Anyways I think I'm gonna spend a bit more and get the MOTU 24I/O Core Computer Recording System for $1420 and a 16-24 channel anolog mixer insted I'm just curious how much I would have to pay for the mixer to reach a good bit of the potential of the interface. Could I get by with something cheap like the Behringer SL2442FXPRO Eurodesk 24-Channel Mixer($380)? Or would that be a waste of a good interface? I would eventually buy a good quality mic preamp for vocals and acoustic instruments.
brsanko,
What exactly are you going to be recording? It really comes down to just how many inputs you need and how you want to mix. Your at a price point where your going to saddle a decent interface with a crappy mixer. With that setup you will most certainly want to mix in the box so you will only be using the mixer for it's pre's and routing.
I've struggled for awhile on getting a new interface (my setup was Delta 1010 and an Alesis Studio 24 mixer) and when I came across the new Yamaha mixers (N12/N8) I finally figured out the N12 is a perfect solution for may home recording people. I got an N12 without hearing one in person and I was nervous until I sang into one of the preamps and I am totally impressed.
A lot people (I've been there) doing home recording get hung up on I/O and tend to overkill and go buy more expensive interfaces and mixers and they never come close to utilizing all the I/O. A lot of people (I'm not saying you) when starting out do not get the grasp right away on routing and really...bussing. That's why in many cases a smaller I/O interface and mixer will work perfectly.
I'm going to throw
the Yamaha N12 out there as a recommendation for you. At $1500 you are getting excellent converters and damn nice preamps and Yamaha's Rev X reverb which I have discovered over the past week smokes any reverb plugins I have, which are the ones built into Sonar Producer and Cubase AI. This reverb sounds more natural than any plug I've heard, but of course this is all subjective. The N12 also has a really good built in compressor that has really surprised me too.
To be honest when you consider how the N12 is integrated with Cubase (and most of that integration works with other programs like Sonar and Reaper) the smaller N8 would be perfectly fine for most people. I chose the N12 to have enough pre's for miking drums. If you don't need that an N8 would be ideal and for $1,000 you are NOT going to BEAT the sound quality, period. Perhaps you could match it but when you consider getting that Yamaha reverb and compressor in the deal it's hard to beat. I don't see any company that has a mixer like the N12/N8. You could get a Mackie with their firewire card, but the N12 converters are way above them and your not going to get outstanding reverb with a Mackie.
Let me know if you have any question on the N8/N12. I'm new to it but just cannot get over the sound quality on these units. And one other nice little thing is I don't have any cables running all over except for what I plug into a preamp or insert.
http://www.yamahasynth.com/products/n8n12/features.html