Often Asked? Trying to select multi-in Soundcard

[Silent223]

okay... I see all the different soundcars in catalogs, and Im wonderin what will fit my needs, which are:

windows compatible

24/96

ASIO 2.0

gigasampler compatibility

Good interface, like a rackmount or even a mixer-type thing.

Multi ins, balanced and unbalanced... (at least 4)

do any come with preamps and or eq's????

Whats the best way to record multipile trax at the same time into your computer is what Im asking....

Do I get a multi-in soundcard and use individual preamps for each track???
Or is there a cool Mixer type interface that is 24/96 that has eq and stuff...

I basically want to be able to recod a band....

Surely this isnt all I wanted to ask.... THEDRAGGON!!! help me out here, youre asking the same question!!!!

The closest one Ive found has been the terratec ones, but I need to SEE the interface!!!

thanks in advance.

[Gill_Boyd]

My 2 cents worth...
A Musician from many yers ago. Now back through the luxury of computers. Love SF Acid! Started with SF Acid pH1!

Everything you may want, need and are asking...
1st PC DAW - http://www.buildorbuy.net/dawstation.html
Only mistake, WinMe - Ugh!

PC DAW Tools Research:
http://www.buildorbuy.net/dawtools.html

Cutting to the chase: O/S - Win2000. ProAudio Interface to record a Band? Need (4) mic preamps. Considered Digi001. On a PC it was made for the i440BX chipset. Rather finicky? How so? One Reseller said, "Purchase @ your own risk. If it don't work, don't call us." Or so it seemed. Loved the DVD Demo Video! Even if it was done on a MAC.

We looked into SeaSound, glad we passed on that. Settled on www.aardvarkaudio.com. OK on WinMe most of the time. Drivers some times disappear. Reboot! A WinMe issue. Still waiting on Win2000 drivers rumored to be coming in April or May of 2002? Hope so...

Even though SB Live is trash for recording, playback is OK. And Aardvark will coexist with it. If buying today... either M-Audio or Aardvark. Just now setting up a NEW AthlonXP DAW. So far, so good. Still testing! No notes to publish yet. Win2000 makes all the difference. WinMe was a nightmare! WinXP makes some assumptions we're not comfortable with just yet. We'll wait on WinXP until SP2, just like Win2000. Glad we did, worth it!

Our PC Specs - ifiwere_2--.xls (3/6/2002)
http://www.buildorbuy.net/jwhinery/xls/ifiwere_2--.xls

Above specs are the current AthlonXP DAW we're working on.

As far as multiple tracks... Bounce them when you have what you want. The MOTU FireWire specs look great, if you can justify the costs. As long as I can record 4 tracks @ a time - playback of 16 bit / 44.1 KHz is no big deal.

Of course, you'll need 2 HD's to start (O/S & Apps on 1; Audio Files on 2)and maybe need to add 1 HD later for GigaStudio libraries or the actual mix drive.

Hope some of this helps.