$50 (cad) sound card for REW?

I currently have a Digidesign 002R and a Digidesign Mbox mini. Unfortunately for me, they don't work with REW (at least I have not figured it out.)
I need a sound card that I can use with REW preferably for under $50 Canadian. I would like to have both XLR inputs and a RCA input to work with my Radioshack digital SPL meter and my APEX measurement microphone.

Any thoughts?

Thanks in advance for your replies. I am just starting to venture down the road of acoustic treatment.....

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

I dunno, $50 for a soundcard with a mic pre-amp sounds like a tall order. It’s hard just to find a good stand-alone pre-amp for that price. Maybe someone will have a recommendation.

Regards,
Wayne

[buzztiger]

Does your APEX measurement microphone come with calibration files ?

I don't need a preamp as I already own 2 neves, 2api, and 2 millenias. I will be using the millenia as the preamp. I just need a usb interface that will allow me to access the amazing REW software.

Thanks for your reply though. I should have been more accurate with my needs.

Kris

No it did not and I cannot find any files. Why do you ask? I am very curious about all of this. Sorry if I sound stupid, but I have never done this before.

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

The reason a calibration file is needed is because no mic is perfectly flat. A calibration file will compensate for that. It’s not hard to create one (we can show you how), if you can find a frequency response graph for you mic from the manufacturer or other source.

Re your sound card, even if you don’t need it to have a built-in mic pre amp, I think finding a cheap one with an XLR input is still going to be a challenge. Do any of your pre amps have an unbalanced output? If so you can easily connect it to a regular soundcard.

Regards,
Wayne

I have a calibration graph that came with the mic on a piece of paper. Will that work? None of my pre amps have an unbalanced out. They are all +4.

What is the cheapest USB sound card I can use for this purpose that will still be accurate enough to be useful? Would a Tascam 122 work?

Thanks again for your reply and your assistance. It is very much appreciated.

[pinduro]

Hi Kris,

I use an Edirol ua-25 usb interface and while it isn't the cheapest, it has proved to be a high quality I/O for my laptop (running Ubuntu linux, btw..). Balanced, Unbal., digital, no-latency monitoring, phantom power...all I needed. I paid about $200 for it.
Re: your Apex mic...I'm looking into this model. If you can get a calibration file going from the supplied sheet I would be keen to know how!

Best of luck,
Mike

[DrWho]

If you're gonna use an external preamp for the measurement microphone, then this should handle all your other interface issues - and it's cheaper than $50:
http://www.behringer.com/UCA202/index.cfm?lang=ENG

I just recently picked up a Tascam US-144 for just over $100...it has two mic pre's with phantom power built in and works off USB (no extra power supplies necessary):
http://www.tascam.com/products/us-144.html
I upgraded to this to take advantage of the new loopback feature in REW and to make it easier to do ground planes outdoors (only need a power cord for the amplifier, but i'll be putting together a battery powered measurement amp once I get the time).