harleywilson
Rookie
Looking for the best way to connect my guitar to my Mac? Any hardware suggestions?
Guitar Players
- Thread starter harleywilson
- Start date
Power Player
Bionic Poster
If you want to do it right and not half-azz:
You need a 1 megaohm DI box. Countryman and EWI make these.
You need a quality preamp and A/D D/A converter. An example of that on a budget level would be a Presonus Firebox. Or you can buy a a preamp seperately from a D/A. I believe Apogee makes a very good one just for mac that is not super expensive. I would get that if at all possible.
If you have any software questions You need quality ampsims. The best are by Softube..by far. A lot of people will tell you to buy guitar rig..etc because they probably do not know the softube exists or know what great tone is. If you can not afford the softube, then I would get free ampsims because there are a lot out there that are just as good as the pay ones.
If you got all of these things, have a good guitar and are a great player then 98% of the people who hear your tracks will not know it is a sim.
You need a 1 megaohm DI box. Countryman and EWI make these.
You need a quality preamp and A/D D/A converter. An example of that on a budget level would be a Presonus Firebox. Or you can buy a a preamp seperately from a D/A. I believe Apogee makes a very good one just for mac that is not super expensive. I would get that if at all possible.
If you have any software questions You need quality ampsims. The best are by Softube..by far. A lot of people will tell you to buy guitar rig..etc because they probably do not know the softube exists or know what great tone is. If you can not afford the softube, then I would get free ampsims because there are a lot out there that are just as good as the pay ones.
If you got all of these things, have a good guitar and are a great player then 98% of the people who hear your tracks will not know it is a sim.
Brettolius
Professional
I second the Presonus Firebox, just picked one up about 2 weeks ago, it's working awesome! I'm using it with garageband, very simple, you have a few different amps to toy with as well as up to 6 stomp boxes at once as well. It's nice because you can easily put together a backing track and jam, and again, it's is very easy to use. Good luck!
Power Player
Bionic Poster
Yep. If you add the proper DI to your chain like I described and go into the mic inputs instead of the quarter inch instrument ins, you will notice an even more amazing tone.
aimr75
Hall of Fame
I use a Grace m101 preamp and Lynx2 soundcard
Can get pretty decent results without spending too much, here are some samples with that setup
http://www.jukeboxalive.com/aimr75
Can get pretty decent results without spending too much, here are some samples with that setup
http://www.jukeboxalive.com/aimr75
himynameisNIKE
Professional
stormholloway
Legend
I just bought the m-audio mobile pre. It's a cheaper option. My Edirol UA-5 broke.
The Firebox looks tempting.
The Firebox looks tempting.
Power Player
Bionic Poster
I will be honest, I produced a lot of tracks on the firebox. It is not bad. The conversion is not that great. For someone just wanting to jam on the computer and have a real tone that records well, the setup I gave is going to do that, and do a damn good job.
If you wanted to get a little more in depth and still save money, I would buy a seperate preamp...the Joe Meeks are real good for the price. Actually really, really good. Then I would buy an Echo Audiofire for your conversion.
The converters in the AudioFire are sick for the price. That is when you are still at home studio pricing, but will be able to make tracks that could be released depending on the genre of music you are making (and how good you are obviously).
OP, what sound do you want? There are a ton of ways to get sounds. Buying an 11 rack is going to set you back a lot and is not really needed. If you wanted vintage amps, then the softube stuff is amazing..but you have to use the right DI. I can't stress that enough.
If you wanted to get a little more in depth and still save money, I would buy a seperate preamp...the Joe Meeks are real good for the price. Actually really, really good. Then I would buy an Echo Audiofire for your conversion.
The converters in the AudioFire are sick for the price. That is when you are still at home studio pricing, but will be able to make tracks that could be released depending on the genre of music you are making (and how good you are obviously).
OP, what sound do you want? There are a ton of ways to get sounds. Buying an 11 rack is going to set you back a lot and is not really needed. If you wanted vintage amps, then the softube stuff is amazing..but you have to use the right DI. I can't stress that enough.
AmericanTemplar
Professional
If you want to do it on the cheap, I use a cable that plugs into your USB port like this: http://accessories.musiciansfriend.com/product/SoundTech-LightSnake-GuitarKeyboard-USB-10ft-Cable?sku=332600&src=3WFRWXX&ZYXSEM=0&CAWELAID=26022915 It works just fine for my needs.
Dilettante
Hall of Fame
vandre
Hall of Fame
i've been putting together a home studio wish list and one of the ppl helping me keeps talking about this and it looks and sounds amazing. the only reason i don't already have an eleven rack is that i dropped a ton of money on a used mesa a couple of years ago and it does everything i need right now. if i was a guy doing country, 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s,00s rock, commercials and movie scoring i'd have one. in fact, if my wife goes on a business trip, i cannot guarantee that one might not show up at my house even with my mesa!
features
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cA5aEWzggno&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPe_xt85Kd8
the podx3, is that the floorboard version? if so, how do you like it? i used line6 gear years ago but i quit using it live because i spent countless hours leveling patches so that clean ones were as loud as dirty ones and the next time i used it, the cleans were super quiet and the dirtys were super loud. does your x3 have that problem. we have inears at my church so i'd really like to ditch the amp and go the processor route, but i haven't found anything i'd leave my amp for yet (in a live setting).
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Dilettante
Hall of Fame
No, I have the "kidney" version as I use it only for home recording (so I can't really tell about the levels), but for that purpose it does have good sounds for a more or less reasonable price. For example (if you can hear beyond my crappy way of playing, this is a song inspired by my cat lol):
http://goear.com/listen/d850627/sleepy-molly-ej
That's a compressed archive that lost quality from the original recording, but the PodX3 really sounds like an amp and I was using the cheapest guitar on here. And the last PodX3 can be used with bass (I recorded the bass too with it) so that's another advantadge.
This another one was recorded before I got the PodX3 and you can tell the sound difference, this does not sound like an amp:
http://goear.com/listen/2242b6f/ramonet-ej
In a live setting though I'm an amp guy too, I don't really need effects so with the two channels I'm happy. It's not that I don't like effects (I sure do!), but I also like the idea of having to force my imagination to achieve variety in my arrangements without using pedals and stuff. Of course it depends of what kind of music do you play, but.
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Z-Man
Professional
+1 for Presonus firewire boxes. I have a Firepod, now known as the FP10. It works great. If you're just going to record one or two tracks at a time, you could get by with a cheaper 2-input box. Like with all things musical, it's better to buy right once than buy twice. (This is coming from a person with a closet full of useless crap.)
Re: Line 6, I have a POD X3 and an older POD xt. Both are great, and both have USB outs that you can plug directly into your computer. Just set the POD as the source in the software for the track you're recording. You could definitely get by with just a POD if you're only recording guitar, but eventually you'll want to do more and you'll wind up with something like a presonus firestudio or one of the M-Audio boxes. Don't get the X3 for the vocal features. That part of the device is very weak. I'd recommend the TC Helicon floor units for that kind of thing.
I stopped using the POD because it was sucking a little of my acoustic guitar's tone and it would not fit on the same board as my vocal pedals. Now I use stomp boxes and a Tech 21 Sans Amp when I play electric. If you want a modeler to use with pedals, the Sans Amp is awesome.
One last bit of advice: go to the Harmony Central chat boards and ask questions about anything before you buy it. There are loads of really experienced people there who will be glad to help you.
And now that I've given you a bunch of worthless advice, what kind of rig do you play through. Pedals? Modeler? Do you know about balanced cables, ground loops and all of that good stuff?
Re: Line 6, I have a POD X3 and an older POD xt. Both are great, and both have USB outs that you can plug directly into your computer. Just set the POD as the source in the software for the track you're recording. You could definitely get by with just a POD if you're only recording guitar, but eventually you'll want to do more and you'll wind up with something like a presonus firestudio or one of the M-Audio boxes. Don't get the X3 for the vocal features. That part of the device is very weak. I'd recommend the TC Helicon floor units for that kind of thing.
I stopped using the POD because it was sucking a little of my acoustic guitar's tone and it would not fit on the same board as my vocal pedals. Now I use stomp boxes and a Tech 21 Sans Amp when I play electric. If you want a modeler to use with pedals, the Sans Amp is awesome.
One last bit of advice: go to the Harmony Central chat boards and ask questions about anything before you buy it. There are loads of really experienced people there who will be glad to help you.
And now that I've given you a bunch of worthless advice, what kind of rig do you play through. Pedals? Modeler? Do you know about balanced cables, ground loops and all of that good stuff?
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