New to Home Recording

[setthecontrols]

I am rather new to the home recording scene and had a couple of questions... I am interested in recording acoustic guitar directly to my Cube (500Mhz). Mostly for the purposes of documenting ideas, etc. With the absence of any external soundcard ports, I am presuming a USB interface such as a <url=http://www.griffintechnology.com/audio/imic_main.html>Griffin iMic</url> or the <url=http://www.xitel.com/products.htm>Xitel Port-DG2</url> will be necessary. Am I going in the right direction?

Also, I am interested in getting good Mac-based software for capturing/editing my recordings. I've seen several packages on the market, any advise on the better selections? In terms of functionality I am looking for... ability to create MP3 and WAV, multi track recording, built in effects, etc.

Thanks for any guidance...

------------------
"...if you want money for people with minds that hate, All I can tell you is brother you have to wait."

[Lama]

The iMic is anything but professional, so don't expect professional results. If you're using it mainly to track your own ideas, it should work fine. And for the price, you don't really need to worry about its value in the future (as opposed to buying a $1000 interface where you would hope it would still be the shit in a year).

There it some cheap-o multi-track software that should work fine for documenting ideas. MOTU's audiodesk (if you can find it) and BIAS Deck come to mind. I personally use a MOTU828 and Digital Performer 3 and find it fairly adequate. But again, don't expect any professional results from an iMic running Deck.

Hope this helps,
... Tacket
MadPeeps Productions
www.rememberfull.com (http://www.rememberfull.com)