1. Buy Tsai Electric Guitar Cable Audio Usb Link Interface Adapter For Mac Pro

If this is your first step in recording on your computer, then one of the most cost effective ways to get a complete solution is to go for a complete. You get everything you need to record the guitar direct, or to mic up your amp. Plus you can easily overlay vocals with the included microphone, and you get all the software you need. Read our full on the market. Our top pick for guitar is the. The Simple Computer-Guitar Cable or Adaptor There are several ways of recording your guitar directly onto the hard drive of your computer. If you play an electric guitar, then the simplest way is to connect the headphone/line out from your amp to the line in of your soundcard.

All you need to do this is a simple Computer Guitar Adaptor which has a standard jack input for your guitar lead on one end, and a mini-jack on the other. You can try out how this sounds by using the built-in Windows sound recorder software although better still download which is free and easy to use recording software. It’s also possible to buy a guitar cable with 1/4″ jack on one end and 1/8″ mini-jack on the other. You can also experiment by plugging your electric guitar directly into the mic-in socket on your sound card (or the mic in on your laptop). This will work but it may not give the high quality performance needed for a more professional sound. In general, electric guitars need a high impedance input, but although most computer soundcard’s mic inputs have a high impedance, it is not as high as a normal guitar input. This lower impedance can result in quality problems.

To help you find your way around generally if the sockets on your sound card are colour coded then the microphone will be pink, the standard single channel line-out or headphone will be green, and line-in will be blue. If you are using a laptop then usually there is a mic input next to the headphone socket. If you have a standard generic sound card, then you may find that the above solution gets you going but the recording quality is not too good. Ordinary sound cards are better at sound output than recording and will often produce noisy low-quality recordings. You may also find that many laptops and macs do not have any line-in socket at all, and that the microphone socket, if available, is quite noisy. If this is the case or you want to make a huge improvement, then there a whole range of specially designed USB solutions for recording your guitar on your computer. The price range is huge so there should be something that suits your budget.

USB Audio Interfaces For Recording Guitar Although the computer guitar cable is a simple and cheap solution, there are a whole range of dedicated devices which will offer massive improvements in quality. For the guitarist with a slightly bigger budget seeking a higher quality solution, there are a tremendous range of USB devices which have been specifically designed from the ground up to with your recording needs in mind. All of these eliminate the need to use your existing sound card for recording and provide a dedicated external solution with all the hardware and software you need to record your guitar. We are big fans of these dedicated devices, they are easy to use and install, have special inputs for guitar, usually come with a great software package and will massively improve the quality of your recordings. If you need more information before reading on then we have a whole article that for complete beginners.

If you are right at the budget end, and just looking for a simple connection, then you can buy guitar-USB linking cables which will easily and cheaply enable you to connect your guitar (electric or electro-acoustic) directly to your computer. You’ll then be able to record, add effects etc and you will get much better results than just going straight to the generic line-in on your computer. However, many guitarists also want to be able to record vocals, so prefer to look for a device which will successfully record both guitar and mic. Saving files in office 2016 for mac. Fortunately there are plenty of dedicated interfaces available especially designed for guitar and microphone to USB recording and there is something to suit every budget.

All the USB audio interfaces that have guitar and mic input can be used to record guitar alongside a dynamic vocal mic. (Look for devices which also have on-board phantom power if you want to use a condenser mic too or instead – see below). These all-in-one devices offer great value because you need very little additional equipment to get started – just the device, a guitar cable, a decent microphone and then a pair of headphones or powered speakers and you’re away. The idea is they are all the computer hardware a guitarist needs to record guitar and vocals and most come with software too.

If you want to build a small guitar recording studio around a studio condenser mic, you’ll need to spend a bit more and be sure to purchase a device with phantom power. The condenser mic will also cost more than a dynamic mic. For studio recording, if you can stretch your budget this far you will get a good result. Don’t forget, these USB Audio interfaces bypass your built-in sound card to give a great result, but you will need to listen to them through headphones or powered speakers (monitors), as the sound will no longer come out of your existing computer speakers. Newbies often plug them in, start recording, then contact us because they can’t hear anything!

The added benefit of buying one of these USB audio interfaces for recording your guitar and/or vocals is you can also set it up as your default audio output device (or sound card) so it gives your whole audio set-up on your computer a complete upgrade. Great for YouTube video and general music playback Spending a bit more We have looked at a couple of real budget solutions. What do you get if you spend more? Well you may want more inputs and outputs, more expensive devices often have a larger number of microphone inputs for example so you may have to consider how many things you want to record at once.

And of course high end devices will have better analogue to digital conversion for a more pristine result. The old ‘you get what you pay for’ is true. On the other hand, if this is your first time out then you will find many of the sub £100 devices offer fantastic value and will get you up and running.

Plus they have a great resale potential on eBay or Gumtree when you are ready to upgrade. Using a Microphone to Record Your Guitar Another option is to use a microphone to record the output of your amp (in the case of electric guitarists), or your. A dynamic microphone is usually the first choice if you want to record your amp. Although choice of mic does depend on the sound you want to get. For real ease, then you don’t have to worry about any other equipment.

Our editor’s pic was the The is a also particularly good choice because you can use it either as a USB or a standard mic, and you can monitor what you’re doing with the headphones it comes with. Any of the devices we have already looked at that take a microphone as well will be just as good for this recording scenario. If you want to record your acoustic guitar then you should buy a condenser mic and an audio interface with phantom power – or consider a such as the ever popular and newly improved Studio Condenser USB Microphone.

More information about recording using a microphone can be found in our sister article on to your computer. Listening to the results With all the above guitar recording solutions you can monitor your results using headphones, but sooner or later it is likely you will want to play your masterpieces to your friends and family. Again, dedicated speakers will greatly enhance your music making experience, and there are speakers at a range of price points which will work well whichever route you opt for. Guitar Recording Software Once you are getting a satisfactory recording from your guitar, then you will probably want to think about the best software for recording and then adding backing tracks, effects etc. There is lots of fantastic music making software around, some of it free or very low cost.

Take a look at our article where we look at some. Most come with huge libraries of loops and riffs to help you create complete performances behind your killer guitar tracks. If your main aim is to improve your playing then we think that it’s really worth giving a go. Especially as you can get a whole course for the price of a couple of lessons.

So much easier than just working through books. Our Suggestions To Buy Now So You Can Easily Record Guitar Budget – choose if you are on a very tight budget and want to start recording your guitar. Disclosure: This is a professional review site and if you buy anything recommended through Music Repo, we may receive a commission, at no extra cost to you. We are experts in Music Technology and thoroughly research all the products and services we write about in our posts. We are independently owned and the opinions expressed here are our own.

For further details. We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program and the Amazon EU Associates Programme, affiliate advertising programs designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.de, Amazon.fr, Amazon.it, Amazon.es and affiliated sites. Hi Thommo, either will do the job fine, I use a PC laptop quite happily, many people will tell you Mac is better. Are you using this purely for home recording or is it going to be a general use computer as well? If so, then think about how it will fit into your life best.

So for instance if you live in an Apple world with iPhone, iPad etc then maybe the Mac would work better for you, I am an android and google user and find the PC is seamless which is why I stick with it. Also Macs tend to be more expensive – but then they are solid and last a while. Don’t overthink this and go round in circles. Plump for the one that suits your budget and current lifestyle best and then move on to getting it set up and get making some music! Hope that helps.

Adrian says. Hi Jackie, OK, just looked this up, haven’t come across this before.

Wow how cool indeed. The guitar should apparently be just plug and play. So if you connect up the guitar with a standard USB lead your computer should recognise it as an audio input. After you have connected it up and the computer has ‘found’ it (see Control Panel-Sound in Windows or look in System Preferences on Mac) then you just start up your recording software, select the USB guitar as the input and get playing. You may have to adjust the recording levels in your control panel or your software. Here is a clip from a review posted on the Breedlove site “Boasting a USB port next to the 1/4” output the USB connection is easy to use. My MacBook Pro (running GarageBand) recognized the guitar immediately when I plugged it in, and I was able to record with it right away there is a link to the review below Plus if anyone reading this wants to find out more about this range of guitars with built in USB for recording then you can find them here:.

Linas says. I am really pleased and grateful for finding your article, along with the useful information. I intend to purchase whatevr I need to record on my lappie, using Fruity loops or Pro tools, which have already cost me a tidy sum. However I am not so sure all the components are available in my country – Kenya. Still, I believe I can get shipping info on the web.

I look forward to having an excellent mentoring relationship with musicrepo and especially; Jane Sherrat. Jane Sherratt says. Hello, I’m playing bass for myself at the moment and want to record backing tracks on a covers’ basis to well known rock tunes. I have a reasonably powerful PC, Carvin bass amp, and a Mesa Boogie speaker (in addition to the computer’s satellite and sub-woofer speakers). Also I have a bass guitar-to-computer jack/USB cable for direct-to-computer recording, which I do through Microsoft’s Movie maker. When I plug in to the computer, load Moviemake, and play the track I want to “dub” to I can’t hear the bass through the computer’s speakers. However, having chosen the “USB device” from the “options” list of MM’s drop down menu I find that the muted notes I barely hear while I am playing have translated richly to MM’s audio function when I play back what I just recorded.

So I have a good video of me playing and a really good sound but disconcertingly there is no monitoring function making it very hard at times to know if I am playing the right notes. What I did then was to plug that same cable (guitar one end, with USB the other) into the Carvin amp’s “tuner out” hole, while leaving the guitar itself also connected to the amp. And of course the Carvin amp remained connected to the Mesa Boogie speaker The sound quality was not as good but it actually did the job of giving me a defacto ‘monitor speaker’ through my Mesa Boogie speaker!

I guess what I need to know is how to be able to record myself playing a bass backing to a classic (You-tube or CD) music track while being able to hear myself playing in real time, and simultaneously being able to record the audio and the vivdeo so as to be able to upload the finished product to Youtube. As I am a complete dunce at this, I would need the most straight-forward, “idiot-proof” instructions. What would also help is an equally simple step-by-literal-step guide on how to stitch together the audio and video file, and to know the Youtube uploading procedure. Sorry for this long-winded letter, but some of us are not as tech savvy AT ALL, as others! Would greatly appreciate your help, Cheers and regards, Fred Jansohn (Sydney, Australia). Jane Sherratt says. Hi Jane, Me again: Well I did what you suggested and got myself an audio interface.

I bought the Focusrite 2i2 and, yes, it does help to eliminate the latency problem. In fact I also bought a pair of Pre-sonus (5″) audio monitor speakers, and connected them to the Focusrite. But I’m still stuck: To recap: I’m trying to record audio and video of me playing a bass line to a classic backing track. Already have a collection of Youtube files converted to Mp3 for this purpose. So, I have:.Bass guitar, plugged into.Focusrite, itself connecetd to monitor speakers;.seeing (and now hearing) myself playing along in Windows 7 Moviemaker to one of my Mp3 files (playing in the background on the computer’s speakers, not the monitors). The video and audio bass track is quite good. When I drop the Mp3 into Moviemaker I cannot seem to synch the MP3 sound to the video and bass track I just recorded.

But even more problematically I don’t know how to silence the bass in the orignal recording (MP3 file) so as to make my playing the prominent feature. I also have Audacity, but get easily confused with the recording or dubbing functions. Obvious questions emerge from the above; plus, more specifically: 1. Is it possible to record myself playing in Moviemaker and AT THE SAME TIME record myself playing bass in Audacity? (Even if the answer is yes I would not know how to configure Audacity in such a way as to import the Mp3 file, and then do what has to be done in order for me to be able to record the bass while the Mp3 files is playing and being redorded as well!) 2. If the answer is yes, how do I silence the recording function in Moviemaker?

Before I begin playing in Audacity, or even MM, is there a way of muting or reducing the sound of the MP 3 file alone, so that the bass element of that file is not so prominent? (I see this sort of thing everyday on Youtube; and wonder how in God’s name is that achieved!!). Dear Jane, do you see how ignorant I am with this technology?

At one point I downloaded Reaper, plus “instruction” manual. I got as far as page 20 of the most complex jargon I had ever read and deleted the lot! Would greatly appreciate knowing if there are programs out there that do not need a pilot’s licence to ‘drive’, and your H-E-L-P!!!

Cheers and thanks in advance, Fred Jansohn. Jane Sherratt says. Hi Fred, if you simply want to make a recording of your bass, then you can easily import an MP3 file into Audacity, then create a new audio track. If you plug headphones into your Focusrite you can record to the new track while monitoring what you are playing and the backing track together.

Your bass part will appear on the new track. Moviemaker is very basic video software, I am not sure if it is configurable enough to split the audio out from the video, and unfortunately I am not an expert on video, only on audio recording. It might be worth researching whether there is a better video software than Moviemaker to do this. Here is a link to overdubbing tracks in Audacity which might get you started on the audio recording bit at least. Saminda Karunarathna says. Got in to your musicrepo page, good stuff. I’m from Sri Lanka.

I have this question. I have a YAMAHA PSR E433 Keyboard.

I’m trying to record my music covers I play using my PC windows 8 64 Bit. This keyboard only has one USB output and one Headphone output. When I insert headphone out to Mic in of the PC sound card that allows me to record (Since this is home use I can hear what I play when I play the recordings) but since it disables the Keyboard sound I cannot hear what I play at the same time.

I was trying to hear the sound from computer Line-out but that didn’t work well may be a mistake I did or that is not possible. Hope you understand my problem. Well this is without the help of an Audio interface. I know that one answer for my problem is to use an Audio interface or an Audio Mixer but I’m trying to achieve this without an audio interface.

Can you give any guidance for this?. Jane Sherratt says. Hi thanks for all the information but im still A little confused! I have A laptop windows 7 and want to record electric guitar and maybe vocal, probably over A backing, nothing to fancy! It is all for my own entertainment but I would like to be able to put the tracks on A cd or mp3.

Im on A tight budget and its only for fun so if I get an interface will I still need recording software, if so what is best for my needs? Would be gratefull for any help you can give me.

Thanks John. Jane Sherratt says. Hi, I have a guitar and a nice multi-effects pedal, but when I plug that directly into my PC, the quality that comes through when recorded is quite muffled and doesn’t sound at all like when I’m playing it live. I’ve read this post here and just want to clarify – if I buy a £20-30 USB adaptor, will the quality of the signal from my pedal sound more like the way it should? I want to get back into making music again using modern technology, but was a bit disappointed last time I tried to record anything into my PC. Thanks in advance! Nick.

Jane Sherratt says. Hello Jane, I’ve been trying to do some recording on my laptop for a while now but always struggle. Because of the poor quality sound card on my laptop I decided to buy an audio interface but the only free software that I have found to record via USB is Audacity. What is happening is when I record singing along with backing tracks mixed and into the interface and then from the interface to the laptop is the music records beautifully but there is a delay on the vocals and they are quiet. I have tried recording to a mini disc player first which makes lovely recordings and then I’ve tried recording from my mini disc player to the laptop using the above method but exactly the same is happening. Can you please tell me where I’m going wrong.

Jane Sherratt says. Hi, first make sure that you are using the Audio Interface as the input and output device. Does it have a direct monitor feature that would help you overcome this problem? Also does it have ASIO drivers. Audacity does not come with ASIO support directly, but it is possible to download a version for private use.

There is more information here about reducing latency and using Audacity. If your vocals are quiet, it may be that there is not a good enough pre-amp for your microphone on the interface. How are you connecting up the mini disc player?

Is there a suitable line input on the audio interface? Have you checked the volume levels in the device’s control panel?

Without knowing exactly which interface it is, cannot help further but hopefully the above suggestions will get you started.

Buy Tsai Electric Guitar Cable Audio Usb Link Interface Adapter For Mac Pro

. Apple’s (AAPL) ($14.99) is a versatile, and cheap, recording program that lets you record song ideas and demo tapes on your Mac. Today I’m going to look at various USB options to plug your instrument into GarageBand. Fortunately, there are a lot of different devices out there that will let you perform this task.

That said, I’m going to focus on a cross section of these input devices, not the entire spectrum. While I’m going to use guitars as a frequent reference point since that’s the instrument I play, any of these input devices should work on instruments that have a 1/4″ output. Apogee Jam ($99): At 99 bucks, the isn’t cheap, but it earns high marks for me. The great thing about the Jam is it comes with connectors for the Mac, and a 30-pin iOS cable. I’ve never had a problem with it and the audio quality is very, very good. The chief concern is with the two small, cables it’s easy to misplace them.

To avoid that, I keep them both rubber-banded to the body of the Apogee. You can also buy replacement cables if you lose them.

Line 6 Pod Studio UX2 ($199): The is a very versatile device. It will let you record two instruments at the same time (handy if you’re recording with a pal). It also has two XLR inputs if you want to mike your amps instead of directly inputting your guitar. But wait, there’s more: the UX2 also has more than 20 models of guitar and bass amps, and more than 20 models of guitar and bass cabinets.

The amp models are based on Fender and Marshall amps. The UX2 is a good piece of gear to start building your budget studio around and is great if you’re recording multiple instruments at the same time. Ubisoft Rocksmith Real Tone Cable ($29.99): While the is primarily designed for the (not available for the Mac, which is either a good or bad thing, depending on your view of learning devices such as these).

I’ve found it to be a pretty decent USB guitar interface given the cost, and while it has no iOS connectivity, that’s not a deal breaker, especially since this article primarily deals with OS X. In the short time I’ve had it, it feels like a decent cable and I haven’t experienced any issues with it. USB Fender Squier Guitar ($199): Now, admittedly the guitar won’t let you plug in any instrument to GarageBand, it being a guitar and all.

For $199, I’ve found it to be a great guitar. Since the Squier is Fender’s low-cost line, when I got mine I expected it to be extra low-budget, given the additional electronics for the on-board USB interface. Instead, I was quite happy with it and still continue to play it almost four months after I got it. The iOS interface is especially nice if you’re traveling and want to practice. It comes with the cables to connect the guitar to your Mac and iOS device. Connecting the devices to GarageBand Obviously step one is connecting the USB cable to your Mac. (Note: for best results plug them directly into your Mac; not into a USB hub.) After that, open GarageBand and go to Preferences and click on the Audio/Midi tab.

Select your input device from the pull-down list. After that go into your project and add a new track.

Select Real Instrument from the selection screen if you are miking your amp, or using a keyboard. Select Electric Guitar if you want to use GarageBand’s built-in amps and effects. Last, go the Track menu and select Show Monitoring for Real Instrument Tracks. This will ensure you can hear your instrument through the speakers while you play. Using Amps and Effects Unless you are miking your amp, you’re probably going to want to play around with GarageBand’s amps and effects.

To do that, select the guitar track in the track listing on the left. On the far right, you can choose the amp you want. You can also choose from a number of preset sounds from a pull-down menu in the same area. You can also adjust the bass, treble, etc. From this screen.

How I use them For input devices, I float between the Rocksmith cable and the Apogee Jam. For the most part, choosing one comes down to which interface I can easily find at the moment. The Jam and the iOS cables may take up permanent residence in my gig bag so I can practice outside the house regardless of what guitar I happen to have with me (I tend to favor Les Pauls over Fender guitars). I don’t usually use the amps built-in to GarageBand.

Instead I use the. However, if you can’t afford either of these programs the included amps will do the trick. The presets are really helpful in quickly dialing in a sound.