recording interface help for a laptop

[ConcreteHippo]

I have a 16 channel mixer and a laptop running XP. I was wondering what i should get for an interface. Im not to familiar with recording directly to my laptop becuase ive been using an 8 track.

I was wondering if i get a poor quality interface will it lessen the quality of my recordings if i am already using a mixer with not too bad quality.

Also are there any other type of interfaces besides USB that will work with a laptop?

 

[ssscientist]

If your laptop has a firewire port it's probably one of the small sized ones, and any good computer store will have a cable to adapt a firewire interface to the smaller port.

The other concern is that the firewire port on a laptop does not provide power for an interface --- you need to use an external power supply.

Either this one or this one would probably do the job.

 

[Minion]

Well you are either stuck with a USB or a Firewire Interface when useing a Laptop for recording....

From what I hear Firewire Interfaces are Definately MUCH better than USB Ones....

Not knowing how many instruments and what Instruments you will be recording at one time makes it hard to recomend to you one device over the other....

You could just sell your Mixer and get a Firewire Mixer Like a "Alesis 16 Channel Firewire Mixer" which will let you record 16 channels at once to your Laptop and it has 8 Fairly good Preamps and the Unit will run you close to $600 and you could Pretty much record a Full band with Drums all at Once...

You might also look into the "Mackie Onyx 400F" which is a Higher Quality device but also a bit more expensive and I think only has 10 channels but also has Midi and other features the alesis unit doesn"t have....

Another Good unit that is very well thought of is the "Presonis FireBox" which is a 8 input unit with Good pre-amps and probably less expensive than the other units....

All of these units can be used in one way or another with the Mixer you allready have but they also make your Mixer a Bit obsolete as they can do pretty much anything your Mixer can do and more.......

I suggest you look on the Net and do some research on these units and others and see which ones do what you need done and if you have any questions come back and ask ......


Cheers

 

[jndietz]

I have the Behringer FCA202. I am quite an advocate for it Its a GREAT little piece of equipment. Definately affordable as well. It can record up to two mono tracks at once, which translates into one stereo track at a time. I have had this for a month now, no problems so far, easy install, east set up. Great 24/96 piece of hardware. Only for $80, too.

 

[xcrazymx]

firewire port not providing power?... depends on what kind of laptop you're using! ;-)

If your laptop has a firewire port it's probably one of the small sized ones, and any good computer store will have a cable to adapt a firewire interface to the smaller port.

The other concern is that the firewire port on a laptop does not provide power for an interface --- you need to use an external power supply.

Either this one or this one would probably do the job.

 

[apl]

If you'd like 8 ins, consider the Presonus Firepod.

 

[TimOBrien]

I'm using a Motu828mkII on an XP laptop (and a Glyph firewire drive) with ZERO problems.

Well worth it...

(And using a 6pin-to-4pin firewire cable is no big deal!)

 

[ConcreteHippo]

I have the Behringer FCA202. I am quite an advocate for it Its a GREAT little piece of equipment. Definately affordable as well. It can record up to two mono tracks at once, which translates into one stereo track at a time. I have had this for a month now, no problems so far, easy install, east set up. Great 24/96 piece of hardware. Only for $80, too.

I looked into it and it dosen't seem to bad. Right now im not looking to spend a lot, I just want something with good quality and easy set up.