ORIGINAL: Michael8it
I am building a home studio and will be recording some acoustic guitar and other acoustic instruments. I am looking for a simple but quality USB or Firewire based preamp that will not break the bank.
Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Hi, Michael8bit,
I'm not quite sure what you're actually looking for. It sounds like you really want an audio interface, but you said "preamp". While there are preamps available that will output digital signals via S/PDIF, most output line level signals that you would feed into a line input on your soundcard, not via USB or firewire.
If it is really an *interface* that you're looking for (one with microphone inputs/preamps built in) then I'd say the following, based on my own personal experience: The Presonus Firebox (about $300) is a nice interface with drivers that work with Sonar. It's got two input channels with XLR mic/1/4" line inputs and preamps on both channels and phantom power. My writing partner has the Firebox and Sonar 6PE and it works really well. Has good sounding pre's, too.
You could also check out the lower-end Echo products, like Gina, etc.. They also are highly regarded.
Obviously, there are a lot of USB and firewire 2-channel interfaces available nowadays. I suggest that you do a search on this forum and the internet with an eye towards which interfaces have drivers that are known to work well with Sonar and also sound good. Make your decision based on what features you want/need, price point and, most importantly, in my view, how well the device is known to work with Sonar.
Good luck in your search for a new soundcard!
Best regards,
Bill