How many channels on mixer

[Brummie]

Hi friends,
I've searched high and low for the answer to this but just can't get a definitive answer.
I'm new and starting out & need a mixer to record onto PC running Cubase LE (yet to be sourced) using midi tracks recorded as backing.
I'm told that to hear the backing tracks when I want to record bass/vocals I need a mixer with 3/4 ALT out.
The only mixers I can find with this start with 12 channels, more than I need, I only need 8.
Does anyone know of an 8 channel mixer that lets you hear backing tracks or of an alternative way around using an 8 channel mixer?. Also can I record both analogue and midi onto a single project using Cubase LE.
Any help would be appreciated.
cheers

 

[Nick Kay]

Whoever told you that isn't up with the times. Or DAWs in general. Needing an Alt bus to record and monitor at the same time goes back to when we used hardware recorders instead of computers. You actually don't even need a mixer, except for preamps. Get an audio interface, run the monitoring system from the outputs on said audio interface, run whatever's being recorded into the inputs on said audio interface (through a preamp first, depending on the source). Enable monitoring of armed tracks in Cubase, and you'll hear whatever's going in come out of the monitoring system along with the rest of the mix.

And as far as I know, you can have both MIDI and audio tracks in any sequencer worth its salt.

 

[Brummie]

Cheers for the reply Nick,
I have an m-audio 2496 soundcard, does that count as an audio interface, if so, and it's the mixer road I'm heading down, does anyone have any recomendations for an 8 channel mixer they have used themselvesor heard of.
Cheers