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Hello,

I have a powerfull laptop with a lousy sound card. I want to buy some gear to be able to record my guitar and voice/acoustic guitar through a microfone into the PC. I would also like to have very low latency to be able to use software real time effects with my guitar while recording it.

What should I use? A firewire sound card + a DI? Or buy something along the lines of M-Audio Fast Track?

I'm aiming to spend just ~130 euro (~$170) but I can go as far as 250 euro if the gear is really worth it.

Thanks in advance,

José Raeiro

Comments

anonymous Thu, 03/29/2007 - 00:00

Help, anyone?

I've been searching and discovered this two, that seem like a good solution:

Mackie Onyx Satellite for 150 €

and

Mindprint Trio for 132 €

Which one is the best for my case, or is there anyother one?

I'd also like to buy a microphone, and by reading this forum I understood that the Shure SM57 is the best budget option for recording voice and instruments?

Thanks,

José Raeiro

anonymous Sun, 05/27/2007 - 09:34

Hi. I can imagine that if you don't get many replies is because your question is a bit too generic... it's like asking "i'd like to buy a car... which one do u suggest?". Please, don't feel hurted :-)

If you just look around in the web or in the specialized magazines, you will find tons of articles about audio interfaces of all types. What i can say is that firewire is thought to be better than USB connection and that an entry device (a 2 channel i/o from Edirol or M-Audio or Echo...) would suit for your purposes.

As regards the mic, I do NOT suggest Shure SM57 if you want to record vocals. The SM57 is an instrumental mic (el.guitars, drums, etc.); for vocals, i suggest a condenser mic. I have been using an AKG C3000B for years, and it's still impressing! If you want a lower price mic (a dynamic one) i suggest to try the SHURE Beta58, it's a mic for live, but i can assure you that i took many great vocal takes with it (and also ac.guitars takes !).
Enjoy and never surrender!

anonymous Sun, 05/27/2007 - 18:51

zeraeiro wrote: Can't anybody at least recommend anykind of gear for my needs? :(

Thanks anyway.

im like a noob compared to most of these guys here and i dedicated my site to your very type of question. the site is new but i already have some great stuff to get you started.

the site is on my signature. hope i helped out.

Kent L T Mon, 05/28/2007 - 14:55

Well low latency is gonna have a lot to do with the speed of your computer and the quality of the audio device and driver. For $170us there are not a lot of choices. The cheapest firewire device I saw was $199.00 so price wise the only choice you have is usb. You should go to one of the online music stores and look under computer interfaces find one that meets your needs and toss it out here for comments. There is also the ebay route.

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