What do I need?

[Horenulas]

Hey guys I was wondering. what kind of soundcard would I need if I was plugging all my mics into a mixer, and then into the computer? I think most of the sound cards people have been talking about on here are for plugging the mics straight into the soundcard? Correct me if I'm wrong. If I plug my mics into a mixer and then into my computer will it have as good of sound quality?
Thanks

 

[Elmo89m]

first off most people do NOT plug mics straight into a soundcard..they go to a preamp first.
Yes you could go into a mixer. then all you would need is a stereo soundcard. which you could buy for less than a hundred bucks. But my question is why? It depends on the mixer..but yeah the quality wont change a whole lot. Your biggest problem is that once you record you will have no individual control over you mics. I dont really know what you are doing but i HIGHLY advise anyone to get a soundcard with the inputs they need and track it all to a separate track in a sequencer.

 

[Horenulas]

So are you saying I don't even need a physical mixer at all? Just mic preamps?

And is the delta 66 a good sound card for this?

 

[Elmo89m]

yup...no need for a mixer...You would have a ton more options you just had preamps and a soundcard and recorded each mic to a separate track.I dont know if the delta 66 is good good for you.It depends on how many mics you want to record at a time.If six is all you'll need then yep that will be perfect. also you ll need software of some kind. you can download one like audacity or you can pay a hundred dollars for cakewalk homestudio..which impressed me as i have sonar 4 producer which is 6 times as expensive as the homestudio. yet homestudio has many of its features...the software will be your mixer

 

[Horenulas]

Ok thanks a lot. Is there any certain preamps you would recommend? Or a soundcard? I think i'd need to record with 7 mics at once in o rder to record drums correctly, right?

 

[Elmo89m]

um will you could do it with six..1 hi-tom, 1 lo-tom, 1 snare, 1 kick, 2 overheads. If you want to be able to add more inputs that those six then you should get a delta1010lt. If you only want six i'd recommend the delta 66. For preamps. if you've got a grand to spend i'd recommend the mackie onyx. which is 8 pres for a grand. about 120 each pre. If your on a real low budget then you could get by for a while on the sm pro audio pr8. Which is what im running until i can get some syteks. that is 100 dollars or about 12 dollars each.

 

[Kevin Deschwazi]

um will you could do it with six..1 hi-tom, 1 lo-tom, 1 snare, 1 kick, 2 overheads. If you want to be able to add more inputs that those six then you should get a delta1010lt. If you only want six i'd recommend the delta 66. For preamps. if you've got a grand to spend i'd recommend the mackie onyx. which is 8 pres for a grand. about 120 each pre. If your on a real low budget then you could get by for a while on the sm pro audio pr8. Which is what im running until i can get some syteks. that is 100 dollars or about 12 dollars each.

The Delta 66 has only 4 analog inputs/outputs, the other 2 are spdif in/out.

If you want seven ins the next step up in the MAudio range is the 1010LT which will give you 8 analog ins/outs, spdif in/out and MIDI in/out. It's what I use and I'd recommend it.

Unless you have lots of money to spend on decent outboard pres I would recommend a mixer for mic preamps, this will also give you headphone monitoring. Something like the Yamaha MG range is pretty decent and cheap. It's also worth mentioning that the 1010LT card has preamps built in to inputs 1 and 2 so you can plug a mic directly into those inputs meaning you only need six preamps. The Yamaha MG12/4 would fit the bill perfectly.

This is based on the assumption that money is tight. If you have a bit more cash to play with then state your budget and I'm sure you'll get plenty of other recommendations. The 1010LT is around $230 and the Yammie MG12/4 can be had for around $200.

Hope this helps.

 

[Elmo89m]

Im sorry...i overlooked the spdif in outs.