Sound cards on a beginner's budget...

[Yv1]

Hi,

I'm brand new here so forgive any mistakes I may make that might betray my ignorance :P

I've just bought a new PC (P4, 3.2 mHz, 1GB RAM, over 300GB between 2 hard drives) & I want to get as great a sound card as realistically possible. I'm only 18 so I guess I wouldn't be as fussy as a 45yr old sound engineer but I am pretty fussy about quality (eg I can't stand the poor quality of your average 128 kbps mp3 file) and I've a good ear for such things. Or so I believe.

I would be recording things like acoustic guitar, bass, cello (if I ever get my ass in gear and take it up), vocals and so forth. I have a digital piano with midi compatability so ideally I'd like a card that could cater for that well so it's not wasted. I'm also in a rock band so it'd be cool if the card could handle loud live recordings for demos or as-pro-as-possible sound quality for proper recordings - that's a few inputs for drums, electric guitar, bass & vocals.

Any expertise on the subject is very much appreciated!

[edit] Ha, talk about being a newbie, I forgot about the money part...
I can afford anything up to about... $360 / 400. I know that's not much but that's the best I can do, I'm not exactly on a stable professional salary

Having said that I'll look into anything suggested - if an extra month's saving will be worth it I can do that :P

& apologies for crazily long post...

[Markaholic]

the search button is your friend...also...theres a whole inner forum here..dedicated to sound cards!

[timboZ]

Take a look at the E-Mu 1212m and 0404.

[Yv1]

marcaholic - Well i've spent a long long time searching online, but can you really believe everything you read? Especially since most of the stuff is endorsed by companies hungry for another customer. Reviews are often either really short or really imbalanced. I thought I was better off asking people who know better, & who have practical experience of these things. As I said, I'm new, & I looked for a section on sound cards but couldn't find one - a link would be nice...

timboZ - Thanks for the suggestions, I'll have a browse...

[Markaholic]

i didnt mean to come off like a dick...its just this questions been asked over and over...check out here..

http://homerecording.com/bbs/showthread.php?t=163284

This will give you all the decent stuff out there and used by many on this forum.