David,

Probably the most popular alternative to SBLive with the people I know is
the MidiMan Audiophile 2496 at:

http://www.midiman.net/products/m-audio/audiophile.php

MSRP $229, street price around 150-170 USD. PC/Mac, two tracks in/out,
provides midi in/out, S/PDIF, 24 bit/96khz capable. In addition, it's
friendly towards Gigasampler (way cool software sampler synth, the real
thing). The only thing lacking is balanced audio in (you get RCA jacks). The
major competitor at this price point is Echo's Mia card, which does not have
Midi, but does have balanced audio in. Mia is about 200 bucks street.

For more money, you start getting more inputs to record simultaneously on,
and more outputs. $400 is about right for 4 channel, 8 channel runs about
twice that. As you might guess, you can pay quite a bit of money for the
more dedicated stuff as you edge towards Digidesign ProTools and such.
Typically you start getting more features and things like breakout boxes at
the higher prices. Some of the units are starting to become standalone
firewire based. Isolating the converters away from the computer helps with
RF interference. Mark of the Unicorn, Midiman and Echo all make good
products upmarket. Like most upmarket stuff, it depends a lot on your
application as to which is the most suitable solution for you.

Hope this helps,

Jim

PS: After writing this, I noticed I "needed" an extra sound card and ordered
an Audiophile 2496 from samash.com. I'm blaming this on you ;-)

>
> > Jim Benson wrote:
> > SBLive is notoriously poor for this application. Digital
> > Audio Workstation
> > (DAW) 101 - get rid of SB Live. However, this card is an
> > excellent value for a synth/sampler. Use your SB Live as
> > your synth. It's cheaper than buying a dedicated one, and
> > has nearly equivalent performance, especially in live
> > application. Plus there are a ton of samples available for
> > it.
>
> Do you have any recommendation for a decent low-medium cost
> complement to the SBLive?
>
> -david
>
>
>