confussed about interface and software

[mkrtu9]

I've been researching software and interfaces for some time but a few things evade me. First of all I want to record songs by my one man band (guitar, bass, lyrics). I have a program now that is called Cool Edit Pro 2.0 that I have used for several years, but am ready to upgrade.

I have a Dell inspiron 6000, 1.6 pentium, 1.5g Ram, 60g 7200rpm hard drive. This is what I plan on using with the software, and interface.

Interface
I like the E-Mu 1616M, PreSonus FIREPOD 10-Channel FireWire Interface with Cubase LE, and the M-box.

my problems with the interface are, I don't understand if there are huge diffences between a PCMCIA, firewire, or USB connection. I don't have a firewire input on my notebook but I'm aware I can get adapters. Of course I'm not sure this will work.

Software:
I want something not very expensive, but would like an interface that can support several different types of software. For instance, could I use the Cool Edit Pro, Reaper, or Cubase with any of the above interfaces?
Basically I don't know what is compatable with what. I understand the M-boxs are compatable with pro tools. But can the E-MU run pro tools, sonar, cubase, and cheaper software?

Thanks for any help.

 

[csholtmeier]

Out of your list, only the Mbox can run ProTools. It can also run the other DAWs you have listed.

USB will be just fine for your laptop.

Used Mbox's go for $150 now that the Mbox2 is out. These little boxes have pretty high quality pres in them. Upgrade the software to 7.1 for $75 and you got a nice little setup.

 

[mkrtu9]

thanks. Is there one with better quality. I've noticed that the mbox is 48khz and the PreSonus is 96khz. Does this make a huge difference? Or am I overexagerating the statistics of these units.

 

[mkrtu9]

One other thing, does the Mbox or every interface for that matter act as your computers sound card? I don't think that I can upgrade mine since it is a part of the motherboard.

Thanks

 

[csholtmeier]

As far as samplerate, all of your software and hardware has to be 96khz for you to see an advantage. If it's not, you're going to be dithering down to 48khz or 44.1 somewhere. Another thing to think of is the laptop you'll be running this on. Wav filesize increases exponentially as samplerate increases. 96khz is some pretty large files for a 1.6g machine to be throwing around. I think you'll start seeing pops and jitter quickly on your laptop.

In response to your soundcard question, yes it can act as your soundcard. Once you set up the drivers for whatever interface you decide on, you will see it pop up as an output for audio apps. This includes Windows Media Player, Quicktime, etc. I do not have a soundcard internally in my machine, but it's not a problem just to select which apps use which device. That will give you the ability to still use your laptop for movies and the like on the go without the interface.