Expert Advice Sought - Going into to the PC

  • Thread starter Thread starter tsmckenney
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tsmckenney

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My objective: To purchase a card or interface

My budget: $300 or less.

Let me prefice this by saying: I have a good voice, and I know how to play the guitar. I also have some good songs to work with. With that said, here's what I want to do: record vocals and guitar. That's it. I'm looking for a couple of clean signals. I've done a pretty good amount of research and here's where the newbie starts to get confused.

1. If I am only recording vocals and guitar, do I actually need firewire? Would USB 2.0 suffice? Because that certainly opens up my options. All I am looking for is a good sounding clean signal.

2. What's up with the strength of the signal? I have read over and over, regardless of firewire/USB, that people get weak signals going into their pc's and everyone seems to end up adding their own gain.

3. Do people buy external 'interfaces' for the preamps? Is it otherwise better to go with a card? I personally like to go mic to preamp to compression, but I really prefer tube preamps, so I'm not sure it makes sense to spend money on something with preamps.

My approach to recording is keep it simple. After all, the Beatles recorded Sgt Peppers on a couple of 4-track recorders. So, I think it's easy to get caught up in "you've got to have this and you've got to have that."

All I'm looking for is a couple of clean signals.

Experts, what do you think?
 
just guitar abd vocals? maybe try line 6 tone port. you can mic, go in direct, and really get some good sounds.

however, if you wan't tube, i don't know what to tell you. i'd guess get a mic preamp and get a small firewire input device/
 
Focusrite Saffire LE. Everything you need in one box. Focusrite Preamps, a decent Firewire interface, even some plugins, easy to figure out and use. Youre not going to get a decent tube anything for anywhere near your budget. Frankly, its not necessry.
 
Good input, what about the firewire/USB issue?

Considering my needs, will USB 2 still get me a clean recording? If it can, I could go with something like a Lexicon Lambda. I would save some dough, and still get what I'm after. What do you guys think?

Otherwise, I agree, the Saffire looks about right.
 
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Do you usually record vocals and guitar at the same time?

You could also consider getting:

M-Audio 24/96 sound card (~$100). 2 analog inputs
M-Audio DMP3 Preamp (~$160) - 2 channels of clean gain

Although if you want to go FireWire then that's always an option. I figured you'd like the 24/96 and DMP3 because it will provide a good, clean signal and fits within your budget.
 
Frankly Ive not had alot of success with USB interfaces. And for refrence; I do, on average, 3 pro audio PC installations every day. Firewire just works better.
 
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