Home Recording Hardware

[qjay]

Hey all. I am brand new to recording, but not new to music. Let me explain my problem

I've been seriously into music for 9 years now. I play acoustic, electric and bass guitar as well as drums. This year I went all out and bought a set of Roland V's (electronic drums), which have midi ins and outs. With it I bought a mixing desk, and 2 self amplified 150 watt speakers. Needless to say I can't move much in my room and I love it.

Now since I play all the instruments I have I would like to start recording the instruments separately and make my own songs. This would be great practice for me as I am supposed to be drumming for 2 or 3 bands and there is nothing like playing WITH instruments when you are a drummer.

So I have a computer (and I am a programmer - so I know my computers very well) and I have the mixing desk to plug the instruments into. I also could potentially use the midi ins and outs of the drum set. The only problem is getting from the desk/midi to the computer - I'm pretty good with software and have some recording programs in mind (similar to cakewalk - only free).

I need help in finding a fully EXTERNAL (i.e. not connected to the computer in any way OTHER than a USB interface) sound card that supports MIDI ins and outs. In addition to this I must be able to input from a 1/4 inch jack or some other connection coming from the desk for mic's and guitars. I DO NOT WANT TO USE MINI TO 1/4 CONVERTERS ON THE CARD!!!

To see what kind of thing I want, just do a google search for EXTIGY. This piece of hardware is perfect save one fallout - it has no 1/4 inch jack input, only the mini jack input. If you can see a way of me connecting the sound desk to the extigy with the available connections, I'll love you forever.

Please help, I'm such a newbie at this specific thing, but I know what I want. I also know what I don't want. I want a portable EXTERNAL sound card that supports midi and some form of input from a mixing desk or the standard 1/4 jack inputs and outputs.

Midi's are a must
1/4 inch not needed if I can get from the mixing desk in another way - if there are 1/4 inch ins I don't need to use the mixing desk

Thanks
qjay

[richiebee]

SoundBlasters suck. Pretty much anything by M-Audio will do you well on a budget (except that Transit thing).

http://www.m-audio.com/index.php?do=...bileinterfaces

I would think the FastTrackPro would be a good one for you. In case you're wondering those inputs are combo jacks - takes XLR or 1/4" plugs.

R.

[qjay]

Hey Thanks a lot! I'll take a look at those things - they look really great.

I was also looking at some Roland Stuff - in particular the Edirol UA-4FX.

I agree about the soundBlasters


Thanks so much for the site reference - both the Fast Track Pro and the M-Audio Audiophile USB are exactly what I am looking for, and they even have a distributor where I live. Really appreciate the help.

Have a good one
Qjay

[brandondrury]

This should help. It's not finished (none of the videos work and I need to fix a few things in the scripting) , but it should work well enough to help you out.

Soundcard Tool

Brandon

[Strat-O-Pat]

I'd think the US122L would fit the bill. The older us122 has (2) 1/4" inputs.