Configuration Questions

[T-51]

Any help in getting me off the ground would be appreciated!

My current musical equipment:
* 4 Electric guitars—Strats, Tele, and LP
* 1 Acoustic Guitar
* 3 Vintage Fender amps (50W range)
* 1 Line6 Flextone amp
* 1 Shure BG1.1 Microphone
* Several guitar pedals including a Framptone Amp Switcher for running 2 amps in unison

Here’s the PC-studio configuration I have in mind:
* Pentium III 866 with 128 meg RAM
* 40 gig HD
* CD-RW and separate DVD
* Turtle Beach Santa Cruz DSL sound card
* Cakewalk Guitar Studio 2

Questions:

1. I assume that I can connect directly to the sound card from the Line6 Flextone’s direct out. Is that right?
2. For the Fender amps and any vocals/harmonica/etc. I assume I will need some kind of mic pre amp. Coud you recommend a few good, reasonably priced pre amps? Ebay?
3. I assume I’ll need better speakers (stereo monitors) than the game-oriented PC ones. Do I need an amp to drive them too? Any recommendations for the monitors and driver amps? Ebay?
4. Any comments regarding the Turtle Beach Santa Cruz card?
5. What else do I need to get rockin’?

Thanks much!

 

[dachay2tnr]

1. If the direct out on the Flextone is "line level" power you can go directly to your sound card.
2. You will probably be better off with a Mixer rather than pre-amps. A Mixer will give you a lot more flexibilty and also provide the pre-amps for you. Mackie has a good line of relatively inexpensive Mixers with excellent pre's.
3. Studio Monitors would be highly recommended if you want to have success in having your mixes translate well to other stereo systems. Monitors are available in either active or passive configurations (i.e., powered or unpowered). You don't need an amp with Active Monitors, you will with Passives.
4. I have no experience with the Turtle Beach card, but I think you will be better off with a card that is specifically designed for recording (e.g., M-Audio Delta series, Event Echo/Layla, etc.

 

[camn]

The reigning Monitors of choice are Event 20/20s... last I checked. You can get them powered, in which case you'd need no amp.

you might be selling yourself a little short getting the 'guitar studio' Im sure you have what it takes to use a regular program But you can always upgrade later on...

Oh, and get More RAM.. Its still cheap, right? Ram is key. And you might want to think about a nicer Mic... but use that one until you get sick of it.

xoox