You wouldn't be able to get your drums on separate tracks using that Audiophile card.

If you want to record multiple tracks simultaneously (I'm assuming you want at least seven based on your mic package), you would need a multi-channel interface.

What would you suggest?
Like I said I am a newbie and am not looking to spend top dollar.

http://recording.org/books/

Scroll down to "Tips and techniques"

Tascam US-1641 - take the 8 direct outs from your board - Going thru your board will give you more control over input signal levels and also let you monitor w/o latency. I use the exact same setup. Works great.

You can also get the direct monitoring from Presonus Firestudio Project, I just don't know for sure that it works with SONAR. I assume it does. that gives you 8 inputs right away and you can daisy chain 8 more for 16 and then you should have enough for a whole band including your 7-piece drum mic set, I do believe. I think this is a reasonable solution for not too much money.

To really take advantage of the direct monitoring from the firestudio, you need to use the Universal Control from Presonus. The sliders give you control of what you hear while what you record stays constant.

I do think that coming off of your board will give you better control, however.

With my limited experience, I must humbly submit my suggestions for review. Any input is welcome! :)

drewvan wrote: I am a newbie at all of this but I am very interested in setting up my computer so that I can record a band with multiple tracks.

The one thing I want to be able to do is to record all the drums on seperate tracks all at the same time.

Microsoft Window XP Pro
Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.00GHz 2.00 GB of Ram

Audiophile 2496 sound card
Sonar 7 Producer
(1) Rode NT1A Studio Condenser Microphone
Behringer EURORACK UB2442FX-PRO Mixer
CAD Premium 7-Piece Drum Microphone Pack

Like I said I am a newbie and am not looking to spend top dollar.

Newbie or not, your budget has yet to be posted,
(which, btw is needed) so we can better allocate your resources to fit your *wants* ....

Your computer is quite old and *if* you want to be able to track
(amongst other things) Hi-hat, snares, kick, and all cymbals:

-Your sound card isn't choice.
-Your computer needs upgrading big time.

If you were to use something like the Presonus set up Redstache mentioned your computer if it has a texas instrument firewire chip might narrowly meet the requiremnts for 16 track recording. If you were to pursue this route recommend using the Presonus Forum/presales to ask specific questions. You should have a second hard drive to record to, and a budget is something that you do need to post.

Actually we have managed to connect the Presonus, after some hassle with getting a firewire card to work. We also struggled with Cubase LE, but after reformatting the hard drive and reinstalling everything it worked. We didn't have 8+ tracks to record at once, but we did manage to get 3 tracks at once.

The point is that while I don't recall the exact details of that computer right off hand (computer is my guitar player's computer), I do know that it is less than the computer you mention. (Not even a P4)

However

The advice jg49 gives here is right on, and I can't stress that enough. If you are using older equipment, any computer more than 3 or 4 years old really, you really need to investigate as best you can to be sure you are getting what you want. Remember that there is some mystique in the sales tactics used in selling interfaces. Relatively new myself, I am still getting over the claim of 18 inputs when there are only 8 analog connections!

For me, I have yet to have a problem connecting hardware to my Mac and using it with Apple software like Garageband or Logic. Garageband is just really limiting. I have connected M-Audio, Presonus, Lexicon, Yamaha, and M-Box, and used it all on my macs. Sorry guys, I'm a bonafide Mac Nut! :|

And a little budget info would be nice, too . . . . ;)

Of course the original thread was from June so the OP might not still be around.

And to be fair, I've never had trouble connecting equipment to any of my machines PC or Mac so I see that as a non issue.

Oh . . . . guess I should pay better attention.

I only bring up the connection issues because I had them, sorry.

No worries. Happens all the time around here. Especially when people do the right thing and utilize the search features pulling up older threads.

Also, I just don't really want any part of the PC/Mac wars cluttering things up. I'm not saying you did, just sort of explaining where I come from.

The occasional jibe from either side is groovy, just no evisceration. If anyone gets to be destructive it's the resident Gyrene :-)

No problem! The response actually helps me learn, so thank you! :)