So I plugged my guitar into my laptop for the first time and got the apparently typical horrible delay when listening to what I played. I did some Googling, and came to the conclusion that the sound card in my laptop (IDT) doesn’t support hardware loopback, so I need an external device.

Does that sound reasonable?

I looked at getting one of these for my son;

http://www.dv247.com/computer-hardware/behringer-guitar-link-ucg102-guitar-to-usb-interface–38128

he didn’t want it as a bithrday present though so it got dropped.

Allows you to play along with stuff and all sorts.

Mate of mine has something similar, I’ll ask him.

Are you plugging into a Line In or Microphone connector? I’d hazard that the latter could potentially damage the laptop.

Only got a mic in.

Can VERY highly recommend buying a Tascam US-122 or US-144, as not only will it allow you to record into your machine (via up to 2 separate mic/guitar/line ins at the same time), but also use your computer as an audio source for playback through your hifi/speakers of choice as it has a phono line out on it too. They also support up to 24bit and 96KHz recording too.

Also, they’re USB bus powered, so no external source required, are MUCH higher quality than that Behringer unit linked to above (Behringer stuff is tosh, it really is the pits of professional audio equipment), and they can be picked up 2nd hand off ebay for not a lot of money… And there’s always a ready supply.

I paid about £80 for a brand new US-144 on ebay, you can get 2nd hand US-122’s in mint condition for less than £50. Oh, and it doesn’t matter about mk1 or mk2, the mk2’s are just nicer looking and updated, but don’t do any more than the mk1’s did.

Oh, and if you’re plugging straight into the Mic in on your laptop currently, you could seriously risk damaging it!

But at the very least you’ll be adding a whole LOAD of feedback into anything you record as the quality of the 3.5mm mic ins on laptops is to say the least, ridiculously poor…

My guitar playing doesn’t deserve any more than the most rudimentary recording quality mind 🙂

That Behringer thing comes with gutiar effects.. I’m now intrugied by the idea of being able to replace my effects board and possibly drum machine with VST plugins.. Google results seem full of spam tho and I know bugger all about this to begin with.

What software are you using? If it hosts VST, then of course you can replace all sorts with plugins…

Your Guitar playing may not require more than rudimentary quality, but think about buying for the future… Buy quality equipment and it won’t limit you. That Behringer thingy would quickly become limiting. Also, if you got the Tascam, then you’ve got the audio ins AND outs that you may want, as well as full studio quality recording capability…

I’ve known people make music 100% using a pair of cheap headphones plugged into the 3.5mm headphone out of their laptop… Was it any good though is the question (no in case you were wondering)? I’ve known people use a Tascam US of some description (I’ve got the 144, but it’s only got a digital coaxial in/out as a bonus over the 122, kinda useless unless you’re still using DAT IMO) to produce music that’s gone on to sell many many records as well as get plenty of Radio 1 airtime! 😉

By delay, do you mean a delay between your playing and the sound coming out of your laptop (does that make sense ?). That could be down to the latency on your soundcard – basically the time is takes for the analolgue signal to be converted to digital, then back to analogue before being output by the laptop. Best course of action is as advised above – an external interface. Loads of options – I’ve always used Echo gear.

I am attempting to use Cubase SE 3, hence the idea of plugins for effects and so on. Where would I start shopping for something like this?

By delay, yes I do mean between me playing a note and it coming out of the speakers/headphones. I think what I need is hardware loopback, but it looks as though my card doesn’t support it.

The question really is is that likely?

By delay, yes I do mean between me playing a note and it coming out of the speakers/headphones. I think what I need is hardware loopback, but it looks as though my card doesn’t support it.

You NEED an external soundcard then for definite… And the Tascam US-122 is one of the cheapest, quality cards, that will also allow you to connect up your guitar and a mic to record directly into the machine too. The Soundcard will get rid of the latency and reduce it to as good as zero (latency is a nightmare for music producers, or it was until decent hardware came out to reduce it).

I am attempting to use Cubase SE 3, hence the idea of plugins for effects and so on. Where would I start shopping for something like this?

cough* TORRENTS *cough 😉

Seriously though, there’s MILLIONS of VST plugins out there, have a think what kind of things you want, and what music you’re intending to produce… Computer Music recently released a special magazine highlighting their “99 top free plug-ins”, I have a copy of it here for my own use… Might be worth picking it up to give you some direction… There are some decent freebies out there, but sadly most newer stuff or highly recommended stuff you’ll have to pay for… Or be naughty and download a torrent.

What kind of music are you planning on making? Might be able to recommend a few possibly if I know what you’re into…

Er well I’m still playing around. I only play guitar though.. I’ve got a Digitech modelling effects board which I quite like – it’s got 300 or so preset sounds, the first few of which are fairly normal distorted guitar, the rest are mind-buggeringly weird noise which I could see myself using in some kind of combination of rock and techno music 🙂

The other thing I have is a basic Zoom drum machine. I’m doing this in a hotel room as I travel, so it just struck me that it’d be very convenient to have similar as a software plug in rather than a physical device to have to cart around with leads and power supplies etc.

The other really useful thing would be some kind of filter to make my lead guitar sound like a bass.

Seriously though, there’s MILLIONS of VST plugins out there

I know, this is the thing – sites are all falling over themselves to shout at me in language I do not understand 🙂

check this thread out I started a few months ago incidentally…

http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/software-synths

Yeah you wanna keep the setup simple for defo, but you will need an external sound card before you go any further… Even if you’re just listening to the music through headphones, if you’re using the internal audio on your laptop to make music… Well the best analogy I can give is it’s like trying to drive a car blindfolded… You know what to do, you know where everything is, but ware you confident that you can get from A to B without crashing, let alone in good time?

Something like this…

Worry about lots of plugins after you’ve got the sound coming out (and going in!!!) ok…

Like mboy says, torrents are your friend. There are so many plug ins and vst instruments to choose from, it is hard to know where to start. Waves do a nice selection and they bundle them up into nice packages.

Send me an email (parkedtigerATyahooDOTcom) – I’ll dig out a selection that are ’email attachment size’ for you if you like.

I’m already convinced I need to get an external audio interface – that Tascam one looks great and it has midi too.

The plugins thing is the next part of the project 🙂

Right, coolio

I’ve only messed about with a few so far, but of those that I have messed about with, can recommend that you will have countless hours of fun with Novation’s V-Station… It’s a bit of a seminal classic, soooooo many rich bassy sounds on it. I had the luxury to play with a Novation Supernova a few years ago though (which the V-Station is the software version of essentially), which was awesome.

I’ve played with a demo of the “impOScar” too, seems really good and a software recreation of the classic OScar synth which was highly desired at the time.

Why are you using Cubase anyway? And not having had a go on Cubase in donkeys, does it have any inbuilt sounds? I’ve recently been messing about with a copy of Reason V3 (again not 100% legit, but as it’s now 2 generations old they’re not likely to follow up on it) and it’s got tonnes of stuff built in, including “Re-Drum” which is essentially all your 303’s, 808’s and 909’s (and various others) all chucked into one drum sampler… To say it takes literally just a few minutes to get some serious beats going is an understatement!

Oh, and if you’re after some serious bass sounds, you’ll have to pay for it, but get a copy of Rob Papen’s SubBoomBass… Have a look for it on youtube, some of the sounds on it are unreal!!!

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwRh_W8P6d4[/video]

Listen to that on speakers capable of delivering SERIOUS bass… You will be hooked! 😉

Are you talking about synths, mboy?

Oh right, you purely after effects to alter the sound of your guitar then?

Yes, I am. Not a keyboard player, and not at all into synths. Not against them or their music, I just have little idea what to do with one 🙂