View other reviews for this product:
The Dark Judge « Small budget, occasion ... but perfect for home studio »
Published on 11/27/10 at 10:53I bought this card when I was looking for a rack with a minimum of 8 inputs and 8 outputs and above that also allows me to route internally sound. Then I had an "old" Pentium IV with 2 GB of RAM and running under XP.
He had one hand that I can connect my two guitars and the 4 outputs of my Korg 01W / FD ... while plugging in 1 or 2 mics for vocals and especially the MIDI synth, which is not USB ... therefore Hoontech corresponded very well to this need.
I moved to test in-home studio for a day and sound, despite the preamp a bit weak, really appealed to me. It's clean, it's simple, it is flexible to use and most importantly, it is a manufacture any metal which does not move in time.
Currently, despite the fact that I upgrade my hardware (a Quad Core, a motherboard faster and more efficient, more RAM and of course Vista and Seven on Multiboot) I'm cnserve and serves as main rack with the MOTU 828 MKII FW that I recently acquired ... because my need for inputs increased with time.
UTILIZATION
Keeping the drivers, the latest version is very stable on XP and I have not yet been a problem with Vista, but many people have concerns with Vista ... So it must be admitted that only XP can say that they are stable.
On Seven, except once during a session of four hours, I never managed to turn the driver properly ... and I formatted, reinstalled dozens of times over a year ...
For my part, I use Reason (4 & 5) and Record (1.0 & 1.5) as the main sequencer, but I'm also comfortable with Cubase (SX3 and v5) and the card works without any trouble with all these software.
Whether for performance or its latency audio (48KHz-24bit 9ms/7ms in a buffer of 512) or whatever for my multitrack, this card is really one of the best purchases I made.
With my current PC, in session computer music (no TSR and related services without network) I can record up to 7 tracks with a few treatments VST not too heavy ...
If I log on "normal" Windows, I limit myself to max 5 tracks and it is not necessary that I waste VST ...
In VSTi softwares used by and under the sounds / samples used for each of them is highly variable. But as an example, I record 5 simultaneous tracks of good violins EWQL SO Platinum with all the microphones turned on ... my limit is due more to lack of RAM as the Hoontech itself.
GETTING STARTED
On installation, it is very easy under Windows and it should, however, a few hours to understand routing software Driver ... but once the virtual wiring included, we immediately see that the possibilities are enormous and most importantly, you learn quickly to manage multiple configurations.
The manual (in PDF) that is provided is very succinct, but does contain the essential ... nothing superfluous, as I like.
OVERALL OPINION
What attracted me in the Hoontech compared to other PCI cards + Rack (such as Delta or 1010th) is that even if power is not his strong She has really good preamps, converters very efficient and most importantly, its driver can work flexibly and this card is very easy to use in any software I've tested with.
I use it for almost 3 years ... every day. Having tried really many other interfaces, more efficient, more ergonomic, more powerful, more expensive, more "modern" ... the Hoontech remains a favorite and I can not bring myself to part with it ... that said, it really happens at the end of life with regard to its use "soft" because its driver is not updated for the new OS and never will ... But for those still running XP and have a small budget ... here is a semi-pro card that gives access to the computer music with high performance for a ridiculous price.
Personally, I would not hesitate one second to repeat this purchase and I prefer to limit myself to 3 GB of RAM running XP rather than having to change cards for daily use Seven and my 8 GB of RAM ... I think it sums up what I think of this map.
He had one hand that I can connect my two guitars and the 4 outputs of my Korg 01W / FD ... while plugging in 1 or 2 mics for vocals and especially the MIDI synth, which is not USB ... therefore Hoontech corresponded very well to this need.
I moved to test in-home studio for a day and sound, despite the preamp a bit weak, really appealed to me. It's clean, it's simple, it is flexible to use and most importantly, it is a manufacture any metal which does not move in time.
Currently, despite the fact that I upgrade my hardware (a Quad Core, a motherboard faster and more efficient, more RAM and of course Vista and Seven on Multiboot) I'm cnserve and serves as main rack with the MOTU 828 MKII FW that I recently acquired ... because my need for inputs increased with time.
UTILIZATION
Keeping the drivers, the latest version is very stable on XP and I have not yet been a problem with Vista, but many people have concerns with Vista ... So it must be admitted that only XP can say that they are stable.
On Seven, except once during a session of four hours, I never managed to turn the driver properly ... and I formatted, reinstalled dozens of times over a year ...
For my part, I use Reason (4 & 5) and Record (1.0 & 1.5) as the main sequencer, but I'm also comfortable with Cubase (SX3 and v5) and the card works without any trouble with all these software.
Whether for performance or its latency audio (48KHz-24bit 9ms/7ms in a buffer of 512) or whatever for my multitrack, this card is really one of the best purchases I made.
With my current PC, in session computer music (no TSR and related services without network) I can record up to 7 tracks with a few treatments VST not too heavy ...
If I log on "normal" Windows, I limit myself to max 5 tracks and it is not necessary that I waste VST ...
In VSTi softwares used by and under the sounds / samples used for each of them is highly variable. But as an example, I record 5 simultaneous tracks of good violins EWQL SO Platinum with all the microphones turned on ... my limit is due more to lack of RAM as the Hoontech itself.
GETTING STARTED
On installation, it is very easy under Windows and it should, however, a few hours to understand routing software Driver ... but once the virtual wiring included, we immediately see that the possibilities are enormous and most importantly, you learn quickly to manage multiple configurations.
The manual (in PDF) that is provided is very succinct, but does contain the essential ... nothing superfluous, as I like.
OVERALL OPINION
What attracted me in the Hoontech compared to other PCI cards + Rack (such as Delta or 1010th) is that even if power is not his strong She has really good preamps, converters very efficient and most importantly, its driver can work flexibly and this card is very easy to use in any software I've tested with.
I use it for almost 3 years ... every day. Having tried really many other interfaces, more efficient, more ergonomic, more powerful, more expensive, more "modern" ... the Hoontech remains a favorite and I can not bring myself to part with it ... that said, it really happens at the end of life with regard to its use "soft" because its driver is not updated for the new OS and never will ... But for those still running XP and have a small budget ... here is a semi-pro card that gives access to the computer music with high performance for a ridiculous price.
Personally, I would not hesitate one second to repeat this purchase and I prefer to limit myself to 3 GB of RAM running XP rather than having to change cards for daily use Seven and my 8 GB of RAM ... I think it sums up what I think of this map.