WHAT????? Does this sound confusing??? Am I being clear??? I painted the picture, people are looking, but no comments or advice???? Can someone say something, cause anything may help!!!!

Nobody's responded cause everything you need to know will be listed on the manufacturers websites.

We're none of us bored enough to do your homework for you.

Not to mention that this question is asked several times a day here and if you take some time to scour the forums you will learn enough to ask a meaningful question.

A more reasonable approach would be to research some, and then narrow yourself down to 2 or 3 items in each price range, define the reasons here why you think they are a good idea and what questions you have and somebody will answer, if they have experience with the units you describe.

At this price point although there are a few little gems around (and those are matters of opinion, and listed numerous times in existing threads) mainly it doesn't matter what brand you buy as they are all much of a muchness. Its more a question of what features they offer.

The Tascam is a good unit I believe one of my friends has one in his home setup.

Well, I guess I appologize for the broad question I may have asked.

A more "sensible" and specific question I guess would be this:
I have intentions on building a stable but yet flexible DAW. I was really considering this one unit to start with. Being that it claims that no sound card is needed, I figure that's one less item I would have to purchase.

These are the specs and info given for the item:
TASCAM and Frontier Design Group have partnered together to create the first major innovation in USB-based audio. Start with a fully 24-bit front end, with two XLR inputs, two balanced 1/4" TRS inputs, two unbalanced 1/4" inputs (switchable to Hi-Z), and S/PDIF I/O. Four channels of audio in and two out simultaneously via USB. No opening your computer, no sound card to install - it's USB, so you can even hot-plug it.

You'll spend a lot less time mousing your mix with the US-428. It's got real tactile controls for the most-used functions in your DAW applications. Transport, mute/solo and locate keys, unlimited banks of eight faders, an EQ module that supports control of up to four bands of fully parametric EQ, plus four aux sends and a panpot. It's even got 32 channels of MIDI I/O. Use one for your keys and modules, and the other for MTC, to lock your MTC-capable tape tracks to your computer.
-PC or Mac Compatible via USB interface
-24 bit D/A and A/D converters
-Four in (analog or S/PDIF) and two out simultaneously
-Two independent MIDI I/O
-Records at up to 48kHz, 24-bit resolution
-Supports unlimited banks of eight faders
-Dedicated EQ, Aux and Pan controllers
-Power Supply Included

I would not like to have a whole bunch of uneccessary items in the studio, so I figured this can do it all. But what I'm afraid of, being that I'm not a pro in this field, I may be making a mistake by purchasing this item because of my ingnorance of knowing the quality of the multi-components.

So taking into mind the information that was previously stated in my first post, would this be a smart choice to start out with?

If you need more info, just ask, cause if I'm new to this (like I stated before), can you really expect me to include key point detail that I'm not aware of?[/img]

I think its a good choice to start out with. Its more than adequate to learn the basics of recording and sequencing and you can build demos quite happily. Its tactile and it IS a soundcard too so thats why you don't need one.

Most of your initial questions were answered in the product info you posted.

Yes its easy, yes its carefree. It is not the best quality but your quality/price presumably referred to the best quality for the price range. I don't know how much it costs, but as I said earlier, at this price range everything is much of a muchness.

It gives you preamps, control surface, soundcard, MIDI, software mixer, all in one package and sounds like its perfect for your needs.

With only requirements for 2 channels simultaneously, any soundcard would do. And yes you're right, the components here won't be the highest quality. But compared to what you would have had to pay for all these items 5 years ago, this will be a bargain.

The *best* quality would cost 10-100 times more and be entirely subjective, its a never-ending investment path. I think this is a good starting point and if you buy it second-hand from somebody reputable, when you want to trade up, you'll be able to.

If you want to really analyse the quality of the components inside, or the quality of the converters or pres, look up some online reviews.

When you purchase Cubase it'll control your faders for you and as it says, save a lot of mousing.

Please note I am not an expert by any means on the budget soundcard/controllers available, but TASCAM are a good brand, I think this is the one for you.....