Indigo IO

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rbml77
Posts: 22
Joined: 17:50, 10 August 2006
Location: Sweden

Indigo IO

Post by rbml77 »

I have a HP Intel-based laptop with a SoundMax integrated soundcard which has only a mic in and headphone out (just enough to run Skype in other words) Now I'm looking for a better (portable) soundcard solution. Echo's Indigo IO seems to be an interesting alternative and the card got quite could critics.
What I want to do is play my synth and record it to my laptop. Anybody with an Indigo IO who is doing this? Is latency an issue with PCMCIA? How is it compared to firewire? Are there better alternatives?

I would appreciate any help.

Kind regards,
Rutger
Flowing
Posts: 192
Joined: 08:48, 20 January 2004

Re: Indigo IO

Post by Flowing »

I can answer a few of your questions, based on my experience with an INDIGO I/O. I achieved low latency (12 ms or less, depending on other settings) using the INDIGO ASIO driver without clicks/pops running a few DXi and VST in Sonar and Project 5. The output sound quality (playing back a mix of softsynths and wav drum loops only; no external sounds) of the INDIGO is excellent; to my ears, it sounded as good as my Audiophile card that's in my desktop. As I mentioned, since I never recorded an input source with INDIGO, I can't comment on that.
Andy.T
Posts: 100
Joined: 18:06, 12 August 2005
Location: plymouth,devon

indigo io

Post by Andy.T »

Rutger
I have ordered one today. iwant to record my x6 songs direct to my laptop.Bypassing the need to resample my songs. Iwill let you know how I get on when it arrives.
regards Andy
HiveHead
Posts: 282
Joined: 17:00, 4 February 2005
Location: Woking, Surrey UK

Re: Indigo IO

Post by HiveHead »

I had one of these and they work fine. Just a cauntionary note however - some notebook power supplies cause interferance which can be heard through your audio interface. It is usually the hard disk firing that is heard. Its easy to blame the IO card for this and i for one spent hours trying to sort it out. Its caused by earth loops and can be stopped by using an isolating device on the incomming mains. My solution was less sophisticated - i made an adaptor with the earth left off. I'm NOT recommending this to anyone as the earth is there for a good reason, but its how i knew for sure that there was an earth loop problem.

I hope this saves you some time, or that you dont experience the problem at all.


Matthew
Andy.T
Posts: 100
Joined: 18:06, 12 August 2005
Location: plymouth,devon

Indigo IO

Post by Andy.T »

I received and installed the card exactly as the instructions say, but when I connected up my headphones and played a file all i get is a high pitch inerference type sound,like a swarm of flies in a barrel. I reinstalled and poked about for ages but got nowhere. I also noticed that the files where playing reallly slowly as I watced the playing indicator move across the screen.I played files on media player and audacity.The same thing happens on both. so at the moment I think it is totally useless.I initially chose this item because I am not computer savvy and it seemed a very easy device to get going,but now I feel dissapointed with it.
HiveHead
Posts: 282
Joined: 17:00, 4 February 2005
Location: Woking, Surrey UK

Re: Indigo IO

Post by HiveHead »

Try increasing the buffer size. Start off with buffer size of 2048 samples and see if your problems are sorted. You can then adjust back down to find a point that works and that has less latency. Also swap between WDM and ASIO drivers.


Matthew
Andy.T
Posts: 100
Joined: 18:06, 12 August 2005
Location: plymouth,devon

Indigo IO

Post by Andy.T »

I have got it sorted now thanks.I checked out the echo website and found it was a problem with the pcmia controller chip used in my laptop. i downloaded thier workarround and evrything worked brilliantly.NOTE, there is some noise whenhooked up to record my x6 when using mains power,so I set everything up plugged in and just run the laptop on battery when I record a track.Also the demo software only gives you 2 minutes recording. I am very happy with it and recomend you get one Rutger.
regards Andy.
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