Hi. I've been using Cubase for some time now, to make some backing tracks to jam along with. And also I own a Shure SM57 mic, which I use when playing live.
And the thought occured to (I'm not very bright on the computer thing) that I could record using my mic in front of my amp going into the computer. But what I really need to know is how far from beeing able to record am I?
Ive been looking into getting a descent sound card for my pc, example would be soundblaster X-Fi card. But I guess I will also need a XLR converter to make it go into the pc?
I know this sounds kinda stupid to some maybe, but I just really want to record. Any advices would be appriciated and suggestions for cards, cables and stuff is also very welcome.

Thanks,

Alex

I'd skip the soundblasters and go with an external sound interface for musicians that comes with MIDI/XLR/headphones/Guitarinput etc.

Thanks MickeM So if I go for the external sound interface I don't need to use any kind of program or so to use it on my pc?

Check out this topic. Many useful things about recording are explained there

http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/guitar_fo...showtopic=24874

Thanks for the advices and links guys. This should help me make up my mind

Great video!
Thanks for the link!

You'll still need Cubase or something similar.

Check out this post, you may find it interesting. If you have any questions, ask mate.

Here's what works for me: I plug my guitar into a Fender Frontman's 15R preamp (you can use a XLR converter or a DI-box, or a guitar preamp), and from the preamp to an M-Audio Audiophile 192 (an M-Audio Audiophile 2496 would be a better solution, since I don't think you'll need a sound card that can record in 192 kHZ, and it is also a 24-bit card, and it costs less - I now regret for not buying the Audiophile 2496 instead). As for the software, I use Nuendo 2 for recording, mixing, etc; for a guitar amp, effects, speakers and microphone simulation VST plugin, I use Amplitube 2 (my favorite - also my recommendation). As for other instruments, I use Reason 4 and Addictive Drums.

I hope this helps.

That 2496 I've got is a constant source of problems for me. The audio quality is good, the latency is low (2.5ms) but it will crack and produce xruns if something is not perfectly configured (wrong IRQ, no realtime system, bad pci hardware...). So I'm not sure if it's the right thing to go for a non tech guy if I've got so many problems with it (and I'm software developer). An external firewire/usb interface would probably be better. Although the have a higher latency.

Jonas

Edited for language.
Tony - on behalf of the moderating team

Perhaps you're right, an external interface would probably be better.
I've also experienced some glitches on my 192, but I blamed it all on my tendency to install a whole load of different purpose software on a single Windows, so it would, I figure make problems with the driver or something.

Can you, BTW recommend something that I can do to get rid of these problems, since I'm no expert

Besides that I'm very much satisfied with it.

I only used it on linux so far so I don't know about the windows specific issues. Although at least one problem was hardware wise. I had to reassign the irq of the pci slot in the bios to 9 or something that got rid of most crackles. The other thing I needed to do is switch to a realtime kernel. But that step is linux specific. Oh, and my PCI tv card made problems as well, but as I don't watch tv anymore I just removed it

Jonas

Thanks Jonas. I'll try some of those things out, and see if it helps. The most annoying thing is when the audio stops suddenly. Also, sometimes the sound becomes distorted, like running through a ring-modulator. I thought a system reinstall would help, 'cause I haven't done that since I bought the sound card.

BTW, is there any good music software for Linux? I tried to install Studio 64, but it failed to install

Thanks