Best choice of sound card for midi.

[Kairo]

Besides being an A\V nut I am also a musician. Anyway here is the question.... Anyone know of a good sound card that has analog 5.1/7.1 out, midi input and output and supports sound fonts? I was using a Sound Blaster Live Platinum in conjunction with a Yamaha Synth but I recently sold the card. I have over a gig of commercial sound fonts that I cant use right now. I've heard that M-Audio makes good products but I've never used anything of they've made.

[Poppa_Meth]

M-Audio has some good cards, but they tend to have some issues with various games if that's a concern for you. They aren't fully Soundblaster compliant I suppose. A friend of mine is a pianist and is thinking about getting a X-FI in his new rig.

[Kairo]

issues with various games if that's a concern for you

I do some gaming on the side but thats not my main concern. I just want to be able to change the sound fonts my Yamaha Keyboard uses and vice versa so my sequenced music sounds like real music and not something that sounds like it was recorded from an oldschool nintendo game. I also need analog Line-In and Mic inputs. And it has to be compatible with my ATI X600 AIW Pro, in the past I've learned that Creative and ATI products dont get along well with each other (hardware conflicts).

[dwill123]

I don't use midi but checkoput Aureon 7.1 Universe. I have one and I'm extremely satisfied with it. Recently though Terratec is hard to find in the U.S. You might have to Google it to find a distributor.

[Kairo]

Thanks alot dwill123, Aureon 7.1 Universe might be just what I'm looking for. I was scrolling through some pictures and it appears that it has MIDI input. Still not sure about the sound fonts though. Now if I can just find a reseller. Thanks again.

I'm going to check out the X-FI too.

[Poppa_Meth]

I've never had any issues with ATI and Creative conflicting and just about every rig I've ever run on has such a set up.

If you want top notch there is another model of the X-Fi available on newegg.com that fits in a 5.25" bay on the front and has all your connections on the front panel. It's pricey though. Depends what you want to drop into it.

[Skith]

You might also consider looking at the HydrogenAudio Forums. You could consider hydrogenaudio the audio equivilent of video forums such as this one, and doom9.

[Kairo]

Well I ended up buying an X-Fi Platinum at Best Buy today but not before getting the runaround from the Geek Squad. I'm about to hook it up and install the drivers now. Thanks to everyone for all their suggestions.