Looked around for a quality ASIO sound card and with multiple outs that wouldn’t break the bank, and I finally decided on a combo of the PC/MCIA based Audigy 2 ZS and an M-Audio Uno.
Installed last night, and was able to get 20ms latencies on the card, no popping. CPU usage was low (never rose above 10% on a 2.8ghz Hyperthreaded p4, even with 4 channels with EQs and 2 effects channels going simultaneously. In addition to sounding great, it also has all the neat-o gaming and DVD features for when I am not playing with ableton - bonus!
I got mine on eBay for just $50 plus shipping of $11. That’s $61 for a card that does 24/96 ASIO with 4 Channels stereo - if I dropped it to 16 bit, I got what looked like 14 outputs stereo in Ableton Live’s prefs box.
The only drawback is that it has no MIDI in/Out, so you have to use a second device - I chose the UNO, which at $30 is a great all-in-one solution that even has the midi cables built in.
The whole setup is also a snap to keep in the laptop bag. since it’s so very small.
So, for my needs (Live performance with Ableton Live) This setup is ideal at the price point.
ALSO: The same guy that sold me my card is selling another, same price: