...I, was a she. That doesn't sound quite right. "Shaved her legs, and then he was a she."

About the price, I meant that I didn't want to spend a lot on a sound card (or other sound equip) for THIS computer. When I get around to buying / building a new one, a more expensive card would be better justified.

Like some suggested, I think I'm just going to try recording a song or 2 using both the integrated sound, then the SB. If neither is satisfactory, I'll move to plan C.