In the beginning...

[SpecialGoodness]

I’m preparing to put together a home studio, and I’m starting to get frustrated. I plan on recording 4 and 5 piece rock, with multiple vocals, and I would like to end up with some decent results. I’m a college student, so my budget is somewhat limited. That said, my dad recently decided it was time to be part of my life again, and is trying to make up for lost time with cash handouts. I just purchased an Alienware Area-51 5500 with Windows XP Professional, a Pentium 4 Processor 530 w/ HT Technology 3.0GHz 1MB Cache, 1GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM, and 2 80 GB hard drives. I’m not totally sure what software I want to use yet, but I’m leaning towards Acid Pro 5, as I’ve used Acid Pro 4.0 in the past. I’ve also used Logic 5 Platinum, but I never got very comfortable with it.

As far as hardware, I’m totally in the dark. I happened to stumble across an add for an Aardvark Direct Pro Q10, and I think I want something like that. It seems to have enough XLR inputs to meet my needs. The price is a little steep and the fact that Aardvark is no more makes me a bit nervous.

I think I want a PCI soundcard with at least 6 XLR inputs (preferably front mounted, but a breakout box is good too). Any information you can give me will help. Thanks!

[DonF]

Many people think highly of the M-Audio line. (click here) Personally, I use their Audiophile 2496, and am happy with it (but I only need 2 channels).

[SpecialGoodness]

Do I really need as many imputs as I've been looking at? Or am I'm just working towards confusing myself?

Edit:
Also, can I buy different breakout cables to get the type of connections I need?

[DonF]

The number of inputs you need depends on how many things you want to be able to record at one time. For me, having only two inputs is not an impediment, because I usually build up a recording in layers, one instrument or voice at a time. If you want to record live drums, or a band playing together, you really need lots of inputs, with each input assigned to its own track on the computer. You could do it the old-fashioned way and mix to stereo on the way in, but this limits your flexibility at mixdown time.

Usually the connections on the supplied breakout cable are all you have to work with. For example, if you're using the Delta 1010LT, which has two mic inputs, and you need a third microphone, you have to get an outboard preamp and connect it to one of the Delta's unbalanced inputs.