For my money, the sound card or interface is THE most important "part" of the system(Or maybe the second? More below. something has to be first, ey?). Almost any computer made today will "handle" audio quite well to a great degree(For a computer audio is not "hard".), so we'll assume you've got one and it'll be fine or you'll upgrade, whatever as you must to make it so.

I was going to say that what you buy depends on how serious you are, but, I don't know..? I guess it does depend on what you mean by "recording"? Yes, "something like an M-Box" will work, to some degree, for some people to do some things, but YOUR "things"? I don't know. There are those that do but I wouldn't even look it over for "pro" work??? I'm elitist as I can afford to be, so..?

I suggest, if there is ANY seriousness in your desire to record/play/edit/mix/master that you start(And end, for that matter) with something(s) from the "Lynx" Lineup. Yes, there are others(Among them "RME" - let this be your "other stuff" to seriously consider - Nice to have a choice, but not TOO many choices which can get confusing, fast!).

If you're serious, but only in the 2 channel vein, the LynxOne, though the oldest in the line, would be a superb choice. Move up another half grand and pickup a LynxTwo, with a few years newer technology and several more nice features(None of them essential to very fine 2 channel recording.). The LynxOne, offers "a bit of everything" all wrapped up in a beautiful, professional package - check it out! If you really get going on this you can get more than one Lynx card and more than one TYPE of card, depending... as well as the Lynx Aurora, line of converters.

OK, I've done my best to get you to look at Lynx Studios, stuff...

Next - or maybe first? The software. Or maybe THE software??? Again, it's not how serious you are, it's what you are going to do with it? Far as "easy to use" goes - there ain't none! Over time, you'll get used to it, whatever you buy - so TRY TO BUY what you really need first!!! I use Wavelab, from Steinberg. It does ALL I need it to do, does it well, offers excellent tech support(Actually high-quality, easily attained, prompt tech support is THE most important thing of all in all of this stuff(As in life?) and Wavelab/Lynx, and everything else I try to buy has this kind of support, almost superceding it's "features", quality and certainly, "how fast they jump on every new, meaningless little thing." Other than that, the software you see used is the software to buy, if possible. Protools, if the "real" Protools, used by larger studios, would be fine - but v-e-r-y costly and do you need it??? I can't say. If it's the "M-Box" style of recording you are looking at you DON'T need to bother with PT(Again, the "real" PT, not the "pseudo" PT that comes on a CD with the M-Box.). "Real" PT is "propietary hardware dependent" and costs many, many 1000's of dollars! Wavelab, Cubase, many others, run on darn near any PC(Some for Mac only - some both.), cost a few hundred or so, do audio just fine, whose "output" is "mostly" interchangeable with almost any other software(Maybe without the ULTIMATE convenience of PT, whose users DO "interchange", but ONLY with OTHER users of PT!!!) and that's just something that YOU must investigate, yourself.

Keep in mind that THE most important thing(Gee, there are alot of MOST important things, aren't there?) is that EVERYTHING WORKS WELL TOGETHER!!! So, you MUST make sure before you buy your very first thing, be it software, soundcard, whatever, anything - that you make sure this is so!

If this is sounding v-e-r-y complex, it's only because it is. If it sounds TOO complex, you could try one of the "all in one box" devices? No computer needed, just a box with everything, preamps to software to final CD output. Yamaha and several others make them. I wouldn't, as I don't like the concept, but it could be REALLY fine FOR YOU!

Yes, your questions HAVE been asked a million times and will be asked a million more. Say-La-vee... In the end, YOU just have to "dig in" try to read-through the advertising hype, find reviews that are "real"(This is tough. Try looking at (The British) Sound On Sound magazine online? Mix magazine and Electronic Musician magazine are good also, just remember ALL of their reviews are of equipment made by people who advertise IN these magazines! Capitalism is nice, but can be tough to figure... Mostly they're pretty easy to figure......

I guarantee(Been there/done that) that if you do study this stuff there will (Or at least can) come a time when you are READY TO BUY! Took me 35+ years of being in the biz to figure it out, but you may be quicker? Your mind will be be organized and you will know exactly what you need, but, this REALLY depends on how serious you are...... If you just "wing it", on your next trip to the Best Buy, you'll start-out lost and, likely stay there until you go back to analog in disgust......

Computer - I don't "know" XP Media Center? XP "Pro", is best
Software - any you mention, many you don't
Soundcard - make sure it has the right connectors for YOUR gear
Everything else you already have/know
Get to it

Happy recording!

Teddy G.

Look, we all came from the analog side of the tracks. You use the same equipment as you always have. Good microphones. Good console preamplifiers and equalizer's. Good compressors/limiters. And most important of all, good sense, good technique. Your computer is just your new recorder. Read the manual. What kind of software? What kind of console? What kind of microphone? What kind of wire? If you are professional, why are you asking these questions? You already know the answers.

I like to use Adobe Addition, Sony/sonic foundry/sound Forge/Vegas, Samplitude, Sequoia, Nuendo, SONAR, Cakewalk, PROTOOLS. Toyota, Chevy, Mercedes, Honda. Take any of them for a test drive and see how they fit? The best part is, you can only drive one car, at a time but you can do numerous pieces of software simultaneously. None of us use a single piece of software or underwear. Want a plug-in? Bend over.

Don't drop the Sound Soap
Ms. Remy Ann David