Desktop Soundcard?

Hey all! I'm a new poster on the forum but been reading stuff here for awhile.

I'm a virtual DJ, broadcasting my sets into a virtual world called Second Life. Until recently I was using VDJ, no controller, software only. But I got into it so much that I spent a couple months researching and finally purchased an Arcade VCI 100. I switched over to Traktor Pro as well, since the controller is mapped perfectly with it.

I use a desktop computer, and at first I was using the onboard sound card, but the latency ended up being over 20ms and if I got too heavy on the effects, the card would lock up. I may be a bedroom DJ but that's just not good enough. So I talked to a friend and they suggested Creative's X-Fi. I bought it, and Traktor doesn't even work now.. there's no communication between the program and the sound card. Now I've read that there's serious issues between Traktor and X-Fi.

So... I need suggestions. Is there an internal sound card for a desktop that will work well? Or should I go external?

Thanks!

Almost sounds like my issue with asio drivers on my desktop... though it bluescreens >.>

an A2DJ would solve your problems. but it would be external (and IMO more versitile than buying an internal card incase you switch to a laptop setup in the future)

would cause your checking balance an ~$80 drop tho.

If I go with an external, will I have to uninstall the internal X-Fi card? It works great with all my other programs, just not with Traktor.

no should be fine... all you do is set traktor's preferences to use the Audio2 instead of the x-fi.

to access the prefs click the little icon at the top right of your traktor screen thats shaped like a cog/gear, then go to audio routing and change your monitor output to one of the audio2 channels and your master output to the other channel on the audio 2.

the audio2 has 2x 1/4" stereo outputs. so for internal mixing mode you'll connect your headphones (monitor output) into one output and the other output connects to your speakers (master output).

Hi.

I've been using an old ESI Maya44e for a while now. It's serving me well, and it supports a good few outputs and inputs (4 in 4 out).

http://www.esi-audio.com/products/maya44e/

It's not horribly expensive, around 180usd / 130Eur.