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Thread Sound cards and keyboards... no idea

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Sujet de la discussion Sound cards and keyboards... no idea
I've been playing guitar for a while and I want to get into recording on my laptop, but I'm pretty much clueless. I've got Reason and a new laptop (an hp pavilion zd8000), but I doubt it has a good soundcard on it, and I'm assuming that buying a new soundcard would be pricey for a laptop. According to my device manager the soundcard I have is conexant ac-97? Either that or something called legacy. I'm into lo-fi synth sounding stuff and I like bands like russian futurists, radiohead, metric, unicorns, etc. so Im not sure what I need to get sound card wise, or if I need to get one at all.

As for the midi keyboard I really dont know anything. I was looking to purchase either a) the M-audio oxygen8 b) the m-audio ozone, or c) the m-audio radium49, or d) the m-audio keystation 49e, because they each seem to have a lot of features and they're all in my price range and seem pretty portable. I'm a beginner/not a perfectionist so I dont want to drop more than $300 idealistically. Any thoughts? Do I even need a keyboard?

Any help would be greatly appreciated! thanks.
2
Props to the laptop. Its a good idea with the HPs.

On to the sound card: The easiest way is to get an external sound card (so you dont have to rip up the beautiful laptop) and connect it through either USB or Firewire (i think that laptop has it). I have a Tascam US428, thats $300 with Cubase LE (its a fairly decent program). I regret not opting for a firewire sound card because of the increased amount of channels you can record at once. On my US428, i can only record 4 tracks simontainiously. With a firewire sound card, you can get up to 16.

There are two baisic kinds of sound cards: ones that just act as a preamp, and ones with faders built in (sometimes called DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) controllers). If you want to mix your recordings with something better than a mouse, opt for a DAW controller. Make sure it can work with your recording software.

As for keyboards: there are a few questions you need to ask yourself; Do you just need a MIDI trigger (do you have a synth program on your computer?), or do you need a keyboard with sounds built into it (for your kind of music, it sounds like you want the MIDI triggers, which are cheaper)?
Do you care about touch sensitivity (pressure sensitive keys that change aspects of the synth)?
Do you want a piano like feel to the keyboard?

If you just want the bare minimum, I would get the keystation 49e (thats what i have). But, if you want to kill 2 birds with one stone, get the M audio oxygen8. That (as far as i know) acts as a soundcard and a MIDI controller, effectively knocking out the need for a soundcard.
Don't go for this option if you care about sound quality alot. 16bit, 44.1khz audio recording will cut it if you intend to share with your friends, or for your own enjoyment, but you want something like 24bit, 96khz quality for professional grade stuff.