Computer Recording

[TomTrendy]

Yeah, I already looked at the Firepod but it didn't say it had phantom power and that's a main concern for now. The Inspire has two XLR inputs that have phantom power and considering how cheap those PCMCIA cards for Firewire ports are, I'll have to get one because I'm probably gonna buy another Inspire since I really need to be able to record four separate tracks simultaneously and mess with them.

Everything seems to be a lot more than what my budget allows. Looks like it'll be a while before I can do everything.

 

[sloom]

Another Option...

Tom, if you can find a used US-428 on ebay or Harmony-central for under $200 (likely), that'll act as your USB interface and a control surface for your software. Not what you're necessarily after, I see, but it's 4 simultaneous ins with mic pres. Also has several options for signal input (S/PDIF I/O; MIDI; TRS inputs; 2 XLR ins; and Hi-Z input for guitar).

ART makes a dual Phantom-Power supply for around $60- or do the MG 10/2 or 12/2.

Maybe you can do it for $350...?

EDIT: I found my Terratec EWS88MT 8 I/O card for $100 on ebay. There's stuff out there.

 

[gordone]

uhhh, The Firepod most definetly HAS Phantom Power.
http://presonus.com/firepod.html

From the 3rd Hardware Paragraph -

Phantom power (+48V) is available on every channel in groups of four

Reading (and research!) is fundamental

 

[sloom]

Hey Tom, think about signal flow. You need to get a mic signal with phantom-power into a soundcard, into your lap-top.

So, you can get a device that has an A/D converter (soundcard) with phantom-power...

Or get a small mixer with phantom power and a soundcard (USB or Firew), and there are a lot of options here, if you look around...

I'm using a mixer I got on clearance that has phantom-power (a Studiomaster Logic-Twelve, pretty good one). It only has Main Out L & R, but has 2 Aux sends. I have the Aux sends both set as pre-fader, so now I have 4 outs (mono) with phantom, going to the Terratec soundcard.

This jig I put together for $225- a deal, but I had to look a bit. I'm getting very good sounding, clean signal.

Thinking in terms of what you need to do, rather than in terms of what's available in the more popular consumer market could bring the goods.

Now of course there's software... but there's free-to-cheap stuff out there that works.

 

[TomTrendy]

uhhh, The Firepod most definetly HAS Phantom Power.
http://presonus.com/firepod.html

Yeah, only minutes after posting it, I read that it DID have phantom power on other sites. I didnt know whether they did or didn't at the time because my Musician's Friend didn't mention it.

Thanks for all the help Sloom, but I'm actually looking to transfer to firewire based products so if I upgrade years for now, I will already have the bases covered.

So, to be able to record four tracks at a time into my laptop and mess with them individually afterwards, I've decided to go the firewire way. I've got a list of the supplies I already own and the items I'll need to purchase for my personal, little home studio. Take a look and please help me out if I've messed up somewhere or if something doesn't work. Keep in mind, I'm making the studio just to record my drum kit, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, vocals, and keyboard. I'll be doing it one instument at a time utilizing, at the most, four tracks at once for the drum kit (two condenser overheads, one dynamic for snare, one dynamic for kick). Here it is:

What I already own:

-30GB Gateway laptop

What I plan to purchase:

-1 Koutech IO-CBFW210 IEEE 1394 PCMCIA Card for the firewire port ($20)
-1 FANTOM Titanium TFDU16072 160GB 7200 RPM External Hard Drive ($100)
-1 PreSonus Inspire 1394 ($200)
-1 SM57 ($90)
-1 AKG D110 ($70)
-1 MXL 990 ($50)
-1 Nady Pop Filter ($20)
-1 Low-profile mic stand ($13)
-2 Stage Stands mic stand ($20)
-2 20' Mic cables ($16)

That's $599 for everything not mentioning tax. I'll eventually end up buying another PreSonus Inspire, another MXL 990, an extra mic cable, and an extra mic stand so I can completely record my drum-set. Will probably have to upgrade to to Cubase SE instead of using the LE that comes with the Inspire. This is definitely a lot more than I thought I'd have to have financial-wise.

Thanks to everybody who helped.

 

[sloom]

Go get 'em! Have fun, and make some good music, Tom.