Will this basic setup work for me?

[stream41]

Hey guys, I run an online acoustic guitar store, and I'm looking at investing in a very basic recording setup to start offering sound clips for customers. I was looking into a USB mic like the PG27USB or Blue Yeti, but after some research I'm quickly finding out that although they have direct monitoring, they probably wouldn't be my best option.

I'm your average amateur singer/songwriter type guy, and eventually I'd like to start recording some of my ideas. It would be very basic stuff - laying down one track at a time, slowly building songs. So just a couple of inputs would be fine. Obviously I'll need the ability to play recorded tracks through monitoring headphones while I record the new tracks - so that basically eliminates USB mics right there. Also, my office/computer room is far too noisy for recording, so I'll need to take my laptop/interface/mic elsewhere in the house to record - that means a portable USB interface.

I'm looking at a Tascam US122mkII and an AT AT2020 mic. My budget right now is about $175 max - I have $120 in eBay Bucks, and the wife and I have deemed that $50 extra would be appropriate Would that combo work for me for the foreseeable future?

Edit: I'm reading that the US122mkII had driver problems in the past. I'm using Vista 64bit on this machine - I assume those driver problems have been fixed by Tascam?

Thanks!!

 

[TetraFish]

On the surface it looks fine. I can't comment on the drivers.

Don't forget you'll need a mic cable and a stand.

 

[stream41]

On the surface it looks fine. I can't comment on the drivers.

Don't forget you'll need a mic cable and a stand.

Cool, thanks. I do have the basic stuff (stand, cables, pop filter, etc) left over from an old setup that I sold a few years ago.

 

[Washburn100]

There are so many interfaces available now that will do what you want and cheap ($100 range). Recording acoustic guitar though is a challenge to get a good sound/reproduction. The mic is very important for this.

Also, to really highlight acoustic guitar, it can be very advantageous to record with stereo mic's. I personally use 2 pencil condensers in an x-y pattern. A lot of people like using a pencil mic near the fretboard and a large diaphram condenser over the shoulder.

I would do some googling about recording acoustic guitar and read some of the articles. This said, you can find a lot of good deals on combo mic deals that have a large diaphram condenser and a pencil condenser for this purpose. Here's a couple of examples:

http://pro-audio.musiciansfriend.co...ckage?sku=273166&CJAID=10381297&CJPID=2179950
http://www.dagexpress.com/incEngine/?product=1030198805