See that depends on the quality you want and how much you're willing to spend. My setup works wonders for me (In my head anyway, everyone else can piss off) and it costed besides the pc around 500-600$USD. That's pretty cheap by most standards. Plus for what I got it's even that much better. I go Guitar->Line 6 Spider II($150)->Roland VS880($300 on Ebay)->M Audio audiophile 2496 soundcard($100) You could go Instruments/mics->Line 6 toneport $150-$200(USB)->PC With the toneport you could probably do the bass, 1 guitar, and vocals at the same time but I still wouldn't recommend it. You can with the toneport also plug in three mics at the same time to better capture the drums. The possibilities to make good low cost recordings are out there guys don't sell yourselves short.