Some advice on my recording set-up please.

[nightfiend14]

Okay here's the deal. I've been kinda looking around at some recording options for a bit now and have kinda come up with some ideas. I would like to keep this fairly simple and achieve good results. I don't need to end up ultra-professional but I would like the best bang for the buck here. I plan on intergrating into my current pc that i built within the last year. My system is a athlon 3200 64bit, 1 gig of DDR ram running in dual mode, 2 120GB 7200RPM WD HD's and a soundblaster 5.1 live card for basics. I built it to mainly handle different multimedia formats, i record a lot of tv and dvd files, and do grahic design work on it.

Now to get to what I want to do. So far I have decided that I want to use the Behringer V-AMP Pro(the rack mountable one) as my main modeler and such instead of a PODxt. I have a few other stomp-boxes and overdrives I might run in front of the V-AMP as well. I also have a Peavey 112 studio pro(65 watts) that i have liked for the past few years as well. It does have a speaker output (8 ohm min.) that I would imagine would be the best place to take my signal from to put to the V-AMP. Depending on the overall sound of thigns I might or might not use the Peavey at all. Now from the V-AMP I would probably like to go right into the Soundblaster card if possible. It does have a Midi controller if that makes a difference. I already have some software that I'll use, cubase,cakewalk,acid works so that shouldb't be a issue. That is about all I really have at the moment.

So basicly what I need help on is what else do I need, will I need a DI box as well, or would it not be needed? Mini mixer or something needed or can i just mix and eq with my software. Will the soundblaster card present any problems, is there perhaps a different card I can also use that might work better for around $100. Also since the V-amp pro is more of a rackable unit do i need anything else to work with it, or can i just use it standalone in my room? I know the order to connect everything is somewhat subjective but what are some recomendations for the equipment I have listed. I'm also open to here about other thigns, but I want to keep the price down to below $500 if possible. which includes $160 for the new V-AMP. Thanks in advance to any comments.

[JESTER700]

You have all you need. The V-Amp into the soundblaster will work fine for now. I would look at a better sound card, but that'll run $150 and up (if I remember right) for an Echo MIA, M-audio audiophile, or similar.

Don't use speaker outs of your amp. If you buy a cabinet emulator you can plug your speaker outs into that and from that to your soundcard. Or, get a mic preamp or small mixer and a Shure SM57 and mic your amp. This allows you to play around with mic settings and room placement.

[nightfiend14]

Ok, I looked around a lot the last couple of days cuz I didn't think the SB card would hold up that well either and I think the m-audio 192 card sounds like what I want. A nice step up from the from the 2469 and cheaper then then the 1010lt and comes without out all the extra things I don't want. The 192Hz is also a plus although I don't really think it's needed.

[JESTER700]

You're right - it's not needed. In fact, IMO anything over 44.1K isn't needed if your final result is a cd, but certain cards do slightly better at higher rates just because of the easier filtering pre-A/D. My Mia, for example, does a little better at 88.2. So I record there and then immediately convert to 44.1 for storage. Is the difference audible? Doubt it. But I can see it when testing for it, and it's not much of a pain to do, so this is what I do. But if the 192k isn't much more $$, go for it. The capability can't hurt, even if you never use it, and the convertors are newer, so they may perform better than the older ones at the rates you DO use, whether the difference is audible or not.

Good call on the SB - it resamples everything to 48k internally, so a better card that doesn't do this is recommended.