Sound Cards

I had a 4/6/8 channel CMI 8738 based card in my previous computer [OS XP sp2] but now have a new unit running Vista 32 bit. Neither the on board sound, nor any of the PCI or PCIe 5.1/7.1 cards I have tried, do what the previous card did [even though I have been told it shouldn't have]. I am only interested in stereo and need two outputs which send the same stream [my on board or card supply a different stream from the rear out which sounds terrible on its own] and can be switched off independently when required, and I need to be able to listen to what I am recording from my record player. Can anyone suggest a card? CMI do not reply to my emails, and the suppliers I have spoken to in Australia cannot supply this technical information.

[Moderator]

Have you done a search and installed Vista drivers for the card ? ?

Patio,
Do not have the old computer or sound card anymore - unit was damaged by lightning, though sound card was still ok. Should have taken it out before I traded it. It only cost $39AU and worked great. All newer sound cards I have tried came with Vista drivers. Just can't seem to find a listing for a plain 4/6/8 channel, Vista supported stereo card anywhere.

Do not have the old computer or sound card anymore - unit was damaged by lightning, though sound card was still ok. Should have taken it out before I traded it.

I wouldn't use any component out of a system suffering from lightning damage.

Do you use your sound card for laying down audio tracks, or is it strictly for playback?

For the most part, the sound card is used for playback, but it is also used for recording when I am doing some audio cleaning and digitizing of my old vinyls. I have no trouble recording with the newer cards, but unlike the old card, they do not let me listen to what I am recording. The old card was by A-Open, from memory, but I have had no luck sourcing one or even contacting the manufacturers.

[might]

This one might be overkill, if it is let me know what your budget is.

However, this will do literally anything you may want to do in the future as well.

Quantos,
That model is naturally the one that the Soundblaster distributors here recommended when I contacted them, but it is out of my budget and certainly over the top for my needs. Am not really interested in gaming, sooner go fishing. Had a Soundblaster PCIe X-Fi Xtreme Audio card installed when the new computer was built [11 months ago], but it didn't do the job either. However, that may have been due to the faulty motherboard that was replaced after I had the sound card removed, and went with the [yuk] onboard sound. The computer does have 2 PCI slots as well, so if I could ascertain what my old card was, I could still use one if it was Vista supported. Is there any way of getting hold of the A-Open manufacturers?

You can contact AOpen, however they don't make audio cards any more, according to their site anyway.  They aren't listed under the products except in their museum, you might locate your old card there.  That would certainly help us in locating a similar card for you.

E-Mu have some cheap cards on sale(They have some new models,the older are on sale...of course !)...They will do what you want and more.
These are internal cards,do you want a internal or external card ?
All the best....