Mixer or A/D interface with USB2/USB3 or Firewire 1394a (HELP REQUIRED)

[Wiired]

Hi I'm trying to setup a small low cost PC based recording studio via Firewire or USB on Win7 x64.

Primarily I'm recording voice (not singing) and want a suitable mixer or A/D interface.
I may require to record guitar and speakers at a later stage.
Probably need 48v phantom power for mic flexibility.

Ideally something simple and I don't want to spend lots cash.
Does anyone know any cheap but rock solid low latency interfaces?

So far I have only seen the Alesis iO2 are there any other products?
Can anyone recommend this products recording/quality or make suggestions on others?
Is the phantom power going to be ok just powered by the PC?

I need help with sub $250 mic selection as well. See my post in the Mic forum for that.

THANKS!

 

[ivanyoung]

M-Audio Fasttrack is quite good, around $110.
It got one mic channel with 48v phantom power, and one guitar channel.
Actually, all interfaces nowadays have low lantency, but whether or not you can record on lower buffers size is depend on your computer too, even if the interface can let you set to 128 or lower, if your computer don't have enough RAM, you still gonna have problems......
For the mic, Shure SM57 is good for recording guitars (acoustic or electric), for vocals....thats the matter of taste, you can go to music store around your place and test it.

 

[Wiired]

Ok so I purchased an Alesis IO4 $120 as I thought 4 channels gives me a little flexibility when recording multiple mics (especially acoustic guitar).

For spoken voice I'm using a Broadcast Dynamic Mic (not phantom powered) but it seems to be lacking gain on the IO4 - its not opening up the mic enough to be able to record properly in Windows.
Plugged my electric guitar in as well (dry signal) and all the volume is in last few notices of the gain knob and its very sensitive. I'm yet to test latency and but I am running ASIO4ALL drivers.
Perhaps the IO4 works great with phantom powered devices but I can see a serious issue here if your not boosting the signal into the inputs.

So here is my problem. I don't think I'm doing anything wrong as I'm not getting enough green bars on the IO4.
I figure I either go buy a mic pre or scrap this and cut my losses and get a better all in one solution.

I measure some room noise (now I can record) and I do have some PC fans running in the room.
Was intending to use compression and EQ during editing as its not live recording but now I'm thinking compressor/limiter/EQ along with a preamp.
Would it work better to do this before it hits the PC or is it all easily fixed in recording? I still need to be mindful of latency.

Was looking at the ART Tube Project and then the ART Tube MP/C but I have no ideas what these products are like.
At least they state they have some gain (the Alesis IO4 mentions nothing about gain at all).

Please can we start getting some conversation flowing on options?
People who have setup or used these devices jump in for opinion.