Hello everyone,
So looking for some advice from people that are more currently knowledgeable about home recording to eliminate some steps and/or spending money that doesn't need to be spent.
I have an old Fostex digital 8 track with a memory card that can hold up to 250+ minutes of audio. Been toying around with recording things that may lead to a small 2 piece band getting tight enough to play live shows. Simple room mic recording primarily with a skeleton drum kit and guitar. vocals on a 2nd mic as things develop.
I also have my Macbook 5,1 that was recently cheaply upgraded with 8G Ram and a 1T SSD which has it running fairly well now for how ancient this thing is. Well enough that has me questioning if I should trade in the Fostex at the local Music Go Round for a USB interface and do this recording in Garageband. I believe the macbook uses a 2.0Ghz processor. In my head the ability to record/edit easier and on a screen, rather than in a multi track which then needs to transfer the wav file via USB into the macbook/garageband to share is a better way to do this.
However, those that are recording I hope can offer their real application experience before I start using money and time that will be wasted if that is not the case due to the macbook's age and limitations not working with current interface specs? Brief research has me seeing USB1.1 vs USB2 differences with latency and speed of recording... but is that old 2.0 gHz going to be the issue regardless of what I get even though the new ram and SSD has this decade old thing seemingly faster than my friend's 2 year old PC laptop.
These are used interfaces at the local music go round...
cheapies:
Art USB Dual Pre Computer Interface $29.99
Apogee JAM 96K USB Audio Interface $39.97 <--- this is just a cable and a 1/4" jack hub
Behringer U-PHORIA UMC22 USB Audio Interface $44.99
lots for $70:
Presonus Audiobox iOne Computer Interface $69.99
Mackie ONYX-BLACKJACK Computer Interfaces 44.1khz Sample Rate $69.99
Focusrite Scarlett Solo USB Interface $69.99
Presonus AUDIOBOX USB Computer Interfaces 44.1khz Sample Rate $69.99 <--- there are like 7 of these in either blue or black, but with 5 knobs on the face... not sure is that is a good or bad sign
and one where I would have to trade more in than just the Fostex:
Focusrite Scarlett 2I2 Computer Interface $99.99
thanks for any advise... please ask follow up questions.