how do I use them?
May be a dumb question, but I’ve downloaded SEVERAL amp modelers… and I’ve no clue how to use them. I want the pre-recorded signal to be effected. Sort of like having my PC act as an amliifier. But I’d like to tweak the sound BEFORE it’s recorded.
I’ve downloaded the Steinberg modelers and I can’t figure out how to open them as they are VST plugins. I can’t put an effect on a track unless there’s a track to be effected, but I want to use the modeler BEFORE I create the track… Is this possible?
Let’s assume you are referring to a guitar (although this would work for any instrument). Do you mean you would like to play the guitar while monitoring the modeled amplifier tone? This is possible although there will always be some latency between what you play and what you hear. You will also be able to record as well.
Step 1: You need to first create a blank audio track (“Track” => “Insert blank track” => “Audio”).
Step 2: Open up the new track’s properties and set it to “Record from:” your soundcard.
Step 3: Click the hammer icon on the input VU meter and set it to "Enable Live input processing . . ."
Step 4: Put the guitar amp modeler VST in the effects of the track.
Step 5: Hit the “Live” button.
Strum the guitar and you should hear it through the modeler. (If you hit record it will record the dry guitar tone before the effects but that’s OK. You’ll still be hearing the effects as you monitor. You can always render it to a new track after the fact.)
Also, some VST’s are picky about having a mono or a stereo input. Post here if you have trouble with that.
About the latency: with a good soundcard running ASIO or WDM drivers and a reasonably fast processor and hard drive you can get the latency down below 10 ms which is roughly when it becomes useable. Ideally you’d want it below 5 ms.
Let me know if it works for you,
mrtoad
Oh, I forgot. I assume you want to plug your guitar directly into your soundcard. You’ll need some way of matching the impedance. Some soundcards (USB interfaces in particular) actually accept “guitar” inputs directly but most will require a “line” input. You’ll need a direct box or mixer or some type of preamp to do this for you. See here or here.
Just a few wee thoughts though Modulus, as Mr Toad said, you have to be aware of latency. And that means that there will be a slight delay between playing and hearing. With a very fast PC it’s usually not a problem, but otherwise, it can be.
And the other thing, if you must record dirty, I’d suggest that you also record clean at the same time, it leaves your options open that way.
For example, I use NI guitar Rig, and I monitor dirty, but record clean. Then afterwards, I use Guitar rig on the clean recorded track, and I can then have; country Tele; Hendrix Strat, Death Metal, whatever takes my fancy.
Ali
Well, about the line-in… I get NO signal plugged into the Line in jack. I only get a signal in the mic input… Not sure why…
It’s a SB Audigy card. I know, not the best for this… but I got to use what I have…
From far left it’s BLACK INPUT (?), GREEN INPUT (this is the speaker out), PINK INPUT (This is mic), BLUE INPUT (?), ORANGE INPUT (?)
I’ve tried them all… the only one I get signal on is Mic…
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| Well, about the line-in… I get NO signal plugged into the Line in jack. I only get a signal in the mic input… Not sure why… |
You may have to select the line-in in the soundcards mixer, recording settings. It’s probably set to mic. Many (most) soundcards will let only one be selected at a time – can’t record from the mic and line-in at the same time – Audigy be one of those.
I can put up screen shots of what you need to select if you can wait until Monday. There’s an Audigy in my machine at work.
That’s the problem. Under “recording” there is no selectable "line-in"
It’s just…
absent… lol
Midi synth - Analog Mix - CD Digital - “What you hear” - Microphone - Wave/MP3
thats it… nothing more.
You may already have done this but anyway if not try this…
Pull up the soundcard’s mixer (double click the speaker icon)
Options–> Properties
Click the Radio Button that says "Recording"
In the box below, tick everything. These are the possible recording sources. There should be a “line-in” in there somewhere. Then when you click OK you should get a mixer control (slider etc) for line-in too. I’ve seen some soundcards that get the labels wrong too so a bit of experimentation may be needed.
You’re also going to want to get your head around the playback mixer because if you are monitoring the effected sound via “live”, you don’t want to hear the clean signal via the mixer.
HTH
Analogue mix is what you want. The audigy is funny that way unless you’ve got the platinum pro.
Anyway, one of the sockets is line in, don’t ask me which one, I’m buggered if I’m dismantling the set-up just to have a look! lol
check the help file, it tells you which is which on there.
And you can’t just go straight from guitar to line-in, you need a pre-amp or a stomp box or summat in between
Ali
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| And the other thing, if you must record dirty, I’d suggest that you also record clean at the same time, it leaves your options open that way. |
If you record in Live mode through a vst on a track you’re recording to, N will always record it uneffected.
| Quote (phoo @ Aug. 27 2005,22:56) |
| Well, about the line-in.. I get NO signal plugged into the Line in jack. I only get a signal in the mic input.. Not sure why.. |
You may have to select the line-in in the soundcards mixer, recording settings. It's probably set to mic. Many (most) soundcards will let only one be selected at a time -- can't record from the mic and line-in at the same time -- Audigy be one of those.
I can put up screen shots of what you need to select if you can wait until Monday. There's an Audigy in my machine at work.
Yeah, there is no "line-in" to check... what I listed is all that's there.. that's the problem.. hehe
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| Yeah, there is no “line-in” to check… what I listed is all that’s there… that’s the problem… hehe |
If you’ve done as I suggested above and “ticked” all teh recording sources in the mixer, the next stage os to gro through each one, one at a time and see if it is labelled differently or wrong. Ali seems to think it may be labelled “Analogue mix”.
Alternatively, list the ones you have got and someone may recognise something.
EDIT: Oh I see that you did…
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| Midi synth - Analog Mix - CD Digital - “What you hear” - Microphone - Wave/MP3 |
Are you sure you’ve got all the sources visible in the mixer? My humble Live! card has more input sources than that.
Those are output devices. You need to be looking at the recording devices.
There is an option in the mixer that adds or subtracts the devices listed in the mixer. An Audgy has a line-in. If it’s not showing up in the mixer under the recording settings then it’s not checked to show up.
Are you using SndVol32 or the mixer Creative installs?
As I said. EVERYTHING is checked… I cannot post pics of it… but it’s all checked and what I posted earlier is all thats there. I have no “Line-in” option, as someone said earlier, it may be called by another name, I’ll check that tomorrow…
I know it’s odd… but it is true…
| Quote (phoo @ Aug. 28 2005,12:52) |
| Those are output devices. You need to be looking at the recording devices. There is an option in the mixer that adds or subtracts the devices listed in the mixer. An Audgy has a line-in. If it's not showing up in the mixer under the recording settings then it's not checked to show up. Are you using SndVol32 or the mixer Creative installs? |
I don't know what those are.. If you mean drivers, it's SB Audigy Audio [B800].
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| That’s the problem. Under “recording” there is no selectable "line-in" It’s just… absent… lol Midi synth - Analog Mix - CD Digital - “What you hear” - Microphone - Wave/MP3 thats it… nothing more. |
The devices listed in this quote (Midi synth - Analog Mix - CD Digital - “What you hear” - Microphone - Wave/MP3) are all output playback devices. If that’s what you see when you are looking for line-in then you aren’t looking at the input recording devices.
I’ll get screen shots of my (very crappy and never used) C-Media that on the motherboard of my home machine. They aren’t quite the same as the Audigy but they are close.
BRB…
Back…
Control Panel
Sounds and Audio Device
Volume (tab)
Advanced… (button - pops open the Volume Control)
Options / Properties (menu)
Adjust volume for (click the Recording radio button - it will default to Playback)
Under Show the following volume controls make sure Line In is checked
Click OK - The Properties will close and the Recording Control will open
showing whatever devices were selected
(somtimes there will be inouts listed there as well
this lets you pass audio directly from the input
to the output for monitoring - not all cards do that)
The devices will change from Playback (output) to Recording (input) 
Click the Line In Select check mark
Selecting Line In with deselect any other device that is checked
On my machine if I were to choose C-Media for the input device in n-Tracks I will now get the audio from the Line In instead of the Wave output, which is the same as What You Hear on a Creative card.
Ok, I said it in my last post, but I’ll say it again.
Many Audigy’s, including the Audigy2 ZS, do not have a selectable Line-in, all they offer is analogue mix which, surprisingly enough, 
is a mix of all the analogue sources. Why do they do it like that? Bugger knows, but I suspect it’s to make you buy the Platinum Pro.
But, that can be frigged by shorting pins 25 to 35 on the aux connector which fools the card into thinking it is a platinum pro, or use KX drivers or summat. The hardware is there, it’s just Creative being assholes.
But, if you don’t have a platinum, and you do have a later Audigy, then you can hunt till the cows come home, but you won’t find a Line-in fader, not with Creative drivers anyway.
Visit the Audigy forum on DriverHeaven.com for more info.
Anyway Mod, what is your hardware setup? Are you just trying to plug the geetar straight into your soundcard? Or are you going through a very necessary impedance/level matching thingy?
Also, the line-in is stereo, unlike the mic-in which is mono, so hence different pin connections. So, your mini-jack is wired correctly one assumes? 
'Cos if you’re using a mono jack, with signal on tip, then you’ll only get one channel, and if that’s not the channel that the VST is using, you’re buggered!
And that’s an annoyance I have on Guitar Rig, it always defaults to the left channel as input, but my signal is wired on the right channel! 
Ali
haha, awesome post phoo. keep that one around 