Recording Questions/Advice on Tascam us122 USB device

[j7b]

Howdy,

I am a branSpankinNewbie to both recording, and this forum.

I'm intersted in, and have been reading a lot about home recording to a PC. What I'm looking for is to record acoustic guitar (thru a mic) and vocals. My budget is $500 or less.

I'd like to be able to mess around with eq, effects and what not in "real time" (meaning, if I strum my guitar I'll be able to hear it thru my head phones (for example) exactly as it will be recorded... I'm sure there's a better word for what I"m describing). Which from what I understand, I need a sound card that supports ASIO.

Here's what I've come up with so far:

-2 Marshall 603s's (or something similar) for mic's

-A Tascam us122 USB deivice. http://www.tascam.com/products/computer_recording/us122/index.php

-Some kind of mixing/editing software like Guitar Tracks, Cool Edit, Cake Walk, etc...


My thinking was that the Tascam will act as a mic pre-amp and ASIO sound card, and I can then use the software to adjust the eq and add effects while recording.

What I don't understand is how I can monitor the sound of the recording in real time. It seems I'd have to plug headphones or speakers into the PC since that's where the mixing/effects take place. But I see the Tascam has a headphone out jack. Would the software be sending the mixed signal back out to the USB device perhaps?

Please excuse my newbieness. Am I on the right tracker here?

TIA

 

[jet-rocker]

There are speaker (line outs?) and headphone outputs on the soundcard. To hear anything you will need to use these.



The soundcard plays back the tracks being recorded before they hit the computer--at the same time as it plays back pre-recorded tracks from the computer.

Because of latency issues you probably won't be able to use plug-ins on the tracks you are recording while you are recording.

(unless you have direct monitoring engaged in the software/ which is a completely separate issue that you do not need to confuse yourself with yet.)

-Jtt