Multiple Sound Cards in Windows XP

[Guest]

Ok, here is the deal. I would like to have 2 or more working sound cards in
my computer. Ideally, I want to be able to use windows media player to play
song1 while at the same time I want to use another audio player to play
song2. I'm not worried about the actual programs that play the songs, that
doesn't really matter, the real issue is CAN I HAVE MORE THAN ONE SOUND CARD?
and if so WHAT KINDS OF SOUND CARDS CAN I USE?

Currently I have an audigy 2 zs installed and it works just great. I
enabled my onboard audio to see it that work, but it does not. I'm wondering
if I installed another PCI sound card if I can accomplish what I want. Or
even a USB sound card/device.

Any ideas, suggestions, comments would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[V Green]

Ummm...I can play 2 or more songs with
a single sound card...just use MPLAYER2,
the older version of WMP.

Start>>Run>>MPLAYER2
View>>Options>>Player
tick off "Open a new player for
each media file played"

Then you can launch as many of
these as you want, they can all play
AT ONCE through one set of audio
hardware.

I have 3 of them going right now, all playing
different audio files.

I don't know what the limit on how many you
can open is...

 

[Guest]

V Green, Thanks for your input, but that is not what I'm trying to do. Let
me clarify a bit more. Basically I'm working on a program that ideally could
be playing any number of sounds at the same time. I would like each sound
that is playing have a setting that can change which output it goes out of.
So with one sound card you have 2 outputs, your left and your right channel.
I would like to have more than 2 options for sending the signal out.

Here's another scenario to help visualize the problem. I have four rooms,
and I want to send a different song to each room that is controlled on my pc.
If i can get 2 sound cards working than I would have 4 distinct outputs, one
for each room. Does that make any sense?

 

[V Green]

OK, got what you're doing now...

You need 4 SEPERATE ANALOG outputs.

It IS possible to get two sound cards running simultaneously,
I am doing it here with the onboard sound of an ASUS PC-DL
and the audio portion of a Winnov Videum (AC '97) video
capture card.

However, the Winnov folks took great pains to ensure that
their card could co-exist with others, and probably wrote
the driver to take this into account.

I am realtively sure that most "consumer" sound cards will barf
at two of the same card in the system - most drivers won't know
how to keep their stuff straight if they see two identical hardware
sets.

I know that's not what your'e doing, but I just wanted to throw that
out there...

My experience is that Creative hardware is the worst for issues.
The old PCI latency issue with my Live! drove me away from them
forever. Try a card from a different mgfr. and make sure that the
store allows returns.