Hey,
I was wondering if it will do any damage if I plug my guitar directly into my sound card. I have the right cables but experience tells me not to plug it in just because it fits.
Thanks,
Andrew
A hoopy frood knows where his towel is....
i've plugged my axe through my sound card before... cant remember anything bad happening...
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The input level is not going to be right for a sound card. They expect either a mic or line level input, neither of which a guitar produces.
Cheapest method is to buy a cheap passive DI box, they don't cost much, especially from ebay.
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The input level is not going to be right for a sound card. They expect either a mic or line level input, neither of which a guitar produces.
Right, although you probably won't damage it. I like to either mic my amp or use its line out so I can hear what I'm playing through the amp.
I've got the Audigy 2 Platinum in my pc. Before getting an amp, I plugged mine into the mic/line 2 that's on the internal Audigy drive. On the soundcard, itself, I have the line out going to my home stereo. It works with no ill effects. Well, I don't think it had quite the dynamics as plugging into a regular amp, but it served it's purpose.
Now, if you wanted to do this to use effects software (ie: Guitar Rig, GuitarFX, etc...), you'd want a low latency sound card, otherwise you will be getting a delay from the time you strike a note and when you hear it coming out of the speakers.
The biggest thing to note is NOT to go from the external speaker jack on your amp (if you have one) to the sound card. That ext jack is for driving big things like 4x12 cabinets, and your PC sound card will not stand a chance. Going from guitar directly to Mic in generally works, though may not sound great. Guitar to line in probably will not work, but shouldn't hurt anything either. The best option is either line-out from your amp to line-in on the sound card, or micing the amp.
Lik newlyded, before getting an amp, I plugged my guitar into the sound card, and from there went to my stereo. Like he said, it doesn't sound like a real guitar amp should, but it makes noise, so good enough.
TZ
