Answers from IT experts please

[terryc]

I have an old PC which I use for midi or recording, it has a Creative Labs Live Drive II with associated soundcard(it has a front connection panel which is very useful), Creative Labs CDRW(using Nero) and separate CD ROM.
I was contemplating put in a new m/board, dual core processor, loads of RAM and SATA HD.
The queston is will this model of soundcard run on Windows XP and the new hardware??.
Answers please gents....

[adriaan]

Your best chance is to check the support section of the Creative website.

[terryc]

adriaan..will check it out, it's an old piece of hardware but for what I need it suits me.
thanks

[dfung60]

Which parts of the Line Drive II were you using?  You pretty much never want to try to upgrade an old computer to new components because you'll end up replacing everything anyway.  A new motherboard may require a new power supply and possibly a new case; hard drives are so cheap these days that you definitely want to get new ones; same with optical drives.  
 
You can find cases that have front panel audio jacks and if you are building a computer, rear panel fiber optic and Firewire connections are all easily found.  There are high quality audio boards, but if you've been using a Sound Blaster, the built-in sound will probably be pretty close.  That leaves midi connections where you're best off getting an external USB->midi adapter or FW->midi if you have that.  
 
Since everything else will probably be new, you can keep your old computer together in case there's some specific software that you want to run occasionally.  But I think you'll find the new stuff will all work better.
 
David Fung

[sonicus]

I would peruse an Audio Card/ interface that is capable of  24-Bit /96 khz sampling frequency  audio resolution .http://www.tweakheadz.com/16_vs_24_bit_audio.htm
 
   Sonic Regards ______

[sonicus]

Here is a good list
http://tweakheadz.com/audio_interface_fw_comparison_chart.htm

[terryc]

thank you for all suggestions..I will look into the possibilities.

[briant]

Short story:
You're much better off upgrading everything.  Your possibility of success is vastly higher.
 
More detailed story:
That sound card is OLD.  I found an XP driver here: (http://ar-domena.com.pl/-live-drive-ii-/).  So yes, it will work on XP.  Problem is: will the rest of your new hardware?  Newer hardware that you're interested in buying may or may not have XP drivers - most still do but some of the latest and greatest do not since it is much easier to go with the flow and abandon backward compatibility like MS did with the Win7 platform.  Well, technically they did that with Vista but Vista doesn't count since it sucked so hard.
 
If the rest of your hardware is as old as this sound card you are absolutely going to need to replace your power supply when you upgrade.  Unless you get a motherboard with video built in you're most likely going to have to replace your old video card as well.
 
Even if you don't - you're going to have problems.  I guarantee it.  The older hardware was *never* tested with the newer hardware.  The odds of driver incompatibilities (bugs) and annoying blue screens because of them is exceptionally high.
 
Do yourself a favor and just upgrade everything.  PCs are obscenely inexpensive now as long as you stay away from the latest and greatest.  You can build yourself a smokin' recording system for under $1000.  And that includes the price of the recording interface itself as long as you want to stay simple (like your Creative solution currently is).
 
Also, while I'm busy ranting away here, if you are unfortunate enough to be running Windows Vista right now I strongly encourage you to upgrade to Win7.  The difference is night and day.  You will be very happy with that upgrade.

[terryc]

Wel it looks like it is going in the bin so I may as well upgrade the soundcard on my PC which I use here for internet connection as it has got all new innards.
Thanks for all the suggestions from you guys.

[hydrargyrum]

I'd like to echo some of the thoughts from Brian regarding Windows Vista.  It is a gigantic stinking heap that should be rigorously avoided.  An obscene system hog with no obvious benefits for the resources consumed.

[lbpesq]

Vista?  7?  Heck, I'm still running Windows 98 on my office desktop.  AFAIK, it's the last OS that still runs WordPerfect 5.1 for DOS smoothly.  (WP5.1 is still the finest word processor ever developed, IMHO)  On my other PCs I've been dragged into the modern era - I run XP.  So call me a Luddite!
 
Bill, tgo

[adriaan]

Agreed on WP 5.1 - I still find myself searching for the underwater screen in MS Word, desperately trying to avoid having to set tabs with a mouse (shiver). As far as I could tell, not even the next version of WP was an improvement on 5.1.
 
Win98 did turn nasty even on Windows-based programs. Win98 SE was a big improvement re stability. However, we shall not speak of the third version, which looked a lot like Win2000, but was still built on the old DOS kernel, and was marketed as Windows Millenium Edition (and was not prettier by any other name).
 
I've been very lucky in not having had much to do with Vista, but suffice it to say I'm not really frustrated with Windows 7. Yes, still wishing I'd have WP 5.1, but I guess I'll survive.

[thumbsup]

I've been running XP,skipped Vista and just upgraded to 7. 98 was good but 7 is smooth. very happy.
I,ve heard a lot of good things about a Mac!
Whar are thoughts on Mac?

[sonicus]

I have 7 MAC's !  That is all that I use for Protools.

[88persuader]

Of course this is going of the path of this discussion but I use an iMac and Macbook and both run the full Logic Studios 9 program (with two different Presonus interfaces) and I couldn't be happier. (I use the Macbook when i need something portable to record on) Had both computers running Logic for over a year and really haven't had day one of issues with either system. If you have the money my advice is ditch the PC and buy a Mac and the Logic Studios program, I think it's money WELL spent! Heck the free included Garage Band program that comes with every MAC is a very good recording program in it's own right! In general Apples simply run better than PCs when it comes to recording programs. Pro tools is also amazing and the industry standard but Logic is like $500 for the complete program with tons of plug-ins which is MUCH MUCH cheaper than Pro tools with similar plug-ins. I say, if it's for a home studio Logic is 100 times MORE than you'll EVER need and is an amazing value. If you're going to make a living as a recording tech buy pro tools, it's the industry standard and you can write off the extra expense on your taxes.