Forums > Electric Guitar > How to connect a Guitar with a PC?
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Original message:617 days 37 minutes ago
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Member: Tasos
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Hello dudes! How you doing? I hope good! I just wanted to ask how can connect my guitar in order to record the songs i play. I try to record directly from the mic with horrible results. I know that their is a cable that connects trought headphone/line out to the Guitar but the quility is not so good either. I don't want to spend much money in a new sound card with a panel but if it's the only way... . I also heard about some USB cables what's your opinion on that? Any recommendation will be helpful !
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Reply:616 days 23 hours 33 minutes ago
Member: Xarkzila
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You can't just plug a guitar into a computer without some kind of interface. Well, you can, but it still requires more than just a cable. USB and Firewire need digital signals. Your guitar is analog so some kind of interface is required to convert the analog signal to a digital signal. (AD/DA Converter)

DO NOT use the "MIC IN" on your sound card. It will sound bad. Even with a mic. The preamp on a standard sound card wasn't designed for the frequencies of your guitar and isn't very well made in the first place.

Get yourself a small mixer or preamp. You don't need anything fancy here. Plug your guitar into your preamp/mixer and your preamp/mixer into your LINE IN on your sound card. The LINE IN is a stereo input, meaning you will have left and right channels. You will need the proper adapters to get a clean signal.
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Reply:616 days 13 hours 51 minutes ago
Member: ibzRG
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Cheap solution: If you have an amp with line-out or headphones-out, go out and buy a second guitar cable and a 1/4"->1/8" adapter plug. Use the cable to connect the line/headphones-out into the line-in of your computer. Use the adaptor at line-in end of the cable.

Turn the amp volume down and unmute your soundacrd's line-in so that you hear yourself through the PC-speakers. Make guitar noise and start increasing the amp volume, until you hear your guitar at a volume similar to other PC-sounds. If you turn the volume too high you may get ugly distortion caused by the soundcard.
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Reply:616 days 2 hours 58 minutes ago
Member: G_Barber
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Reply:616 days 1 hours 53 minutes ago
Member: steve pirie
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hey try a thing called steathplug ,usb at one end standard at the other ,it comes with amplitube and I record with cubase its easier than it sounds ,pricey though
Reply:616 days 1 hours 18 minutes ago
Member: RuiOlasBrandon 's
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I bought a processor with a USB line out.
It was the only way to get a clean recording, with Hi-Quality.
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Reply:615 days 20 hours 2 minutes ago
Member: Jakub
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Recording with a PC can be quite easy.
You need to have: Guitar, PC, Standard guitar cable (1/4 jack - 1/4 jack), 1/4 jack -> 1/8 jack adapter, some programs.

Now, use adapter with Your cable. Connect standard 1/4 plug to Your guitar, the other plug (1/8 with adapter) to
LINE IN or MICROPHONE input in Your computer. Then You need a VST host (program for Your PC) and
Amplifier simulator (You can download many demo versions from the internet, for ex. 30-day shareware Guitar Rig 2).

Link to download VST-host: http://www.hermannseib.com/programs/vsthost.zip
Guitar Rig 2 demo: http://www.nativeinstruments.de/php/file.php/demodownload/1552936/demos/Guitar_Rig_2_Demo_Win.zip

Install this stuff. Open VST-host click FILE --> NEW PLUGIN, and choose location of Your guitar rig 2. In the window of VST-host You will see Guitar Rig 2 demo. Choose Your amp and effects (really many many options: Marshal, Mesa, Engl and more). Record using REC button in VST-host. Enjoy.

This REALLY WORKS. This is not an experiment, just classical and cheap method of home recording with PC.
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Reply:615 days 1 hours 20 minutes ago
Member: ibzRG
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Not as cheap as entirely skipping the commercial software and using a real amp (which you probably already have) and THEN send the signal to the LINE-IN only (microphone-in will always suck in quality). Then you can use Audacity (free) to record and process the analog sound.
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Reply:614 days 20 hours 25 minutes ago
Member: Jakub
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But method I wrote about is free too.
There are many free simulators, for ex. Freeamp etc.
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Reply:614 days 17 hours 47 minutes ago
Member: ibzRG
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Demos are not free for ever.
I have never used amp simulator software, so that part I cannot recommend for or against.
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Reply:614 days 7 hours 47 minutes ago
Member: the BIG Mac!
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You can use almost any interface, but for starters, go to radioshack and buy a little instrument cord to headphone jack for like 2 bucks. Hook it up to the mic jack and your good to go man.
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Hey You Guys!!!
Reply:613 days 23 hours 25 minutes ago
Member: Xarkzila
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DO NOT USE THE "MIC IN" INPUT ON YOUR SOUNDCARD!!!!!!!!!

You are sending a LINE signal to the card from your guitar. If you really don't like your soundcard, go ahead and plug in there. The additional voltage carried by the line signal will soon trash the mic in and you'll only be able to use the line in anyway. Unless, of course, you trash the whole card. I've seen it happen.

The REAL deal. The mic in has a really crappy, not controllable, solid state preamp. (Better cards don't even pretend to have a mic input. You will get BALANCED inputs which are also LINE inputs. USB and Firewire require something to convert the analog signal to a digital signal before the signal heads through the cable.) While it will work for cheap mics, it is also not designed for the frequencies that come from your guitar. Aside from getting a line signal from your guitar, which is higher voltage than a mic signal, you won't be able to pass all your guitar's frequencies through that input either. This means that your recordings will also sound thin and be more difficult to work with.

LINE IN ONLY!!! (Remember this is a STEREO input so you get TWO recording channels.)

MIC IN IS FOR CRAPPY COMPUTER MICS ONLY!

Next thing you know people will be wanting to know how to record in "stereo." THERE IS NO SUCH THING! All recording signals are mono. Yes you can record two tracks at the same time, but they are two mono tracks and YOU create the stereo sound because it is an effect controlled by pan.

And to save any further wasted discussion... There is no single sound in nature that is stereo. ALL natural sound eminates from a single source. ALL natural sound is mono. If you think you're hearing stereo, it's because of all the bouncing the sound does once created. You have two ears that allow you to discern where a sound is coming from and because you have two ears stereo is a great effect to get the most out of a presentation. 5.1 is even better if done correctly. But the sounds we start with in ANY mix are MONO sounds.
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Reply:613 days 22 hours 23 minutes ago
Member: inablackout
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well ya know if studios didn't charge an arm and a leg and a first born male child for recording then everybody would use them. I have been in a pro studio and while it was a great experience and it was worth the money(30 an hour) not everyone can afford it.



Now that being said, you can get good recordings, not pro recordings, but decent enough for a bedroom player or gararge band useing that crappy pc mic or running other mics to a small mixer and then running the output into the mic in on a PC, IT CAN BE DONE. You don't have to have a line in. Although I would use this method to just record stuff for the purpose of remembering not to burn a demo.

If your group can afford to do a couple hours at a time you can talk to studios and see if they will allow you to do it this way, just make sure they aren't chargin you during set up time, just actual recording time. Use the first session to get the drumms and a scratch guitar track and go from there.
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Reply:613 days 21 hours 33 minutes ago
Member: Xarkzila
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Man, you think $30 an hour is a LOT! You need to look a lot closer at what studios really charge! Most studios charging $30 an hour or less are very low end studios. $30 an hour is nothing. (I make more than that on my regular day job!) Many area studios here run from $50 to $200/hour. (Though we only charge students $17.50/hr.) When you spend thousands on a single mic or single pre someone is going to pay for it in the long run. Studios are expensive because recording gear is not cheap.

Gear alone, in my studio, cost just shy of $50,000 and I'm on the low side of mid-range. Include the necessary construction and the costs of just opening a "mid-range" studio are pretty high. Lots of these studios have popped up because people think that with emulators you can make crappy mics sound like Neumans, or that you can emulate an LA2A or 1179, or get the same compression as a Manley Slam, or that a 2-610 can be built with just software and you can get all the make believe tube flavor you want for next to nothing. It just doesn't work that way. Emulators are just that and, while some sound pretty good, NONE of them actually come all that close to what the actual unit does. It's still digital and it's still brittle.

Add to that the room you record in is a little bit more important than the gear you use. A good acoustically designed room will cost you upwards of $20,000 in design costs alone. I know this for a fact because my discipline is acoustic engineering. I've got a GREAT room that everyone who walks in the door comments on. Though I don't need their comments to know what I've got, the fact they feel compelled to point it out, just confirms we've got a really good space.

One other thing adds to studio costs. Do you have an engineer who actually knows what he's doing? Or is it some guy who made this his hobby? I have a full time engineer, (with over 25 years of full time experience behind the console, I've got 40 plus years part time myself,) and we're open 24/7. That's also not cheap. If it's a guy who made this his hobby, recording in his basement, $30/hour IS probably too much to pay him.

As far as PC recording... Use your mic in if you want. Like I said, I don't really care what you do to your own PC. Run it through a pre or mixer too, just to make sure you have the full voltage of a line signal going for ya. (This is sarcasm!) That little preamp loves to get voltages that exceed its expectations. There are so many variables for that mic in. It may work, though somewhat poorly, for you. Like you said, you wouldn't use it for a demo, so why use it at all? Unless you don't have any other input. In that case, your computer mic is what belongs there, not a preamplified line signal. Be advised that the mics that plug into this input were designed to address VOICE frequencies, (much like a telephone,) so you're ont going to get anything near full frequency response. It may work, it may burn up your card. Your risk. In either case, you're recording through a computer soundcard and not an interface designed to record music, so the quality is, most likely, going to be less than acceptable to start with.

Just a fair warning. I understand that it "can" be done, just pointing out that it shouldn't be done and there's the possibility that you can damage your soundcard or more. Personally, I would prefer to not take that risk.
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"The music industry is a cruel and shallow money trench. A long plastic hallway where theives and pimps run free and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side..."
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Reply:613 days 21 hours 5 minutes ago
Member: RuiOlasBrandon 's
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I've tried to use a Line In (amp signal) into my computer's Mic In and the sound was crap.
I have a USB interface now (a processor), and it has a pannig effect to mix two mono tracks in one stereo sound.
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Hey, I'm stupid!
Reply:613 days 20 hours 7 minutes ago
Member: Xarkzila
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There is no guarantee that your line in will sound any better than your mic in. Though, if you have both on the same card, the line in SHOULD sound better, but that's relative. They could both sound bad!

There's a LOT more to it that just plugging in your guitar, as many have found. Remember, your soundcard, unless designed for recording music, was probably designed for playing games. Difficult to expect any musical quality from something that's trying to do a job it wasn't really designed to do in the first place!
My gear recommendations:
  
"The music industry is a cruel and shallow money trench. A long plastic hallway where theives and pimps run free and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side..."
http://www.cleargravy.com
Reply:613 days 19 hours 36 minutes ago
Member: RuiOlasBrandon 's
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No, I wrote it bad.
I didn't mean I have a Line In on my PC.
I was saying that i plugged a cable like this.
Amp Line Out> PC Mic in

And it didn't work out, only buzz buzz buzz.
USB interface rocks, though.
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Reply:613 days 18 hours 5 minutes ago
Member: bachmirage
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well what should be pretty obvious to all those who have read thru this is that to do proper recording on a PC, you HAVE to have a good soundcard to start with. i always advise THAT upgrade first and foremost. better soundcards just make the whole thing SOOOOOOO much easier right from the get. using an onboard card for recording is simply a waste of time. even for any kind of quick demo. there are a ton a decent cards out there for very cheap. ebay is full of them. for computer recording always look to upgrade the card as the first step........
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Reply:613 days 15 hours 45 minutes ago
Member: ibzRG
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Anyone hate ANY of my recordings? No? They have ALL been made with the onboard soundcard LINE IN. Good sound, no clipping and no "wind-y" feedback. Which is why I regret the left channel is now toast. :/ My mo/bo should still be under guarantee but the hassle of de-assembling and re-assembling the PC is not worth it.

I have tried MIC IN with line signal in the past and it's unbearable.
There's no point recording anything in the first place if it's going to sound THAT terrible.

This is true about cheap cards: They suck :) . I went out to get an add-on soundcard and I wanted a midi/joystick port because my POD is the old type without USB. Really thin options there, I ended up with a cheap card. You can't record anything on it because there's loads of feedback added by the card when recording that is not present when playing through. So I'm still recording with the onboard one using the one channel that is still good and then splitting the stereo track, ditching the dead half and making mono out of the living half. :/
A soundcard is still on my to-get list.
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Reply:612 days 20 hours 41 minutes ago
Member: inablackout
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Ya I agree there is nothing like a studio recorded CD, its just that most folks here just want something for at home. My band and I will be loooking to go in the studio in the coming months, and chances are we'll have to do it the slow way and take some time to get it done, i know i can't lay out 2-3000 cash to tie up a studio.


the tunes i have posted on myspace were recorded using 3 mics into a 10 channel mixer (zero'd out) and then into the mic in on my laptop, i have a korg d-888 that works great but i haven't figured out all the bells and whistle on it yet. I like direct recording myself.

i guess theres 1001 way to skin a cat on this matter....
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Reply:612 days 18 hours 55 minutes ago
Member: Xarkzila
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Getting something that will serve you well for home recording isn't all that difficult. Unfortunately, the "industry" that produces all this recording gear is convincing people they can do it at home and avoid high studio costs. I've known a lot of people who got lucky and made a GREAT recording the first time out, but never seem to be able to repeat the feat.

Here's what the studio has that the average home recordist does not:

A room designed to record in. A well designed room is worth it's weight in gold to a recording studio. Fully 50% of our job as engineers is made easier, or impossible, by the room we record in. Draping blankets, mattresses, carpet, egg cartons and the like on your walls, does not create a good recording space, just a dead space. While it's easier to record in a dead space, putting the "life" back in the music is nearly impossible. You're missing the natural reverb and along with that many frequencies that are absorbed by whatever you cover the walls with. There are a LOT of other drawbacks to recording in the wrong room... Bass buildup, flutter echo, standing waves, frequency loss, frequency multiplicity, and more. Electrical can also be an issue for many. Having a fully voltage regulated space with fully shielded cabling, (electrical cabling that is,) and isolated grounds will eliminate any issues from power noise. Aside from the room, a good SELECTION of pre-amplifiers is absolutely necessary. These do impart tone to your recordings and having a selection allows you to mix and match different flavors. A good SELECTION of mics is also necessary. If you record everything through the same mic and pre, you might as well use the same amp and cab too as you're not going to be able to vary the sound all that much. Even for the most basic setup, you'll spend another $2-3K on these items.

Once you have all the gear, learning how to use it is another story altogether. Even engineers with years of experience learn something new every day. (At least MINE better!) When it comes to mixing, making sure all your tracks fit together and "sparkle" is more than a happy accident. Compression settings, EQ, effects, etc., all contribute to the final result, good or bad. Knowing how to do these things takes time to learn if you're being taught and even longer if you're trying to figure it out yourself. All the tricks you may collect to make a good track shine, when applied to a bad track will make it sound worse! There is no defined "miracle" setting that will work in all instances. Just like the so-called "mastering software" I've seen on the market that claims you can make your mix sound like, AC/DC, Floyd, Zep, or a multitude of others just with selecting a switch or button, is all a load of crap. There are far too many DETAILS that need to be addressed that either result in the music coming to life or dying a quick and probably welcome death.

Playing and recording yourself at home is one thing. Thinking you can do as well as a studio using a BOSS recorder or computer and a few SM58's is another. Don't even go into ProTools here... I can't tell you how many times I hear, "We have ProTools! We'll just fix it in the mix!" This is MORE than stupid. It's gotten the amature recordist thinking he can dance with the pros and it's just not true. If you get it right up front, there is no need to "fix it in the mix." There is no "emulator" that will make an SM58 sound like a U87. There is no emulator that will make your voice sound like Freddy Mercury. There is no emulator that really sounds like the real thing. It's just an emulator. (Yeah, cute to play with and they do change the sound, but realize that it's like immitation cheese compared to the real thing.) For the average ear this may all be fine, but to the pro, everything lacking shines in detail screaming "amature recording!"

I'm not trying to disuade anyone from recording themselves at home. I believe it's one of the best things you can do if you're looking to improve your playing and that's what it should be about. If you're serious about making a CD, you should consider the studio instead of trying to do it yourself. If you add up the costs of the basics you need to get a decent sound, and the time it will take you to figure it out, learn proper mic placements for all the different instruments and vocals, you'll find that it's cheaper to go to a studio and let them worrry about getting the sound YOU want, (yeah, a lot of studios will push you around and give you a lot of technical "reasons" they can't get the sound you want, but those "reasons" are usually excuses because they don't have a clue what they're doing either, or just don't want to spend the time to get it right.) Just keep on your project if you put it in the hands of a studio and INSIST on having things the way you want. A GOOD engineer will provide you with options instead of "This is how it is. Take it or leave it."

Remember, you're always welcome to ask me what's a crock and what isn't. Sometimes it's hard to tell since I can't actually SEE what is being done, but the more information you can pass along with your question, the more accurate I can be with an answer.
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"The music industry is a cruel and shallow money trench. A long plastic hallway where theives and pimps run free and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side..."
http://www.cleargravy.com
Reply:612 days 20 hours 6 minutes ago
Member: dcunning30
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uhhhh, leave the soundcard for gaming. Go USB and be done with it. Starting at $100, you can get amp modelling, speaker simulation, mono and stereo effects, and 2 USB channels in and 2 USB channels out.
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Reply:609 days 19 hours 57 minutes ago
Member: Tasos
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Thank you all very much for your help! I Appreciate it !
Have a nice and talk to you soon !
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