Hi all

I need to be able to record my guitar with my PC, be it miced or line-in. I'm very confused about these interfaces, what they do, how do they work etc.

I've been reading about the EMU 0204 USB, Lexicon Alpha, Lexicon Lambda, M-Audio Fast Track, M-Audio Fast Track USB, M-Audio Fast Track Pro etc. Are these all the same? Are they sound cards? Why are they called 'audio interfaces'? Do they do the same thing?

Will my choice of one of the above affect the latency I'll have through samplitude, amplitube etc or is latency a function of the (rest of the) PC's recources?

What is phantom power?

Will I need a DI if I want to record straight form the guitar jack? Is DI the same as a pre-amp? What about the Behringer DI w/ speaker simulation?

Thanks for your patience.

(Reference to older threads or other on-line articles or guides is welcome)

https://zakandthekrakens.bandcamp.com/
https://www.dirtyfuse.com

Thanks mate!
T
ons and tons of reading in that place, my eyes hurt. Will do more tomorrow

https://zakandthekrakens.bandcamp.com/
https://www.dirtyfuse.com

JakeDobner wrote:

You don't need a DI unless you are putting the amp
straight into the interface. I suggest mic'ing the amp
before you ever try to DI it.

There'd be some smoke leakage if you plug the speaker output of an amp into any audio interface. The amp needs a DI or Line Output for an audio interface.

There are several methods of DI:

1. Some guitar amps have a DI built in like the Fender Princeton Recording amp.
2. There are DI's are designed to fit between the speaker and amp
3. DI for the guitar, not the amp.
4. If the amp has an effects loop, that can work as a DI.

Pretty common these days is a combination DI from guitar and a mic'd amp. The big advantage is you record the guitar raw, then you can use something like Radials X-Amp to replay the guitar back through the amp and change the amp settings to get just the sound you want then record that with an amp mic. The process is called ReAmping.

For mic'ing an amp it's not just plug an go either. Assuming you're going to record more than one track, you need to be able to monitor other tracks to play along with. If you wear headphones, you'll get some latency because you're using the DAW as an audio "thru" so you can hear what you're playing and what the backtracks are playing.

Some audio interfaces have a "mix" capability so you can hear the mic sound from the interface, not after the computer has grabbed, processed and sent it to speakers or back to the interface. This works quite feel and has low latency, but you're still going to be wearing headphones and many players don't like wearing them or the cost of a decent set.

If you use speakers to hear the backtracks, the mic will pick that up and record it along with whatever is coming from the amp. Probably not what you want to accomplish either. Thus you need to isolate the two.

That's one of the DI's task. You can play backtracks and at the same time record your guitar (or amp if it has a DI), minimal latency can be achieved this way and in many cases is easier than using a mic and wearing headphones.

There are advantages and disadvantages to mic's and DI's. Many players don't like the "sound" from a DI and don't feel it's an accurate representation of what comes out of the speaker. Considering you can use different mic's and each will have its own characteristics and influence on the sound, plus the variety of the headphones you monitor yourself with, "accuracy" is somewhat of a fleeting thought.

That's why reamping works quite well. Best of both worlds.

Mel

RaistMagus wrote:

What I want to achieve initially is to record some
licks/riffs (unrecorded ideas get forgotten) or record
parts and play over them. I should be able to
manage/edit/arrange these recordings at my PC with,
say, samplitude.

Yesterday I found out about the Boss Micro BR (and
similar devices). Has anyone here used one? Is there a
PC software interface to control the BR or do I have to
fight with the small buttons and cryptic display? Are
the amp/cab/mic simulations any good?

I wondered down this route a while back (two years ago). My goal at that time was just a lay down some rhythms and work lead into them. The end product was not going to be dumped off, or used for any project I was working on, it was just sort of a song writing tool.

I tried a Zoom H4N and the Boss Micro BR. The Zoom and Boss had a lot of cables running around by the time I could do simple overdubs. The problem I found with the Zoom thereafter was that I wanted to monitor through speakers, overdub a new track and not use its mics. So I needed more control over recording and playback than it offered. I spent a couple of days getting pretty frustrated with it and returned it.

The Boss Micro BR faired better, but I had trouble with it's drum implementation. I'd set the BPM, record, on playback it would default back to the original BPM. So I had to find a BPM that was around what I wanted to record at. I would think newer units would correct this over sight.

None the less, I also returned the Micro BR. Not because it didn't work, it did, although those stupid little buttons are a royal pain and the manual and interface are not especially endearing. No, I returned it because where I was using it was right next to a computer. It simply made more sense to buy a decent audio interface, invest in some audio workstation software and have way more control and latitude. Last, as a personal preference, I don't mind wearing headphones to mix, but I don't like it when recording guitar (doing vocals is fine).

In regards to the amp/cab/mic simulations (COSM), they are just that. They aren't the real deal, but they could be useable for your purposes and that's all that matters.

Eventually I found that at times, I just wished there was an easy way to do some looper style recording rather than setup the computer to record. Thus quick and dirty recording was the next goal.

Since I'd ventured down the "porta-studio" realm and wasn't getting the warm fuzzys, I started looking at looper pedals.

I did all my research and bought a Boss RC-2 based on not having used one. Bad idea.

Again the interface is a series of toe tapping exercises and like almost every Boss pedal I've ever used the RC-2 sucked the tone out of every guitar I own (it doesn't have true bypass). What really annoyed me is that playback was always horrible. I tried three of them and what I'd record and what it would play back were very very different sounding. I sold it after a few months. One of those "now I know what I need and what to look for".

I test drove everything I could. Boss, Line 6, and Digitech. To my ears the best playback quality was Digitechs Jamman Stereo. I still have and use mine, it's simple and easy to use and I can kick in at the drop of a foot...

Looper Pedal Reviews

One thing I don't use is the "drum" sections of the looper pedals. I use them as a song writing tool and I didn't need drums to do that.

Mel

RaistMagus wrote:

Thank you Mel, I appreciate your advice. It will save
me a lot of trouble

I happened to attend a three hour seminar from Zoom last night. It was put on by one of the Zoom product managers.

Quite an excellent demo and showed the difference in the "recorders" that Zoom sells, plus just how exactly Zoom expects you to use them. Which was quite informative as well. Originally the H4N was marketed as a song writing tool, but in fact, Zoom has changed that and said that it's small H1, H2, H4 series are field recorders. I.e. take them to band rehearsal or gig and do a recording (or video and recording in one of their models).

They are marketing their R8, R16 and R24 as digital mixer/recorder/interfaces as song writing tools. The R8 and 24 have drum sections you can record with, the 16 doesn't, it has a metronome.

The 8 is two track simultaneous, 8 track playback.
The 16 is 8 track simultaneous and 16 playback.
The 24 is " " and 24 track playback.

The R24 allows a guitar (with passive or active pups) to plugged in directly (I believe the others do as well, but the demo tended to focus on the 16 and 24), you can add effects or record dry and add effects later.

Everything saves to a flash memory card, comes with Cubase LE for software. Mounts as a flash drive on your computer so you can copy files on and off the mixer. They run on batteries (about 4 hrs of battery time) and AA types but they come with or have AC adapters as well.

The mixer also acts as an interface, recording is 24 bit, 96Khz into the computer via USB. If you use it as the stand alone recorder you are limited to 24/44.

None of the recorders are perfect because they have limitations. But still for the bang for the buck, short learning curve if that would fit your needs it might be worth researching and maybe trying one out.

Mel

RaistMagus wrote:

Do you know any software for Windows that is as
stupidly simple and easy to use as GarageBand?

Sorry I don't. All I have here in the studio and office is a bunch of Macs.

Mel