What are some good sound cards to get for an FX processor?

[foul_owl]

Hey all!

I'm trying to set up an FX processor to use for both guitar and vocals. Ideally, what I would like would be a sound card with 4x mono 1/4" unbalanced in/out. I want to run an FX chain after the guitar, but before the preamp of my tube amp, then I want to run another signal chain through the FX loop of my tube amp. But I want to do this in stereo, so this is going to take four input/output pairs.

Also, I want two XLR balanced in/outs. I want to do vocal fx as well, but the same deal, have an fx chain before a tube preamp, and one after the tube preamp but before the house PA.

Has anyone set up anything like this before? I was thinking about stuffing a bunch of sound cards into a motherboard, but I didn't know if the PCI bus had enough bandwidth for say five sound cards. I think I'm probably better off buying one really nice sound card, right?

Am I asking too much from one computer? Should I go with one for guitar and one for vocals?

Thanks for any help you can give!

[warkus]

Sounds like your after an M-audio Delta 1010LT.

For the guitar:
You will achieve a much higher quality of sound if you plug your guitar directly into your amplifier and use only the FX loop for digitization and signal processing.
Why stereo FX? you only have one guitar amp right?

For the vocal:
Can you please explain your reason behind signal path - FX , Preamp , FX
This is digitizing the sound twice, you also need a preamp before digitization so the resulting signal chain for the vocals would be - Mic, Preamp, AD, FX, DA, Preamp, AD, FX, DA, PA .
This would introduce much noise amongst other distortions, also there would be a fair latency by the time the signal was digitized for the second time around.

One computer is more than enough for what you stated in your question.. i just don't think it is a practical setup, not from a technical point of view.

[foul_owl]

Thanks for the help!! I think I might have to reevaluate my needs.

You get a different sound from say guitar-> eq->preamp vs guitar->preamp->eq, but the only pedal I would run before the preamp would be a compressor. Maybe I can run all my fx through the loop and it would sound great. I have active pickups too, so maybe there would be no loss of sound quality if I ran a separate chain before the amp.

Using the same reasoning as above, I was thinking I would get a different sound from mic->eq>preamp vs mic->preamp->eq, but it probably doesn't matter!

I will be running a stereo guitar setup, two different amps.

I think what makes the most sense is to have two unbalanced in/out for two fx loops for two different amps, and then have a single balanced in/out for vocals. (maybe a second one for a second vocalist) Any card recommendations?

Also, I want to have a pedal board, maybe 8 channels, usb interface using an arduino. I can probably build that myself, but I was wondering if anyone has done that before. Maybe an expression pedal built in too.

Thanks for the help!!!

[i2productions]

Sounds like your after an M-audio Delta 1010LT.

Took the words out of my mouth. I used to have a real nice studio setup with 2 M-Audio Deltas. And I had almost every out put taken up. 4 stereo feeds to headphone amplifiers, 2 stereo feeds and returns for external fx processors. You really can't get anything better for the price! (You'll just spend some extra on lot's of RCA-1/4" adapters)

[steevc]

Also, I want to have a pedal board, maybe 8 channels, usb interface using an arduino. I can probably build that myself, but I was wondering if anyone has done that before. Maybe an expression pedal built in too.

The Behringer FCB1010 seems good value for lots of foot control. Two expression pedals too. I assume it works with Linux(?)

http://www.behringer.com/EN/Products/FCB1010.aspx

EDIT: Seems it's been working on Linux for some time. Something for my wishlist

http://www.linuxaudio.org/mailarchive/l ... 1/7/121145

[brummer]

Also, I want to have a pedal board, maybe 8 channels, usb interface using an arduino. I can probably build that myself, but I was wondering if anyone has done that before. Maybe an expression pedal built in too.

Maybe than that is of some interest for you
http://www.ise.pw.edu.pl/~wzab/MIDI/pedal/index.html
or a more simple one key foot controller
http://redfelineninja.org.uk/software/rfstompbox.html

[steevc]

For the DIY footswitch option a friend used a USB joystick as the basis for his as it has the necessary electronics

http://damacleod.wordpress.com/2010/11/ ... ootswitch/

I've just had a search around, but can't find much recent info on using a joystick to generate MIDI on Linux. Or can you do it differently? Sounds like a topic for the wiki.

[foul_owl]

Awesome, thank you to everyone for the help!!

I know almost nothing about MIDI, but I see now that is what I want for a controller. To me, MIDI means like early computer generated music, not a controller.

Any opinions on the running FX before the preamp vs through the loop? Music style is metal but will be using clean, crunch, rhythm, and lead tones. I'm realizing as I type this that an effect like a tube screamer would have to go before the preamp. What are the expected levels for a guitar pickup? Could I still run a chain before the preamp?

Is the average FX loop compatible with the line in/out on that sound card? What is line level for an fx loop and for a sound card? If I got an amp with a balanced FX loop, would that make a difference for the better in sound quality?

Finally, if I want this to go in a standard rack with other musical gear, what would be a good motherboard to get? What would be the form factor? Is it the same rack size as a normal server? Also, what is a company that is the most open about their hardware and tries to support linux, so that I can give some money to them?

Thanks!!