Recording on the cheap

[MRX2099]

Ok as far as what cheap-er hardware to buy I am thinking of either of these


1) M-Audio Firewire 410
2) M-Audio Fast Track Pro
3) Line 6 Toneport V2

I have no mic so I guess it will be straigh into the PC
my Amp is a Mesa Boogie Recto Pre I could go from there into either of these 3
so which would be the better choice of what to buy. I want to be able still to hear my playing i hear on the Toneport you have to do a workaround to hear yourself playing, are the others easy to configure, and what about using Cakewalk Guitar Tracks pro 3 for the software of maybe pro tools for m-audio with the m-audio hardware? I am a newbie to recording and on a budget


TKS

 

[gonzo]

a great way to go direct, without a mic, is to use the Palmer PDI-09.

 

[mr_fender]

I have a M-Audio fast track pro and it works great. There practically no latency and it sounds great. Phantom power is nice for condenser mics too. I also use it's MIDI input for my crappy keyboard controller when running Reason.

If you really wanna record on the cheap. Just use the line in on your PC's soundcard. The sound quality will be good enough (far better than any 4 track tape deck out there) and it should work with Sonar just fine. Before I bought the M-Audio, I just used a cheap 4 channel mixer as a mic preamp and plugged it into the line in of my Soundblaster Live card. Good enough for rock n' roll! The only real limitation is you can't record more than 2 tracks at a time. For me this is not an issue, since I do all the parts myself anyway.

You don't need 96 khz / 24 bit capabilities for home recording. The CD audio standard is still 44.1khz /16 bit anyway. It's highly unlikely that you'll have a recording environment quiet enough to take advantage of anything better than CD quality anyway.

 

[7 Strings of Hate]

i'd say the tone port, Line 6 has great effects

 

[Blackface tweed]

one more for tone port! easy to dial and rather cheap.
and the GPO is a huge bonus

 

[Strategy500]

I've been using the PreSonus Firebox for about 2 years. It's a decent unit for the price, and has good preamps. But the pre's , since they only go up to 45 db (if I remember right) will be slightly lacking if you try to record quieter sources with a dynamic mic. Most budget pre's/interfaces will be this way. Not that they won't work, you can still do it, but the problem that I have found is, since you will need to max out the gain, it will loose some headroom, thus introducing some noise into the signal, which may or may not be noticable on a track or two, but once you start stacking tracks, may become more noticable. If you're recording metal/rock music, it won't be a problem. It also come bundled with Cubase LE recording software, which is nice if you don't already have recording software.

 

[dmcguitar]

does the tone port come with software?

looks cool.. i want a simple all in one for demos of songs.