SUPER budget recording(free)

Get that song on tape! Errr... disk?
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FightingPlankton
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SUPER budget recording(free)

Post by FightingPlankton » Thu Oct 26, 2017 10:11 am

So, i was given a copy of Rocksmith for PS3 by my brother...tried playing it for a day and got bored.
its been sitting in a drawer until today. On a whim i decided to see what would happen if i plugged in the special cable with the guitar to my PC...turns out, your computer will install the drivers and you can use it just like those cheapo interface cables.
I downloaded audacity and sure enough...it records. problem is...latency. there is noticeable delay between when you strum and playback...Im sure better players would be able to work around this, but im not one of them.
What is acoustic? Oh, you means a grandpa's guitars? A grandpa's guitars? That's for pussies and grandpas. I think you know it.

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Embenny
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Re: SUPER budget recording(free)

Post by Embenny » Fri Oct 27, 2017 8:02 am

I don't use Audacity, but somewhere in the audio hardware configuration or input menu, you'll find a "buffer" setting. It is typically expressed as a number of samples (e.g. 512, 256, 128, 64, etc), though it often will be expressed in milliseconds somewhere on the screen as well.

Decreasing the size of the buffer will decrease latency. There will be a minimum setting at which your hardware will start producing audio glitches. Depending on your sound card and the drivers of your input interface, you may be able to get the latency down to something usable.

And no, playing with massive latency is not something "good" players can do. It's a very un-musical phenomenon and should be minimized as far as is possible for any player.

Hope that helps!
The artist formerly known as mbene085.

Harmoncj
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Re: SUPER budget recording(free)

Post by Harmoncj » Fri Oct 27, 2017 10:25 am

AFAIK, you don't ever get latency free recording ever anywhere, even with tape. you're supposed to monitor the live signal.

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FightingPlankton
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Re: SUPER budget recording(free)

Post by FightingPlankton » Fri Oct 27, 2017 10:49 am

well, even when im not recording, there is a delay between the guitar signal and playback from speakers. not planning on using it to record anything, just, if i have an idea for a song, i can plug in my acoustic and record it so i dont forget how to play it in the future.
What is acoustic? Oh, you means a grandpa's guitars? A grandpa's guitars? That's for pussies and grandpas. I think you know it.

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Grey
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Re: SUPER budget recording(free)

Post by Grey » Tue Oct 31, 2017 5:55 pm

Right, he's saying if you were running your guitar direct into an interface you would typically monitor the signal at the interface and not once it's gone through the computer.

If you need to hear the processed instrument track "live" there are ways to reduce latency down to imperceptible levels with the right hardware and the right software configuration. Usually if i'm recording direct I monitor the clean signal at the interface with a pair of headphones, but it depends on what I want to do with the track after it's recorded. If the end result is going to be heavily distorted then i'll usually mic up the cab instead.

Here's a good article on latency. https://www.soundonsound.com/techniques ... -interface

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