Studio-grade turntable to CD-R conversion suggestions, please...

Question

Hey,
Pending the purchase of a new Mac Pro with Two 3.0GHz Dual-Core Intel Xeon processors and 1GB of RAM, I am looking for suggestions on an audio setup which will give me studio-grade CD-R's.
I will be using either a Technics or Sony turntable as my source. I would also like to have a couple line inputs for a tape deck or another source. I will be using TAIYO YUDEN as my choice for the CD-R's
I've been doing research on audio cards, and really like the CREATIVE E-MU 1616M PCI audio system, but apparently this card will not work with a Mac system. My next choice is Digidesign/ProTools.
My budget will be =< $1500.00 for the audio system
Could anyone please help me with suggestions for an audio card/system that will work with a Mac Pro?
Thanks!!!
Austin C.

Answer 1

I recommend these 3 Items:
http://www.radialeng.com/di-j33.htm
This will get your phono level outputs up to an acceptable line-level in style
Next, is http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/MiniMeUSB/
Apogee makes great A/D converters and where you are talking about "high quality" the A/D step is critical
Finally you will need some software to record and manipulate your audio files.
For this, I would recommend Bias Peak
http://www.bias-inc.com/products/peakFeatures/
You could probably get away with Peak LE but PeakPro will offer many more features
Peak is a great 2 track editor which will allow you to burn directly to disk with whatever options you need. It is also OSX exclusively, so their focus is on good Mac performance.
Note that I say this as a happy Digi002 owner and user. ProTools is great for recording and editing multitrack info, but for 2 track it isn't quite as sophisticated. Protools sessions are kind of built around the idea of one song at a time, where Peak playlists allow you to set up an entire CD at the same time. I used to have a Digi001 and I still did my 2 track editing in Peak. I haven't been able to justify the upgrade cost of PeakPro (the mac drained me pretty well!) for my MacPro yet, but I'm sure I will reach the point where it will again join my arsenal. Pro level audio software is pretty complicated, so expect some learning curve time with whatever solution you go with.
I do not recommend a PCI-whatever based system because those standards change more quickly then USB and Firewire are likely to. My Digi001, for instance, was not compatible with PCIx so my new Mac meant a new interface at the same time.
The only thing my system recommendations fall short on, according to your requirements, is having extra inputs for another source. You could get around this by adding a simple patchbay (a low cost mixer would compromise your audio). If you need more inputs to record more than 2 channels at the same time, then you are talking about a different system then I envision, and something like an Mbox Pro with ProTools would be better anyway...
There are, however, many benefits to this package including modularity, portability, and high quality audio from front to back.
3ghz MacPro   Mac OS X (10.4.8)   2g ram, 1900xt, digi002