mixer and soundcard or aark direct pro?

[bobbo]

This site is a beautiful thing.
I am a newbie and am trying to figure out if an Aark Direct Pro would be just as good for me than buying a Mackie 1202-VLZ mixer and a Darla soundcard. I think the prices would about match for each setup.
Would sound quality be different?
Would I be losing out by not having a mixer as another piece of equipment to have? (I've never owned one)
I'm not too sure if I would be using the mixer for anything else than computer recording, but I could someday I reckon.
Any ideas for me?
Thanks

 

[Dragon]

Thanks, Bobbo, glad you like the site!

As everyone probably can guess by now I'm a big AARK fan, but the AARK Direct Pro is still vaporware as far as I know. Theoretically, that might be a neater solution, but in real life I would have to steer you towards the Mackie/Darla because (a) you can actually buy them and (b) it's a bit more flexible, since you can upgrade either piece in the future separately.

 

[bobbo]

Thank you Dragon. I'm going to start out slow I believe. Just bought another 32 megs of SDRAM and downloaded ntracks, 50 bucks for both. I think I need to just start out learning the basics of computer recording and not be so crazy like I've been. Its exciting to feel like you're getting a great system, but if I don't really know what I'm doing, I think I will need shock treatment in the future. Real grateful to you for your support and help and interest and humor.
Pete

 

[nero]

well i decided to sit it out for the new aardvark card....it has four inputs and a ten channel mixer that is driven entirely by the sound card, no cpu...it also has xlr and trs connectors, preamps, phantom power, a headphone out, and a digital i/o...mine is supposed to be here in two weeks...but you know how that goes....