Recording directly from Windows Media Player

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atticboy
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2012/11/01 17:37:18 (permalink)

Recording directly from Windows Media Player

Hi All
 
Looking to record directly from Windows Media Player to a GT track rather than import. Basically, I'm learning solos by slowing them down using media player and want to record myself playing these. At the moment I'm playing through a Line6 UX2 but can't get it to work. Anyone able to point me in the direction?
 
GEORGE
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    SteveStrummerUK
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    Re:Recording directly from Windows Media Player 2012/11/02 06:22:53 (permalink)
    Hi there George, and welcome to the forum.

    There is a way to record direct from the Media Player using your UX2 but it is rather cumbersome. Basically it involves a technique similar to what's called 're-amping'. You need to run a lead from either the Headphone Out jack socket or the Line Out jack on your UX2 back into one of the UX2's input jack sockets - you can use either the 'Normal' Instrument In, the XLR In (with the 48V phantom power turned off) or the Line In's on the back.

    The simplest of these methods is to use a ¼" guitar lead (or patch cable) and run it from the Headphone Out to the Instrument In. However, if you require a stereo signal you'll have to run a Y-Lead with a stereo plug at one end (for the UX2 headphone out) and two mono plugs at the other to run into the UX2's Line In sockets.
     
    You'll need to arm a track to record in Guitar Tracks, open up POD Farm (or GearBox, depending on which version of the Line 6 software you have) and bypass any effects. Now start recording in GT and then hit Play on Media Player.
     
    Aside from the overall fiddly nature of this method, the biggest pain is that you can only record from the Media Player in real time.
     
    However, you'll be glad to know that there is a much simpler method, and you only need Guitar Tracks to do it 
     
    First off, import the audio track into GT (File > Import Audio). I would split the track either side of the solo you want to learn and delete off the unwanted parts. You can then drag the solo to the start of your project for ease of use.
     
    To change the playback speed of the audio, you'll need to follow these easy steps:
    1. Right click on the audio wave form in GT Track View (also called Edit View in older versions) and select Groove-Clip Looping from the options. Alternatively, you can left click on the track to select it and use the keyboard shortcut: Ctrl+L
      Here's how it looks in Cakewalk SONAR, but the dialogue is similar in GT:

    2. Now change the tempo of the project. The factor by which you change the tempo will correspond to the 'speed' at which the audio will then play. For example, if the project tempo is 100bpm, changing it to 50bpm will effectively change the speed of playback to half that of the original; doubling it to 200bpm will double the speed, and so on.
    As you will hear, the results aren't wonderful, especially if you are changing the playback speed by a lot, but you should be able to follow a guitar solo easy enough. A bonus to using this method is that the process is non-destructive (i.e. the audio is not permanently altered in any way), so as you start to become more fluent playing the solo, you can gradually speed the song back up until eventually you're playing it in real time.
     
    Another great way of learning guitar solos is to find a MIDI version of the song online. These files, often labelled as Guitar Pro TAB files, often contain TAB transcriptions and MIDI representations of all parts of a song. There are thousands and thousands of these files availble online, most of them are free, but some you have to pay for.
     
    You'll need software to be able to open these files. I use Guitar Pro 6 (check it out HERE) which you have to purchase, but there is an excellent free program that works perfectly well called TuxGuitar - download if from HERE.
     
    The beauty of using this method is that you can solo any part of a Guitar Pro arrangement, slow it down without losing any quality, and you also see the tablature on the screen that is being played.
     
    Here's a screenshot of TuxGuitar with a free MIDI arrangement of Pink Floyd's Comfortably Numb loaded, you can see the TAB, the list of instruments transcribed in the arrangement, and I've even shown the Fretboard view at the bottom of the screen:
     

     
     
     
    Hope that helps George, just let me know if you need any more info on anything I've mentioned here.
     
     
    Steve
     
     
     

     Music:     The Coffee House BandVeRy MeTaL

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    atticboy
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    Re:Recording directly from Windows Media Player 2012/11/06 16:06:23 (permalink)
    Hi Steve
     
    Importing track and slowing down tempo does the trick. Not great sound-wise as you say but good enough. Thanks again.
     
    All the best - GEORGE
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    SteveStrummerUK
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    Re:Recording directly from Windows Media Player 2012/11/06 18:21:35 (permalink)

    Glad to help George!

     Music:     The Coffee House BandVeRy MeTaL

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