Recording Guitar in Ableton

Lowfront · Post by **Lowfront** » Fri Jan 18, 2008 9:49 am

Wondering how I would go about recording guitar in ableton.

I have a sound blaster audigy 2 ZS platinum card.

I can get the guitar onto the speakers and such by plugining it into the in jack on the sound card, but can't seem to get it to record or anything in ableton.

thanks!

Seyser Koze · Post by **Seyser Koze** » Fri Jan 18, 2008 12:19 pm

You need to read the Ableton manual...it comes with it.

leedsquietman · Post by **leedsquietman** » Fri Jan 18, 2008 2:04 pm

The input on most soundcards is line in, this is the wrong kind of input for direct recording a guitar, use a mixer or a preamp into the line in or you will a) get very little sound coming in, b) get a nasty buzzing, c) blow your sound card and or motherboard.

Oh and rtfm - pages Ch 2.2 Setting Up Preferences, Chapter 12 Routing and IO and Chapter 14 Recording new clips are your friends here.

Lowfront · Post by **Lowfront** » Sat Jan 19, 2008 8:41 am

I'm still lost read through everything

So there is no way to do it unless I buy some external mixer? I don't see how this would make a diffrence in ableton itself.

Seyser Koze · Post by **Seyser Koze** » Sat Jan 19, 2008 9:31 am

Not a mixer, a decent external soundcard with pre-amps on board.

you can go straight in via your onboard soundcard of course, but you'll find the results disappointing.

Applying the SISO rule, you need a decent soundcard designed for musicla instrument input to computers in order to hear decent results.

m.Lo · Post by **m.Lo** » Sat Jan 19, 2008 4:15 pm

[quote="leedsquietman"]The input on most soundcards is line in, this is the wrong kind of input for direct recording a guitar, use a mixer or a preamp into the line in or you will a) get very little sound coming in, b) get a nasty buzzing, c) blow your sound card and or motherboard.

You can´t damage your computer when you put your guitar to the line in, but it sounds not so good as taking a DI-Box ( Behringer. 30 Euro ) or a stomp box like compressor. Most guitarrists have such.

Timur · Post by **Timur** » Sat Jan 19, 2008 4:50 pm

You either need to use a DI-Box (or a good stomp box/effect) or use an audio-interface with HI-Z/High Impedance inputs when recording a guitar directly. Line-Ins come with an impedance of only upto a few dozend kOhm, Guitars need an input impedance of several hundred kOhm, preferable something around 1 MOhm. My Hughes&Ketter Amp come with 1 MOhm inputs, GuitarRig's RigKontrol comes with 1 MOhm, Presonus audio-interfaces come with 1 MOhm. RME audio-interface only come with 470 kOhm and some DI-Boxes come with such a low value as well, but for most applications that seems to be suffient and still much better than just 10 kOhm on the Line-In.

You can connect a guitar to a low-impedance input, it wont break anything. But the sound is like going to become dull as high frequencies get cut off by the small impedance difference between the guitar-output and the line-input.

Lowfront · Post by **Lowfront** » Sat Jan 19, 2008 5:54 pm

well regardless of quality of the recording

how in ableton do you get a recording from the guitar???

Seyser Koze · Post by **Seyser Koze** » Sat Jan 19, 2008 5:58 pm

Have you read the manual yet???

You need the section on audio preferences to learn how to select your external soundcard as your input source for starters.

Tone Deft · Post by **Tone Deft** » Sat Jan 19, 2008 6:03 pm

Timur wrote:You either need to use a DI-Box (or a good stomp box/effect) or use an audio-interface with HI-Z/High Impedance inputs when recording a guitar directly. Line-Ins come with an impedance of only upto a few dozend kOhm, Guitars need an input impedance of several hundred kOhm, preferable something around 1 MOhm. My Hughes&Ketter Amp come with 1 MOhm inputs, GuitarRig's RigKontrol comes with 1 MOhm, Presonus audio-interfaces come with 1 MOhm. RME audio-interface only come with 470 kOhm and some DI-Boxes come with such a low value as well, but for most applications that seems to be suffient and still much better than just 10 kOhm on the Line-In.

You can connect a guitar to a low-impedance input, it wont break anything. But the sound is like going to become dull as high frequencies get cut off by the small impedance difference between the guitar-output and the line-input.

omfg you're really pulling it out of your ass now.

sorry Timur I dig your posts and your sense of humor but don't make shit up, please. a 'Hi Z' impedance is all he needs to look for, don't go making people look for specs to read the impedance of devices. wtf man???

this is not an afront on you, I just hate it when people post BULLSHIT, there's no need for it.

Seyser Koze · Post by **Seyser Koze** » Sat Jan 19, 2008 6:07 pm

Conversely, i always enjoy it...

but it should be labelled clearly as bullshit. Agreed.

Tone Deft · Post by **Tone Deft** » Sat Jan 19, 2008 7:47 pm

Seyser Koze wrote:Conversely, i always enjoy it...

but it should be labelled clearly as bullshit. Agreed.

there's no reason for bullshitting on a worldwide forum, there are people who know all kinds of stuff on here.

in that vein:

leedsquietman wrote:The input on most soundcards is line in, this is the wrong kind of input for direct recording a guitar, use a mixer or a preamp into the line in or you will a) get very little sound coming in, b) get a nasty buzzing, c) blow your sound card and or motherboard.

Oh and rtfm - pages Ch 2.2 Setting Up Preferences, Chapter 12 Routing and IO and Chapter 14 Recording new clips are your friends here.

there's absolutely no risk of blowing up your soundcard or motherboard from the wrong kind of input.

but the second part of your advice is good. but leeds - I dig you know your guitar shit really well.

anyway...

xrayfish · Post by **xrayfish** » Sat Jan 19, 2008 7:54 pm

Since when was knowing a bit about physics 'bullshit'?

You bunch of fucking ignoramusues, go back to your crystals and astrology...

Tone Deft · Post by **Tone Deft** » Sat Jan 19, 2008 8:02 pm

xrayfish wrote:Since when was knowing a bit about physics 'bullshit'?

You bunch of fucking ignoramusues, go back to your crystals and astrology...

I know my physics, I know electronics much better.

what do you know that says I was wrong? nice post anyway, hate and run but don't say anything relevant.

jackass, you're all talk.

xrayfish · Post by **xrayfish** » Sat Jan 19, 2008 8:10 pm

OK maybe that was a bit strong, but I dunno...

The guy is simply trying to explain why 'HI-Z' is required.

I don't doubt your credentials but I spent a whole year listening to an appalling treble-boost/excessive volume DIY stereo before I discovered I needed a 1 meg resistor in front of my crystal pickup.

I have suffered

I truly feel for the guy

impedance is important