audio hardware suggestions

[winiwii]

okay I know this is probably the wrong place to put this thread but does anyone know a good piece of hardware that will work on my computer i`m looking for something that will let me be able to plug my guitar into my computer so I can record and stuff or get guitar rig any help would be appreciated

[Gunnysmiles]

I am using Guitar Rig3 without the footpedal. I have it going though my 5.1 surround sound system and a simple din adapter to plug my guitar into my soundcard that I got a BestBuy. I had to download ASIO4all drivers to get it to work but WOW!!! unlimited sound possibilities.

[winiwii]

yeah does guitar rig work with an audio interface???

[goldencd]

I am completely new to this forum, but if there is one thing I know it is pro-audio. My resume is too ridiculous to list but i promise I will not steer you wrong on this one.

Please. DO yourself a favor and pickup Pro-tools. You can get decent M-audio interfaces with good ad conversion or you can get good low-end DIgidesign interfaces with good ad conversion.. depending on your needs and price range. The good thing about DIgi is that it is bundled with the software.

You will hear many reason why DIGI sucks and get Nuendo or logic and a motu. BUT THE FACT IS. Digi and pro-tools is teh industry standard, so on the chance that you want to take your session to another studio, 99% chance that they will be running pro-tools. It is the language that American studios speak. If you are in Europe the Logic and a Motu is a great option that I would fully suggest.

If you are already using a program like DP, or Logic and do not want to change then I would recommended the Motu Firelite. It is amazing with like 12 i/o and really good AD and DA conversion.

If you are open to new things, please get Pro-tools and a digi interface. Yes they are not as nice looking. Yes the I/O is not as compreshensive fo rthe price as a Motu, but you will save yourself headaches when workign with others on the standard program.
M-audio and M-powered protools are a good option, but I have had issues with Firmware and stability that I have not encountered with a Mbox2 pro, or a digi 002

Please feel free to get at me any other questions. I hope that helped a little

Peace

[winiwii]

Originally Posted by goldencd

I am completely new to this forum, but if there is one thing I know it is pro-audio. My resume is too ridiculous to list but i promise I will not steer you wrong on this one.

Please. DO yourself a favor and pickup Pro-tools. You can get decent M-audio interfaces with good ad conversion or you can get good low-end DIgidesign interfaces with good ad conversion.. depending on your needs and price range. The good thing about DIgi is that it is bundled with the software.

You will hear many reason why DIGI sucks and get Nuendo or logic and a motu. BUT THE FACT IS. Digi and pro-tools is teh industry standard, so on the chance that you want to take your session to another studio, 99% chance that they will be running pro-tools. It is the language that American studios speak. If you are in Europe the Logic and a Motu is a great option that I would fully suggest.

If you are already using a program like DP, or Logic and do not want to change then I would recommended the Motu Firelite. It is amazing with like 12 i/o and really good AD and DA conversion.

If you are open to new things, please get Pro-tools and a digi interface. Yes they are not as nice looking. Yes the I/O is not as compreshensive fo rthe price as a Motu, but you will save yourself headaches when workign with others on the standard program.
M-audio and M-powered protools are a good option, but I have had issues with Firmware and stability that I have not encountered with a Mbox2 pro, or a digi 002

Please feel free to get at me any other questions. I hope that helped a little

Peace

damn that was alot of reading I don`t really kow what you mean but i`m just looking for a good cheap audio interface so I can`t hook up my amp to my computer thus being able to record so thank you for your suggestion but I don`t know what your talking about thnx though

[goldencd]

Ha. ok.

1st question
PC or Mac?
2. What audio program do you record into? (if you don't have one yet then say that also).

sorry for the flood of info.

[PuroRock]

Something that is FREE? You can always go to download.com and search freeware. I use AudioGrabber which uses the direct line-in and records it as a .wav file and can be converted to .mpg. It's pretty simple and not flashy at all. It does it's thing in terms of getting my music recorded. Poor quality and nothing special.

I usually use a 4 track to record to tape, then line-in to my laptop to convert to a mpg. You will need adapters to fit from 1/4" jacks and to the computer inputs. Any decent electronics store carries them for about $5-$10.

[winiwii]

Originally Posted by goldencd

Ha. ok.

1st question
PC or Mac?
2. What audio program do you record into? (if you don't have one yet then say that also).

sorry for the flood of info.

okay its a pc and I was looking around at like free downloads but eventaully getting soething like guitar rig nothing to fancy I mostly want this stuff so I can record

[chasenblues]

go to Cnet download.com type in "Audacity" into there search engine. its a a freeware download.its got all kinds of stuff in it. i go from my Fender G-DEC out the headphone jack with an 1/8" standard everyday male to male jumper cable to the in line input on the back of my old HP comp works for me.

[ZoomZilla]

Yeah, I downloaded Audacity, but have not used it yet. I need to get a 1/4 to 3.5mm plug adapter.

[goldencd]

Please don;t use your sound card and a 1/8 to 1/4 adapter!

Go get a cheap M-audio fast track
M-audio Mobile Pre
or Line 6 toneport

All are dedicated soundcards and I/o with Good Analogue to Digital Conversion. AND all of the come with a lite version of Ableton Live, which will be infinitely better and more expandable then any free software can.

Total price... under $200

[winiwii]

Originally Posted by chasenblues

go to Cnet download.com type in "Audacity" into there search engine. its a a freeware download.its got all kinds of stuff in it. i go from my Fender G-DEC out the headphone jack with an 1/8" standard everyday male to male jumper cable to the in line input on the back of my old HP comp works for me.

I know about Audacity but I haven`t downloaded it yet

[winiwii]

Originally Posted by goldencd

Please don;t use your sound card and a 1/8 to 1/4 adapter!

Go get a cheap M-audio fast track
M-audio Mobile Pre
or Line 6 toneport

All are dedicated soundcards and I/o with Good Analogue to Digital Conversion. AND all of the come with a lite version of Ableton Live, which will be infinitely better and more expandable then any free software can.

Total price... under $200

yeah but if I can`t get a audio interface for cheaper then something like guitar rig or something wouldn`t that be better and I was told that if I don`t need like a whole drive then I shouldn`t have to get one and I was thinking of getting a line 6 drive put into my pc but then I found out about audio interfaces so yeah

[goldencd]

Originally Posted by winiwii

yeah but if I can`t get a audio interface for cheaper then something like guitar rig or something wouldn`t that be better and I was told that if I don`t need like a whole drive then I shouldn`t have to get one and I was thinking of getting a line 6 drive put into my pc but then I found out about audio interfaces so yeah

not sure what you mean by drive?

Guitar rig will cost you 500 bucks. It is cool for sure, but it is only for guitar.
If you spend $149 on a m-audio interface, you will getting a mic pre w/ phantom power and a 1/4 input, so you can cut vox or other inst if you ever need to.
Plus it is bundled with recording software.
GRig 3 is killer, but much more so if you are running it with another sequencer like Pro-tools or Logic for full recording capabilities.

There are plent of ways to get the signal into your computer. The question is, how good or bad do you want it to sound? And.. how expandable and upgradeable do you want it to be?

[goldencd]

oh... both m-audio and line 6 make interfaces for under $80. Way cheaper the GRig. Not as comprhensive with amps and efx, but cheap and get the job done.

[Davey Rockets]

Pretty much +1 what goldencd has been saying (except I'm not a fan of PT at all)

For what it's worth, I used a Lexicon Omega interface for my laptop.. until it broke. Now, I'm temporarily using my Digitech GNX3000 as both my audio interface (has 1/4" and XLR inputs via USB) and source of guitar tones. You could probably pick one up used somewhere in the $200-$250 ballpark and for me at least, it serves BOTH functions quite well.

I also download Reaper (Free!) for recording and that has been working very well, especially in my laptop environment where I don't have the same processing power I do in my desktop.

[goldencd]

Originally Posted by Davey Rockets

Pretty much +1 what goldencd has been saying (except I'm not a fan of PT at all)

For what it's worth, I used a Lexicon Omega interface for my laptop.. until it broke. Now, I'm temporarily using my Digitech GNX3000 as both my audio interface (has 1/4" and XLR inputs via USB) and source of guitar tones. You could probably pick one up used somewhere in the $200-$250 ballpark and for me at least, it serves BOTH functions quite well.

I also download Reaper (Free!) for recording and that has been working very well, especially in my laptop environment where I don't have the same processing power I do in my desktop.

Sounds like a good little box! I am a little limited on my portable knowledge since protools (one of the dumb things) makes you use digi hardware.
I do know the Motu is amazing, that is if you need 12 ins and outs. But damn is that thing rock solid!

in my home studio I have a HD rig with protools hd7.3 and apogee rosetta converters with a great river pre in a API lunchbox. AMAZING!!!!!
It took a while to get used to protools, but it assures me that no matter what studio I am working out of in the country, I will be compatible. That is worth the price of admission in my book.
Although I am a huge Ableton fan as well!!!!

I prefer to record my guitar clean and do all the efx in the box, so i can always get back to the clean tone and start fresh if need be.

[winiwii]

Originally Posted by goldencd

Sounds like a good little box! I am a little limited on my portable knowledge since protools (one of the dumb things) makes you use digi hardware.
I do know the Motu is amazing, that is if you need 12 ins and outs. But damn is that thing rock solid!

in my home studio I have a HD rig with protools hd7.3 and apogee rosetta converters with a great river pre in a API lunchbox. AMAZING!!!!!
It took a while to get used to protools, but it assures me that no matter what studio I am working out of in the country, I will be compatible. That is worth the price of admission in my book.
Although I am a huge Ableton fan as well!!!!

I prefer to record my guitar clean and do all the efx in the box, so i can always get back to the clean tone and start fresh if need be.

mhmm about the clear tone that sounds like a good idea i think i`m going to go with getting and audio interface then getting teh wire that is 1/4 for the line /out on my amp then i`m going to use audacity for recording beyond that I don`t know what else I would do thnx all

[Davey Rockets]

Ahh, Pro Tools HD? Well, that's the real deal! No wonder you like it. I had the Digi 001 and it was a freakin nightmare for as long as I owned it.

As for the Digitech, I'm kinda floored by how versatile this thing for my portable recording needs. Amazing guitar tones, plus all the in's and out's I need to do temp recording.

And yup, laying down the clean track (even if you monitor with f/x) is an awesome way to go, since you're only limited by whatever plug-ins and re-routes to amps you have! A great idea!

Originally Posted by goldencd

Sounds like a good little box! I am a little limited on my portable knowledge since protools (one of the dumb things) makes you use digi hardware.
I do know the Motu is amazing, that is if you need 12 ins and outs. But damn is that thing rock solid!

in my home studio I have a HD rig with protools hd7.3 and apogee rosetta converters with a great river pre in a API lunchbox. AMAZING!!!!!
It took a while to get used to protools, but it assures me that no matter what studio I am working out of in the country, I will be compatible. That is worth the price of admission in my book.
Although I am a huge Ableton fan as well!!!!

I prefer to record my guitar clean and do all the efx in the box, so i can always get back to the clean tone and start fresh if need be.