[sdiy] MIDI + Ethernet

[Colin Hinz]

Paul Higgins bemoans the lack of MIDI on PC sound cards:

> Yes, I was talking about PCI computer sound cards; the M-Audio
> "Revolution 7.1" card in particular.  It's ideal for software synth
> applications, audio editing, etc.  And it's priced so affordably that
> putting more than one into a machine becomes a real possibility.  But
> for some reason they omitted a MIDI connection.  Another of their other
> cards has a MIDI connector but limits you to four outs.

Looking at the specs on M-Audio's website, it's not surprising it
doesn't have MIDI. This card, like (virtually?) everything marketed
to the comsumer market, is designed to be primarily a "multimedia
entertainment" playback device. Good grief, S/PDIF output but
no input? Unbalanced analog over stereo minijacks? That's definitely
in soundblaster territory.

M-Audio's line of professional audio I/O cards look pretty nice, though.
Low latency drivers, proper interface connectors, and so forth.
And, as it's been noted elsewhere, M-Audio boards are supported by
Linux.

About the only room for improvement would be to move the A/D and D/A
conversions *outside* of the damn-noisy PC enclosure.......

> So far, I've been using an ST Audio "Media 7.1", which is great but a
> little expensive when you're talking about running two or three in a
> system.

Not bad, not bad. The RIAA preamp is a nice touch.

- Colin Hinz
  Toronto, Canada