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Hello,

I'm looking for a little guidance.
I have an older model MOTU 828 Firewire audio interface. I could make it work, but firewire is kind of dead (my computer doesn't have a port, would have to get a card), and I don't have DAW software anymore.

I figure it's time to start fresh.
I'd like to find a new interface that's a little more simple, comes with emulation and DAW for cheap. I'm thinking $200 or cheaper.

Needs:
2 mic in (when recording amps live in room)
1 line in (going direct and using emulation. both amp and effects)
USB output (USB won't go out of style like firewire did)
Compatible with Windows 10
DAW (hopefully easy to use. I've used Cool Edit Pro and Sonar in the past, but I have no problem learning a new on)

Also, need some way of programming drums. I'm not a drummer, so using premade loops and tweaking from there would be much easier than ground up building of loops.
Fruity Loops is free, but I haven't really dug too far into using it yet.


Question: I have a modern above average gaming computer, will I need to upgrade it with an audio card (I don't currently have a separate sound card) or anything else to allow for this functionality?

Thanks in advance.

GarageBand is what I've been using for years. Their drum software has gotten really awesome too

for the interface: focusrite scarlett 2i2 or 2i4 (the latter is much better if you think you'd benefit from MIDI ports and different output options otherwise the 2i2 is fine).
your computer shouldn't need an upgrade because the interface is essentially acting as your sound card. headphones monitors etc all get plugged into that. gaming computers generally rule for audio once you've got the interface covered.

also don't factor DAW into your choice of interface because the ones they come with are all light versions that you can generally get for free from their websites anyway.
you will have to pay decent money to get good software generally, but Reaper is a free DAW worth checking out, and the lite version of Ableton is well-featured enough that i found it tolerable for many uses.
if you're okay with 'other' means, then you will have a lot more software options in your budget.
for drums maybe elaborate on the kind of sounds you would be looking for because drum programming software tends to vary quite a bit. you can do pretty realistic sounding stuff in garageband/logic or ezdrummer for example, but you can also program wicked less-realistic stuff in ableton or reason and many other programs. personally i would try and mess with a few different things and see what suits you.

Thanks! I'm going to check that all out.

Everyone finds their own way of working, but when I do drums, I write them in notation in Finale, export it as a midi file, import it into Cubase and use one of the kits that came with Cubase for the sounds. I should think any DAW in this day and age would have at least usable drums sounds, though there are plenty of other options out there.