hd500 as audio interface?

I don't know, the description of the HD500 doesn't say anywhere that it will convert A/D and D/A, or at what rates, so I'm thinking that it will not work as an interface.

but the vs2400 is a 24bit/96kHz interface and CAN be used with MC6 as an interface.

yep, you're right, Greg!  that's why it's best not to rely on ONE person for support!

it still took a lot more digging for me to be convinced, however, that the HD500 would work as an interface.  yes, it says it's USB but that doesn't mean it has converters.  I couldn't find info on the converters anywhere (and still can't).  even on line6's website it doesn't have any info on the converters for the HD series at all.  but they do have drivers they share with toneports, so they must have converters in them.

and yes, I missed the "R Bus" option being necessary for the VS2400 when I looked it up.  good catch.

I believe the hd500 is 24bit 48khz. The roland vs2400 will do 96khz but you lose half the features. Roland suggest you run it 24 bit 44.1 khz for full features. (meaning all plugins and 24 track operation) What I want to do is: Come out of the hd500 usb 2.0 to the laptop as a interface so I can hear MC6 through my studio monitors. I'll come out of the hd500 in stereo into two tracks on the vs2400. I'll arrange and record drum tracks on MC6 (maybe add some midi tracks someday) untill happy and then arm the two tracks on the vs2400 and record them directly. I don't think I have to export as wave files or worry about trtansfer rates at all this way. I think the audio will record as 24bit 44.1 on the vs2400 regardless of how MC6 is setup. I guess I would need to setup MC6 to 24bit 48khz to eliminate a conversion from the hd500? Thanks for responding I don't have any expertise with recording on MC6 or computer at all. So your help is much appreciated.

I found this in a hd500 review.

For recording, the HD500’s internal sample rate is fixed at 48kHz, but an on‑board sample‑rate converter means that you can sync it to sample rates from 44.1kHz to 96kHz.

So it would seem that this is worth a shot. What do you guys think of studio instrument drums? Do you use a midi keyboard? Do you think I'll end up buying EZ drummer?

Which drum software do you prefer? Ez drummer seems......EZ. Ba da boom! I'm hoping SI will impress. They are the reason I'm trying MC6 first. For $40 bucks it seem EZier.

I have not used the included drums in MC for songs.... although I have loaded them up to see how they work. They sounded pretty good considering that they are included with a $40 program.... they are sampled and not GM.... so that's a plus. 

SI drums does have MIDI loops.  I don't remember exactly how to access them since I'm not home to check and I've never used SI drums myself except to help people with them.  if someone doesn't come along before this evening (probably late) I'll try to open it and figure it out.  but there are MIDI loops included with SI Drums.

I'm not sure what you mean by "can you assign the drums to MIDI?" unless you're asking if you can record the hits you create by clicking on the GUI of SI Drums?  if that's what you mean, then, NO, you can't. 

you can either open the PRV (or Staff View) and enter notes directly with your mouse there on a MIDI track, or you can get a MIDI controller and record MIDI that way.

You can also open the PRV in a MIDI track, click the brush tool, then the down arrow next to it and select drum patterns, then draw them in with the brush.