Home Recording

[Slartibartfarst42]

Please be warned before I start this post that I know the sum total of absolutely nothing about home recording at the moment.

As I'll be moving to The Falklands in 2-3 months I imagine that a lot of my playing will now be in the home so I think I'd like to do a bit of home recording. I don't intend to suddenly write a load of songs and become a solo artist, I'm really looking for something I can use for practise and record a few ideas. Here's my initial ideas of what I'm looking for:

1) Something that I can plug a single guitar into and record to my PC
2) Something that will record multiple tracks
3) Something where I can play with the sound once I have the basic track down. (Distortion, Overdrives, Delay, Reverb, EQ etc.)
4) Something that won't break the bank. I'm thinking of certainly under £100 and ideally under £75

I have no idea what I'd need to do this but I'm guessing that I'll need some sort of program for my PC and some sort of audio interface. The two I've seen so far that have caught my eye are a Presonus Audiobox iOne that seems to come with the necessary software and a Focusrite Scarlett Solo, but I'm unsure what comes with that. I assume that I could download some other sort of program online that would give me amp and effects models for recording.

Is this all I'd need?

Are these two good options?

What would you suggest?

[Toe-Knee]

Any kind of ASIO interface will do what you are needing.

Couple that with the numerous free VST amp sims from Lepou etc and redox's free cabinet impulses and you have everything you could need.

You can even use a line6 pod or toneport studio for this as it just functions as an ASIO interface if you don't open the gearbox/podfarm software. You could probably get one of those for about £30 used.

[Slartibartfarst42]

It seems I don't need as much as I thought. So far I've been looking at the following:

Focusrite Scarlett 2i2
Presonus Audiobox iTwo
Roland Tri-Capture
M-Audio M-Track Plus MKII

but from what you're saying, this is way too much.

If it helps, I've also been giving some thought to what I actually want to do with this while I'm living in The Falklands. I won't be recording a band at all so it's just for me to mess around with in conjunction with my laptop (Windows 10). Sometimes I'd like to record my own backing track and then use it to write or improvise some lead over it. I'd like to be able to record it multiple times and then splice together the best bits instead of having to record the whole thing each time until I get it perfect (which could take forever  ). I'd also like to be able to import backing tracks or whole songs and then record myself over those. I'd like to be able to add drums etc. and various effects as well as duplicating some parts to fill out the sound and add effects. I take it a lot of this is to do with the software I use as opposed to the interface itself but some of these things seem to come with software of some sort anyway, though I'm not averse to taking software that is being seeded or is free anyway.

I had thought I'd have bought it by now but I'm not inclined to go ahead with a purchase until I know what I'm buying is the best option for me. As I'm so ignorant of all this, having never done anything like it before, I really need very specific advice. What's my best option for an interface? What software do I need and where do I get it from? You've probably already gathered that idiot-proof would also help 

[Toe-Knee]

Any of those will work.  Just so long as there is a hi-z (instrument) input and good asio drivers you are good to go.

The recording requirements you have are all software based.  Reaper can do all of it and is also free.

Effects etc you would be better off using dedicated plugins but there are many that are free or if you get something like guitar rig it will cover pretty much any guitar/bass sound all in one tidy package if you like the sounds available.

Drums you will also need a dedicated plugin something like ezdrummer 2 or Steven slate.  I think there's even a free one called oxygen or something.

If you need any help setting things up etc just ask it can be a pain initially whilst you learn the host (reaper,Cubase  etc) but everything after that is really easy.

[Toe-Knee]

Oh yeah also avoid things like guitar to usb devices etc they have horrible latency.