my equipment choices

[macofish]

I'm getting back into recording and just wanted some advice on my equipment I'm going to purchase.

AKG C1000S
MAudio Audiophile 2496
Tapco by Mackie 6306 6-Channel Mixer

The only questionable item is the audio card, I don't really have any PCI slots available so I'll have to remove something. However what's the deal with USB based audio cards(interfaces)? Are they as reliable?

My computer is a Gateway P4 2.5 Ghz, 512 RAM (upgrading to 1GB). 80GB HD and I think I'm going to go with either a new internal 120GB or maybe try an external firewire HD? Any recommendations on the HD situation?

Anyway thanks in advance and this site is really a great place for info.

Marc

[mshilarious]

Originally Posted by macofish

I'm getting back into recording and just wanted some advice on my equipment I'm going to purchase.

AKG C1000S
MAudio Audiophile 2496
Tapco by Mackie 6306 6-Channel Mixer

The only questionable item is the audio card, I don't really have any PCI slots available so I'll have to remove something. However what's the deal with USB based audio cards(interfaces)? Are they as reliable?

My computer is a Gateway P4 2.5 Ghz, 512 RAM (upgrading to 1GB). 80GB HD and I think I'm going to go with either a new internal 120GB or maybe try an external firewire HD? Any recommendations on the HD situation?

Anyway thanks in advance and this site is really a great place for info.

Marc

It worries me that you have no PCI slots available. That tells me that this PC is used for a lot of other things than audio, which is a potential source of conflicts. What else do you have in this box?

Also, I've never used them, but you won't read too many good things about the C1000s on this board. I've never read anything about the Tapco, but the little Yamaha MG gets a lot of recs, so try those against each other.

[macofish]

It's a Gateway 500 series which is the "mid-tower" range. Thus it doesn't have but four (3) PCI slots. One is taken up automatically by the included Soundblaster. (I can/should probably remove this, but if I do I'll loose my firewire as well.) The other two slots are a SCSI controller for my old HP Scanjet 4C and a Hauppauge WinTV tuner card, (no PVR).

The C1000S I chose because I had one before and loved it. Don't know much about the Tapco either but I had a Mackie 1402 mixer and loved that as well. Just not sure I trust Yamaha.

Anyway thanks for the response.

[mshilarious]

Originally Posted by macofish

It's a Gateway 500 series which is the "mid-tower" range. Thus it doesn't have but four (3) PCI slots. One is taken up automatically by the included Soundblaster. (I can/should probably remove this, but if I do I'll loose my firewire as well.) The other two slots are a SCSI controller for my old HP Scanjet 4C and a Hauppauge WinTV tuner card, (no PVR).

The C1000S I chose because I had one before and loved it. Don't know much about the Tapco either but I had a Mackie 1402 mixer and loved that as well. Just not sure I trust Yamaha.

Anyway thanks for the response.

Heh, I've got five soundcards in my box . . . I'd probably lose the TV tuner card given those choices, or upgrade to a USB scanner.

The C1000 was a hot recommendation about 6 or 7 years ago. Events seem to have turned against it. For example, read towards the bottom of this thread:

http://www.homerecording.com/bbs/sho...ighlight=c1000

[tedluk]

Originally Posted by macofish

It's a Gateway 500 series which is the "mid-tower" range. Thus it doesn't have but four (3) PCI slots. One is taken up automatically by the included Soundblaster. (I can/should probably remove this, but if I do I'll loose my firewire as well.) The other two slots are a SCSI controller for my old HP Scanjet 4C and a Hauppauge WinTV tuner card, (no PVR).

The C1000S I chose because I had one before and loved it. Don't know much about the Tapco either but I had a Mackie 1402 mixer and loved that as well. Just not sure I trust Yamaha.

Anyway thanks for the response.

Why wouldn't you trust Yamaha? I've never had a lick of trouble with anything I've bought from them and they have a solid reputation.

Ted

[manning1]

macofish. if your pci slots are full. this poses a problem.
ideally i always recommend not having anything in other pci slots with a professional sound card. thus reducing the possibility of pci bus bottlenecks.
but in your case you might need the features of the products using the other pci slots. ive particularly found the tv tuner cards can sometimes be problematic.

[warble]

Yamaha makes fine quality stuff - don't know why you wouldn't trust them. I've owned keyboards, mixers, etc. over the years, and have NEVER had trouble with anything Yamaha that I've owned. Currently using a MX12/4 mixer in my setup, and it works great for my needs (sounds good too).

I personally don't subscribe to all the Mackie hype. Yeah, it's good stuff, but it seems like everyone wants a Mackie just to have a "Mackie". In my mind, I know I can do better price wise and still get quality equipment.

If you do want to use your machine as an audio machine, you may very well experience conflicts is you have a lot of PCI devices. I have six slots in my machine, and only one slot is used - and it's used for my audio card. Everything else I'm doing is USB. I'd hazzard a guess that the tuner card you have grabs it's good share of resources - this will not be good.

My 2 cents is now spent