software

alright, i want to do some really basic simple recording onto my computer. is it possible to send the output from my Boss GT-3 to that little microphone input on the back of my computer? (using a little connector to change 1/4quot; to mini of course)? any other suggestions? i want to keep it really simple.

You don't want to plug into the microphone input. you want the Line In.

Rock On!


Originally Posted by KacYou don't want to plug into the microphone input. you want the Line In.

Rock On!

Yup . . . what Kac said.

But adding a mixer, even a cheap $35 Behringer, is better still. Gives you much more control . . . and its fun.

Artie

yeah it works. in fact thats what i'm doing.

guitar -gt; multi-FX -gt; line-in of soundcard

i wonder how much better a Guitarport is than the setup.

Guys, hear me now or listen to me later. There are so many inexpensive and feature loaded software based programs that have interfaces with USB or firewire connections out there now that it doesn't make sense to run directly through a sound card anymore.

It should be easy enough to find something cheap and easy to use that will let you do some fairly simple multi track stuff on. There are all sorts of sites that will allow you download drum and even bass loops and once you learn how to import those into your system and then record along side of them recording gets really fun. Making basic clips is fun but putting together something that sounds like a song is a blast.

I started out years ago on a panasonic tape recorder and worked my way up through cassette four and eight track units, stand alone 16 track digital units into the 32 track, 64 bit firewire rig I record on today. With the way technology has priced its way down and featured up, running into a soundcard looks a lot like that panasonic recorder to me.

It can be done, but why would you?

very wise comment robert.

please listen to him

the reason I use the line in is because I am VERY poor and only record for the fun of just jamming with myself in multi track. I am really thirsting for a better interface and recording software though. Do you guys know of anything that will run on an old 600mhz AMD with 384 ram and a 20 gig drive (it sucks i know, like i said, im broke, i need a job)

yeah Robert, if i buy anything for recording its gonna be USB stuff. but now all i can spend on gear are on picks.


Originally Posted by schecterplayerthe reason I use the line in is because I am VERY poor and only record for the fun of just jamming with myself in multi track. I am really thirsting for a better interface and recording software though. Do you guys know of anything that will run on an old 600mhz AMD with 384 ram and a 20 gig drive (it sucks i know, like i said, im broke, i need a job)

hey man, check out audacity. its free to download and easy to use. i record on a budget and for fun , just like you.

Yeah great program. Lets you record tracks then edit them whatever way you want, then mix them all together. Once your done with that you can export the mix to a mp3 file to share with others.

This recording on the computer is just making me mad. I was just plugging my guitar in to the mic input and using Vegas 4.0 and it worked. With reading all the stuff about recording software and interfaces with USB or firewire it is all to confusing for me or someone just starting with this recording thing.

I bought this M-Audio fast track guitar/mic recording interface for a hundred bucks that plugs into a USB port. Thinking it would be a better and easier way to plug in my guitar now I can’t get it to work with the Vegas 4.0, Guitar Pro 4, Acid Pro 5.0, Live 4.0.3, Music Creator Pro 24, Pro Tools or Cakewalk. It came with GT Player Express and will record on it but I can’t figure it out and it is not very user-friendly in my opinion.

I have wasted a month of my time and put playing the guitar on the back burner to figure this stuff out. I feel that I am no further advanced on this probably more like I have taken two steps back and I have all kinds of software that people said was easy to use just taking up space on my computer.

It sounds like Robert S knows what he is talking about and it would be nice if he could come up with a system from start to finish that beginners could go out and buy. A system that will let you record a couple of tracks say a drum track and a guitar track with out all the bells and buzzers that we beginners don’t need.

Heck I have software listed above that I don’t need or will ever use and I can’t even tell you what each one does and why you would need it. To tell you the truth I could now care less if I record anything ever again in the days to come. It’s back to guitar playing for me and if you want to here me play you will just have to come over and plug in.

What's wrong with a mic input if you leave the mic boost off? I was told by a computer professional that mic and line in are identical in other aspects than the option for the boost. Did he lie to me?

I play through a POD straight into the Line in jack. It doesn't sound amazing, but it sounds fine. Check my recordings out and see (links in sig)

A good free recording program is Kristal Audion Engine from www.kreatives.org

Brian, there are probably others on this forum that are better equipped to set up an entry level PC based recording rig for you guys. I went from a 16 track digital stand alone striaght into the DigiDesign Digi 002 rack. While I did run that on my PC for a short time until I bought my PowerMac dual 2.0 G5, I am not an authority on the entry level PC stuff. I skipped over sound card recording, entry level PC based USB stuff and pretty much jumped straight into 32 track/64 bit firewire.

I can say this though, as my bit rate increased and my transfer rate increased my tone from digital sources as well as analog sources improved dramatically. I assume that it is a lot like bias with tape units. High bias tape has the ability to quot;absorbquot; information more quickly than normal bias tape. This means that as the tape moves by the record head, high bias tape collects more information.

Digital recording seems to be the same to a degree. The faster your system can collect information, the better your tone will be. On the Fostex VF-16 that I was running prior to ProTools my Pod 2.0 sounded ok and I got useable tones from it. I wasn't blown away and the Pod seemed to fall short of the hype but I was happy enough.

When I bought the Digi rack and ran it into my PC (P4/1.6 gig/512 meg ram) the tone from the Pod improved dramatically. Then when I bought the G5 2.2 with 2 - 2 gig processors, a 1 gig serial bus and 1 gig ram the tone from my Pod, Boss DR 770 and anything else I plugged into my system improved dramatically again.

Sound cards, even very good ones do have their limitations.

Believe me when I say that I know money is an issue for all of us and for some of us it is a deal breaker. My financial situation until receintly was a mess and I hadn't had extra money for the last year. Shoot, I didn't have enough of the stuff to break even on the house bills let alone do any quot;funquot; shopping. If all you can afford is the adapter for sound card recording, I understand that. Make the best of it and find a freeware mixing/editing program and max out on what you can do with it. As your situation improves, so will your rig.

What I often do is to ask a lot of questions from the pro audio guys at the Guitar Centers in my area and over time I have found a couple that really know their stuff. I also talk to other recording guys and I do a lot of fishing off of this site as well. I then pool all that information and try and make informed decisions from there.

I may go to GC today for the labor Day sale, just to hang out for a bit and maybe do a little shopping. I'll see what the guys there like for entry level PC recording on a budget.

The thing that I see a lot is that as the price of the software/hardware goes down and features go up the system requirements also go up. If you are running P2 333 meg processors with 128 meg ram you may find the newer programs bog down your system. I know ProTools ate up a lot of my system resources on my PC and the latency was fairly dramatic. Buying a Mac cleared that up.

I'll see what I can find out for you.

Robert's post is excellent advice. What I wish to add is perhaps not really what you were looking for (and DON'T plug your processor's output into that little phono jack) but I thought it might be worth itto you to at leats have a look:

You can create a wonderfully sound software recording platform with 32 discreet tracks and 24-bit resolution , 44.1 / 48k sample rate with no data compression and a dedicated amp modeler as well as Acid drum loops, all for about $150!! It's called quot;Cakewalk Pro 3quot; - Go to their website for more info - but, let me tell you, it IS what it claims and I have heard it myself - it sounded great. Who could go wrong??

Good luck

This is a copy/paste of my reply to a similar thread:

My main program for recording is currently Cool Edit Pro 2.1 (which is now called Adobe Audition). It's 1 of the simpler programs to setup and use.

It's an 'Audio only' recroding program, but there's nothing to stop you programming drums in a different program and then export the drums and then importing them into Cool Edit Pro (which is what I do).

As far as actual recording goes, I have an M-Audio MobilePre USB Audio Interface/Mic Pre-amp which plugs directly into a USB port on my PC and allows me to record direct (from a POD etc) or from upto 2 mics.

As far as mics go, a Shure SM57 or SM58 will be fine for most applications involving Electric guitar and Bass although I'm not a fan of them for recording acoustic instruments.

I also have a Blue Baby Bottle Condenser mic which is my preferred mic for home recording over the SM58 I also have. I find the Blue to be a very transparent mic, so it neither adds nor takes anything away from the source sound. The end recording ends up sounding pretty much like the instrument did in the room (unlike a 57 for example, which adds a little treble).

Robert and GoMano,

I hear what you guys are saying but it sounds too technical for what I think I am trying to do. This M-Audio fast track was said to bypass the sound card plus easier to plug into?. As for my computer it has more power and speed then I should need to just do some simple recording just for my pleasure (not for $$$).

I am sure if you guys where in front of this computer you would be flying around and a couple of minutes later you would say there you go. Then you would say why do you have all of this recording software? I would say I don’t know I thought it would be fun just to add to my frustrations and to throw money out the window. Then you guys would say for the love of music you don’t need all of this other software crap.

Brow,

Let me see if I got this. You plug your guitar into the POD? You plug the POD into the M-AUDIO? Then you plug the M-AUDIO into the computer by way of USB port? Then you use what ever recording software you like.


Originally Posted by Nathanalright, i want to do some really basic simple recording onto my computer. is it possible to send the output from my Boss GT-3 to that little microphone input on the back of my computer? (using a little connector to change 1/4quot; to mini of course)? any other suggestions? i want to keep it really simple.

i dont know about it if its through petals but i have connected my headphone jack on my amp directly to the mic slot. if you dont love your speakers then its okay but your speakers WILL be screwed up in someway at some point in time without anything to lower the input volume in between. i dont know how this works for petals

Thank you Robert, GoMano and Brow for the kick I needed to get this figured out. I do have it working and have recorded 5 tracks of guitar with 3 back tracks drum, bass and keyboard which I found on the net and pieced them together to get a so so back track (first time). I still don’t know what everything does and it is not much of a recording (crap) but it is my first one and I am a proud father and excited to learn more.

So thanks for the kick in the butt to figure this thing out.

PS: My bride says thanks for finding me more stuff to buy. He he!