Turn Your PC into Guitar Amplifier (Beginner)
Don't you know that we can turn our PC to be a nice virtual guitar amplifier?
What we need:
PC
Computer specifications are depend on software requirements
Audio Interface (Formerly known as soundcard)
This one is use to convert the analog sound format into digital format. The first thing to know when choosing an audio interface is it resolution and sample rate such as 16bit/44.1kHz, 24bit/96kHz etc. If you are planning to buy a new audio interface, I suggest to choose at least an audio interface that has 24bit/48kHz because todays audio recording usually use this audio format.
Audio interface needs driver to work optimal. Some of these drivers are ASIO, MME, WDM and GSIF. ASIO is an audio interface's driver that developed by Steinberg which has low latency and suitable for realtime application. For an old soundcard or an onboard soundcard that doesn't have an ASIO driver, ASIO4ALL can be used as an alternative. This generic ASIO driver can be downloaded from www.asio4all.com
Software
AradazAmp & AradazAmp2 are VST plugins that can be used to turn your PC into Virtual Guitar Amplifier. We need a VST host to use these plugins and a good ASIO driver to play it in realtime. There are some freeware VST host that can be downloaded from the internet, such as Tobybear MiniHost and Hermann Seib VST Host.
Preamp / DI BOX / Mixer
Audio interface's line inputs are inappropriate with guitar impendances. Preamp / DI BOX / mixer should be used to fix this problem. If you don't use Preamp / DI BOX / mixer for guitar signal, you'll hear an ugly sound from your speaker.
Cables
The hardest one to explain, just make sure that you use the best cables you can get to play or record your guitar sound.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Computer Guitar Amplifier
Labels: Recording - Guitar
Posted by Aradaz at 8:23 AM
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1 comments:
Using the terms soundcard and audio interface interchangeably can be very confusing.
A Soundblaster card or standard input that is original equipment on your computer that has an 1/8" input is not appropriate for connecting a guitar to but many interfaces do have proper 1/4" instrument inputs that have the correct impedance and gain needed.
Many interfaces have instrument inputs and there is no need for a DI box or preamp.
Most mixers actually don't have proper instrument inputs only XLR mic inputs and 1/4" line inputs which are not proper guitar/bass inputs.
You are joking about the cable thing right? While good cables are a nice idea as reliability goes there is very little if any difference at all between cables when talking about sound quality. Skip the Monster cable and get a nice recording interface instead.
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