Direct Mix vs Mbox vs UA-5

[Raymond]

Hi,

Can anyone help with a recommendation regarding sound cards? I'm probably
buying Cakewalk Home Studio. Just want to record one line at a time mostly.
Acountsic guitar, lead vocal, harmony vocal mainly. Want to end up with a
warm sounding recording on a cd.

As far as sound cards I've been looking at the Aardvark Direct Mix, the
Digidesign Mbox, and the Edirol/Roland UA-5. Anyone have any experiences
with those? Or any other recommendations in the $200-500 range?

I'll be using a Rode NT1-A condensor mic and I'm thinking one of the abocve
cards will be the preamp for the mic too.

Thanks in advance!

Ray

[Ray]

Thanks for the point about the phantom power! It turns out the Mbox
($450) and UA-5 ($300) have 48v phantom power but the Aardvark Direct
Mix ($230) doesn't so I'd have to also get a preamp ($160 for a
Behringer VX2496) for that in order to use a condensor pic. -Ray

"mark-h" > wrote in message news:<X0oNa.118509$hd6.114537@fed1read05>...
> the m-audio duo should do ya fine--2 channells, mic preamps, but i dont know
> if it does phantom power.
> consider thistho:
> m-audio quattro (4 channels, midi)about $250, and a small mixer about $250.
> lots more versatility....Sonar 2.2 uses the ASIO drivers, so the quattro
> gives ya 4 channels plus live synth capabilty and input monitoring(which ya
> dont really need with a mixer). oh... added cost for the cables...8 channel
> snake.
>
> mark-h
>
> "Raymond" > wrote in message
> ...
> > Hi,
> >
> > Can anyone help with a recommendation regarding sound cards? I'm probably
> > buying Cakewalk Home Studio. Just want to record one line at a time
> mostly.
> > Acountsic guitar, lead vocal, harmony vocal mainly. Want to end up with a
> > warm sounding recording on a cd.
> >
> > As far as sound cards I've been looking at the Aardvark Direct Mix, the
> > Digidesign Mbox, and the Edirol/Roland UA-5. Anyone have any experiences
> > with those? Or any other recommendations in the $200-500 range?
> >
> > I'll be using a Rode NT1-A condensor mic and I'm thinking one of the
> abocve
> > cards will be the preamp for the mic too.
> >
> > Thanks in advance!
> >
> > Ray
> >
> >
> >

[Ty Ford]

In Article >,
(Ray) wrote:
>Thanks for the point about the phantom power! It turns out the Mbox
>($450) and UA-5 ($300) have 48v phantom power but the Aardvark Direct
>Mix ($230) doesn't so I'd have to also get a preamp ($160 for a
>Behringer VX2496) for that in order to use a condensor pic. -Ray

Audio Technica, Sennheiser and several others sell outboard Phantom power boxes.

Regards,

Ty Ford

For Ty Ford V/O demos, audio services and equipment reviews,
click on http://www.jagunet.com/~tford

[jnorman]

go over to the tapers forum hosted by oade audio, and read some of the
posts about the different units you are looking at - those guys have
used everything. in that price range, doug oade offers a few
different midifications for the UA-5 that people really like a lot.
he has a "warm" mod that would be great for your rode mic. he also
has a "presence" mod for those who are looking for a more detailed
sound. he also offers a "digi" mod that allows the UA5 to work as a
stand-alone box with SPDIF outs to other types of digital recording
systems.