Preamp recommendations for DAW?

[ljenab]

Hi, all. I'm looking for the best (affordable) way to mic my amps and acoustic instruments. I'm working in Cakewalk's Sonar 2 and Guitar Tracks Pro. So far, I've been recording guitars exclusively through a Johnson J-Station into my Audigy2, which is actually sounds quite good, but I'm also interested in miking my amps and acoustic guitars. I have a decent microphone, but the input is too low to use for recording, especially the acoustics. So, I'm interested in a mic preamp, and maybe a compressor. Can someone give me the skinny on what the basics are, and price points?

The first person I talked to said to get an Mbox, which has preamps built-in and comes with Pro Tools LE. That's a bit pricey, not only on its own but because Dididesign recommends purchasing a new, separate drive dedicated to audio processing. I'd also have to learn yet another software system, which I don't have the time to do.

Any advice much appreciated!

LJ

 

[christiaan]

It basically start with the M-audio Audiobuddy for $80,- the M-audio DMP-3 for a bit more and from there the sky is the limit. Decide on your budget, go roam the Rack forum, use the search function and be prepared to invest time to learn.