Multiple identical soundcards?

  • gumble77
Posted: Fri, 03/06/2009 - 15:39
Hello, perhaps you could help me with a basic question, because I have not too much experience using Linux. Is it possible to use several identical soundcards? My idea was to use four soundblaster cards (because one works well) in order to have four line-ins (4x stereo) for harddisk recording. I tried to activate the onboard soundcard as well, but this didn't work, although I got the right drivers for Linux. Any suggestion welcome! Thanks a lot! Best regards, Alex
‹ Multiple Maudio 2496 Tempted to switch from Ubuntu Studio to 64Studio ›

Well ...

  • gumble77
  • 03/06/09
  • Tue, 06/09/2009 - 11:29
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This is getting a bit complicated. ;) I can't find a specified part number. The crystals are labeled both with the frequency (24.576) and something that - I suppose - could be a sort of serial number: Hm0B Hh0B Hg0B (2x) What is even more confusing: The Hg0B-Parts are built in (or labeled!) rotated by 180 degrees in comparision to the other ones.

Well...

  • gumble77
  • 03/06/09
  • Sat, 04/25/2009 - 12:37
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It took some time to get four identical soundcards. I decided for Soundblaster SB0060 (cheap), but had to learn Creative used different crystals on this model. Finally I have got four with the same. But I do not really know which pin/leg of the crystal is the "in" and which the "out" one. Has anybody got an idea how to figure this out? Thanks!

If you haven't done so

  • rayj
  • 01/19/09
  • Thu, 04/30/2009 - 19:31
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If you haven't done so already, get the part # of the crystal and either hunt for specs online, or call an electronics retailer (not Radio Shack...try the ones that sell used components) and have them look it up in their manufacturer parts cross-reference. You should be able to get the pinout layouts for anything on the market, if you find someone who knows what they're talking about.

Thank you for those

  • gumble77
  • 03/06/09
  • Sat, 03/07/2009 - 15:49
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Thank you for those links! This looks quite interesting, I think I will try it. I'm not too worried about the hardware modifcations, but if the software will really work ... ;) I'll report here when I got the necessary soundcards. Best regards, Alex

Soem more info

  • Quentin Harley
  • 05/24/07
  • Sat, 03/07/2009 - 07:27
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Interesting reads...

Hi Quentin, thanks a lot

  • gumble77
  • 03/06/09
  • Fri, 03/06/2009 - 22:42
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Hi Quentin, thanks a lot for your answer! Never thought the (missing) clock source could be a problem, because I tried to use four soundcards (but different ones) before to record eight channels running Win XP. This worked pretty well - would it be possible with different cards on Linux too? The great advantage on this solution: the price ... ;) You can buy soundblaster cards on ebay for a few bucks - but I cannot even guess how expensive a multi input card would be. Best regards, Alex

multiples

  • Quentin Harley
  • 05/24/07
  • Fri, 03/06/2009 - 17:58
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Hi Alex, I am afraid I might have bad news... 4 SB cards do not run together well because they do not have a single clock source. What this means it that you get clock drift, and it soon screws with everything. There are some cowboys that breaks out the soldering iron to make a combination device that shares the clock source of one device, but I would not recommend this as a first project... You will have much less trouble if you get a linux compatible multi input device. 8 inputs are common. Cheers, Q