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Connecting guitar to computer

S

sellmen

Senior member
Does anyone know of a way to connect an electric guitar to a computer, so one can play it through the speakers, record
songs, etc? Also, if this is possible, is there any software available that will allow you to mess around with the guitar's sound, like an effects pedal would?
 
Im a bassist, ill take u step-by-step:

1) obtain a headphone plug-to-RCA cable (headphone will go into your PC Mic connector, so u'll have stereo, as opposed to mono when u connect thru Line-in)
2) Obtain RCA-to-1/4inch headphone plug adapter (the oversized one that goes into your guitar, and the RCA INPUTS for the cable from step 1)
3) connect
4) adjust the mic levels
5) play along with winamp, or whatever u have.

And yes, u can connect the effects, eq pedals, wah-wahs, etc. U just need more 1/4-to 1/4 inch plug cables. Eg, my setup: Guitar-1/4inch-1/4inch plug cable-eq pedal-another piece of the cable from abovecompressor[/i]-the cable that i described in steps 1-2 going to PC.
BAM! And it all gonna cost u 10 bux, tops.
 
Yes, there are lots of these freebie-effect proggies. Just look in google, or whatever. most of them offer distortion, overdrive, compression 9i dont like it), EQ, etc. I dunno any in particular, cuz proggies are nothing compared to pedals.
So good luck!
 
I do it this way:
I connect my bass to my amp, then I connect my computer linein to the amps lineout, using a 1/4"->1/8" converter. Then select the linein as input device in windows volume settings. Then you should be good to go 🙂
I only get garbage noise when I plug it into the mic input, so I use the linein and record in mono instead. (whats the point of recording in stereo, your guitar/bass only has one channel anyway)
 
Doesn't plugging the guitar straight into the soundcard give a pretty weak signal? Unless it has an active onboard preamp of course.. Isn't it better to connect it through the amp? THen you also have the option of EQ'ing on the amp and increasing the volume..
 
Originally posted by: pelleplu
Doesn't plugging the guitar straight into the soundcard give a pretty weak signal? Unless it has an active onboard preamp of course.. Isn't it better to connect it through the amp? THen you also have the option of EQ'ing on the amp and increasing the volume..
Click to expand...

Au contraire!
First, u get stereo - thas #1. Even though its pseudo stereo. Other thing: most of todays audio cards have drivers with EQ settings. I see u using your amp as a preamp. But this is unnecessary when u connect to pc's mic input. PC mic input is already preamplified. If u connected it to line in - then yes. U would get a weak, mono signal. Try it thru the mike input. Id also recommend DISABLING the "Mic Boost" in audio settings. Instead, just adjust the levels. (I put mine at 75% to give the cleanest, and loud audio). Also, when u play guitar thru pc, getting BIG, GOOD headphones is a must!!! At least for bassists, cuz otherwise we can blow our speakers if the levels arent correct.
 
Originally posted by: squidman
Originally posted by: pelleplu
Doesn't plugging the guitar straight into the soundcard give a pretty weak signal? Unless it has an active onboard preamp of course.. Isn't it better to connect it through the amp? THen you also have the option of EQ'ing on the amp and increasing the volume..
Click to expand...

Au contraire!
First, u get stereo - thas #1. Even though its pseudo stereo. Other thing: most of todays audio cards have drivers with EQ settings. I see u using your amp as a preamp. But this is unnecessary when u connect to pc's mic input. PC mic input is already preamplified. If u connected it to line in - then yes. U would get a weak, mono signal. Try it thru the mike input. Id also recommend DISABLING the "Mic Boost" in audio settings. Instead, just adjust the levels. (I put mine at 75% to give the cleanest, and loud audio). Also, when u play guitar thru pc, getting BIG, GOOD headphones is a must!!! At least for bassists, cuz otherwise we can blow our speakers if the levels arent correct.
Click to expand...

yeah but don't forget that most built in mic preamps on soundcards suck =)
I have a set of nice headphones, got them a couple of months ago.. Philips HP890.. Really sweet 🙂
 
There ya go!
As of preamp quality...well you are right. Problem is, that mic input is sensitive to "noises" (ie Electro magnetic ones). The only thing wrong with connected it thru mic - is hiss. BUT, i also must say, that u do not hear it once u start playing. i also like the pseudo stereo (mono signal played as stereo) - really sweet. I kinda enjoy it. Also, once i switched to P pickup - there were no noises (apparently the pickups are more sensitive). Try it - who knows u might like it too :evil: :music:

Cheers me bass-playing buddy! :beer: :music: :wine: :women;
 
Originally posted by: squidman
There ya go!
As of preamp quality...well you are right. Problem is, that mic input is sensitive to "noises" (ie Electro magnetic ones). The only thing wrong with connected it thru mic - is hiss. BUT, i also must say, that u do not hear it once u start playing. i also like the pseudo stereo (mono signal played as stereo) - really sweet. I kinda enjoy it. Also, once i switched to P pickup - there were no noises (apparently the pickups are more sensitive). Try it - who knows u might like it too :evil: :music:

Cheers me bass-playing buddy! :beer: :music: :wine: :women;
Click to expand...

When I connected the bass to the mic input I only got NOISE.. sounded like crap.. I went through the amp though...
If you record stuff in mono in for example cool edit, you can easily convert it to a stereo track and then change the channels seperately if you wanna do that 🙂
I never "play-along" on my computer though, I play through the amp and have the music I'm playing along to in my stereo (connected to my computer), sounds better that way, the stereo isn't too good at reproducing my bass sound.. esp. since I've got a 5er 🙂
 
Did u forget to disable "mic boost"?
And u got the one with j pickups or humbuckers? because on my guitar i got a P and a J (Yamaha 4 string), and it would hiss like hell if i play thru J pickup. With P - it doesnt exist. Ofcourse, if im not to forget to disable the "mic boost". Yes, cooledit has that. See, the problem with me is that the only amp i have - is the 1982 Soviet-made concert amp. It useless as a "practice amp" - cuz the only settings it got is loud, really load and "are u crazy to turn it up this way?"-loud. 500 watt rms, weighs about 500 pounds (im not joking. This thing has 2 (!!!) power plugs!). So i had to improvise (since i dont keep THAT in my house). I either connect to PC (still "noisy" - bass picks up the radiation from the computer), or my home stereo (play thru headphones, of course).
 
Originally posted by: squidman
Did u forget to disable "mic boost"?
And u got the one with j pickups or humbuckers? because on my guitar i got a P and a J (Yamaha 4 string), and it would hiss like hell if i play thru J pickup. With P - it doesnt exist. Ofcourse, if im not to forget to disable the "mic boost". Yes, cooledit has that. See, the problem with me is that the only amp i have - is the 1982 Soviet-made concert amp. It useless as a "practice amp" - cuz the only settings it got is loud, really load and "are u crazy to turn it up this way?"-loud. 500 watt rms, weighs about 500 pounds (im not joking. This thing has 2 (!!!) power plugs!). So i had to improvise (since i dont keep THAT in my house). I either connect to PC (still "noisy" - bass picks up the radiation from the computer), or my home stereo (play thru headphones, of course).
Click to expand...

I'm not quite sure of my pickup config, I think it's a J and a P, but I can't see since they are soapbars...
I'll check the mic boost thing and try again, that might be my problem!
haha.. that sounds like a pretty cool amp 🙂 I only have a kustom kba30.. but before I got it I was playing through a guitar practice amp so this one is much better 🙂
you could buy one of those portable headphone amps, they are pretty cool 🙂
 
Personally, I like the Johnson J-Station, Johnson is getting out of the amp business, so the price is a steal. Also the Line6 Guitar Port is excellent as well, although the J-Station compares more with the pricier Line6 POD models. Either way, these baby's are the way to go, and you can't beat the sound. I use a Johnson modeling amp and Sonar XL for recording....nice.
 
I have a line 6 spider and I was running a 1/4 plug from the headphones jack of the amp the line in of my computer. I got to much noise from my mic in (never tried mic boost, will do). I would prefer the mike in because my line 6 amp does play in stereo. If you want to hear good use of the Line 6 Pod, listen to Dream Theater's Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence.

I have since bought an Audigy 2 Platinum and a digital mixer. I run RCA's from the Mixer to the Audigy and mix everything at the mixer. I love this setup. I can get some of the most amazing sounds from this setup.
 
Please forgive me for using your thread for a question

I dont understand which input jack to the soundcard is Stero, some poster has said that he plugs into the mike jack to get stero and others say that they plug into the Aux because they want stero, which is which? I have never seen a stero mike.

Bleep

 
Mic input would convert mono into stereo. Will also play stereo if the source is stereo.
Aux in - DOESNT convert mono inot stereo. If source is mono - then the signal shall be mono, if stereo - then its gonna be stereo.
Line in - same as aux in.
 
Yeah that didn't make sense. Mic input is monaural (it has one pole). Line-in is stereo (two pole). When you say convert, what it actually happening is the monaural channel is being duplicated in left and right. If you have an amplified signal then the best method would be to use a mono to stereo patch cable into the line-in.
 
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