Don't use that sound card, they are a multi-medea card. It's designed to be the best for people who play games and watch DVD's. Not for recording.
The mixer will sound like a radio, even though you don't want it to. I've stuck my ear into a few of them, they suck.

When you say you want to do "dub reggae" is that where you just re-mix other people music? In this case you probably will be fine with what you have listed.

It's cheap and will be nasty. Just warning you. :P

The 2496 could get the job done if you don't plan on recording more than two tracks at the same time. M-Audio works great for recording audio. I would recommend the M-Audio Delta 1010LT. 8 Analog inputs two of which are balanced.

Instead of the mixer pre-amps may be a better route. You will get more for your money that way. With the Behringer, you are just buying cheep. It you want a mixer, look for a used Mackie.

Or get the pre-amps and interface all bundled in one like the Presounus FP10 or Tascam 1641.

Would an audio interface be better than a sound card? Something like this? http://www.zzounds.com/item--EMU0404

When you say you want to do "dub reggae" is that where you just re-mix other people music? In this case you probably will be fine with what you have listed.

No, dub is its own genre. You can do remixes of course, but most of it is original. Think King Tubby, Augustus Pablo, Scientist, Mad Professor, etc. It's almost always instrumental, with heavy use of echos and reverbs. I really can't explain it, as it is admittedly a strange genre.

Basically, I'd record tracks one at a time, and hopefully get fairly proficient with some beat software, since I don't play drums. I'd then run each track simultaneously through the mixer and adjust volumes, mute tracks, and add echo/reverb in real time (hopefully this is possible... not sure if it is). I'll change any component of this setup to make this possible, if need be.

So yes, this mixer isn't technically needed, as I know I can do it with software. But in dub, the producing/mixing is more important than the recording. Dub artists seemingly play mixers like instruments, and are generally credited with ownership of the song, because the mixing is where most of the creativity happens, as I understand it.

It's cheap and will be nasty. Just warning you. :P

Cheaper than a Line6 Guitar Port running into a 3 year old computer that lacks a sound card? I used to record acoustic guitar with an $8 1/4" mic that I won at a computer club raffle. :lol:

Keep in mind, this is only a hobby, and I don't ever plan on making any money off of this. So this isn't an investment... I can't drop $10,000 to get this going. :shock:

Thanks a lot for the input so far! 8-)

I gotcha, Mad Professor aye, I saw him once with Lee Scratch Perry. Interesting night ;)

I'd go the route of a USB interface or firewire.

What instruments do you wish to record? Is stereo enough?

So you'd do an interface over a sound card? That actually sounds more appealing to me, since it seems to be more portable.

I have electric & acoustic guitars, bass, and a USB keyboard. I'll want to get a mic eventually to record and create some of those weird sounds you hear in dub. I suppose stereo is fine, although I'm not even sure what other options I'd have as far as that goes.

So what if I went with this:

[list]Computer:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883108197

Mixer:
http://pro-audio.musiciansfriend.com/product?sku=631229X

Audio Interface:
http://www.zzounds.com/item--EMU0404

Echo/Reverb Processor:
http://www.guitarcenter.com/Lexicon-MX200-Dual-Reverb-Effects-Processor-103145934-i1125116.gc?CJAID=10449560&CJPID=1457553class="xf-ul">

Would that allow me to do the real-time mixing that I want? Also, would those components be compatible (hook up together)? Sorry, I'm very new to recording hardware, so you have to get pretty basic with me. :roll:

Thanks for the advice so far! :wink:

To do that real time mixing you need to create dub plates then use decks and then a mixer. One with effects. This is for the live performance.

If your just doing it as a bedroom hobby why bother with the mixer?
Just use the digital summing in your software to create mixdowns you like. Kind of like fabricated performances.

Depends what you want to spend your time doing.
If the idea of tweaking a few knobs getting playback to be sweet is what you want to do then the mixer will do that. If you want to make some music then don't use it.

Well, hmm... I don't want to get something I don't need, but I definitely like the idea of being able to do it in real-time instead of having to apply everything inside a recording software suite like Audition or something. It's very tedious and takes the fun out of it, to me anyway.

Would something like this work instead of a separate mixer & interface:

http://pro-audio.musiciansfriend.com/product/Tascam-FW1082-10-Channel-FireWire-Audio-MIDI-Interface?sku=706931

Or maybe a USB controller instead of just the mixer; something like this:

http://pro-audio.musiciansfriend.com/product?sku=241847X

GeckoMusic wrote: The 2496 could get the job done if you don't plan on recording more than two tracks at the same time. M-Audio works great for recording audio. I would recommend the M-Audio Delta 1010LT. 8 Analog inputs two of which are balanced.

Instead of the mixer pre-amps may be a better route. You will get more for your money that way. With the Behringer, you are just buying cheep. It you want a mixer, look for a used Mackie.

Or get the pre-amps and interface all bundled in one like the Presounus FP10 or Tascam 1641.

Ditto with GM.

I'm not qualified to recommend hardware, mostly because I don't pay attention to it. But I have M-Audio hardware and agree that it is worth a look, if it fits your plans.

Greener may have misread the specs, sometimes he is correct, this doesn't seem to be one of those times as it relates to this product.

While I am punching the lake, a good book to read "the cult of the amateur" is currently available for 14 bucks or so.

I'm never keen on sticking converters inside the box. Had bad things happen with electronic noise leaking into onboard cards. Which is why I tend toward outboard conversion.

I'm not interested in telling anyone what to buy, just keen to know what the want is that needs to be filled.