I finally figured out live, crisp monitoring with my crappy Soundmax Integrated Digital Card (optic out).

Kristal with ASIO4ALL driver and Adobe Audtion 1.5.

Input - Plain ol' USB Mic with no driver (default WDM driver)
Output - Roland's DM-20 Digital monitors (optic in/out)

Sorry I'm a total noob.

Are the mic preamps in all of the USB and Firewire interfaces worth crap? Is it even open to argument?

I'm just wondering whether I should got to USB or mic/line.

Thanks!

ARGH! I just discovered this condenser mic that connects DIRECTLY via USB...weeks after spending way too much on a firewire audio interface, microphones, etc. It looks as though this might have met my needs...for a fraction of the cost...I can't imagine that the sound is comparable...but who knows? Has anyone bought and used this thing?

http://

mother of all creatures, I received my m-audio omnistudio usb today. Allot of buttons, inputs/outputs it makes me cross-eyed.
Check it out, I got demo software of Vegas, Reason & Live Delta.
The one that seems pretty user friendly is Vegas, I actually found out how to record using the omnistudio. I hooked it up baby!.