Audio Card search is making me sick!

[Voxpopuli]

Well....Im going nuts! Ive been looking to buy an audio card for recording/editing. The search is going on about two months now. I think I may be worse off than when I started. I have learned alot, but Ive found that there are so many to choose from. Every day that goes by I find myself more turned off at the thought of buying an audio card. Ive been producing music for a few years, but the only recording experience I have is with an old 4track. I need guidance. I produce Hip Hip/R&B, and some industrial(?) NIN type stuff. I use a KorgN364, MPC2000xl, S2000, Novation BassStation, CAD Equitek E-100 MIC. My computer is PII 450mhz, 256MB RAM, 16GB HD. I want pro quality recordings(who doesnt), but money is limited. Right now I have about $700.00 to put towards an audio card. I know I could go out and buy almost any card for $700 and it would be good, but would it be overkill(waste of money)? Once the audio leaves my sound source(keyboard, sampler, etc..) Should it go directly into the audio card, or external mixer? What about into mixer then audio card? With todays audio cards(ex. Direct Pro 24/96, Omni Studio) should I not even look into external mixers? I want to know the best way to take it from(A-Z) my sound source(A) to final product CD(Z)
Any ideas on an audio card, Recording/editing software, and over all setup would be appreciated!
Thanks,

 

[Voxpopuli]

I guess I dont really need as many inputs as I do outputs.
I can just record one track at a time, edit, cut, paste, and sync it up right?

Any ideas about what recording, and editing software I should look into?

I dont have a mic preamp.. Any suggestions?

Thanks again

 

[SPINSTERWUN]

I would think (?) that you would need a sound card with at least 8 inputs, considering the MPC, alone, has 8 outputs.

You might want to look at the Delta 1010 (and it comes with Vegas Audio ).

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