Hi, Everyone. As my digital-audio-hardware savvy is wanting, I would much appreciate any critique of the following (not very long) purchase proposal.
My old sound card, a vintage '91 MTU MicroSound running with Csound under MS-Windows, died recently. I am in search of a replacement, to run in a newer box under Debian Linux. My use of the system use will consist mainly of Csound generation to disk (no realtime issues) and the CD-burning of selected results. I'll want to hear directly from disk too, and record occasionally from analog tape. My proposed solution is an RME Hammerfall Lite, together with its two analog expansion boards, the AEB4-I & AEB4-O. If I understand, the main board on its own will format output appropriately for audio-CD, but requires the AEB4-I to record from analog sources, and requires the AEB4-O to play directly from disk. Question 1: Do I understand these essentials correctly? (Already have also the ALSA-0.9 sources, CD-burner, amplifier and speakers.) Question 2: Does the RME constitute overkill -- for someone mainly wanting sound _quality_ (not whatever new fancy functionalities) in his old-fashioned style of use? If a simpler alternate could serve me as well, any suggestions? Thanks in advance for your time. Peter
