using a computer, me, are you crazy??!!@#%

[little z]

well, here it is! i've got this fostex fd-8 that uses an iomega 250 zip drive. o.k., stop right there! no more equipment or gear or any thing else involved. now, if i were so inclined to attempt recording onto a computer,what would i need(provided i have the computer)because i hear all this stuff about sound cards and software and a lot of other stuff and i get really intimidated really fast! i'm using the windows millenium edition(2000?)and that's all i know.please give me in the most explicit detail you can what to do and what direction to go now.
thanks more than you know,
little z

 

[dobro]

Hardware: if you're serious about computer recording, get a soundcard that's dedicated to recording audio digitally - a Soundblaster will do it for not much money, or if you want to be able to record more tracks simultaneously, you'll have to pay more money. How many tracks at one time do you need? Good soundcards have a break-out box that you can plug things into away from the computer.

Software: you're gonna need some software to record and edit with. N-tracks is really cheap and well-liked for tracking and simple edit, I think. Cool Edit is good also, but more expensive. Beyond that, things start getting pricey. How much do you want to spend? With stuff like Cool Edit, you can use plug-ins (either free downloads or paid for) for processing and effects.

Make sure your computer's big and fast enough to handle the soundcard and software (usually no problem if your computer's relatively new).

Of course, you're still gonna need a mixer or preamps to get signals into the soundcard at line level. If you do it one track at a time, you can get away with $100 for a one-channel tube pre.

If you go the Soundblaster cum N-tracks route, maybe $200 would do it.

 

[Stratamatic]

Of course, you're still gonna need a mixer or preamps to get signals into the soundcard at line level. If you do it one track at a time, you can get away with $100 for a one-channel tube pre.

If you go the Soundblaster cum N-tracks route, maybe $200 would do it.

I agree with all said but this. What's the purpose of getting a sound card with anolog ins if you still have to get a mixer or mic pre just to make signal line level??? Some don't but a lot of soundcards are capable of accepting a signal straight from an instrument. The whole point of a lot of these sound cards are to be able to plug an instrument to an input a start recording.

 

[AlChuck]

What's the purpose of getting a sound card with anolog ins if you still have to get a mixer or mic pre just to make signal line level???

There's nothing unusual about this. You could make the same comment about an ADAT or Tascam DA-88 or any of the great old analog multitrack tape decks. The purpose is flexibility. A soundcard with standard inputs allows you to choose what mixer or preamp you want to use. The soundcards that offer a complete solution suffer from the same problem that any do-it-all system in any area does -- the manufacturer has to be good at doing everything, and once you go that route, it's somewhat inflexible. Modularization is a good thing. It lets excellent sound card makers focus and not have to also be excellent preamp makers, it allows consumers many, many options instead of just a few...

Sure, there are soundcards that offer a "complete" solution, and I'm sure many of them are dynamite -- I almost popped for an Echo Mona myself. They are expensive, though. A simpler soundcard with a small one- or two-channel preamp plugged into it, or a small inexpensive mixer, can be less expensive. Then when you want to move up, you can keep the same sound card and get a better mixer.

 

[BigKahuna]

Good advice so far ...
But, if you're skiddish about recording to computer, here's what I'd do ...
You probably already have a soundcard for your PC ...
- Go to Radio Shack (yep) and get a 2 mono RCA (male) to 1 stereo 1/8" Y-cord ...
- Plug the 1/8" plug into the line in on the soundcard and the RCAs on the "main" or "record" out on the Fostex.
- Get some shareware software like Goldwaves or something.
- Just use your computer to mixdows the output of your Fostex.

This will hopefully help take some mystery out of computer recording for really only the cost of the y-plug from Radio Shack. Once you have that down, then maybe you can start thinking about preamps, multitracking, external mixers and so forth.