Recording set-up decisions

[Chrisku13]

Hi, I'm looking to do some decent home recordings, but I need better equipment for the job. I know, you've probably read a thousand of these posts before, but I'm just looking for some personal opinions for what could be best for me. I want to be able to record a full drum kit, so I decided atleast 8 inputs is a must. I have narrowed it down to these setups:
an Aardvark Q10 Soundcard- http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/g=live/search/detail/base_id/55322

OR

An E-mu 1212M soundcard with a multiple channel mic-preamp that uses ADAT to put the mics into the E-mu (I used Behringer as an example). http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/g=rec/search/detail/base_pid/242512/
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/g=rec/search/detail/base_pid/182483/

Now, costwise, I want to be able to do this as cheap as possible. However, I still want to create the best quality recordings that I can. Both of these options will come to about the same price (I can get the Aardvark used for about $450). Do the mic-pre's really matter that much? If people look down upon the Behringer, there are other 8 channel options for about the same price that I'm looking at (SMPro Audio, Nady). How much of a noticeable difference would I find between these lower-priced brands and say an M-audio Octane? If you can help me with this, I would greatly appreciate it. I know, I'm asking a lot.

 

[seryozha]

I can vouche(spell?) for the Q10...its an awesome piece of equipment.

I dont have that great of mics but , wow, this thing makes them sound WAY better.

 

[manning1]

search under my name. read the many posts ive made in the past year
on daw recording with a pc. youll get a lot of info.