Get the 1204, they all have the same mic pre's and behringer is at least going to be OK. You have an extra aux send and it has a few more options, if you can't quite afford it, the get any of them, at the price they will pretty much be the same, a slight edge to the 1204

You can afford a good pair of headphones, before you can a good pair of monitors

I would take a different approach an get an M-Audio interface. You'll spend a little more than $100 for something with 2 mic preamps on it. Behringer is well known for less than satisfactory build quality. I've owned 2 Behringer products and both broke within the first few days of owning them.

I will never use a mixer to record ever again. Good preamps is where it is at in my opinion. Those mixers you mentioned are very noisy. I have used them live several times and they are even too noisy for that.

would the m audio interface or preamp aproach work?

i wanna connect a guitar, and a mic into the mixer, and my midi synth into the audio card. in fact, in the long run, i see my self buying the $100 m-audio card.

gder01 wrote: im mainly looking at 3 mixers:

Behringer UB1002 Eurorack 10 Input Mixer
Behringer UB1202 Eurorack 12 Input Mixer
Behringer UB1204 Pro Eurorack 12 Input Mixer

look @ http://www.zzounds.com/prodsearch?cat2=2950&form=prodsearch&cat=&ob=p19&submit=Filter+Results

the 1204 is better because it has 2 aux sends per channel (1 pre fader for monitoring and 1 post fader for external FX devices).

which of the three is best for recording 1 instrument?

and which is best for recording 2 instruments simultaneously?

ps. i dont wanna spend a lot of money and i dont have studio monitors yet, but i will get them once i feel a need.

In my opinion buy at least a 3 channel mixer that way 1 channel (for listening to audio) can go into the output of your soundcard and one from recording output on your mixer into the input of your soundcard (for recording whatever sounds you hear from your mixer). I have a 2 channel mixer and I am not happy. I should have bought at least a 3 channel. And do not go cheap. You have to pay a lot of money for a good mixer.

are there any mixers in the $100 range (ya i know they will suck) that can doo that

Well here you go, and its extra large tooo WOOOOHOOOO

This shoud do just fine and its 79.99 at musiciansfriend.com

:D

and if you look on the top under the Eurorack it says "Ultra low noise", so it must be GREAT

Actually this mixer will be fine for a stand in to get started, but you will want to save up and get something better, but you have to start somewhere

BTW the 1204 is a bit better, but in this range, just get the bae minimum so you can put more of your $ towards something new

yeah my garbage disposal said "low noise" on it too but then again who knew?

yeah my garbage disposal said "low noise" on it too but then again who knew?

I think the Behringer might, well maybe is quiter than the garbage disposal

LOL

Anyway, I think they are a great tool for starting out, to learn without having to dish out tons of $

thanks for the info

I picked up the Yamaha MG 10/2 mixer and for the price to quality ratio I think it is pretty decent. And although it has limited options and knobs (not faders) and isn't anything you'd find in a pro studio if you have a real low budget and still want to learn I think it is a piece of quality equipment. Yamaha has a pretty good proven track record as well for delivering quality products.

Good luck!