cheapest possible way to record 4 tracks simultaneously to PC!

[fuzzy math]

Hi pandamonk,

i'm looking to just record 2 guitars (electro-acoustic & electric), 1 vocal, 1 keyboard. Im looking now to just get a mixer and some kind of interface that connects it to the PC - im willing to sacrifice the whole seperate track for each instrument thing, and just have it all be mixed in to 1 track, as long as each instrument can be edited before recording on the mixer. . . What do you reckon? remember its just for a muck around

just get a mixer for the 4 and run that into the laptop. you could probably buy a cassette 4 track like a tascam 414 or 424 for $50-$100. you could record 4 seperate tracks at once on cassette (vintage!), mix it on the 4 track and dump in onto your laptap as one stereo master track. OR you could also use the 4 track as a mixer going right into your laptop. you wouldnt be able to record everyone seperately, but you could get you mix right before tracking.

 

[fuzzy math]

Also, if you can recommend anything better then what you have suggested above which costs a bit more, please do, because im looking to buy second hand anyway from ebay or gumtree etc, in which case it will be just as cheap yet better quality

you can get a firepod at guitar center for $400 (i actually got one for $350). 8 inputs w/ preamps. it was kind of a hassle to get going, but most of it was my own ignorance rather than the firepod itself. it does require a bit of fine tuning and customization, but their customer service is very knowledgeable. they were able to instantly troubleshoot the problems i was having. once i got it going it hasnt been a problem - runs great!

 

[pandamonk]

just get a mixer for the 4 and run that into the laptop. you could probably buy a cassette 4 track like a tascam 414 or 424 for $50-$100. you could record 4 seperate tracks at once on cassette (vintage!), mix it on the 4 track and dump in onto your laptap as one stereo master track. OR you could also use the 4 track as a mixer going right into your laptop. you wouldnt be able to record everyone seperately, but you could get you mix right before tracking.

That's what he was saying, but i was saying that for not much extra, he could record everyone separately onto the laptop, which makes editing and mixing a whole lot easier.

 

[pandamonk]

you can get a firepod at guitar center for $400 (i actually got one for $350). 8 inputs w/ preamps. it was kind of a hassle to get going, but most of it was my own ignorance rather than the firepod itself. it does require a bit of fine tuning and customization, but their customer service is very knowledgeable. they were able to instantly troubleshoot the problems i was having. once i got it going it hasn't been a problem - runs great!

From the UK. £262 here, and i suggested the alesis multimix 8 firewire for £190, which gives him the 4 he needs and the choice to upgrade later.