New Guitar/no amp yet - Need suggestions on monitoring

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Musikman
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2011/09/23 14:23:33 (permalink)

New Guitar/no amp yet - Need suggestions on monitoring

Hi,

I'm a keyboard player, but I just bought a new guitar because I want to learn how to play, picking it up tomorrow. (yay!) Can't buy a regular amp for awhile yet, but I'd like to hear what the guitar sounds like with fx/amp sim when using it through a track in Sonar 853 Producer.  I have FreeAmp3. (also have GR3 but my pc is too old to handle the drain GR3 puts on my CPU, so FreeAmp3 is my amp right now)

The question is, can I plug my new guitar into my mixing board and send the signal to a track in Sonar with FreeAmp loaded into the Track FX bin, and hear the guitar as I play it with the effect in real time?  I think I remember trying something like this long ago with an older version of Sonar and I could hear the guitar fine through my studio monitors using that routing scenario, but not with the FX added. If I "recorded" a track I could hear the FX/amp upon playback, but not in real time.  I'm guessing maybe it has something to do with routing switches, which is a bit of a gray area for me.

Eventually my goal is to be able to load an amp sim into the track to actually record my guitar parts, but I also want to be able to hear what the amp/fx sounds like "as I'm recording it". Similar to above, but while the above scenario is just for testing/practicing purposes, I'd like to be able to record some guitar tracks in the near future.

I won't have the guitar until tomorrow so I can't test that signal routing until then, but just thinking ahead. If I can use it that way for now just for practicing that would suffice until I can get a real amp.  Any suggestions on the best/easiest way to do this would be appreciated, thanks!! 

Best regards,

MM
post edited by Musikman - 2011/09/23 14:27:30
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10 Replies Related Threads

    Chappel
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    Re:New Guitar/no amp yet - Need suggestions on monitoring 2011/09/23 14:43:02 (permalink)
    You can hear the guitar sim sound when recording by enabling input echo on the track. You will hear a delay between the direct guitar sound and the guitar sim sound. This can be minimized by adjusting certain settings... mostly the buffer size. For more detailed advice we need to know more about your computer and the audio interface you are using. And what software version are you using? If you would post screencaps, or links to the screencaps online, of all the tabs in your audio options that will save a lot of time.
    #2
    IK Obi
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    Re:New Guitar/no amp yet - Need suggestions on monitoring 2011/09/23 15:22:00 (permalink)
    Yup, you can definitely do that. The only problem is latency so make sure it is at a comfortable setting for you to play and hear no delay. IME anything less than 10 MS and your okay. You can also try out AmpliTube 3 FREE which is another great guitar amp sim that we make. It comes with 24 gear models for free and the Custom Shop that will let you choose from tons of other amps, cabs, pedals and FX.
    #3
    Musikman
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    Re:New Guitar/no amp yet - Need suggestions on monitoring 2011/09/23 18:37:57 (permalink)
    Hey guys, thanks for the suggestions. Below are links to screengrabs of my audio options, if you need anything further let me know.  I did edit my signature to include my pc's specs. As you can see, I sorely need a PC upgrade! :-( 

    Audio Settings 1
    Audio Settings 2
    Audio Settings 3

    When I try a lower buffer setting I usually get distortion pretty bad. I ran through all the latency and driver settings when I upgraded to Sonar Producer 8.5.3 several months ago, and 512 seemed to be the sweet spot so I left it there and have had no issues. Just over 10MS Obi, hopefully I won't have much of a delay....I'll know if I'm hearing one guitar or two, lol.

    Chappel, I've heard some cautions about using Input Echo. I thought I read something about being careful not to create a feedback loop, or maybe that was Input Monitoring, I don't really remember at the moment. It was quite awhile ago when I read it. 
     


    post edited by Musikman - 2011/09/24 10:00:51

    Sonar Platinum, Win10 Pro 64bit, AMD FX 6300 6 Core, 8GB RAM, AMD Radeon R9-380
    #4
    IK Obi
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    Re:New Guitar/no amp yet - Need suggestions on monitoring 2011/09/25 13:24:04 (permalink)
    Good, I've even been at 11-12 and been borderline. Just depends on your set up and playing.
    #5
    Chappel
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    Re:New Guitar/no amp yet - Need suggestions on monitoring 2011/09/25 13:55:37 (permalink)
    Musikman


    Chappel, I've heard some cautions about using Input Echo. I thought I read something about being careful not to create a feedback loop, or maybe that was Input Monitoring, I don't really remember at the moment. It was quite awhile ago when I read it. 


    Feedback might be a problem if you are listening to your speakers as you record. Input Echo will send out the audio of the track you are recording on and if that goes out your speakers loud enough to get picked up by a microphone feedback could occur. Not sure how much feedback danger there is using an electric guitar. I've never had a problem but that may not mean anything. If you listen on headphones, not speakers, feedback won't be a problem.


    Input monitoring sends whatever comes into the input of your audio interface back out through its outputs, including headphone. So Input Echo lets you hear your guitar after it is processed by the computer. Input Monitoring lets you hear your guitar before it is processed by the computer.
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    IK Obi
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    Re:New Guitar/no amp yet - Need suggestions on monitoring 2011/09/25 15:40:41 (permalink)
    Also if your using AmpliTube 3 FREE be sure to download Jimi Hendrix’s Dual Showman Modeled Amp Free with AmpliTube Custom Shop.
    #7
    Chappel
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    Re:New Guitar/no amp yet - Need suggestions on monitoring 2011/09/25 17:30:54 (permalink)
    I hope he has better luck with Amplitube 3 free than I did. Trying to use the VST crashes my Sonar every time.
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    IK Obi
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    Re:New Guitar/no amp yet - Need suggestions on monitoring 2011/09/25 20:00:20 (permalink)
    Did you have the latest 3.6 we just released? Should have fixed that problem.
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    Chappel
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    Re:New Guitar/no amp yet - Need suggestions on monitoring 2011/09/25 20:30:35 (permalink)
    IK Obi


    Did you have the latest 3.6 we just released? Should have fixed that problem.

    I downloaded it today. Installed the standalone and vst. Ran the authorization manager. The stand alone works fine and sounds great. Best sounding guitar sim for what I use it for. But when I put it in a track FX bin I get this message 




    When I click OK I get this message





    And when I click Close Program, Sonar crashes and I have to reboot before I can use it again. I don't want to hijack the thread but I thought I'd mention this because others might have the same problem I did.
    #10
    IK Obi
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    Re:New Guitar/no amp yet - Need suggestions on monitoring 2011/09/27 13:53:01 (permalink)
    Wow that is weird. If you would please submit this to our support so we can figure out what is the cause and get it fixed for you?
    #11
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