Connect guitar to PC for recording?

G'day,
I was contemplating which forum to put this in (Off Topic, Software, or this) and felt this was more appropriate. Anyway, I want to connect my Electric Acoustic guitar to my laptop, so I can record the music. Would this work for acoustic electric? Sorry, I'm a newbie at guitar!

Cheers,

-Joel

 

It would work, but according to things I've read and heard from friends in the recording industry, it's always best to play the guitar through an amp (or raw in the case of an acoustic) and record via microphone.

But what do I know? I'm a drummer!

 

Haha, lol. Yeah, the only thing is, that someone stole my amp!

 

In that case, that thing should work fine. Just keep in mind that if you're going to be playing through your laptop speakers (or whatever sound output it's connected to) while recording, there will be a slight input delay, which will really throw you off in something so dependent on timing as music.

My band and I tried to exactly that once, a long time ago...our guitarist plugged his guitar directly into his laptop and used the laptop's own speakers to hear what he was recording...it came out almost a full second after he played it. Still, we ended up finishing recording a song that way, haha.

 

Oh, thanks for the heads up! I don't think it'll really matter though, as I'll import it into FL Studio or the like and add everything else in

 

A mixer is always best for that.

 

Can you explain what a mixer does? Lol, Sorry, I have no clue

 

Sounds like a bit of latency there lol.

@joelkrause57, You can get a decent low latency audio interface with direct monitoring for around £80-150. It's well worth investing in one if you plan do a lot of recording which it sounds like you will as you say you'll be using FL Studio. There are a few aimed at guitarists such as the Novation NIO or Line 6 Pod range. The Line 6 ones come with a whole bunch of emulated guitar fx and the preamps are supposed to be really good, bypassing the need for a mixer or amp. I've heard good things about them anyway but i'm not a guitarist so couldn't advise on which one.

http://line6.com/products/recording/

 

Thanks, .
I was looking at the Pod Studio UX1, but the link doesn't work, LOL.

 

Indeed, but we were a bunch of high school kids playing in a garage; not exactly a professional-grade budget.

To say the least!

 

I don't want to spend a million gazillion dollars on gear btw, just a few bob that will allow me to record my guitar onto my laptop

Haha, that sounds cool!

 

Yeah i had trouble with the links as well. You should be able to get them through a distributor in Oz anyway or even better a local audio retailer. A local retailer will help you get the best interface for your set up and if you have any problems with the software or drivers you won't have to go far to get support or a replacement.

 

I used to plug in my bass guitar to my computer when I play CS:S so I can annoy kids in cs_office pubs.

 

Actually, a guitar - and an electric acoustic - will work even if directly plugged into a laptop input jack provided you have the appropriate input / output selected - just pretty badly.

What you linked in terms of the guitar interface will work fine. Unless you need other inputs, a mixer is unnecessary - although you do get the ability to plug in a guitar with one.

 

The Line6 recording USB interfaces are nice, imo. I'm getting the UX2 to hook up to my new laptop soon. =D

 

Hahaha, that's funny. Greetings from a fellow bassist, as well.

I like the Line 6 stuff because some of them come with software to emulate different amps, cabs, and effects. I used to use a PODxt Live and the USB port could be used as an audio interface and the quality wasn't too bad.

 

I just plug my electric guitar into my DODfx processor and from the stereo headphone out plug into the line in on my laptop. From there I put it into Reason and add Drums, Bass and Keyboards. I just mess around so not professional stuff but works great and in stereo if needed.

I really miss the days of the GUITARPLAYERS room in yahoo chat. Everyone taking turns playing.