I use Music creator 6 on an Acer comp using windows 8. Alesis MultimixX4 4 channel usb mixer. Microphones I have (but don't know how good they are or what they are best used for) are Peavey cd-30 celebrity series, Peavey PVM 46 Diamond Series, EV N/d 457b hypercardioid, EV n/d257 cardioid, old school Realistic pzm, and
Zoom h2. I have no other software except amplitube and the free ones like audacity. My sony surround sound system and car cd player are my mixing monitors.
 
What would be the next best thing to improve the most maybe $300 or less?
 
Thank you

There's several directions that you could go....
 
New monitors to hear the mix properly and with speakers that don't add so much color to the sound.  Car speakers and home surround sound speakers are designed to sound a certain way. Generally they accent the bass and depending on the design, perhaps a mid bump too. Studio speakers, even the lower cost ones are designed to be a bit flatter across the spectrum.  Sometimes folks who move from home style speakers to studio speakers think the studio's don't sound as good, because they are flatter.  But you gotta be able to hear what's in the mix to get it right.
 
Condenser mic..... I didn't take the time to look up your mics, but if they are all dynamics, get a condenser. They tend to be more sensitive for acoustic guitar and voice.
 
Dedicated audio interface with nice preamps..... if the Alesis MultimixX4 4 channel usb mixer works well, this is something that you can put on a back shelf for the time being.  As long as latency is manageable this could wait until later.   I couldn't determine if the Alesis ran true ASIO or if it runs ASIO4ALL which is a wrapper for a less capable driver.  Either way, if it works, let it stay for now.
 
$300 isn't a lot of money to really do a huge upgrade..... however, one step at a time, buy decent gear at each of the steps, and over time, the studio will become quite nice, and capable. I'd spend on the hardware first, then look at some software that will make the job a bit easier.
 
Software: 
 
Melodyne for vocal pitch correction and advanced audio editing.
Ozone for the polish on the final mix.
Kontakt from Native Instruments as a good synth. Lots of aftermarket and in house samples are available for this synth. Quality is professional level.
 
 
Hope this helps
 
 

What kind of a Sony surround system? It can be good or it can be useless. If the front speakers are good, and theres maybe even an EQ included in the amp, it could be quite OK used in stereo mode, not surround. Monitor speakers or a condenser mic would be the most propable targets for the 300$.

Thank you both very much. The Alesis multimix does use asio4all I had to download myself (works better than what it came with). To me it's good, way better than my old Behringer 8 track mixer straight to the tower. The sony is just a Sony Blue ray player, it does have some eq settings. The room is unfortunately not all mine so monitors are tough because trying to convince someone we need even more speakers....well you know. Maybe headphones? Of course I have some junk ones but maybe something high quality? 
 
The condenser might be the right call but what are some good ones?
 
Thanks again for your time.
 

For cost effective condensers look at Gauge Mics.  http://gauge-usa.com/Gauge_Microphones/Products.html
 
these Gauge mics are not sold in stores. Check out the ECM-87, it still leaves half the budget in tact for other things.  I had the opportunity to see them at a song writer's convention in LA back in 2009. It was 4 weeks after I had just bought a $400 Rode.... I was kicking myself in the butt all the way home..... should have waited but I like the Rode.... The ECM-87 is a great mic at that price and take the time to compare it with mics costing 10x that much.
 
Mixing with headphones is not ideal, and to get a set of headphones that is "studio flat" is generally pretty expensive..... BUT.... having said that, I have a set of Yamaha cans that I picked up for $30 from a clearance sale bargain bin and have used them to mix when my kids and wife were doing things in the other room next to the studio.

Quick question for clarification to the OP, what is your "ideal" for what you are doing? It seems you are recording vocals (possibly acoustic guitar), and electric guitar but not sure.
 
The OP is sort of open ended, since others may interpret this from their own perspective (not yours) so advice can get all over the map on you.
 
How are you working now, and what most frustrates you with what you are doing (or intend to do)?

Thank you very much for the link to the mics, they do look very good. 
 
I record anything and everything. Musically, when our drummer is around, we record as a 3 piece rock band, otherwise I write songs and we record them in more of a recording environment. 
 
Now that you made me think about it, drums for when there is no drummer might be what I need.
 
I suppose my "ideal" is to get the biggest improvement to my overall end recordings. For instance my Alesis had a pretty big impact because the old way was to use a 1/8 to RCA y cable that always added a lot of hiss.
 
Thanks 

On one of my setups, I use an Alesis Multimix as an interface.  It works OK, but leaves a lot to be desired as well.  If I were looking at a similar upgrade I would be looking for a better audio interface.  Something with dedicated, high performance drivers.  While ASIO4ALL has saved me in the past it has caused me a lot of grief as well.  I use it on my laptop because I have to.
 
Glen

Thank you for the feedback. It seems you may be new to working with a DAW (my apologies if I misinterpret this), and there is a free 6-week course on Coursera by Berklee College of Music called "Introduction to Music Production" that is full of useful information to anyone starting out. It is very well presented and not specific to any DAW, but loaded with advice. The next run is Apr 20 - Jun 14 and will not cost you a nickel other than your time (it is good to invest time in this if taking it).
 
Building up studio equipment often takes time, so it typically runs the cycle of buy something to resolve and issue, then find something new to resolve. I still have 1/8" to RCA Y splitters in boxes, so as soon as you mentioned hiss it made me think of the course above. I think we have all been down that path of working with what we have when starting out.
 
Going down your list, you actually have "drums" via the Cakewalk TTS-1 and Studio Instruments Drum Kit. For "drums with no drummer" I would actually default to using the TTS-1, since it will do 15 other instruments for you as well. Granted it is not something you may leave in the final recording, but it fits the bill and you already own it (another no-cost one). The TTS-1, Step Sequencer, and Groove Clips included with MC6 are worth looking into.
 
From a recording (and even post-production/mixing) perspective, MC6 is very capable, so it seems your biggest "leap" is to get the cleanest signals (with least noise) recorded into MC6 in 24-bit format. I am not familiar with your specific hardware, but as long as you can get a clean capture you can work with it again at any time later. Conversely if the capture is terrible, all the mixing tools in the world may not be able to recover it.
 

Guitarhacker
 
Dedicated audio interface with nice preamps..... if the Alesis MultimixX4 4 channel usb mixer works well, this is something that you can put on a back shelf for the time being.  As long as latency is manageable this could wait until later.   I couldn't determine if the Alesis ran true ASIO or if it runs ASIO4ALL which is a wrapper for a less capable driver.  Either way, if it works, let it stay for now.
 

 
From what you said, it "seems" this may be the most applicable (including good cabling). Headphone mixing is doable for short term, and can always be revisited later, but trying to mix something "unsalvageable" just leads to intense frustration.
 
I hope this helps some. Welcome to the forum! (I cannot see post count from my phone and just realized this when replying).

Thanks for everyone's advise and time. I believe that I will take that free recording course!
 
So what I did so far was see a pretty good Easter sale at Guitar Center and I bought the M-Audio Keystation 49es midi controller because I think having the ability to control things without using the mouse will be nice and the main problem I have with midi drum is inputting them with a mouse. Now maybe I can "play" them and the velocity sensitive keys will also help with this. I can also learn to play keyboard lol. I was able to grab this for $69.
 
I did take you guys advise and bought a condenser mic., though not the one you guys probably would have picked. It is the Sterling ST51P. It said it was a $200 mic. on sale for $79 and when I went up to the counter they said the price was actually $59. So I went with it.
 
I still have some budget left so if anyone has any more ideas I would like to hear them.
 
You guys have been great!