Thanks very much for the replies. It’s good to know there’s a helpful community out there. The usual way I use PT is to paste a song from BB and add my own audio tracks, one at a time. I’ve looked (on the internet) at the Tascam device you mentioned and agree that it looks like it could help when I record, providing I can hear what I’m recording and the midi tracks in PT at the same time through headphones into the Tascam. If this is the case I’d go ahead and get one, but I’d also be interested to know if you think it’s worth spending a bit extra on the 144 rather than the 122.
I’ve also looked at stereo mix but I can’t really grasp what it can do, particularly in the context of PT. I have tried enabling it and have found some confusion and no advantages yet. Realtek came with the computer, but with no instructions and minimal ‘help’. If the Realtek stereo mix is enabled when I’m in PT I can get no signal on the VU meters when inputting audio, even though line in is active and the Realtek drivers for line in and stereo mix have been activated. I can still record an audio track but stereo mix doesn’t seem to have any effect. I may be missing something, but during the last few weeks, I’ve seem to have spent far more time grappling with system variables than actually producing music, which is a shame because I really value PT and BB.