Greetings,

I agree with Gary here for the most part:
¨So, if you're doing something like guitar, vocals, and some synth tracks, a Ketron SD2 to cover the backing synth tracks, the M-Audio 2496 to get the audio in and out of the computer, a small mixer board (the Behringer UB802 works real well)¨

While the M-Audio 2496 is good, there are a couple of new Firewire interfaces that are just outstanding. Check out the Profire 610, and 2626. The Mic Preamps are getting rave reviews, and you dont need an extra mixer. Great driver support, even for Vista. Ultra low latency. I like to read actual customer reviews, instead of magazine reviews. You can do this with google, or just go to Sweetwatersound.com and you can read them there.

Hope that helps,
Ed