So I'm going linux - in general I want to avoid, be dependant on plugins. So my plan is to use renoise/audacity/mixbus etc... on a laptop, audio interface (plenty supported), mixer (for routing and resampling - speakers hooked up to mixer?), and an effect box/synth of some sort for new sounds.

The idea would be that I could sample new instruments, or resample what I'm playing after it's been through an effect.

And I'm hoping to go pretty cheap on this - any good bang-for-your-buck mixers and effect boxes?

Behringer products springs to mind, but I've only given this some though over the last two days - I'm sure you guys are more experienced. I'm not opposed to buying used.

Another option I've been thinking to use as a mult-fx is get some connection kit for my ipod as well.

Fire away with suggestions!

First of all, choose caefully the audio interface : how many audio and midi i/o do you need ? And remember that "supported" doesnt mean "fully working at all rates"...

I've got already got an interface, and never had any problems so far with my needs.

rakarrack is very useful to combo groups of 10 fx, and has good documentation.
The calf, invada, and mda fx are quite extensive. Korg mad a great fx box
that sold around $40, but killed sales of their more expensive boxes,
so ebay should have some

http://www.korg.com/uploads/Support/AX100G_E_633661608674080 000.pdf

cheers

I've been over 6years using Linux, and unfortunate it will not work out to be honest, it's too much work with the sound divers and settings to record and the once you do you that you will have midi issues and then once you fix the midi then you will have again problems with recording an instrument. I have tried over 15 different sound cards and over 20linux's and the best solution is widows or Mac. And as of behinger, I really wouldn't personally advise you to get something from them, what ever went through my hand from that company was childish stuff, really pointless low quality stuff, but again renee am talking from personal experience. And am talking from guitar pedals, to pre-amps, mixing consoles and quite few other stuff. Better to give extra 50eu and got something really nice from Yamaha to be honest and have a mid range quality that will serve you great at home coz am sure you dot need anything professional right?

As of guitar pedals am using for years Korg AX1500G ToneWorks and it still kicks ass amazing guitar pedal!! Also the AX3000G
Is amazing I played on it a lot of times. But am trying to get my hands on Vox ToneLab SE coz nothing compares to that baby!!!

I use linux every day for those same years, so I call a kindly BS on your
linux opinion, because of the sizable caveat, that one needs certain compatible
hardware, which I fortunately, read about, and purchased at the start.
Across all those years, a humble maudio 24/96 pci, nvidia graphics,
and pclinuxos, have never let me down.

I also have to call BS on the linux audio community as a whole, for promising
the world, while minimizing the need for such a few specific hardware pieces.

Things are better now, there are great preconfigured linux audio systems,
that run on usbsticks, or live cd/dvd for testing, with related help forums.
There is a wider range of quality interfaces to choose from, Reaper and
wineasio include most non-dongle vsts, and some serious talent is
hard at work on the codebase.

I'd love to see Korg do a software amp-sim/fx combo, most of the maths
is already in-house, so a good price point should be reachable,
without huge overheads.
Cheers

Fair enough, if your lucky enough if everything works well. Wait what is your goal here? What type of music you planing on going etc?

It's research, not luck And gckilla is the person asking
Cheers

speaking of research, here's a video of a nice linux product
that is a pleasure to use. Ready to roll and rock, when you reboot

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxG2lpS63mw&feature=youtu.be

Cheers

[Comment deleted, due to not knowing how to embed videos.]

Any small form factor mixer recommendations. I was leaning towards a multi-effect box like the Korg...now I'm thinking about the KP2 as well for something even smaller.

Let's be clear: the best solution for you is Windows or Mac.
It sounds like you sunk a lot of time and money into a trial-and-error approach to Linux audio. It's no surprise that was frustrating. You went through a lot of configurations in 6 years. Were you very experienced with Linux or another unix going into it, or did you start out from an audio perspective?



Their quality is hit-or-miss, but I have three Behringer pieces I really like; a battery-powered mixer (I think it's a 1002), an FCB-1010, and a patch bay. I don't know of any battery-powered mixer anywhere near the price range. The FCB-1010 is somewhat unique, and it's hard to make a patchbay wrong.