Hi out there, I'm looking for a simple interface to plugin to the PC to practice & play along with backing tracks, can anyone recommend an entre model?
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Hi out there, I'm looking for a simple interface to plugin to the PC to practice & play along with backing tracks, can anyone recommend an entre model?
You need to be a member of Cigar Box Nation to add comments!
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The Scarlet 2i2 is one of the most popular units in its class, good choice there.
Dont overlook the free plugin suite that is available when you register the unit with Focusrite.
The free DAW software may or may not suite you, dont feel tied to it if it doesnt.
Thanks for the info. I think I have a dud interface, after downloading Behringer drivers the audio box on Audacity remains blanc. I know what you mean about upgrading, I just thought to start with a bare bone unit, but it seems to be a waste of time & money, not much money but just something else to throwaway .So now I'm considering the "Focusrite scarlett 212" seems a lot more than I think I will use, but I wont something I can trust this time. Thanks again for your info.
The Guitar link clone may work fine for recording your guitar with recording software, Though its pretty much a bare bones/minimalist solution. Yes you will soon want a better option, but......
I have heard some stories about the knock-off being unreliable. Some people say they got bad ones that never worked from new, some say they broke soon after trying to use them, others say theirs are working fine. Try it.
From there, the questions and advise are going to be based on how you wish to record and expected quality/results.
Sound quality is going to depend on a lot of factors. In my early experiments I found that many products were geared toward mag pickups and sounded only acceptable with a piezo. another product might work better, there are products made for use with piezos, but again, Try it.
The latency question is a monitoring issue that comes into play when recording along with other tracks. Its the delay that occurs from the time it takes the signal to go from your guitar, through the interface, analog to digital conversion, processing in the computer and back out through digital to analog conversion and back to your monitoring device. If its excessive it can be disconcerting and hard to record. Acceptable delays can be barely or not noticeable. There will technically ALWAYS be some, and some people go on an obsessed journey trying to get it unnecessarily low. Anything under 10 ms is pretty good and should work fine. And keep in mind, the lower you get, the more computer resources are required. Getting very low latency can create problems with undesirable glitchy gapping playback performance. This can be a bit of a balancing act.
Generally the best performance is an ASIO driver, which takes over the sound card/interface device and optimizes the path for a minimal delay. (Latency.) Your first choice should always be the driver provided by the interface manufacturer. And even if supplied, make sure to update to the latest release.
ASIO4ALL is a generic driver that is another one of those things, bare bones, works for some, headaches for others. Try it. (Remember to go into Windows audio mixer and mute Windows sounds. You dont want to record any of those.)
Many people find one of the first surprise functions is that once in ASIO mode, other audio players besides your DAW dont work. Due to the previously described way ASIO works. You may find you have to switch back to Wave or Core audio mode to use other audio players and sounds.
Depending on your computer and stock sound card, you might try using core audio/waveRT mode and see if that works. Try it!
Warning, once you dive into this stuff its one of those never ending things. You will probably desire a better interface in a short time. Then theres all the software temptations. Then you realize you need a more powerful computer. Restart cycle. Never ends. Trust me. I'm in pretty deep.
Always remember Google is your friend. How to use Audacity, any various questions, theres a bunch of help there. Not always good, but abundant none the less. If you decide to get a better interface, and then are looking into the possibilities beyond Audacity, I would encourage you to take a look at Acoustica Mixcraft. It is modestly priced with a lot of features, and I consider it to be one of the most intuitive DAW programs on the market. Added bonus, a super customer support team and a very friendly, active user forum that is very accommodating and helpful for newb/beginners.
Let me know if I can help.
If you really want to get into it your better getting a dedicated sound card. This is the cheap and simple route. These days I say 'get lost' to audio interfaces and magic boxes that link up to the PC via USB, drivers, cables, plugs, gizmos and etc money etc money etc.
Have a scout about for an audidgy, the latency can go down to about 0.07 seconds with direct plug in via the audio in socket. And you can use a simple guitar to mono headphone connector.
Any old play/record software will do. A nice one is the old pre-sony 'acid' multi layer mixing software. It's not complicated but has depth and can do some funky stuff.
You may still try that behringer driver. It's quite possibly the same software.
Sorry I answered too quick. The one I have looks identical just doesn't have "Behringer" printed on it, just "guitar link".
http://www.music-group.com/Categories/Behringer/Computer-Audio/Audi...
Thats the same as wot I have.
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