Question regarding mixers/interfaces

[charlie847]

So, I've been reading the HR board for about a week pretty extensively...I have a pretty good grasp on the basics of recording...

I've always been a believer that the quality of your ideas is more important than the quality of your equipment so, for awhile, I've been using a simple mxl 990 through a line 6 UX1. I also use the UX1 for recording guitar/bass, in addition to micing up my amps (JCM800 to a 1960a, ampeg svt to an ampeg 4 x 10)....I also use a MicroKorg as a MIDI controller. I use Acoustica Mixcraft as my DAW, and am very satisfied with it.

ANYWAYS! I'm getting a nice tax refund this year, and am looking to upgrade a bit...I'm going to grab a MXL V67 and a few sm57s, probably going to get a presonus tube preamp as well. I'd like to have the ability to have everything plugged in at once (which I can't do w/ a UX1, 1 mic 1 1/4 inputs)

I've been looking at interfaces (m-audio fast track, etc.) as well as a few 4-8 channel mixers....A few of the mixers have USB connectivity.

I've never owned a mixer before....

Would I need an audio interface if I had a mixer w/ USB on it?

If I got a mixer w/out USB on it, would I be plugging that to the audio interface, directly to my PC, or what??

Any help would be appreciated!!

Thanks - Charlie

 

[dementedchord]

a mixer with the interface would obviate the need for a stand alone interface... if you go the usb route one thing to make sure of is whether the tracks are sent induvidually or not... ie.some will only send a 2 trk mix of whatever you are sending??? make sense?? if not read abit more first... also one of the things that newbies often dont think of in the early stages is room treatment... there's a good build forum here check it out... often you'll find spending a couple bucks here will get you more real change than say shiny new monitors etc... welcome to the club...