why only 8 audio tacks during playback?

[spacedye]

i am using cakewalks home studio 9. i know it only allows me to playback 8 audio tracks. at the moment i am using a sound blaster live platinum 5.1 and plan on upgrading to a much better sound card. if i was to switch to another sound card such as MOTU's 828 or 2408 mkII, and swtiched to another recording program like sonar, would this be all i need to hear more audio tracks from my computer than 8? all audio tracks are recorded by me one at a time, so the need for more than 1 or 2 inputs isnt really that necessary. also, do either one of these MOTU cards come with everything i need (pci card/connectors etc...)? i see that it comes with the main rack unit sound card piece, but the ads for these things dont fully explain everything needed to know by a newbie. and forget about the salesmen at these stores....
if anyone has an idea of a better or cheaper sound card for me, that would be a help also. thanks...
p.s. i forgot to mention that i would be recording audio only,
no midi would be involved.

 

[Tekker]

You don't need to get a new soundcard to be able to hear more tracks, all you need is a program (like Sonar) that will let you playback more than 8 tracks. But getting the new card is still a good idea just for improving soundquality (and because Sound Blasters are terrible for audio recording), but it's not necessary to hear more tracks during playback, but still a good idea (I already said that, didn't I? ).

I don't know anything about the MOTU.

-tkr

 

[spacedye]

thanks for the reply tekker.... much appreciated. sometimes i go a little crazy and have lots of things going on in the songs, so that would be the main reason for listening to more than 8 tracks. i leave them on seperate tracks so that if i ever need to change something in the song, ill be able to. im sure that will be something i outgrow in time though.
but, any suggestions on a sound card under $400.00? with my needs, like i said, 1 or 2 inputs would be fine. but 4 or more would be great. i guess its always good to have more.

 

[Tekker]

I just got an Aardvark Direct Pro 24/96 (used) for $400 and it is very good, but new I think it's around $500 (maybe a little more). It has 4 mic inputs with built in preamps and phantome power, so if you can find one used for that price then that would be a good deal. Otherwise the M Audio Delta 66 is a little over $300 and it has 4 inputs or the Delta Omni Studio is just a little under $400 which is the Delta 66 card and it comes with 2 mic preamps.

i leave them on seperate tracks so that if i ever need to change something in the song, ill be able to. im sure that will be something i outgrow in time though.

No, you probably won't, but that's good. It is ALWAYS best to keep everything on it's own track (and also have access to the original unprocessed tracks), so that you'll to be able to go back and fix stuff that comes up later on down the road. And once you get a new program that will let you playback more than 8 tracks (which Sonar, Pro Audio 9, and a bunch of others will do) you won't need to worry about it.

Hope that helps

-tkr

 

[spacedye]

it helps a BUNCH!!!! i was actually thing of the omni studio. it seems to have what im looking for. the only thing it doesnt have is holes on the sides of it to mount it in my computer desk rack. I cant believe how much ive picked up from posting just a few messages and reading what other peoples questions and responses are.
i have 2 other questions for you. 1 has nothing to do with music, so ill start with that one. how did you post that smiley expression next to your sentence? and 2nd, is it possible to attach a song that ive recorded on this site and how would i do that?

 

[Tekker]

1. You can do it one of two ways, one is where you write your message you can click on the Smilies over to the left side which automatically adds a , and when it adds a smilie you can see what symbols you use to make them, then you can just type in : + ) = which is much easier to do when you are writing, than having to go over and click on the smiley.

2. I don't know (I have been wondering this myself), but maybe someone help us out here. My guess would be that you'd just have to put your song up on an MP3 page or something.

-tkr