Need a little help.

shallyb610 · 12-15-2012, 01:43 PM

I've been playing guitar and piano/keyboard for a long time. I taught myself both, so it kind of took a really long time. And when it came to recording, I would just use my keyboard, overlay everything, and save it to an internal memory. From there, I'd record the finished product onto a loop pedal, which would then be plugged into my computer, blah, blah blah.

Quite simply, it takes way too long, and it's a little frustrating. I can't just click around and fix mistakes, instead I'd have to record a track all over again.

As for my guitar, I've never been able to record anything. I play classical and acoustic mostly, and my Dean is acoustic/electric.

So basically I just want to know the items required to record clean sound onto my computer directly. For example, with a program such as Reaper. I know I need a midi cable, but what else? What kind of audio devices am I looking for?

I'm the kind of person who picks things up, and then drops them. I taught myself how to play, but I never went further. I play my own songs all the time, and I can pick up a song in a snap. I just don't know anything about the technical side of music. So really, anything would help!

Kaboom75 · 12-18-2012, 07:57 AM

RME sell soundcards and external interfaces for plugging in multiple midi cables they have really fast ASIO for playing though a computer OS without lag and the highest sound quality for output to amps.

Plankton · 12-18-2012, 09:50 AM

You can conceivably plug your guitar/keyboard/mic directly into the 1/8" microphone jack on your PC, but you'll have latency issues.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latency_(engineering)

What I'd recommend, is getting an interface. USB, or preferably a Fire Wire (low latency).

Audio Interfaces | Sweetwater.com

You'll be able to plug your gear into it, and then to your PC, and record what ever you'd need. Basically what an interface does, is that it will take the analog signal, and convert it into a digital signal (essentially).

As far as a DAW (Digital Audio Workstation), Reaper is a good choice as far as I've heard, but I use Audacity (Free/Opensource). But here's a good list of available ones out there (scroll down a bit in the link):

Digital audio workstation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Hope it helps.

12-15-2012, 01:43 PM	#1 (permalink)
shallyb610 Groupie Join Date: Dec 2012 Posts: 1	Need a little help. I've been playing guitar and piano/keyboard for a long time. I taught myself both, so it kind of took a really long time. And when it came to recording, I would just use my keyboard, overlay everything, and save it to an internal memory. From there, I'd record the finished product onto a loop pedal, which would then be plugged into my computer, blah, blah blah. Quite simply, it takes way too long, and it's a little frustrating. I can't just click around and fix mistakes, instead I'd have to record a track all over again. As for my guitar, I've never been able to record anything. I play classical and acoustic mostly, and my Dean is acoustic/electric. So basically I just want to know the items required to record clean sound onto my computer directly. For example, with a program such as Reaper. I know I need a midi cable, but what else? What kind of audio devices am I looking for? I'm the kind of person who picks things up, and then drops them. I taught myself how to play, but I never went further. I play my own songs all the time, and I can pick up a song in a snap. I just don't know anything about the technical side of music. So really, anything would help!

12-18-2012, 09:50 AM	#3 (permalink)
Plankton Just Keep Swimming... Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: See signature... Posts: 7,766	You can conceivably plug your guitar/keyboard/mic directly into the 1/8" microphone jack on your PC, but you'll have latency issues. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latency_(engineering) What I'd recommend, is getting an interface. USB, or preferably a Fire Wire (low latency). Audio Interfaces \| Sweetwater.com You'll be able to plug your gear into it, and then to your PC, and record what ever you'd need. Basically what an interface does, is that it will take the analog signal, and convert it into a digital signal (essentially). As far as a DAW (Digital Audio Workstation), Reaper is a good choice as far as I've heard, but I use Audacity (Free/Opensource). But here's a good list of available ones out there (scroll down a bit in the link): Digital audio workstation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Hope it helps. __________________ See location...

12-18-2012, 07:57 AM	#2 (permalink)
Kaboom75 Groupie Join Date: Dec 2012 Posts: 2	RME sell soundcards and external interfaces for plugging in multiple midi cables they have really fast ASIO for playing though a computer OS without lag and the highest sound quality for output to amps.