Clarifying a Few Questions!

[haydnbuzz]

Hi, Basically I’m looking for someone to clarify a few things for me which I’m unsure about. My setup at the moment is this: 2400mhz, 512 ddr ram, 120 gb hard drive computer running XP. My recording setup at the moment is guitar > v amp 2 > soundcard. I should be getting a Delta 66 sound card soon. Recording wise my aims are simply to Record guitar tracks. In the future however I may use my Marshall 30th anniversary head to achieve better quality guitar tones. I may also want to record from an electric piano with midi in the future.

My questions are:
Is the V amp 2 acting as a pre amp when recording?
Would I need to use balanced cables to the input of the Delta 66 sound card?
If I wanted to record from my Marshall 30th Anniversary head would my signal chain need something like a rack pre amp, would my guitar chain look like this: guitar > amp head > speaker cab > sm57 > pre amp > sound card?
Is a mixing console necessary, is it just possible to monitor levels in Kristal?
How are VST plugins used?
How would I go about recording with Midi, is there something where I can plug midi cables from my piano into, which in turn is connectable to the soundcard? Does midi require some sort of patch to sound piano like?

Any help would be greatly appreciated, as you can tell I’m a newbie to recording!

Thanks in advance Haydn!

 

[NYMorningstar]

Is the V amp 2 acting as a pre amp when recording? yes

Would I need to use balanced cables to the input of the Delta 66 sound card?no

If I wanted to record from my Marshall 30th Anniversary head would my signal chain need something like a rack pre amp, would my guitar chain look like this: guitar > amp head > speaker cab > sm57 > pre amp > sound card? yes

How would I go about recording with Midi, is there something where I can plug midi cables from my piano into, which in turn is connectable to the soundcard? no, you need to look at a different soundcard for midi