Originally Posted by Ray E. Strode
Mark,
It sounds like you are combining a Mixer and Sound Card.

Nope! I mix within my software recording program, Cubase.

Originally Posted by Ray E. Strode
So are you saying that you need more than one input for your recordings?

Nope! I'm a solo guy...I record one track at a time.

Originally Posted by Ray E. Strode
So are you plugging your outboard Device into the audio input on your computer or some other input?

Every sound source--be it a microphone, 1/4 inch guitar plug, or MIDI signal--is routed into the audio interface, which is routed to the computer.

Originally Posted by Ray E. Strode
What I was discussing was the ability of a basic Sound Card to handle the full bandwith of the Audio Signal. That would be about 50 to 15K plus or minus 2Db. Circut Designs being able to do that are very easy to build and have been built, Solid State, since the early 60's when Solid State devices started to show up in consumer goods. In fact, I think the 1956 Ford I had had a Transistor in the Radio.

What Big Jim seems to assume that a basic Sound Card can't handle the basic frequency response.

Nope, that's really not what he's saying. He's saying that a typical standard internal soundcard, like the Creative Soundblaster, will record and play back all of your tracks just fine. But once you go to record your second track, the intolerable latency problem begins. Let's say your first track was a piano track. You record it. No problem! Now your second track is a guitar part, and so you strum along to the playback of Track 1 while recording the guitar onto Track 2. Guess what? When you strum, it plays back in your headphones a little after you strum, offbeat, like an echo...no one can play in time with that going on. So, okay, let's say you don't monitor the track you're playing, and just monitor the first track and play along. Yeah, that's better....except the new recording itself will also be out of sync with the first one.

The interface does what these internal soundcards are not designed to do--it eliminates the latency problem, while also taking on the processing power it takes to convert the analog signal to digital.

Originally Posted by Ray E. Strode
I have even designed and built circuts a long time ago.

I trust you HAVE done so...but you'll still need an audio interface to record multiple tracks on a home computer.

http://www.soundclick.com/MarkKaufman