Turtle Beach Systems Montego II Home Studio PCI Music and Audio Production System

Rating:
Summary: lite-on dvd/cdrw combo
Review: I have owned this sound card and included software for 6 months now. After all is said an done I am very happy with this sound card. Pitfalls: 1. After installing hardware and software my computer hung at the windows 98 Splash screen. After 3 hours of tweaking I finally logged onto Turtle Beach's website with a friends computer where I quickly identified the problem. Norton antivirus conflicted with new drivers. (Note:If possible,review TBeach's troubleshooting page.It is difficult to address problems after installation if you have no computer to access the internet) 2. To date, I have been unable to make my second headphone jack work. ( No sound ) I have checked Turtle Beach's website to no avail. However, I have yet to contact Turtle Beach's tech support directly. 3. Take note, you will need two available expansion slots in the rear of your computer. Moreoever,they will have to be adjacent to each other. However, one of the expansion cards does not connect to your motherboard. The 2nd expansion card simply connects to your primary expansion card via a included cable and then slips into the expansion slot. 4. If you have two CD devices such as a CD-ROM/CD-WRITER or DVD player you will have to buy an extra Audio Line Cable to connect the 2nd CD device to the Hardwares dedicated Auxilary sound card connection. ( I used a 15 inch Audio cable with a MPC-2 Connector(keyed) on both ends. 5. Software not effective in reducing pops,hiss etc. from analog recordings like that from a vinyl record. Acalades: 1. Hardware was very easy and straightforward to install. ( A getting started guide was included with package ) 2. Software package installed quickly. ( Once again the getting started guide was very helpfull in the manner that it contained screen shots of every window you should see during installation) 3. Wow. When you first see the Digital Orchestra Pro GUI you wonder if you have to have a college degree to navigate. Fortunatelly the Software comes with a VIDEO TUTORIAL that explains most items to you in a suffiient manner. The package comes ith an extensive help manual in Adobe PDF format. Don't worry the CD includes the an ADOBE installation file to install the PDF reader onto your computer. 4. Great sound, I have 80 watt speakers(MS Sound System 80 connected to my computer and the sound improvement alone was very noticeable. 5. I can connect my DAT recorder and MINIDISC recorder to my computer now via pure digital connections. DAT via S/PDIF cable MINI DISC via Fiber Optic Cable. 6. I can play a MIDI,WAV,MP3 etc. track and simultaneously record the track as a new WAV file. 7. Great editing features for all digital sound files and MIDI sound files. Near perfect editing with regards to the ease of editing a sound file. 8. Finally,an easy way to convert a MIDI file format to a WAV file format with out dealing with cables and connections. Simply play the MIDI file and simultaneusly record it as a WAV file on your computer desktop. 9. After completing a project and recording to a CD via my CD Writer, the end results sounded perfect and professional.

Who should PURCHASE this product?? Anyone who is a music enthusiast,musician or singer and wants to create a professional CD with their own vocals or instrumental solo accompanied with other instruments and background vocals. Note: Software does not include a complete library of background voice tracks or instrumental tracks. You will have to create all music or purchase an optional CD that contains music library's.

Who should NOT PURCHASE this product?? Anyone who wants to create a fancy DJ type mixe by simply draging and dropping sound samples. *Although, If you are a DJ and want more flexibility with regards to your mixes then this product is definetly worth your attention because you can mix up to 1000 sound tracks.

Computer Info: My computer IBM Aptiva 2171-585, DVD-ROM, CD-WRITER, Windows 98,17GB Hard Drive,256 RAM

Rating:
Summary: Almost perfect.
Review: I have owned this sound card and included software for 6 months now. After all is said an done I am very happy with this sound card. Pitfalls: 1. After installing hardware and software my computer hung at the windows 98 Splash screen. After 3 hours of tweaking I finally logged onto Turtle Beach's website with a friends computer where I quickly identified the problem. Norton antivirus conflicted with new drivers. (Note:If possible,review TBeach's troubleshooting page.It is difficult to address problems after installation if you have no computer to access the internet) 2. To date, I have been unable to make my second headphone jack work. ( No sound ) I have checked Turtle Beach's website to no avail. However, I have yet to contact Turtle Beach's tech support directly. 3. Take note, you will need two available expansion slots in the rear of your computer. Moreoever,they will have to be adjacent to each other. However, one of the expansion cards does not connect to your motherboard. The 2nd expansion card simply connects to your primary expansion card via a included cable and then slips into the expansion slot. 4. If you have two CD devices such as a CD-ROM/CD-WRITER or DVD player you will have to buy an extra Audio Line Cable to connect the 2nd CD device to the Hardwares dedicated Auxilary sound card connection. ( I used a 15 inch Audio cable with a MPC-2 Connector(keyed) on both ends. 5. Software not effective in reducing pops,hiss etc. from analog recordings like that from a vinyl record. Acalades: 1. Hardware was very easy and straightforward to install. ( A getting started guide was included with package ) 2. Software package installed quickly. ( Once again the getting started guide was very helpfull in the manner that it contained screen shots of every window you should see during installation) 3. Wow. When you first see the Digital Orchestra Pro GUI you wonder if you have to have a college degree to navigate. Fortunatelly the Software comes with a VIDEO TUTORIAL that explains most items to you in a suffiient manner. The package comes ith an extensive help manual in Adobe PDF format. Don't worry the CD includes the an ADOBE installation file to install the PDF reader onto your computer. 4. Great sound, I have 80 watt speakers(MS Sound System 80 connected to my computer and the sound improvement alone was very noticeable. 5. I can connect my DAT recorder and MINIDISC recorder to my computer now via pure digital connections. DAT via S/PDIF cable MINI DISC via Fiber Optic Cable. 6. I can play a MIDI,WAV,MP3 etc. track and simultaneously record the track as a new WAV file. 7. Great editing features for all digital sound files and MIDI sound files. Near perfect editing with regards to the ease of editing a sound file. 8. Finally,an easy way to convert a MIDI file format to a WAV file format with out dealing with cables and connections. Simply play the MIDI file and simultaneusly record it as a WAV file on your computer desktop. 9. After completing a project and recording to a CD via my CD Writer, the end results sounded perfect and professional.

Who should PURCHASE this product?? Anyone who is a music enthusiast,musician or singer and wants to create a professional CD with their own vocals or instrumental solo accompanied with other instruments and background vocals. Note: Software does not include a complete library of background voice tracks or instrumental tracks. You will have to create all music or purchase an optional CD that contains music library's.

Who should NOT PURCHASE this product?? Anyone who wants to create a fancy DJ type mixe by simply draging and dropping sound samples. *Although, If you are a DJ and want more flexibility with regards to your mixes then this product is definetly worth your attention because you can mix up to 1000 sound tracks.

Computer Info: My computer IBM Aptiva 2171-585, DVD-ROM, CD-WRITER, Windows 98,17GB Hard Drive,256 RAM

Rating:
Summary: lite-on dvd/cdrw combo
Review: Item exactly as described. Was shipped immediately and arrived within a few days of ordering.

Rating:
Summary: this is sooo cool!
Review: My cousin has this, and i have been using it for the past year. It's really fun and cool to work with if u know how to use it. I am thinking about buying one soon, so maybe i can buy it this year. I really recommend it!