bare in mind the presonus interfaces come with a copy of presonus'
Studio One Artist free. again, like protools SE it's slightly limited but it does have a shed load of free samples and loops, it pretty easy to use and for just recording vocals over beats it'd work more than fine.
or, as steen said, alot of the Maudio interfaces come with Protools MP. my understanding is that it's still heavily stripped down in comparison to the full PT10 but, again, for vocals over beats i don't think you'll find yourself missing much.
And i do have to agree with Chili in the "lighten up" department. i do completely appreciate that googling stuff can be a royal pain and sometimes it raises more questions than it answers. in fact, on my last gear buying spree, i had decided i was gonna buy the sE2200T as i love the 2200a but wanted a valve version. however, after
months of reading, researching, checking out clips/sample/whole tracks, and some emails back and forward with some distributors i actually ended up with the Avantone CK7. now, i could've just kept going and going and researching and researching but with so much out there sometimes it's just best to make a choice and stick with it. Buy something; if it doesn't work for you, sell it on as it may work for someone else. Again, i completely understand your desire to make a great choice first time and you're now at a point where i'd say that you've already got great choices to choose from. however, the audio world is full of gear lust. i have everything i need to do everything i need it to do, but do i still want more gear; hell yeah!
Sorry for the rant. my 2 cents; go with either the presonus or focusrite 2i2. both are great units and either will serve you well. in terms of mic's
the Blue Spark is quite bright and clean, and the "focus" button is great at helping a vocal sit at the front of the mix. the Bluebird is slightly darker (unless i'm confusing it with the baby bottle, i've not had my hands on either of these in a couple of years). but, and this is just my opinion, i'd say go with your gut. you wanted the spark originally, but ended up with
NT1a and didn't like it, so go for the Spark which was your first instinct all along (i'm still saving to get the 2200T as to me it sounds great and that was my first instinct) if it doesn't work, try something else. if
that doesn't work, try something else. it's all a learning curve man, just try and enjoy the ride
