I am upgrading my recording setup, and the first thing I need is a solid recording interface. PCI or USB is ideal as I don't have a Firewire port. I will be using two mics and I need to be able to individually adjust the volume of each, two XLR inputs would be ideal.

Of the following, I have only used the first two, and I liked both:

Creative E-MU
Digidesign MBOX
Presonus Firebox/Audiobox + others
M-Audio Fast Track
Mackie Onyx + others
Lexicon Alpha

My microphones (I'm set on these for now):
2x Shure SM57 (instrument)
1x Shure RS130 (vocal)
1x Shure RS230 (vocal)

Which interfaces have you used, did you like it? What specs do you look for/need? Did you use any other hardware with them? (other than mics/amp/instrument)

People sneer at Line 6 Toneports. I have a UX2 and it has all the inputs I need. XLR inputs with phantom power, guitar ins, stereo line-ins, stereo outs, headphone out and all that. The Gearbox software works fine for me, even if using a plug-in on your DAW so you can alter sound post-recording is the more professional approach. It's just not how I'm used to getting shit done at home. I tend to be more trial and error. Also Toneports can be a pain updating drivers and they tend not to work so well with AMD chipsets, but if you're fortunate enough to have it running smoothly, it's a joy. I'm getting a new PC on wednesday, hoping to fuck and assuming that I should have no hiccups getting the Toneport working with it.

My only microphone is a Rode NT-1 condenser, given I don't do any real drum recording or amp mic'ing. I'd like a Shure SM-57 and 58 as well because I am very careful with the Rode, not so good if I want to brainstorm silly ideas quickly.

Bumping this for some more thoughts, I know that a lot of people here have experience with these!

I have owned,

M-Audio Delta 66 PCI card - Decent sound, has no mic preamps, low latency.
Presonus Firepod - Fairly reliable, good drivers, acceptable sound
Presonus Firebox - Decent drivers, noticeably worse sound than Firepod
Presonus Firestudio Project - Somewhat reliable, drivers are kind of flaky, same sound as the Firepod basically.
Edirol FA-101 - Good interface, good sound, but severely underfeatured in the controls department. No independent headphone control really killed it for me.

and I will be the owner of an RME Fireface 400 sometime next week.

I would recommend the M-Audio Profire 610, and suck it up and get a Firewire card.

Definitely go ahead and get a firewire card. They are extremely cheap, you can get them for as little as $10-15. You don't really have any excuse otherwise.

Also, spend a little extra and get this firewire card: http://www.antarespro.com/1300-item-SII ... t+PCI.aspx It is very high quality and has the best chipset for audio. Guaranteed to work

I just recently switched from a multitrack hard drive recorder to a DAW with interface.

I stand by TASCAM 100%. It has been the most user friendly and versatile brand that I've used.

The interface that I got was the TASCAM FW-1082. It also doubles as a controller for your DAW. You can set it up so that you never have to touch the mouse during your recording session. Also, you can monitor your source directly while recording so there is zero latency.

The DAW I am using is Adobe Audition 3.0. This is an amazing program. It always catches clean recordings, and it automatically sets itself to use the majority of your computer resources so there is little lag. Not to mention the factory plug-ins are great.

I'm still fine-tuning the MIDI control for all of the Audition settings, but otherwise it's been one hell of a beast. The motorized faders are great too, as they always remember your fader settings. If you bump them, they will put themselves right back where they are supposed to be.

What I was looking for was basically a way to avoid spending a shit ton of money on an interface and then a new mixing board.

The only thing that I am disappointed with is that it only has 8 inputs. I have lived with only 8 inputs for years, so it wasn't a step down. Just would have been nice to have one or two more. Next one I get will have at least 10...12 preferably,

I use my pc mic for everything. I'm a pro.