Need a new recording set-up

T

thewaitinggame

New member
Here is my situation. I just got my house and came from 3 years in an apartment and now I'm able to be noisy again. I want to get a new home studio to record to a computer. Before I left form home I was using a tascam 4 track recorder. While at the apartment I got cubase sx3 and was recording guitar and tried to figure out midi drums but never got it. I am now back to live drums recorded with mics.

Basically what I will be recording is drums, guitars, bass, and vocals. I'm not currently in a band so won't be recording all instrument simultaneously but is possible in the future. Right now it will be myself and maybe another person to help playing a guitar scratch track when I record drums. Then each instrument will be recorded separately to the drum track afterward. What I've been looking at is firewire interfaces and firewire/usb mixers. I want something that doesn't have lots of wire clutter and routing so I figure these are the best options. I need about 8 inputs, no less and more would be fine.

So my first option I am interested in is the PreSonus FP10 10x10 FireWire Interface. It has 8 inputs and the firewire will send each track to my cubase where I can still edit them separately. For this option would I need to but a good audio card or would the audio card in my computer work fine? Thats what I'm not getting with this interface.

My second option is something like the Mackie Onyx 1620 16-Channel Mixer Factory B-Stock. Looks like you also need to buy a firewire card to send it to your computer and this is a bit more expensive. I'm sure there are cheaper choices for the firewire mixer to choose from. I am interested in this because I am used to having physical knobs and faders to use but then I also don't see the point if it's going to my computer to edit/mix.

I am use to editing video and audio for animation and video/films so doing away with the mixer shouldn't be a big deal. Can anyone help me or give suggestions what would be the best out of these 2 options or another different option. Also could you let me know if my info is correct that I have between the 2. I've done a lot of reading here, tweak and other place and feel like it get it but then read something else that makes me question all I read.

Thanks for the help
 
Both of those are firewire interfaces. What that means is that in order to connect the unit to your computer you're going to need firewire capabilities. If you're recording onto a desktop you can get a firewire PCI card which you just pop into your computer. That's what I use. From what I've heard this is much better than the next option.

If you're using a laptop you can get a firewire PCMCIA card to slide into that little slot that probably isn't being used. I've heard people say this isn't as reliable but I have no personal experience.

In any case an interface works as your sound card, you don't even need to worry about the card you have in your comp because you'll be hooking everything up via Firewire/USB, not into your sound card.

I'm also currently looking into getting a Firepod, you can usually get them for like $200-$300 on ebay and I've heard nothing but great reviews. What you said about the mixer is right, you don't really need all the knobs and faders when you're doing the mixing on your comp. Which you will be with your set up.
 
Thanks for the reply Chilli_D, That's pretty much what I was looking for. The firepod might be what I'm going to go for. I just can never find what all I need to make it work. And going to guitar center never helps because those guys don't know either when I ask.

I'll look into the PCMCIA card, my wife has a dell xps but is done dealing with dell when something goes wrong. She got a smaller laptop so we were going to sell it on ebay. Maybe I'll keep it to have a dedicated laptop for music. It would be better than lugging my desktop downstairs when I want to record.

Thanks
 
No problem! Keep in mind, when looking into the PCMCIA firewire cards, look for ones with Texas Instrument Chipsets. I've heard that some interfaces have issues/don't work with other chipsets but the TI's are the industry standard.
 
The Firepod should suit you fine. I bought one about 2 years ago and liked it so much I bought another one last year. 16 inputs through Firewire into Cubase. Like already said, make sure you get a Texas Instruments chipset in your firewire card. I use a SIIG and haven't had any problems with it.
 
Cool, glad to hear more good things about the firepod. I will get a texas instrument chipset if that's the best for the firepod. Thanks again for the help.
 
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