Which soundcard(s) for 16 inputs?

[Garak]

I'm looking to put together a rig for recording live and I'm wanting to stick to a PC based setup.

I need atleast 16 inputs. So whats out their that can handle 16 or more inputs without any problems?

So far I've been looking at the Motu firewire interfaces because they are linkable and they would be easy to move from computer to computer. They also have built in preamps and metering.

How easy is it to adjust the gain on these things on the fly?
What is the maximum lenght for a firewire cable?

The other two I've seen are the M-audio delta 1010 and the Echo's darla and layla cards. The problem with both of these is that they have pci cards which take a bit of work to move to a diffrent computer. Also they need a free pci slot for every 8 channels and I've only seen motherboards with like 5 slots and 2 of those are gone because I'm going to have a raid card and a network card in there. So that leaves me with a limit of 24 inputs not that I will be recording any more than that at one time but it may mean I have to repatch alot.

 

[mixmkr]

just a thought on the PCI cards....Not sure how fast, and what you want to network...but couldn't you just get an old ISA card for networking?...especially if it meant needing the PCI slots. I have a Layla, btw, and have use the 8 inputs without problems, many times. I'd like a 2nd one myself, but the occasions I need more than the eight inputs are rare. I don't do a lot of live drums, for instance.

 

[mixmkr]

oh...and as far as adjusting on the fly...Echo gives you a mixer, but I'd never want it for "live" recording. Infact, I don't probably line it up and match my levels as much as I should. All this because of the mouse, I suppose. I would still recommend some 100mm fadars on something, going into your PC first.