Sound cards and home recording - aberdeen-music

Chris · 14-12-2005, 19:31

Can someone recomend me a good budget (under £100, preferably closer to £50) sound card? Either external or internal.

Or alternatively if they can think of an alternative bit of kit that will do the job working with my motherboard's on board card then recomend that. I just want to record some acoustic guitar and some vocals. So something that will take a guitar jack and/or a mic jack and stick the signal onto the hard drive is all I want.

I'm not looking for the best here, just something to get me started on the cheap. Honestly. Don't post and say something like "don't do it on the cheap you have to spend £300 on this amazing piece of kit!" 'cause I won't listen to you and it's just a waste of your time and mine.

Incidentally this is something that would probably lend itself nicely to a post in the articles section if someone was that way inclined. A 10 step guide to starting out in home recording or something.

Cheers

14-12-2005, 19:41

get a cheap four track, use it as a mixer. you can do to seperate tracks in line in panning hard left and right, or do a big stereo production. thats what i do, and n-track studio is cheap also and okay for results (£30). it didnt work with my old pc though, the soundcard was rubbish.

oh, thats assuming you have a headphone and line in on your pc.

Chris · 14-12-2005, 19:54

I have a cheap 4 track actually...

but I still need some kind of cable to hook it up to the computer. I sense a trip to Maplins tomorrow.

Would still like to get a setup more suited to the job though so recommendations are still wanted.

Dave · 14-12-2005, 20:06

I recorded my radio shows using a mixer and a Creative Soundblaster external card. It cost me £50 from *dun dun dun* PC World, it came fully equipped with all the software you need to record directly on to the computer, and I got out exactly what I put in. I've used it to record vinyl and minidisc tracks to my HD as well, and they've come out a treat.

14-12-2005, 20:10

i cannibalised the wee lead that came with my moniter, didnt need the speakers on it so use it to link mic/line in to 4 tracks h/phone socket. Maplins the best bet i reckon. i used to use a guitar lead and a wee adapter from bruce millers before though.

Chris · 14-12-2005, 20:10

yeh it's got a mic input but the jack's the wrong size and I don't have a converter so thought I'd just see what other options there were. Might buy a converter jack at maplins as well.

14-12-2005, 20:12

you know i remember an ian simpson penned guide to using a computer to record. but that might have been on aubl site. it was pretty usefull.

bryn · 14-12-2005, 20:17

http://www.etcetera.co.uk/products/EMU005.shtml

You could get it cheaper than what they offer, I'm sure.

Alex · 15-12-2005, 13:24

a soundblaster live/value card for £3-8 on ebay (runs asio drivers so it can run cubase and stuff), and a small mixer off soundonsound.com's readers ads or something to get a 2in 2out system (with a digital out for anything and a MIDI port for a £10 cable or half an hour with a soldering iron)

The Byre · 15-12-2005, 17:37

There are so many possibilities. I suggest you join the SOS forum and post this question there:

http://www.soundonsound.com

There is also a wealth of articles on recording at home on that site.

As for tips on getting started, I have several pages on my website at www.the-byre.com

The possibilities range from ProTools Free, which costs, as the name implies, nothing, but requires Windows 98, all the way thorough to any price you wish to mention.