I want to be able to plug my electric into my computer’s soundcard so I can record myself playing. I’ve looked around and there’s hundreds of different programs which are all related to computer music, but I’m not entirely sure what they are. I already have a jack which converts my guitar jack into the one the soundcard needs for its line-in, so all I need is the software.
Can someone recommend me some free software that allows me to do this? Preferably it should be able to handle multiple tracks (i.e. I record a backing track and then other tracks over the top of it) and it being able to handle VSTs (i.e. effects) would be great too.
Thanks in advance.
Not sure about free ones, but for under £20 there are plenty of good programs in shops like Game or Electronics Boutique. The eJay range are good fun.
Thanks for the suggestion, but I don’t think eJay is exactly what I’m looking for, after browsing their website (unless I’m mistaken). It seems to be more suited towards creating dance music, and from what I gather has no support for VSTs.
Thanks anyway.
Perhaps if someone could provide me with the name of the type of software I’m looking for, I could search myself? Is it a mixer, sequencer etc. what I’m looking for, or something else?
eJay allows long datastreams to be recorded with or without effects, and allows the addition of effects afterwards. You can create your own rythmns - dance is not mandatory! You then get to make you own trippy “videos” with some spacey graphics packages, all for £10.
Still, for a more traditional recording studio, CakeWalk is probably your best bet. You should be able to find an older version either free or cheap.
A naked untreated, unbuffered electric guitar signal is not what you want to be starting with (unless there is some magic software that can cope with such nastyness). Run the signal through an amp simulator before injecting it into the soundcard or at least get a proper DI box to match impedances and levels.
I am utterly out of touch with modern sequencing software, but I’d think anything that isn’t completely dance-centric would do the trick.
I have a Korg AX10G multi effects pedal, will that do the trick?
I think I’ve done this before, and IIRC, I simply went:
-Guitar to effects panel (Boss ME6)
-Effects to amp (Little Marshall practice amp)
-Amp to soundcard (through a jack converter, to give me a 1/8 stereo jack instead of the big fat one the amp uses.)
-And I just recorded the input with MS Sound Recorder.
I use a distortion box and a mixing board (that I happened to build myself, but any decent mixing board will do). I either go straight in through the mixer into the sound card or I mic an amplifier, depending on what sound I’m after, and may have a few other effects pedals in the chain as well. I wasn’t very happy with the sound quality of just plugging the guitar straight into the sound card. YMMV.
On the computer I just use the free version of N-track. It occasionally pops up a nagware screen but other than that it works pretty well. It has support for effects but I use hardware effects boxes so I’ve never tried it and don’t know what the capabilities of it are.
I tried a bunch of programs. Cakewalk seemed like one of the better ones but I had problems getting the sound from different tracks to sync up. I happened to be fiddling with N-track by the time I figured out that it was my el-cheapo sound card that was causing the problem and not the software I was using, so since N-track was the first one I got working I stuck with it.
I’m downloading n-Track now, that looks to be what I’m looking for. Thanks all.