M-Audio Fast Track Pro as Phono Preamp?

[Comics]

I'm looking to connect my turntable through a phono preamp that I could connect to my computer, and the turntable would be output to either headphones or speakers. I'd also like this to serve as a sound card for my laptop. I've been looking at the M-Audio Fast Track Pro and am wondering if you think this would fit the bill? Are there any other products out there that will do this? Will the M-Audio preamp work fine for vinyl (it's not loud enough plugged straight into my amp, which has no preamp)? I'm mostly worried because from what I know, the preamp is geared towards instrument recording and such, so I'm not sure if it will amplify the signal of my turntable enough.

 

[Bubbamike]

No, a phono preamp has to decode the RIAA curve. This is different from what a line level preamp does, which is just to raise line level signals to levels that a power amp can then amplify. Unless the M-Audio has the RIAA curve built into it, which is doubtful, you'll still need a phono preamp. But you can get them fairly cheap or expensive, as you wish. You would then hook up the turntable to the phono preamp to the soundcard and it's built in preamp which would then send the signal to either your speakers or headphones.