Using my PC to record/make music???

Get a soundcard that has ASIO support for Cubase.

I'd recommend the Midiman Audiophile 2496, ca. 200$, or a Midiman Delta 44.

Reviews:

http://www.tweakmax.com/html/ap2496/ap2496-1.cfm

http://www.midiman.com/company/media/reviews/computermusic_ap2496/cmreview.html

More reviews:

http://www.midiman.com/company/reviews.php

DON'T get a Creative Labs SBLive or Audigy. Those are cards for gamers and don't record well.

You can connect your bass amp's line out/DI out to the line in of the soundcard, so a mixer isn't necessary at this stage.

Read the manuals that come with Cubase. There's some good info in there to get you started.

 

Oops, I didn't notice where you live...

UK Website for Midiman/M-Audio:

www.midiman.co.uk

 

Mackie VLZ's generally have a good reputation, although I do believe it when some people say that they aren't of top-notch quality (which die-hard Mackie fans like to claim from time to time). Kind of like the Carvins of home-recording equipment?

The only things you'd need from a mixer in PC recording are the preamps, and do you really need 6 fair preamps as opposed to two good ones? I'm not certain of the price of a 1402 mixer, but I would think you can save some money by buying a decent dedicated stereo mic preamp instead, if you only have two inputs and outputs on your card anyway.

But what sound card (how many channels) did you have in mind? If you have a 6-channel sound card then the Mackie might be a good way to go.

 

Just a quick question to understand your situation, and I don't mean to come across as rude or anything, but do you NEED four channels? Are you going to record a drum kit?

 

That's very true, but what instruments are going to be recorded? If you're recording drums and putting the entire kit on one mic (one channel), you should be aware that your mixing possibilities are very limited - just about the only thing you can do is adjust the volume of *the kit* in the mix. E.g. if only the crash cymbal is too loud, it is too loud (no way to adjust that in relation to the rest of the kit), or if he's too weak on the kick drum, it will simply sound that way in the recording. But I know, for just sketchpad-like recording and getting decent sound quality out of a jam, it would be more than sufficient... heck, when I do jams with my band, we record them using a cheap Peavey mic in the rehearsal room plugged into an old tape-eating Fostex 4-track (only utilizing one channel )... satisfies our needs!

 

You'd record the guitars through line? You know that both sound way better mic'ed, don't you?

If you want to hear the drum machine (and eachother) without letting it bleed into the mic(s), I think you would need a heaphone amp of some sort, and four pairs of headphones. I don't know how drum machines work in recording situations... but one solution is to create/record the drum track using the line out (just assuming it has one) before recording the other instruments... for it will not make any difference in the end if you overdub the rest or not.

If everyone can play to a click, and the system don't have much latency, yes, you should be able to record drums afterwards.

(Ah yes, latency is always a problem... I don't know how much it would be noticed on your system, and wouldn't know what to do about it... I just know that I have zero latency on my system and I'm happy. )

 

Nooo, that's a major issue to consider when buying a sound card!

There's a reason why pro audio software uses proprietary driver interfaces like ASIO (Steinberg and many others), EASI (Emagic Logic) and GSIF (Gigastudio,-sampler), instead of the windows/mac interfaces. Lower latency and more features.

 

One way to completely eliminate latency when recording (although not when mixing, but it's not as important), is doing it through a break-out box with a direct monitoring function (like my MindPrint DI-port). I also believe that a system like the Aardvark Q10 has this zero-latency monitoring as well, which makes it worth checking out... 8 balanced inputs with (what I've heard) fully decent preamps...

Heh, if I hadn't used the DI-port, I would have looked into well over 70 ms latency to avoid crackles and pops...

 

ASIO can do direct monitoring, which means you can hear the input signal with zero latency.

 

Not on my card...

 

It must be utilized by the host software of course.

Cubase and Nuendo can do it.

 

OK then, I never used those programs. But I get zero latency anyway.

But AFAIK there's really no need to push all the way down to zero, anywhere around 10-12 ms or below will do great. I mean, 12 ms is roughly the time it takes for you to hear a drummer's beats if you stand 4 metres away... right?