Well, for starters the Tascam US series is a great way to begin. You may even want to look into the US-428 which has 4 inputs and even a mic pre built into it as well.

If you are planning on using phantom power microphones(condensors) then you will need a phantom power supply, which are very affordable!

If you want to dive into the computer based recording systems that's cool but you may want to look into a stand alone recorder such as the Tascam 728 I think it is? It records onto an internal hard drive and you don't have to deal with the computer OS interupting it or troubleshooting if it doesn't work properly.

What sort of a budget are you looking into and if you are going to use your computer at home what are the specs? This way we can determine if it's even worth you going that route.

If you only plan on doing a few tracks it shouldnt matter but eventually you will get hooked(as we all have! :D

Yeah i forgot all about the specs for my comp..

Intel pent 4 2.4ghz
512 ddr sdram
80 gb ultra dma hard drive
40x10x40x max cdrw
integrated intel extreme graphics up to 64 mb shared mem

The problem I ran into with the Audigy platinum ex was the sound card on my comp. Someone told me that the sound cards on a Compaq are hard to disable. I was trying to get started for as little as possible. The US-224 is about $300 locally, and I saw a Fostex MR-8 for about that online. The US-428 is about $475 at the same place as the 224..is it worth the difference in price to me, even though I'm just getting started?

Thanks again
Lonman

Well, the 224 only has two in and two out whereas the 428 has four in and two out plus SPDIF in and out.

Mic pre's as well on the 428. More control and it also has it's own power supply instead of needing power from the USB port.

The computer sounds as if it would do just fine for what you need.

Opus :D