[Topgun]

my friend wants to buy a new computer. he is very into music and is in a band. he wants to be able to record tracks from the line-in port on his computer and mix them in audacity. should I tell him to get a expensive sound card or will that be overkill?

[Excalibur]

Isn't Audacity a basic program? anyway, a soundcard of decent standard but not overkill should be fine, after all, he's only using the line in port, if he was "overkill" he would have separate inputs for the drums, guitars, etc. I don't think a really expensive one would be suitable, unless he's a real audiophile, and has really good speakers or headphones.

[Flipside]

Depends how he plans to go about it to be honest, if he's doing multi-track work and planning on tweaking each track up to production/demo level, then I'd suggest something a little more upmarket, else something like an Audigy will be perfectly acceptable, that's got 48Khz, 24Bit recording which should be enough to minimise distortion.

Audacity isn't the best program in the world, but the problem is that the really good ones aren't cheap. Once again though, it depends on exactly how your friend plans to record on it.

Edit: And for 'upmarket', I mean something like the Audiophile or the E-MU range, they aren't pocket busters, but they are more expensive than a standard sound-card.

[JGZinv]

Line6 products have ports and software for doing it direct to the breakout box and then right to the PC.
Presonus has some nice boxes as well.

I own both a Pod xtLive and a firewire LE Presonus box (both for electric guitar) which the model escapes me atm.
I know a lot of "good sounding" artists heavily into the digital editing end use Fruity Loops.

You somewhat need to describe his level of experience and where he's wanting to go with this.
Budget constrains... quality... are we talking a dude in a basement band or someone who's on stage
3 nights a week? Instruments you're looking to record?

If he's wanting the quickest, cheapest, and simplest solution... yeah just a plain line in will do.
Isn't going to sound like a million bucks when he's done nor offer the features of something standalone,
but it depends on where he wants to go.

[Daniel P]

audacity is free.

I think even the entry level sound cards live up the task of producing good sound.

Don't spend a ton of money on something that a low end model can do.

[captain-custard]

sound cards rely on what program you using, and also what you want to plug into it ie , guitars  (jack)microphones,(xlr) keyboards (midi, usb), there are a multitude of programs for free a good bundle can be found within ubuntu studio which you can instal on a small hard drive , and once youve got around setting up jack etc its easy going, google ubuntu studio and see what it supports and gives as free apps....http://ubuntustudio.org/

afterwords when using windows if youve got a little money to spare then get a slightly better sound card and then look at an external boxes to conect direct to your pc via usb or firewire , and if you have a little more money you can get a cheap digital mixing desk and software that will hyook up to the pc


after that choose your apps , cakewalk, samplitude , qbase etc , good luck because its a nightmare out there trying to wade through the millions of options

[Daniel P]

sound cards rely on what program you using, and also what you want to plug into it ie , guitars  (jack)microphones,(xlr) keyboards (midi, usb), there are a multitude of programs for free a good bundle can be found within ubuntu studio which you can instal on a small hard drive , and once youve got around setting up jack etc its easy going, google ubuntu studio and see what it supports and gives as free apps....http://ubuntustudio.org/

afterwords when using windows if youve got a little money to spare then get a slightly better sound card and then look at an external boxes to conect direct to your pc via usb or firewire , and if you have a little more money you can get a cheap digital mixing desk and software that will hyook up to the pc


after that choose your apps , cakewalk, samplitude , qbase etc , good luck because its a nightmare out there trying to wade through the millions of options

That is a big download.

[captain-custard]

erm yip , its a system dvd , use the torrent ( legal) and just when you havent got much going on dl away , if  not maybe you can buy the dvd , contact them .... some of the ubuntu stuff can be bought on a disc...... if not do it bit by bit , install ubuntu intrepid then add on the ubuntu studio sections .... but it is well worth it, and very stable

[Topgun]

Budget constrains... quality... are we talking a dude in a basement band

yep, the guy wants to keep it as cheap as possible, I think he wants most "bang for the buck" if you know what I mean.  I f it's absolutely necessary to buy the expensive stuff,then I would think he would buy it. I would need to talk with him some more though, just to be sure.

[MP-Ryan]

http://www.auzentech.com/site/index.php

Top-notch sound cards on a reasonable budget.  I have a Prelude 7.1 and I'd highly recommend it.