What type of sound card is best for home studio recording?
It really depends on what you want to do in your home studio. If you just want to record, mix and burn to CD almost any $20 sound card these days would be sufficient. M Audio makes a line of 24 bit sound cards that sample at 96kHz and 192kHz which is great if you plan on using software based instruments and effects.Also a higher quality card is good if you want speed up or slow down audio to fit into a certain time frame. Cards like this tend to go run about $100 to $250. The Delta 1010 and the Delta 44 sound cards have multiple inputs and outputs for recording separate channels simutaneously. A card like this can be had from $250 to $500. Also, in addtion to the sound card you have audio processing cards that can simulate valve compressors, tube compressors, various reverb and effects units… which cost upwards of $600 There are so many styles and brands that the better you understand your needs, the better card you can get to fit your situation.
