RCA type recording into a G4

[mholder]

Do I really have to buy an MBox or other sort of D/A converter?

What's the difference in sound quality between using a mixer (in my case a Tascam 414 4-track, which I have been using as a mixer) and using the RCA outputs into the 1/8" stereo jack in the back of the computer.

Is the sound card already good enough?

I have a mac G4, 1.5Gb RAM, 80Gb HD with Pro Tools.

 

[elevate]

The built in sound cards on Macs are of mediocre quality. The only reason you'd need a mixer though is for the preamps if you're using mics. It looks like the Tascam unit doesn't even have preamps, so if you don't need four inputs at once, it'd be better to remove it from the chain - the more devices and cables you have between the source and the destination, the more signal degredation you experience. If you're just making demos though, the quality of the built in card will probably be adequate. Of course, you will get much better results with an Mbox or some other equivelant product.

 

[j]

if i had your computer i'd definitely give the M-Box a spin......if they ever have pc support i might try one out....(but i'd make sure to either borrow it or buy it with a 30 day return policy, NQA).