Help choosing a new sound card

Sorry, me again :o) Thanks to all that helped me in the last thread about the keyboard! I'm going to get myself a new sound card, the one i have is a built in one (realtek ac97 on-board), and the sound quality isn't that great.

It never really bothered me till i started recording music seriously. Since there is a fair number of people here who have recorded music on their home computers, and some have studios, i was after some recommendations on sound cards. I'd say i have a £70 limit for spending, but i'm willing to stretch that a little if there is a better option for a little more cash.

Well, I personally like the X-Fi series of cards from Creative. I have one of the earlier ones and I have never looked back. The Extreme Gamer version can be had for around £60.

Whilst X-Fi may be better than their previous cards, I would avoid Creative and X-Fi.

If you're using a MIDI keyboard you want a high quality, low latency soundcard. Latency is the gap between pressing a key on your keyboard, and hearing a sample playing out of your speakers.

Two good brands are E-MU or M-Audio - I would go for M-Audio as they seem to have a better track record for drivers. I personally have an E-mu 0404 which was (and still is) a very good, cheap card.

This is probably the best budget card you can get:
http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/Audiophile2496-main.html

£48 here: http://www.dolphinmusic.co.uk/page/shop/flypage/product_id/1142

or you might find them on Ebay too.

I'm still using my Sound Blaster 16, no joking....
It has lived for 8 years and still working.

Yeah caff, i was doing some reading about alot of soundcards only being able to handle 48kHz and they resample everything else. Suggestions were to get a soundcard capable of handling diffent frequencies and not resampling them. Thanks i'll check that link out!

Ok, i bought that one you suggested Caff. Decent price, thanks :o) It was £54 on amazon.