If it is about cost, try the free software Audacity. Great program.

Yes, you should get something to go between your guitar and your PC. They make all kinds of consumer-level gizmos for that under a hundred bucks. They typically have a USB connector and perform analog-digital conversion. My only advice: get one that supports open ASIO drivers and use the free ASIO4All. Also Best Buy is not the place for those devices. Try Guitar Center, Musician's Friend, Sam Ash, etc.

I personally recommend the Behringer USB UCA202 ($30) with some sort of mixer and mic combo. I have used it with superior results for a dirt cheap interface.

Another option: at Target (for example) they sell an M-Audio FastTrack USB for about $100 that looks pretty swell. And it will have a limited ProTools bundled. Use it with PC or Mac.

You could also plug your amp's line-level output (if it has one, that is) into the line-level input of your PC directly.

Or use a microphone, plugged into the mic input of the PC, to pick up sounds from your amp.

Again. all of this is pretty basic but for little or no investment it should have you rolling in no time.

SSIV

What, you don't like my answer? ;)

I have used both Sonar and Acid. Both will do what you want. No better than Audacity for just starting out. And not for free, of course.

Also, despite the apparent goal of Sony to make Acid a mainstream DAW, it falls short. It is still heavily loop-based. And with Acid, I hate having to install the freakin' SQL server redistributable; geez, what a resource hog, and just so you can access your media files! No thanks.

Cakewalk is a fine piece of software.

SSIV

LHR
.
Also, despite the apparent goal of Sony to make Acid a mainstream DAW, it falls short. It is still heavily loop-based. And with Acid, I hate having to install the freakin' SQL server redistributable; geez, what a resource hog, and just so you can access your media files! No thanks.

LHR,

What is DAW? Digita-Analog Workstation?

I was planning to experiment with Acid Music 3.0. What is this SQL server redistributale business. Does this mean that I can't have everything on my own computer?

Thanks,

SurfCat

Eric
I'm assuming I'll have to buy software & that device you plug your guitar into that goes to your computer.

Hey Eric:

I have used Cakewalk Sonar and Cakewalk Guitar Tracks. The Home version of SONAR runs about US$100, the Guitar Tracks is about US$70. The Cakewalk software works real well on my old Dell laptop.

For a USB input device, I use the older version of the Tascam US-122. The newer versions (the US-122L and the US-144) cost about US$130-$150.
image

you can find all kinds of stuff like this at www.musiciansfriend.com

Brian, does Audacity support ASIO? I can't find a mention of ASIO in the Audacity website "Features" section.

I considered Audacity after getting sick of Audition's dirty tricks to my computer. Tried Cakewalk/SONAR and Cubase too. Not for me.

I'm liking Mixcraft 3 now ($50). Quite basic, quick and easy to use 24/96 multi-tracker w/ASIO. I use SoundForge for editing.

Micing your amp and plugging the microphone to your computer's input is a good option, I like it better than plugging the direct line out. Once you have recorded something, you could edit the file with one of the programs above mentioned, and you should be having some pretty decent tracks recorded in very little time.

Augusto Vite

www.facebook.com/carne.y.cosas

LHR,

Thank you for your information.

Definitely a lot to think about.

I have Acid Music 3.0 but am still studying the book for it.

I also have the latest version of Audacity on CD as distributed with Maximum PC magazine though I haven't had time to try it out yet.

I will give them both a good try, though based on what I am reading on the Web, Audacity may be the most practcal for a beginner such as myself.

Thanks, again,

SurfCat

Four things about Audacity.

1: It has a habit of crashing once in a while, even the "stable" versions. When it does crash, there is every possibility that it can wipe out the contents of the "Data files" directory, which are 1 MB pieces of the whole recording. Even if you have recently "saved" the project, they could be totally gone. Because of that, if I'm working on an lengthy project I will periodically export it to something like an AIFF format file, which the crash won't touch, or just drag a copy of the *.aup file and the Data files directory to someplace else.

2: There is no user manual for the versions 1.3x. You would have to glean what you can from the docs for versions 1.2x or from the wiki - http://audacityteam.org/wiki/index.php?title=Audacity_Wiki_Home_Page

3: For licensing reasons or some such, it has no built-in mp3 encoder for exporting. That usually requires a separate (free) download and installation. See http://audacityteam.org/wiki/index.php?title=Lame_Installation

4: If you want to record a new track while playing back a click track or other previously-recorded tracks, it's worthwhile checking out the "Latency Compensation" setting in Preferences/Audio IO. I found that my system needs a -245 millisecond compensation, by recording pencil taps in sync with a previously-generated click track, and measuring the time difference in the peaks of the two waveforms. With this set to something other than zero, Audacity will automatically shift newly-recorded tracks by that amount. It's just not very well documented anywhere.

In spite of all that, I quite like using it.

I'm not a complete idiot. Some parts are missing.