what to do about sound cards?

[rumpelstiltskin.]

i have a midiman DMAN2044 and a soundblaster AWE 64 that was top when i bought it in 1997. i'm using windowsME. the DMAN doesn't have WDM drivers (nor will midiman be supporting WDM for that card) and the soundblaster is so noisy that it will be given to my parents.

 

what does this matter? i have relied on the fact that the soundblaster had at least basic MIDI functions, if for no other reason than to be able to use a MIDI note for the click track. now that i have SONAR XL, i don't really need MIDI from my sound card, as i have soft synths (although i may buy a MIDI controller keyboard, even though i'm not really a keyboard guy).

 

i could get by on the DMAN2044 alone (except for the pesky, no click track), but it just seems to be the perfect time to sell the DMAN and buy a new sound card and/or interface. but what do i get?

 

i want a card that has WDM drivers and more than four inputs. should i just go for something like the event EZBUS or the tascam US428? perhaps the new MOTU firewire interface (i have six channels of good mic preamps) or some other box? what about MIDI?

 

though my recording experience has been minimal, through reading EQ and understanding how the equipment works, i've been very successful with getting good, professional sounds, and i want to make a record i can sell to people without excuses. i want to be able to track multiple instruments and not have to worry about not having enough inputs.

 

what do you people have to say? what do you use? does anyone know more about WDM drivers? i checked cakewalk's recommended hardware page, and it's still in the era of PA9.

 

thanks for your knowledge! this means a lot to me, as my cash flow is limited.

[Anderton]

Well...you really need to narrow this down. Do you need analog I/O? How much? Do you plan to interface any digital gear, or plan to buy a digital mixer in the future? Is using a digital tape multitrack part of what you do? All of these can influence your decision.