still struggling to decide which interface to get...

[the_kiddy]

Hey people. I've learnt a lot of stuff on this forum. Everyone's been so helpful and informative. I've never had to wait longer than a few hours to get my questions answered. The soundcard wizard has been really helpful. At first I was confused as to why is kept offering me interfaces with 8 inputs when I'd only asked for 4 - but now I know it's because I was telling it I also wanted 4 onboard preamps. I've done some searching online and it seems most (or all) interfaces with 4 inputs only offer two built in preamps. I have no idea why this is. For a while I was set on getting a presonus firepod seeing as it has 8 inputs and 8 supposedly decent preamps - but then I thought - what am I really trying to achieve? I'm not looking to record a band - just myself. Once I have my stuff sounding good then I can try and get other people interested in forming a band - which is what I want to do. I also want to present venues with a demo cd. There for I only need three inputs. One for vocals and two for micing my guitar up. But if I only have two built in preamps...I'll be limited to two mics, unless I buy a standalone...but then if I'm shelling out for one of those I might as well shell out for the firepod....after all a few extra inputs might come in handy. Does anyone know of any good quality interfaces with 4 inputs? I don't really want to spend more than £200 ($400) on a preamp as I have to get monitors, mics, and I'm building a PC from scratch. Thank God I plucked up the courage to finish with my girlfriend eh?
One last question. If my interface doesn't have a MIDI port - but my MIDI keyboard can connect via USB....that'll take advantage of the interface right? Thanks

[1 M.I.C]

well this could be a learning experience for me too :P

it seems to me you could get a pci soundcard, and then two seperate pre-amps, a dual channel and a single channel.. there are some pretty inexepnsive ones out there, all together you could get 3 channels for your mics under 400, but not by much.., but you could end up with 2 different sounding preamps.. dunno if that would be a good thing or a bad thing.. i guess if you were happy with both sounds it would be good.

what i mean is you could get something like a emu 0404 or a M-audio delta 44
and then add the pre-amps, like a dual channel m-audio audio buddy and a single channel like a Studio Projects VTB1 or a ART tube mp and then hook them up to the ins of the soundcard.

(now im not actually SUGGESTING this because i dont have any experience... but it seems to be a option. so anyone let me know if i got this idea right)

[brandondrury]

One last question. If my interface doesn't have a MIDI port - but my MIDI keyboard can connect via USB....that'll take advantage of the interface right?

Yes, you can user your interface with a USB MIDI controller.

Does anyone know of any good quality interfaces with 4 inputs?

Audio interfaces with at least 4 analog inputs. If they don't include preamps, you can always buy extra preamps.

Another option is going with a 2 channel audio interface that also has S/PDIF digital inputs for a total of 4 inputs. You'll need an external preamp what also has an analog to digital converter and S/PDIF output on it.

Brandon
Brandon