Newbie: basic setup help - mixer needed?

[guttadaj]

Hello, everyone.

My first post - please bear with me...

I'm just diving into computer recording and need some help making sense of it all. I'm just doing real basic recording for my own enjoyment and maybe to give to some musician friends of mine. I've read some stuff on the web that suggests I might need a mixer, and I was seconds away from buying the priced-for-my-budget Behringer Eurorack MX602A mixer, but I figured I'd check to see if that would be wise first.

My current setup is a new, speedy Dell with Turtle Beach Sound Card and Cakewalk HomeStudio 2002 software. I have an electric bass guitar, an acoustic/electric guitar with preamp, a Roland XP50 keyboard, and assorted microphones. I read some stuff that said DO NOT plug your guitar/microphone (except for the crappy one that comes with the computer) directly into the sound card. This is how I was thinking it was done, but I guess I was quite mistaken. :/ Is a mixer the answer? Would I need a DI box for my bass or would a mixer take care of this? Any other ideas or comments?

Thanks!!
-Jeff

 

[Stealthtech]

You can patch any instrument to a mixer and route to your soundcard. The mixer will also have preamps for line level mics.
It would be a wise investment considering the card your using

 

[HogansHiro]

For starters the behringer mixer would fit your budget and needs nicely. Like stealth said...small mixer that size should be all you need for now. If I'm correct it also has phantom power so you can use a larger diaphram mic for crisper vocals. I have a small eurorack sitting on my synth rack/pc that I use for simple straight to soundcard routing.

 

[Seanmorse79]

I have an MX-602 I used to use before I got my C-Port, and it did me very well for a couple of years. And, yes, it does have phantom power - I used it with my Oktava MK-219 LD with decent results.

 

[Gidge]

you can go straight to the soundcard without a mixer....it probably wont sound as good as using a mixer, but it will work.....

mics,bass,etc (anything that would need a preamp) would go into the mic input......

keyboards (and anything with a line level output) would go to the line in......

btw, the Santa Cruz has to be the best sounding consumer type soundcard there is out there, so dont count it out yet......

 

[guttadaj]

mixer on the way

Thanks, everybody! I just ordered the mixer this morning - should help make me really dangerous.

-Jeff