it depends. since you're a beginner i'd start with cheap & save the rest of the money for microphones. what the point of having a kickass interface and no mics to jack into it.

terminal pharmacy is light years ahead of you so his point of view is going to be a lot more hm whats the world... refined.

but vallhollaing talked about an alesis USB mixer that ive seen , its quite cheap. however ive heard doubting reviews saying that it's bad to cram all those channels through a usb interface, unless it's USB2. but firewire is always better.

however-- do you need the best & more expensive now? i think not... ask vallhollaing to send you more info on his macheeen. if it works for him, why wouldn't it work for you?

---
ps i think it might be this one he has
http://www.alesis.com/products/multimix8usb/

this is what i would recommend for a beginner - presonus firebox

it comes with cubase LE as well so you will get a decent bit of software slightly scaled back. The presonus stuff has reasonable mic preamps plus phantom power so you will be able to do what you want. That is for a start. then you could buy a desk in the near future if you want to record more than two mics at once.

oh that looks sweet + great quality

the link is kinda broken though, here is the repost: http://presonus.com/firebox.html

i'd ask however, how do you deal with the limited 4 inputs? or is that all he should handle at the moment? wouldn't it be better (he'll get something else down the road) to get something cheesier but with more inputs so he can experiment?

hm... hm...

yeah i think you're right it's best to start simple. (not that you explicitly said that, ha hah).

damn, i might pick one up for myself.

w00t ^_______^
Do they all have the SPDIF breakout cable as illustrated, and would it be possible to use unbalanced 1/4" leads in those holes or wherever as I don't have much of this balanced shizzy? Plus I already have recording software, so is there a package for a similar price I can get with a better interface and no Cubase software?

spdif you can use normal rca leads like you would find on your home stereo, however spdif only handles two track digital in and out. for what you want to spend you wont get anything better really. and nearl everything comes with scaled down software. by the way, what rec software r u using???

Tahnks. 'm using Sonar 6 Producer Edition.

Chop onions, mince garlic, grate cheese (hard or soft) and do virtually any job in the kitchen all in 10 seconds or less - with no mess and no fuss. Yet it takes up no more space on your counter than a coffee mug. It's so versatile and so easy you'll use it every single day of the week.
It truely is Amazing.

That was about as funny as AIDs.

when r u going to buy your new toy Cardinal Rob