home studio advice

[imf47]

Whats up people... I have a couple of questions you guys could probly help me with which all stems from reading a bunch of threads on this forum that have me goin crazy over here.

I have a mpc 60II and up till now, have only been recording to a tascam 424mkIII portastudio 4-track tape deck with studio headphones and a shure vocal mic.. and that shits cool, but I want more tracks and I'd like to get into recording to the computer mostly because of the editing capabilites and hopefully a much better sound.

This leaves me with a bunch of questions. I was reading threads about tracking to the computer from the mpc, which in my case is the mpc 60II with unbalanced outputs. I read things like using a DI box for balancing the outputs off the mpc before going to the line in's on the converter's.

Right away I gotta say, I can't throw $3000 right now into getting a mic pre with a DI and eq on it. Maybe a cheap 2-channel active DI box if there is one? I would just like to get something that sounds as good as I can get with the money I have. To start me up right now, this is what thinkin about...

-yamaha i88x or a delta 1010 soundcard(which I would need mic's pre's for)
-cubase sx
-decent pair of monitors or even hi-fi speakers
-some kind of mixer or analog summing board
-some kind of DI box to balance the outputs from the MPC.
-a good vocal mic

My question is about the DI box coming out of the MPC, and what I could use to mix (analog mixing console or analog rack eq's, is that what summing is?) Could you guys maybe throw some advice and options on what I could do? Im looking to throw about $1500-2000 tops to get me started on recording to the computer. By the way this setup is not just for hiphop but I am most concerned about how to go about tracking the MPC to the computer and mixing it.

As you can see, I dont know shit about this, but I've been trying to research it. Again I'm not trying to setup a crazy studio, but something that will give me real good sound to hold me over for awhile so I can concentrate on music and beats. Any help would be appreciated.

peace...

[con?one]

u're on the right path... take the 1010 over the yamaha and get monitors instead of the hifi joints. some people here might argue this, but you don't need a di to track your mp into a 1010

[Matej]

I would suggest Digi002 (rack?) or even Mbox2 (if you don't need that many inputs). I much preffer working on Protools than Cubase.

[con?one]

i feel you, but preference aside, cubase sx3 SOUNDS alot better than the pro tools le/ interface combos and gies him a ton more options in the future

[cynic one]

**** UI preferences...SX's audio manipulation and editing capabilities blow PT out of the water...

[imf47]

cool guys thanks for the reply's. Yea I was thinking about going with the 1010 over the yamaha but then I would need some mic pre's. I could maybe even go for the new mackie onyx 400f?? I was doing some more reading and I dont think you can do analog summing out of the lower end cards like the delta 1010 and shit like that cause they dont have digital to analog converter's is this true? I do love the sound that analog gives so I would like to do that eventually and mix down to a tape machine, but whatever for now. Cubase sx3 is awesome I know for a fact, seen it and heard it used with a delta 1010.

On the monitor side, I was thinking about getting a home stereo receiver to use as a power amp for a decent set of passive monitors like the event 20/20's or somethin like that.

As for the DI, maybe I'll get a countryman or somethin like that somewhere down the line and see if that makes any sort of difference, and if so then i'll think about doing the DI thing with the mpc, but im sure it will sound decent without a DI box.