Advice on a small setup

[chuskey]

I'm looking to put about 2k into getting a small home studio setup. Initially it will be to record my own stuff that I'm working on, but I hope in the near future to do it as a business. I've done some engineering in a couple of studios and some small side projects on my own before, so I have some experience. I also want to be able to continue to use whatever I get now as the studio expands. I don't want to buy throw away stuff basically.

What I have in mind is a setup that will mostly be using 1 to 2 tracks recording at a time, but have the capability to record a drumset as well. What I've got now is a Presouns Firebox. I'm torn between adding inputs to it, i.e. two analouge pres such as presonus tubepre and two channels of digital via spidf such as the line 6 ux2. I like the line 6 also because of the software moddeling, I've been using their stuff for years. My only concern is that right now I'll max out at six channels. Adding the four pres I mentioned would be about $400. I noticed that alesis is coming out with the io 26 for about the same money. My only concern is that 1. I haven't been able to get any real hard facts on it other than the spec sheet on the website. I'd like to know a little more about the quality of it. 2. I don't know when it's coming out and I'd really like to get started.

I'm also thinking about the event tr8 or tr6 monitors. The desk I'm looking at runs about $200. I've got plenty of xlr cables, but will need a few mic stands. I own an sm57, beta 52, and mxl 2003. So I'll need a few mics as well. I've already got the computer I'll be using and I'm running SAW studio basic, so neither of those expenses will come into the factoring.

Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.

[nathanvacha]

If you're already using that firebox, why not just buy a firepod for 5-600 bucks. Once the new firestudio unit comes out, they'll probably be available for cheap on the second hand, too.

[chuskey]

Originally Posted by nathanvacha

If you're already using that firebox, why not just buy a firepod for 5-600 bucks. Once the new firestudio unit comes out, they'll probably be available for cheap on the second hand, too.

I'm really not interested in buying a new firepod because of the fact that they probably will be worth a lot less in the next couple of months, and if I'm going to wait that long there may be other options out there anyway, like the alesis io 26 for example. Besides I don't feel like the firepod is something I can really grow with because of the fact that you can only chain it together with other firepods. If I add a couple of analouge pres, or even the line 6 toneport, I can use those with whatever I upgrade to in the future.

I also thougth about the m audio 1814, but by the time I sell my firebox, buy the 1814 and then add pres (since it only has two built in) I'm going to be over my budget. I'm also not sure about the quality of the m audio, I've heard some complaints aobut that unit. Although I haven't had any experience with it personally.

What I really wish was that my firebox had at least 8 channels of ADAT in