> Ideally, I'd like to be able to buy a delta 44 now (for financial
> reasons), and then buy another,
You can't sync two 44's, they will drift as you record.
Also, the 1010 does the analog to digital conversion in
the breakout box, while (contrary to what some believe)
the 44 does not. It doesn't even have true balanced
connections to the soundcard ("I've opened mine and looked,
but counting the pins in the cable is enough to see this).
For what it's worth, I love many things about my 44, but
it is a son of a bitch to get the thing to work without
the dreaded "xruns". I finally had success though, with
jackd and Ardour, running with root privs.
As for the Drum kit, I know it is desireable to
record many channels of drum separately, but would
it do to simply use say a Mackie 1402-VLZPro mixer
to funnel the drum mics into two or three channels?
You would have to get the mix right the first time,
I know, but the 1402 would give you six very nice
channels of mic pre, which should ease the budget
problem. You also get phantom power, which you must
not forget that you need to power any decent condensor
mic.
If you get in a pinch, you can pick up a pair of
Marshall MXL2003's for a very reasonable price, and
in my limited experience yield a natural bright sound
that would be very tough to match for the same price.
Anyway, go for the large diaphragm condensors.
If it is to be a $20 mic, I recommend the radio shack
33-3017. I have a pair, and they don't compare well to
the Marshall's, but they are also hard to match for the price.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2544797054&category=41466
