Do you need a mixer with these? and are they worth spending the money on?

[Jaycay]

Im thinking of getting either an Aardvark q10 or a Edirol UA-1000 for recording music to my computer, so I can record a band all at once. With the q10, it has 8 preamps so I dont need that from a external mixer, but how would I mix the levels of all the channels? Is there some sort of software mixer that mixes the channels?

The thing that attracted me to the Ua1000 was the usb 2.0, because then I can just plug it right in and use it and I would be able to easily use it on different computers. The Ua1000 has only 4 preamps, so I was thinking maybe i would be an Audio Buddy mic/inst. preamp. What should I do? Maybe I dont really need 8 channels. Are there any cheaper solutions for audio interfaces? I dont want to blow all my money on a audio interface leaving no money for new mics. Maybe I should try to make it with 4 channels.

 

[Seanmorse79]

You won't need a mixer with the Q10 because of the built-in preamps. The multi-track recording software you use with it will allow you to do all of your mixing. Some folks prefer to use an outboard mixer to mix with, but I prefer to mix in the box (not as hands-on, but it's more flexible). I'd imagine the Q-10 comes with an LE version of a commercial recording package (most do), but check it out first to make sure.

I'd forget about USB for recording more than a few tracks at a time - not enough cosistent throughput. Firewire is supposed to be different. Do a few searches on USB and you'll see why.

 

[Jaycay]

Thank you for the help. I read up a little on usb 2.0 and firewire and dont really understand why firewire would make a better choice than usb for usb 2.0 goes at 480mb/s while firewire goes at 400 mb/s. The q10 comes with Cakewalk Pro Audio 9 (but Ive heard it doesnt work with windows xp) But this doesnt bother me much since I already have n-track.