Recording from Kurzweil M10 to computer

[ransom]

I want to start recording at home from two instruments.

First I have a Kurzweil Mark 10 keyboard that has Analog outputs. What do I need in my computer to attach these and record onto my hard drive and then 'burn' to CD's. I'd like it to be very good quality. A special sound card? What ones? How much disk space do these files take?

Second I'd like to record my acoustic grand piano on the computer also. I need a (more?) microphone but what kind? Do I then need mixers, pre amps and or different computer cards or can I use the same card I get for the Keyboard?

Oh I'm sooo confused.

When I try to look for this information it seems like there are 1000's of options.

I don't mind spending up to maybe $1,000.00 for good recordings.

Thanks for any help.

[Stealthtech]

1g budget...
Assuming you are going to use existing PC.

An audiocard interface for one..{audio PCI or USB card and breakout box}
Perhaps a delta 66, omni studio, or delta 1010
www.m-audio.com

Piano mics ?? Cant help ya much there, not my specialty.
Audio Software...depends...anywhere from $100 upwards of $800
A good CD Writer to burn your audio.

The average 3 min. stereo audiotrack 16bit 44.1KHz will take about 35-40MB of disk space. Multiply that by the number of audio tracks in a song. 6 stereo tracks = 210MB
Mono naturally only uses half that.

[Jeyan]

Great suggestion by Stealthtech, I thought of saying a audiophile card too, They are reliable, good quality and easy to use.
Hope I can fill in the Piano mic question for you, for acoustic piano I've been using Shure SM81 for years and they sound real good in that price range. The only problem here is, it is a bit expensive. Around $300 (Remember you need two mics for piano recording)
http://www.zzounds.com/item--SHUSM81LC
The alternate mic for piano could be Shure KSM109 which you can get for $165 usually. You may get these mics for a much lower rate in ebay. I am not aware of the mics that could be cheaper than this, but know one thing getting a good mic is the most important thing.
Then comes a pre-amp and mixer. Here you are just using (2+2) 4 channel audio. So if you get a delta 66 card (around $400 new) it has two mic inputs with phantom power and analog inputs for your Keyboard. So you are set to go. Now lets look at the budget
Delta 66 - $400 - 600
Mics - $300 - 500
Software - $ 100 - 800
Cables, access.- $ 50 - 100
so your budget would be anywhere from 850 to 2000
Have fun!

[ransom]

Thanks for the quick replies. This is exactly the information I needed and this information narrows the selection way down.

Now I'm going shopping!!

[ransom]

OK, I convinced my wife that I need to up my budget a bit.

Jeyan states I need two mikes to effectively record a grand piano. Where should they be placed? Close? left/right, front/back, top/bottom? I expect I'll experiment a lot but it would be nice to start somewhere near the right place.

This is awesome, I'm actually getting started on this project I've been thinking about for years.