Need Help Making Home Recordings

I want to be able to make multi-track recordings on my laptop but don't know the best way to go about it.

I have Cakewalk Home 2004 on the laptop but the sound card I'm using - SB External USB, has too much latency and I can't see how to monitor one track while laying down another.

I see a bunch of audio interfaces online at Musician's Friend and others but don't know if you can make multi-track recordings with those or what the heck.

I'm also on a very tight budget so under $100 is what I'm thinking.

will you be tracking both vocals and instrumentals?

your interface isn't a limiting factor on multitracking, all it does is give a measure of control over the signal you feed into the computer. your software will give you all the tracks your hardware can manage. but with a budget interface, you'll probably have to lay down one or two at a time.

[QUOTE=woodman;1274015]will you be tracking both vocals and instrumentals?

Yes, both vocal and instruments. Laying down one track at a time is all I intend to do.

in that case, any affordable interface with both a quarter-inch jack and an XLR (low-z mike) input will get you started. don't have specific suggestion, but i bet some of the other more savvy guys do. entry-level stuff isn't too costly, but when you hit it big, the sky's the limit!

I just got the least expensive unit with an XLR and 1/4" instrument I was able to find. M-Audio Fast Track USB. Pro Tools is working at very little latency (256 sample buffer) and Abletron Live is not quite that clean but it was definitely worth $100.

StuH turned me on to this driver for my soundcard:http://www.asio4all.com/

This solved my latency problem with no additional investment required. Thanks again StuH!

Dan