The Yamaha AN1x Synthesizer mailing list

Hi J.D.,

>The best advise would be to buy a dedicated, multi-port MIDI Interface from the likes 
>of Emagic, MOTU, MIDIMAN, Steinberg, etc. If you're simply looking to upgrade your 
>soundcard I would look at the Echo MIA or M-Audio 2496 Audiophile. Both these 
>devices are cross platform capable.
>
>I've been ready to blow off Echo, sell my now discontinued Echo GINA 20-bit audio 
>interface anod move onwards but have since reconsidered since Echo released OS X 
>CoreAudio drivers for the GINA 20-bit. I've installed the new drivers but have not 
>tried them yet. The fact Echo decided to release drivers for a long since discontinued 
>product made a positive impression on me. The MIA offers 2 balanced 1/4" Audio I/
>O, an S/PDIF I/O and a MIDI I/O on a PCI card.
><http://www.echoaudio.com/Products/MiaMIDI/index.php>http://www.echoaudio.com/Products/MiaMIDI/index.php
>
>The M-Audio 2496 offers 2 unbalanced RCA Audio I/O, an S/PDIF I/O and a MIDI I/O 
>on a PCI card.
><http://www.m-audio.com/products/m-audio/audiophile.php>http://www.m-audio.com/products/m-audio/audiophile.php

I own an Echo Mia, and it's a great little sound card.  It has a feature called "virtual outputs" that allow the Mia to look like a 2-in 8-out sound card, it has real 1/4" inputs and outputs (rather than RCA jacks), its digital ins and outs are stable and quiet, and the mixer utility looks and acts like a regular mixer, complete with VU meters (as opposed to some of the cryptic mixing "consoles" I've seen on other sound cards.   I can't speak for the Mac drivers, but the ASIO-compatible Windows drivers are quite stable under Win2K.  You're also supposed to be able to put more than one Mia in a computer, and gang them together.  

The only down sides that I've seen are:  1) it costs about $175 (US street); and 2) it has no built-in MIDI interface.

Regards,

-BW
--
Bruce Wahler
Ashby Solutions\ufffd   http://music.ashbysolutions.com
978.386.7389  voice/fax
bruce@...