I started with a 4-track, moved to Cakewalk's Guitar Tracks products though the regular sound card jacks, evenutally upgrading up through about 2004. With my last setup, we actually did an album where I recorded an album in my basement and had a friend at a more professional studio do the mixing and mastering. As Cakewalk lets you export projects, they were able to import in Sonar and use all their bells and whistles.

 

In 2005 I bought the Lexicon Omega Interface which comes with Cubase LE. Cubase is neither better nor worse than Cakewalk in my opinion, other than the reverb was better and the EQs worse. But the big thing is that its much harder to transport a project from home to another studio (I'm sure it's possible, but not like with Cakewalk products). I actually bought an update of Guitar Tracks with some cool bells and whistles but it just doesn't work with the audio interface very well.

 

I recently did a studio session and they were using ProTools exclusively. The tracks we got sounded quite good, but you can make sure everything is perfect so much better at home when there's no time pressure.

 

The obvious answer is to go to ProTools, with an interface designed to work with it. And again let a pro do the mixing and mastering with me in the background voicing my preferences.

 

This is what I'm thinking of getting:

 

http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/FastTrackC600.html" rel="nofollow - http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/FastTrackC600.html

 

 

 

Curious about other folks' experiences with interfaces, etc.

 

The mbox's are a little more expensive than the fast track line, and I'm not sure why.

 

I want at least 2 simultaneous ins and preferably 4. The multiple headphone mixes is nice on the new fast-track line.

 

I also don't have $1000 to spend between the interface and the software. $500 would probably be my max and I'd like it to be less than that. I've learned alot on the Lexicon, but I'm ready to move up to the next little step.

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/C600MP9/" rel="nofollow - http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/C600MP9/

Booya. Except you should be aware of the limitations of Pro Tools MP ( http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/PTMPv9/" rel="nofollow - http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/PTMPv9/ ) . And Sweetwater has great service and perks for people buying new, but it might be possible to get those at a cheaper price somewhere else. I don't necessarily trust used software, though.

I have regular Pro Tools, and it's great, and most users won't need any more than that, but MP is more limited.

Oh and you might want to check user reviews for anything you get, obiously. I can vouch for higher price M-Audio stuff, but the Fast Track? Really don't know. What I do know is higher price = better preamps. And certain brands (Presonus) and certain price ranges (<300) can get iffy with A/D conversion.

My family is thinking of finally jettisoning our last Windows computers and that would mean I get an iMac for my studio. Better, bigger hard drive, and by reputation better for music. That of course brings in the possibility of using Logic, which I've never used but hear raving reviews.

 

And then I can upgrade from USB 2.0 to Firewire.

 

I still like the idea that I could record my tracks in my studio and then have somebody else with pro compressors and what not mix and master. For that, I think I'd have to stay in protools. So I may be looking at a little better m-audio product.

 

 

Also, just because Macs are used more does not mean they are better for audio. I've seen Macs in at least two studios have functionality problems daily. It comes with the high workload that audio involves. Go for a Mac if you like Macs, but you can get at least as good as if not a better PC for the same price as you would drop on an iMac.