Budget studio setup?

[skrewball]

I currently am looking to start up a small home studio on a budget.

I am looking to record live drums, Guitars, bass and vocals.

I have a boss br8 that I have had for some time now, It works fine for me right now. But im looking to move up to record an actual demo.

I have been looking at the Roland sI24
I like the fact that it can controll the pc directly. It seems afordable

this is what I am looking to do.

I want something that can record 8 tracks at a time. (drums)

Something that can easily interface with a PC.

I don't have alot of external gear. I may buy an external compresser
so I would use vst plugins

I have about 1800-2000 to start with.

your thoughts?
What have others on a budget done?
thanks in advance!
sB

 

[lpdeluxe]

I don't have any direct experience with the Roland unit but a friend brought it to my attention when it came out and then Recording Mag gave it a very positive review. It looks pretty complete and IMO would be a nice "hybrid" setup to start with. Had it been available when I started I probably would have gotten it. The only drawback I remember is that it is bundled with Emagic software, which is now owned by Apple & no longer supports PC apps.

 

[Bulls Hit]

Yeah that looks like a nice unit all right.

It talks about phantome power, but doesn't mention preamps. Do you need to get pres as well?