What is the best way to record guitar tracks to your computer?
Most claim you need a preamp device such as the line 6 guitar port, but the Cakewalk Guitar Tracks software says it comes with a 1/4" to 1/8" adapter to go directly to the line-in of the sound card. Are they presuming that I have a special sound card, rather than the basic sound card card that came with my laptop?
Of course I'm trying to do this as cheaply as possible since my guitar and laptop already maxed out my plastic. Please note that my guitar abilities are beginer but my computer skills are intermediate.
You can do it with just an adapter. The sound quality will be lower than with a special box like the guitar port, but if you're not doing something that demands excellent quality, it will be sufficient.
You should have a standard 3.5mm input socket on your soundcard.
Your guitar cable is likely to have a quarter inch jack, so you'll need the adapter to make it fit.
Best,
A :-)
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My laptop only has a mic in jack. Got the adapter last night and I was able to adjust the winXP volume controls (record/playback) where I could record a simple chord progression in sound recorder.
Now I'm wondering, with the Conextant audio card that came with the laptop, even if I do invest in the line 6 USB guitar port ($170) and Guiatar Tracks ($40), will I be able to record a fancy guitar track, loop it and simultaneously play/record a second track? Obviously, the laptops crappy speakers will be a problem, but I think I'll have a way to output to better speakers. The processor is 1.8 mhz with 512 meg RAM and a 40 HD.
That's new enough that you could hook something up via USB to get the sound in, right?
Edit: It you do get abetter (possibly USB) card, I believe you want to make sure it has ASIO (asynchronous In/Out). If I remember correctly, that means it can record and play at the same time.
I bought a zoom gm-2000 for $49 and it works and sounds pretty good.
I also use the Amplitube Plugin for Cubasis (Came free with my sound card) and it models some really good amp sounds.
