Well, once you get past the Sound Blaster options (which I wouldn't recommend for any kind of serious audio recording), you have lots of options, but it gets expensive quickly. One fairly resonable option are the MAudio cards by midiman (www.midiman.com). They're kinda new to the industry but right in the thick of digital audio, their gear is solid, but not yet too high priced. I think their basic card is around $500. All the big audio recording hardware companies (digidesign, motu, etc.) make PC compatible gear, but very, very pricey. Echo is another company (echoaudio.com) that makes solid, reasonably priced digital audio recording hardware. There're lots more; get a copy of electronic musician and you'll get a mouthful.
You don't *need* a mixer: you can use the virtual mixers that come with the cards. They work alright, but I use a mackie for convenience: it's a pain to keep clicking between various windows when you're trying to get your levels set. [edit: unless you get a card with multiple inputs, you really will *need* a mixer, unless you plan to record one instrument at a time; then you just need a preamp. A little mackie is really just the way to go.]
You'll need some software to actually record with, and presumably, you'll want to do some multitrack editing as well. The within-reach top of the line for PC is Emagic's Logic Audio, but that's a confusing and pretty expensive (about $800, but I found if for $500 here http://sellmusic.net/software/logic_audio.htm) bit of software to just jump into. More reasonable but still strong would be Sonic Foundry's Vegas for a multitrack editor and Sound Forge for a wave file editor. Sek'D's Samplitude has a confusing interface IMHO, and there's also Cubase by Steinberg which a lot of PC users swear by. Actually, Steinberg may be your best bet. Another thing to look at is CoolEdit Pro by Syntrillium; both a multitracker and good wav file editor. One thing to watch out for when you're buying all this stuff are the 'light' or 'xp' versions of the software. Personally, I'd just buy the real thing; it's too frustrating when you find certain functions disabled right when you want that certain sound.
Hmm. That should be enought to get you started. You really can use your pc as the basis of a very profession recording studio. Good luck, and get a copy of Electronic Musician asap.
hawkeye
Never cut what you can untie. -Joubert (1754-1824)<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by haughki on 03/10/01 12:35 PM.</EM></FONT></P>