Which audio hardware to buy?

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newtorecording

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Hi,
I’m completely new at home recording, so please bear with me.
I’m using Audacity to record a guitar which is plugged directly in my laptop (line in). The results as you can imagine are not very good. Furthermore there is a terrible latency when I record the second channel, even though “Software Playthrough” is unchecked and only “Play other tracks while recording new one” is checked in Audacity preferences.
I want to buy an audio recording interface and I’ve narrowed down my choices to the following 3:
E-MU 0404 USB 2.0 Audio/MIDI Interface
Tascam US122L USB 2.0 Audio/MIDI Interface
Line 6 TonePort UX1 USB Recording/Modeling Interface
I like the E-MU 0404 because it comes with a nice software recording bundle (Cakewalk SONAR LE, Steinberg's Cubase LE, WaveLab Lite, etc.), the Tascam comes with Steinberg's Cubase LE as well, and the TonePort has a nice set of vocal and guitar pre-amps, but doesn’t come with recording software.
My questions are the following:
Would any of the 3 audio interfaces above solve the latency problem I’m having with Audacity or does the combination between quality recording software like SONAR LE or Cubase LE and the audio hardware solves this?
If I buy the TonePort, would I be able to record without latency with Audacity?
Which of the 3 audio recording solutions would you recommend for a newbie?



Thanks in advance,

Peter
 
newtorecording said:
Which of the 3 audio recording solutions would you recommend for a newbie?
Click to expand...

The three mentioned have their pros and cons and you've obviously done your basic research.

In my opinion you can't go far wrong with any one of the three so go with whatever one appeals to you.

Software is a different matter. I use and recommend Reaper --- LINK --- because it's professional level software at a shareware price. If you like it as much as I do after using it for 30 days they ask for a $50 registration fee for non-commercial use.


.
 
Behringer makes a little thing called an FCA202, it supports up to 96KHz/24-bit recordings and can record two tracks at once. Its pretty nice, but it doesn't have any preamps on it -- you'd need to get some of those. You can also daisy-chain those together for more TRS inputs. It costs about $79.

If you plan on recording for a while, you could get a PreSonus Firepod and go to town. Its a nice little interface that supports up to 10 tracks simultaneous recording. Has a price of $399 usually.
 
Thanks,

I'll download reaper and I'll also check the FCA202.

I have one more question.
I have a Dell e1705 laptop (known also as Dell 9400) and the sound card is Sigmatel high definition audio codec. How do I check if the driver for my card is an ASIO driver?




Thanks for the help!

Peter
 
newtorecording said:
Thanks,

I'll download reaper and I'll also check the FCA202.

I have one more question.
I have a Dell e1705 laptop (known also as Dell 9400) and the sound card is Sigmatel high definition audio codec. How do I check if the driver for my card is an ASIO driver?




Thanks for the help!

Peter
Click to expand...

You would only have to worry about that if you were using that card to record. But since you are looking at another interface to record, whatever you decide to buy will support ASIO. Not to mention you can get ASIO4ALL for free.
 
My obligatory standard reply that I keep in Wordpad:

First off, immediately get a good beginner recording book (spend $20 before spending hundred$/thousand$) that shows you what you need to get started and how to hook everything up in your studio:
Home Recording for Musicians by Jeff Strong - $15
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/07...ce&n=283155&n=507846&s=books&v=glance
(Wish I'd had that when I started; would have saved me lots of money and time and grief)

Good Newbie guides that also explains all the basics:
http://www.tweakheadz.com/guide.htm
http://www.computermusic.co.uk/page/computermusic?entry=free_beginner_pdfs

21 Ways To Assemble a Recording Rig:
http://www.tweakheadz.com/rigs.htm

Also Good Info:
http://www.theprojectstudiohandbook.com/directory.htm

Other recording books:
http://musicbooksplus.com/home-recording-c-31.html


Plenty of software around to record for free to start out on:

Audacity: http://audacity.sourceforge.net

Kristal: http://www.kreatives.org/kristal/

Other freebies and shareware: www.hitsquad.com

Another great option is REAPER at http://www.cockos.com/reaper/
(It's $40 but runs for free until you get guilty enough to pay for it...)

Music Notation and MIDI recording: Melody Assistant ($20) and Harmony Assistant ($80) have the power of $600 notation packages - http://myriad-online.com
Demo you can try on the website.

And you can go out to any Barnes&Noble or Borders and pick up "Computer Music" magazine - they have a full studio suite in every issue's DVD, including sequencers, plugins and tons of audio samples. (Last November, they gave away a full copy of SamplitudeV8SE worth $150 - pays to watch 'em for giveaways...)
 
Thanks guys!

You all have been very helpful. I'll be back with more questions for sure :).



Peter
 
TimOBrien said:
My obligatory standard reply that I keep in Wordpad:

Another great option is REAPER at http://www.cockos.com/reaper/
(It's $40 but runs for free until you get guilty enough to pay for it...)
Click to expand...

You'll need to update your Wordpad document to read:

(Version 2.0 is out now and you have 30 days to find out if it's a good fit for your needs. Then they ask for a $50 shareware fee for non-commercial use.)


.
 
I didn't have any luck with the Behringer FCA202, it just didn't work on my laptop at all. Maybe I got a bum unit, but I'd stay away from that one.

I had much better luck with the Presonus Firebox. The Firebox also has a couple preamps built into it, so you wouldn't need to buy preamps separately.
 
SonicAlbert said:
I didn't have any luck with the Behringer FCA202, it just didn't work on my laptop at all. Maybe I got a bum unit, but I'd stay away from that one.

I had much better luck with the Presonus Firebox. The Firebox also has a couple preamps built into it, so you wouldn't need to buy preamps separately.
Click to expand...

Yep, typical Behringer -- hit and miss :)

At least they try :D
 
I've researched more recording options and I really liked the Tascam DP01 8-Track Hard Disk Recorder.

What do you think of it, and would that be a better choice compared to buying audio recording interface like TonePort or US122L?




Thanks,

Peter
 
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