New to PC recording...need suggestions.

[Martin Young]

My goal is to be able to record at least 4 channels with decent quality, and I don't want to spend a lot of money. To get started I want to utilize what I already have for equipment which is a 12 channel mixer, a laptop with a high definition audio card, and Magix recording software...which seems to be decent enough to get started. I'm looking for suggestions on what I should use for an interface??

[uncle99]

There are no cheap (<$100) interfaces that will record 4 tracks simultaneously. Firewire, and some USB2.0 interfaces will work. Alesis makes inexpensive USB2.0 mixers that can record up to 4 tracks at once.
They are probably the least expensive on the market.

For single and 2 track recording into a DAW multitrack, any USB interface with ASIO drivers (for low latency) will do what you want. You could also try http://www.asio4all.com/ driver with your present sound card if latency is a problem.

[TimOBrien]

Here's a good guide and tested suggestions: http://www.tweakheadz.com/soundcards_for_the_home_studio.htm

(You will want to bookmark and read through all of Tweak's Guide...)