Guitar to PC - sound lag

~D~

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I bought one of these to connect my guitar to my PC. I'm doing this via the output on my 10 watt practice-amp and connecting it via the mic in (pink) input on my soundcard (Supreme FX II - came with my Maximus Formula).

However there is a roughly 1/4-1/2 second delay from me playing a note and hearing it through my speakers (I turned on the 'listen to this device option' to hear myself while i play)

I want to do this to record myself via Sound Recorder but the lag is a bit irritating - is this lag expected or am I doing something wrong?
 
So, I can barely hear my guitar through my speaker unless the amp volume and speaker volume are up on max. And god forbid if I turn on Microphone Boost; soo much static.

So I was wondering what is a cheap solution to recording myself on guitar? I've seen some £40 devices that work via USB, is that the sort of thing I should be looking at or are there cheaper options?
 
I would go through a dedicated mixer. A cheap analogue option should be fine and you can use the output from it when you want to record on the PC.
 
Or use any guitar pedal with a headphone/line out and go straight into the sound card. Those methods will work okay.

But what would be even better buy a line 6 UX1 or similar (tascam US series etc) then you get some good quality recording software, virtual guitar amps and that high quality audio interface.

UX1's cost about £80 when I bought mine, not bad for a two in two out usb interface with ableton and a selection of amps!! Of course if your just recording for your own practice this might be overkill!!! :p


ASIO drivers will sort out the latency.
 
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p0ss3s3d said:
Or use any guitar pedal with a headphone/line out and go straight into the sound card. Those methods will work okay.

But what would be even better buy a line 6 UX1 or similar (tascam US series etc) then you get some good quality recording software, virtual guitar amps and that high quality audio interface.

UX1's cost about £80 when I bought mine, not bad for a two in two out usb interface with ableton and a selection of amps!! Of course if your just recording for your own practice this might be overkill!!!


ASIO drivers will sort out the latency
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Yup, just for my own practice :P

I've tried the ASIO drivers, when I select it as my audio device in Sony Vegas, it just says 'not connected' for the line-in components, so I haven't had any luck with it.

It's not just a latency though, the guitar is barely audible and noisy as hell.

Edit: Though from just reading another thread, this could be noise from the front-panel causing a group loop. But the back input doesn't seem to work :S

I'm getting a Boss DS-1 pedal for Christmas incidentally, but why would that be any different from connecting the line-out on my practice amp to the mic input on my soundcard?
 
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Buy an edirol UA-25.

You can pick them up relatively cheap these days as they are the old model. Its an external USB soundcard, into which you can plug in your guitar, and record it using the provided software. Ive got one and i use it with native instruments guitar rig, its great. You might want to use a DI box too.
 
miikeeyy92 said:
Buy an edirol UA-25.

You can pick them up relatively cheap these days as they are the old model. Its an external USB soundcard, into which you can plug in your guitar, and record it using the provided software. Ive got one and i use it with native instruments guitar rig, its great. You might want to use a DI box too.
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From looking around they seem to be about £160 new :eek:

I'm confused how something like that, or the Line 6 UX1, as p0ss3s3d suggested, works. From what I've read, you can choose tone/gain settings on these devices, does that mean that they pretty much function as an amp, but via the computer speakers?

I'm thinking of getting a new practice amp anyway (a Peavey Vypyr 15W), would something like the Line 6 UX1 achieve the same sort of thing as the amp but will instead run it through my PC speakers?
 
~D~ said:
From looking around they seem to be about £160 new :eek:

I'm confused how something like that, or the Line 6 UX1, as p0ss3s3d suggested, works. From what I've read, you can choose tone/gain settings on these devices, does that mean that they pretty much function as an amp, but via the computer speakers?

I'm thinking of getting a new practice amp anyway (a Peavey Vypyr 15W), would something like the Line 6 UX1 achieve the same sort of thing as the amp but will instead run it through my PC speakers?
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Really?! I picked mine up for £80 new. it was off ebay though.

Basically, they are what you have been doing already, plugging in your guitar into the computer, but as they are designed for the job, they are a hell of a lot better. and you can input various audio equipment too, not just anything run via mini jack.
 
I've plugged guitars in the line in on onboard sound and used soundforge like applications to record without any delay or problems.

make sure you are using the line in, not the mic input.

Use audacity as well not sound recorder. Buy yourself an esi maya 44 soundcard (£70) or something like that if you want to get better sound quality. Remember also instruments always record in mono. Except drums which has multiple mics.
 
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Guitar = Loud signal ("Hi-Z"). Digital clipping when plugged into PC.

Guitar -> POD Studio GX etc. -> PC = Hi-Z scaled to a manageable volume, in addition with the pod it's essentially a new audio interface, so latency/monitoring should be improved. Plus you get the POD farm which models most classic/modern amps to a pretty good degree.

If it's just practice, stick with what your doing and get ASIO4ALL drivers.

If you want to get nice quality recordings or try new guitar tones (which will be better than any "practice amps") get one of the line 6 usb interfaces. The guitar only (i.e. not for vocals) version was about £60 new. Not bad when you consider all the stuff you get with it (live lite & Pod farm).
 
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groen said:
I've plugged guitars in the line in on onboard sound and used soundforge like applications to record without any delay or problems.

make sure you are using the line in, not the mic input.

Use audacity as well not sound recorder. Buy yourself an esi maya 44 soundcard (£70) or something like that if you want to get better sound quality. Remember also instruments always record in mono. Except drums which has multiple mics.
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Forgot to mention, that I am using Audacity, Sound Recorder was just for testing purposes.

I tried it via my line-in (it's a dodgy connection so I mistook it for not working the first time) and it doesn't seem to record properly (though it does output to my speakers properly) - it's barely distinguishable and just sounds...odd.

p0ss3s3d said:
Guitar -> POD Studio GX etc. -> PC = Hi-Z scaled to a manageable volume, in addition with the pod it's essentially a new audio interface, so latency/monitoring should be improved. Plus you get the POD farm which models most classic/modern amps to a pretty good degree.
Click to expand...


Ah, that's cool, so I can basically use it as my main amp? Do you think I'm better off getting a POD Studio GX than another practice amp then?
 
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