advice for newbie...

[Zac]

I am VERY new to digital recording and I've got some questions.

Here's what I've got:
P3@700, 128M Ram, 45gig Deskstar, junkie soundcard

What I want to be able to do is record simple 4-8 track demos that I can pass back and forth with band members for at-home colaboration. I'd like something simple to set up so I can record basic guitar/bass/keys 1 track at a time.

Here's where I need advice. What should I be looking at to do this basic kind of recording? Will a simple SB card and a mixer be good enough? Can I record and playback at the same time with one of these cards? What about the new USB stuff? The Aardvark USB3 looks kind of neat and I could hand it off to band members to "touch up" tracks, right?

What I'd like is something either cheap enough that I can buy 2-3 for the other band members or something portable that we can hand back and forth.

Thanks in advance for the help!

 

[tdukex]

To record on your computer you'll need the following:
1) a better soundcard (at least a SB Live! Value at $50)
2) some kind of mic preamp ($100+)
3) a decent mic ($80+)
4) value sequencing software ($30-$80)
5) media (CD RW $100), or an (LS120 $50)

Of course the other band members will also need a computer with the same capability if you're going to pass music back and forth and add tracks.

It might be easier and definately cheaper to just buy a 4-track Portastudio for around $180-$200, a decent mic, and some tapes.