Sound Blaster Audigy: good for?

[EverythingIBM]

Alright, a friend's father of mine recently gave me a Sound Blaster Audigy. Now it's a really cool card: plus it has a little box which it connects to (various things with different audio connectors and switches).
I won't get into the problem of actually stuffing this thing in a computer, but I want to know if anyone else has one of these, what they think of them, and, what they're good for.
Especially in regards to MIDI; and would it give any boost in performance in a DAW?



At the top left is a matrox millennium, going to try that one out later. The bottom right is the audigy. The little control box is not pictured.

[intealls]

I've got an Audigy 2 ZS, and it's great, if you use it with the KX drivers available here. They allow chaining multiple DSPs together, the only one I use though is the awesome EQ. The output ports on the control box pack quite a punch, great if you don't want to invest in a headphone amplifier (using it with HD555s, and can get it loud enough to cause serious ringing). I found the MIDI ports to have a slightly longer delay than using my digital piano's built-in controller. Using the KX drivers, it's awesome, without them, not so much.

[wulax]

As far as I know, the Sound Blaster cards are mainly built for gaming and movie watching. It will surely work better than any onboard sound card for midi usage, but if you want good DAW performance buy something lilke the M-Audio cards.
That said, I like this card quite a bit. It has great support in Linux both in the kernel module and Alsa. It supports something few cards do anymore, hardware mixing. Makes for a lot less problems with playing sounds in multiple programs at once when using Alsa. On other cards I always has to mess with dmix to get it even remotely usable.
So, if you are using Linux and not doing heavy audio work, keep it. Otherwise, throw it away and get a better one.

[EverythingIBM]

As far as I know, the Sound Blaster cards are mainly built for gaming and movie watching. It will surely work better than any onboard sound card for midi usage, but if you want good DAW performance buy something lilke the M-Audio cards.
That said, I like this card quite a bit. It has great support in Linux both in the kernel module and Alsa. It supports something few cards do anymore, hardware mixing. Makes for a lot less problems with playing sounds in multiple programs at once when using Alsa. On other cards I always has to mess with dmix to get it even remotely usable.
So, if you are using Linux and not doing heavy audio work, keep it. Otherwise, throw it away and get a better one.

I actually do have an M-Audio Audiophile 2496 installed. But I use it for MIDI rather than a soundcard. Does it double as a good soundcard? Never really tried it due to its RCA ports.
[I did have the Audiophile and Audigy both installed at one point, but it really crowded up my computer; if the Audigy had slimmer cords rather than those ribbons, it would be SO MUCH EASIER]

I've got an Audigy 2 ZS, and it's great, if you use it with the KX drivers available here. They allow chaining multiple DSPs together, the only one I use though is the awesome EQ. The output ports on the control box pack quite a punch, great if you don't want to invest in a headphone amplifier (using it with HD555s, and can get it loud enough to cause serious ringing). I found the MIDI ports to have a slightly longer delay than using my digital piano's built-in controller. Using the KX drivers, it's awesome, without them, not so much.

Alright thanks for the driver suggestion.
Well, from what I gather, this thing seems to be better for adjusting audio, and playing games... which... is not at all a disadvantage.
Most of my computers run on onboard audio, so, this thing will fare nicely for some good gaming (uh, modern games, like Majesty 2).

[wulax]

I actually do have an M-Audio Audiophile 2496 installed. But I use it for MIDI rather than a soundcard. Does it double as a good soundcard? Never really tried it due to its RCA ports.
[I did have the Audiophile and Audigy both installed at one point, but it really crowded up my computer; if the Audigy had slimmer cords rather than those ribbons, it would be SO MUCH EASIER]

Since the 2469 doesn't have analog 7.1 surround the Audigy is a better sound card for games without DTS (most of them). I am not sure about dual channel. I never tried it either.

Yes, the EQ on Audigy is nice.

[intealls]

Yes, the EQ on Audigy is nice.

One more thing though, when using the KX drivers, make sure to check the peak (kX icon->Effects->Peak) when you're messing with EQ settings etc if you're getting distorted audio. You'll easily be able to deduce if it's the mixing settings or the speakers causing it. If it turns out to be the EQ, simply reduce the gain on it. I was ready to throw my HD555s out, but then realized that the scorching could be solved by simply reducing the overall gain by 1dB or something.

Edit: also, the AudioPhile card will most likely produce lower latencies in any ASIO-compatible app you might use. I find the Audigy needs about ~6ms to not skip.

[EverythingIBM]

Since the 2469 doesn't have analog 7.1 surround the Audigy is a better sound card for games without DTS (most of them). I am not sure about dual channel. I never tried it either.

Yes, the EQ on Audigy is nice.

Mine is just a first generation Audigy, which would be limited to 5.1 if I'm not mistaken.
But that doesn't matter, it was free. Better than onboard sound, and it's not good to throw out equipment soon as it becomes outdated. Well I don't think so. So many computers come with onboard sound it's almost painful.

One more thing though, when using the KX drivers, make sure to check the peak (kX icon->Effects->Peak) when you're messing with EQ settings etc if you're getting distorted audio. You'll easily be able to deduce if it's the mixing settings or the speakers causing it. If it turns out to be the EQ, simply reduce the gain on it. I was ready to throw my HD555s out, but then realized that the scorching could be solved by simply reducing the overall gain by 1dB or something.

Edit: also, the AudioPhile card will most likely produce lower latencies in any ASIO-compatible app you might use. I find the Audigy needs about ~6ms not to skip.

That makes sense.

Well, that's great. So now I know my audiophile is definitely better for DAW work than the audigy (but that frees it up for enhancing games on my gaming computer, which, would be excellent). It's great fun tweaking audio settings.