Windows 7 - sound blaster audigy + m-audio fast track pro - remove?

Hello all!

yesterday I bought a USB M-Audio Fast Track Pro for my "homestudio" and since
I already have a soundcard in my machine SB Audigy I figured it might take load from
the computer by removing the sb and just using my M-audio card

Any advise please?

Should I just go ahead and remove the SB drivers in the sysmanager, remove the card shutdown and take it out and just go for the usb card .. or should I keep the SB installed?

thanks in advance
//Ken

I have a Sonar studio (and learning Pro Tools).

Depends on what recording DAW (program) you are using and how it detects the sound devices. I had a SoundBlaster installed and as it has an ASIO driver Sonar would always pick that up as the default sound device when I started Sonar, rather than my recording device (either an MAudio Fastrack Ultra 8R or a Focusrite Saffire Pro 40). I could reset the defaul audio device in Sonar to either of my interface units but it was a minor hassle so I replaced the SoundBlaster with a different PC sound card that did not have an ASIO driver and that took care of the problem. I still had a PC sound card but when I started Sonar it only recognized whichever recording interface unit (the MAudio or Focusrite) that I had powered on and wanted to use.

However, if you only have a version of Pro Tools that will only work with their (Avid/Maudio) devices then the SoundBlaster won't be a problem as it will ignore it. As I noted I'm learning Pro Tools and have Pro Tools MP9 version and the "M" version will only work with Avid/MAudio devices and will not recognize other devices.

Thanks Fireberd! ..

I ended up taking the SB out cause I figured I would not use it anyway
otherwise I have to unhook and change the speaker cable whenever I want to switch between the two soundcards, and since I just bought the M-audio to get a better sound card it seemed redundant to keep the SB card.

I also bought an AKAI MPK49 so now I'm trying to get both those two to run properly in cubase 5 (I never like to add 2 things at once to my system cause the range of trouble increase rapidly)

I'm very curious about pro tools .. do you think it is as good as cubase or better ?
I used cubase a lot 10 years ago (man time travells fast right?) and now trying to get started again seem a little steaper than I expected) hehe

appreciate you answer buddy.
you all have a nice one
//Kenneh

I don't have enough experience with Pro Tools to answer your question. I'm currently going through a groove 3 tutorial on Pro Tools 9.

There are a lot of recording programs around and in the US different areas seem to be predominantly one or the other. In Nashville it's primarily Pro Tools. I was told in Los Angles it's Sony. Reaper is popular with many since a full version can be downloaded.

I've been using Sonar for about 5 years (since switching to computer based recording) and have the latest Sonar X1 Producer. It works for what I use it for, and I probably should stay with Sonar, but most of the other studios I deal with are Pro Tools. I got the Pro Tools MP9 relatively cheap and if I don't switch I'll still have it for an alternate DAW.