mixers to go with an 8I/O soundcard

[track7]

Hi i am going to be building a new home studio in my garage. I am giong to make it multi-track based around my PC so I can record the rhythm section (bass drums maybe basic guitars) or horn sections together, and then overdub later.

I've been looking at the various soundcards and they all seem good, but the problem i see is getting the XLR/line inputs into the soundcard...am i going to need a hardware mixer?

I am guessing so...so if anyone knows which mixers have direct outputs for multi-track please let me know. Cheapest is preferable!

My other confusion is where to output from. I am going to be doing all the mixing and processing etc inside the computer so I have no need really for the 8 outputs...could I just use 2 of the outputs for monitoring/listening?

I am also going to be using a yamaha sw100xg for my synth sounds...this card is also good because it has a digital loopback to record all audio/synth sounds onto 1 stereo WAV file for mastering to CD. Would it be possible to route the outputs of the multi-track card to the sw1000 to record a stereo master (with the aforementioned synth tracks)

Sorry if this doesn't make much sense...i am trying to get it figured out in my head! if anyone can help that would be great

[bob oakman]

If your sound card has 8 analog I/Os, a small mixer with at least 8 busses would be nice. That way you can assign any of the instruments to any input with ease. However, you can go directly into each input if you have the processing power and the program to do the EQ and effects you want. If the inputs are high impedance you can get line-matching transformers, but buying or making adaptors is cheaper and sometimes sounds better because of cheap transformers that are often used.

You can cheat by wiring the tip of a 2 conductor RCA or Phone jack to pin 2 (hot) on the XLR and the sleeve or shield to pin 1 (shield) on the XLR. Just leave pin 3 (cold) empty or share it with the shield. This works fine if the cables are not too long.

If the card supports "digital multi-track", there are a number of options. Many new digital mixers are available at just about every price. It gets kind of complicated, but warrants some research. I don't have time to think about it right now, but it would be an interesting topic.