DAW dilemma

[jamies_ice]

I have a Dell Dimension 8200, Pentium 4 {2.0Ghz}, 512 MB of RAM, which runs Cakewalk Home Studio XL. In addition, I've got a turtle beach Santa Cruz sound card {16 bit}, and a samson mixpad12.
I want to upgrade my sound card to something with 24 bit resolution- is this a good idea? Also, I wondered if upgrading the sound card would be a moot point because of my older mixpad {ie: does having the older mixpad take away any good effects of having a more advanced sound card}?
I just want to know if I even need an external audio interface with a new sound card; Or, if I do need a new mixer, which one should I get that would take advantage of all the benefits of a new 24 bit sound card {incidentally, which 24 bit sound card is the best and most cost efficient to get}.
Help me out!
I want to make professional sounding recordings. What else do I need? What works best with XL??

[James Argo]

Looks like you're heading right direction here
Replacing the card is the first giant step to get better quality.

Click here for some info...

About the mixer, there are reasons for someone to consider a good mixer:

- It mixes and routes several input into one(s) assigned output (...what do you think, eh )
- It has built in Preamps for your mic / ins.
- and alot more additional features (phantom power, auxes, buses, etc...)

However, the quality of the mixer is vary. Some has better preamps, some are more expensive, some are handy, etc... If you don't need too many channel to route, you may still consider it's preamp compared to what provided by your new soundcard. I don't know about Samson, but I've run Mackie 1202 and Phonic 1202 just fine.


Jaymz