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anonymous 6 April 2005

I was looking into home recording and I'm not quite sure, but I think that the best/easiest/cheapest way to start out would be a usb audio capture device.

I was looking at something like these:

1. Edirol UA25 at $240

or

2. M-Audio MobilePre at $150

which one do you guys think is better, or am I wasting my time? Whats the playback sound like with these? I'm using it for guitar and maybe down the road I'll try some vocals.

Thanks for the help, I'm a newbie as if you couldn't already tell!

Mike

Comments

AudioGaff Thu, 04/07/2005 - 18:07

You can find great value in quality and performance for what you pay in PCI cards for desktops or PCI expansion boxes for laptops. I'm on record as being a big fan of E-MU products as well as being a current owner of the E-MU EmulatorX Studio which has the be best quality and value for the money that I have seen in package ever. Add a few mic's, keyboard controller, pair of powered speakers and you have your self an instant home studio. USB audio anything would likely be my last choice except mabe USB S/PDIF or AES.

drumist69 Sat, 04/09/2005 - 19:45

the edirol

I would go with the edirol. I haven't used either of these boxes, but from what I can tell, the edirol is a much "friendlier" box to get up and running with. As for the lack of quality mentioned here, if you're just looking to begin dabling in some light home recording, I say go for it. But do be warned! If you find the experience to your liking, pretty soon you will be looking at upgrading. So, I guess what I'm saying is this. If you're not sure you're going to really get into this, just want to test the water, get the edirol. However, if you are seriously thinking this is something you want to get into on a long term basis, might want to look into some PCI interfaces, such as the M-audio Delta series. These are affordable, ranging from about $200 up to $500 or $600, depending on amount of inputs, etc. These will give you better quality sound, and more expandability in the future. Good luck!

anonymous Sun, 04/10/2005 - 15:41

thanks for all your help!

I looked into pci cards and for the same prices it seems like the way to go. I was thinking about the M Audio Delta 66 PCI Sound Card with Audio Breakout Box (24 Bit) or the EMU 1212M PCI Audio Interface (24Bit, 192kHz, Balanced, for Windows).

Are these pretty much the same? I am running windows me, and want to record some guitar and maybe vocals. "Testing the water" is exactly right. Not interested in putting $2000 into this if its a hobby I may not like as much as I thought! these cards range in the $200, which is a great start for me!

Also, will I just be able to plug a mic into this and off I go, or will it require any more hardware?

Thanks for your advice!

drumist69 Sun, 04/10/2005 - 16:53

deltas

While the Delta 66 is worth looking at, what kind of inputs do you need? If you don't need the midi stuff, get the delta 44 for $150. Its basically the same exact thing as the 66, but without the midi, and maybe less analog inputs. But it still has 4 inputs, which is usually more than enough if you're just recording one instrument or vocal at a time. While I don't think you would NEED any other hardware, a nice little preamp would probably help the sound. I use an M-audio DMP3, which is a dual channel mic/line pre amp, runs about $160, and does nice things for sound. Has some nice options other low-end pre's don't include. With those two boxes, you should be able to record some nice sounding tracks! Oh, what about software!!! Check out this free-ware which I use, Kristal Audio Engine...
http://www.kreatives.org/kristal
Best of luck!

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