Ok, I got it working. No, no built-in drivers.

And yeah, I plugged the speakers into the M-Audio, and everything is almost doing what its supposed to do. But ... the sound coming from the M-Audio is doing something off-kilter. My Realtek onboard sound card sounds WAY better, which it should'nt, and the subwoofer goes in and out as I turn the volume up and down on both the speakers and the M-Audio. The M-Audio soundcard also works intermittently.

Guitar Rig 2 sounds like shit ( The program seems to be CHOCK full of bugs ) and its at an extremely low volume compared to music, say, on Winamp. Guitar Rig 2's clipping point is probably on the same volume level with Winamp's settings at 10% volume. I've disabled the onboard sound and set Windows to handle background processes ( like ASIO ) better. Amplitube is doing something really weird : The sound on the metronome works, you can hear the hiss of the high-gain amp models, but its showing no input levels at all when I strum the guitar.

I'm at the "I JUST WANT IT TO WORK! PLEASE JUST FUCKING WORK!!! WAHHHHH!!!!" stage now. I'm very close to backing up all my music, accepting defeat and reformatting to 32-bit Windows and just use the Guitarport because it actually fucking works ( which makes me very angry since ... well, you know. ) Any suggestions?

Try asking M-audio, i hear they're good with customers.

Also, maybe you have one of those cheap firewire interfaces? Like the cheapest there was at newegg?

__________________

Um ... yes. The one Soeru recommended actually, it costed 12 whopping smackers. I spoke with M-Audio today on the phone, and he did get everything configured so that the M-Audio was my soundcard ( So yes, their customer service is actually superb ). When I told him how much I paid for the firewire bus card, he suggested that I get a Texas Instruments one, and those range from 60-100$, undoubtedly its better quality.

That's the only thing I can see wrong with my setup hardware wise, at this point. If the Firewire Solo genuinely sounds worse than the onboard soundcard within a 60$ AM2 motherboard then no one would buy it. Think I should get a texas instrument card?

As far as soundcards go, check out newegg and their customer product reviews. I bought a really nice sound card off of there for like $20 bucks, and it worked like a charm. 7.1 surround sound, (although all I ever ran through it was 2.1, but still), and it presumably had the same chip that is used in a lot of higher end cards. Did a lot of recording using it, and it always worked like a charm, no problems ever whatsoever. As for Amplitube, I downloaded that program once, and it annoyed the hell out of me, so I got rid of it. Maybe nowadays it's better, but back then it sucked.

Actually, I just realized you're talking about a FireWire card. Don't know much about those, but still the same rule applies. Go to newegg and check out the reviews. Also, look up some audiophile type boards and ask some questions around there. Might be more people there that can help you out than here.

__________________

I think this goes to show what a minefield computers are. I'm running a 3 year old PC with Intel Celeron and a cheap non-TI Firewire PCI card and my recordings are great so far. Running up to 12 tracks on Cubase with effects and the sound quality is great. I was expecting a bigger fight to get a good sound, considering how much crap computers usually put you through

__________________

Hilariously enough ...


I just reformatted to 32-bit Windows, am using Guitarport, and with great results because now my computer will do 24-bit/48khz direct in recording instead of the 16-bit/44khz of before, that and its just a better onboard sound card. I'm really cooking with grease now.

Glad to hear it's working out for you man. Like I said, check out Newegg, the card I got from them was a Chaintech, and it cost me like $20 bucks. Don't know if they still carry it, cause this was a couple of years ago. It will give you great results and zero latency.

I guess the 64-bit Windows wasn't working properly. In order for your applications to work with a 64-bit operating system, they need to be applications which are optimized for such a OS and CPU. If they are not, that's where you run into a brick wall. Computers are like jigsaw puzzles. If one little piece doesn't fit quite right, it can throw the whole thing off.

__________________

I'm looking for a simple setup to record on my pc. I've had good experiences with USB recording interfaces but the one I've been borrowing from someone for like two years is finally being asked to be returned . So my question is does anyone have experience with the line 6 toneport UX1? It seems similar to what I was already using, except maybe a bit cheaper in quality (and price). All I really need is something that records clean, I usually only do editing post, and I would pair it with a decent mic like a shure pg57 or something, as I prefer miced guitars to direct line in. Thoughts?

Oh and anyone know the cheapest place to get this stuff?

__________________

What's your price range?

__________________

I can't even hardly afford the ~150$ price tag of getting the mic and toneport. That's about my limit... haha

__________________

No thoughts? Suggestions? Anything?

__________________

I was at a local music shop because i was getting a new effect pedal and I was wondering what I needed to record from my mixer to comp but I thought the guy wasn't being honest with me because he said I needed some this fancy ass program/hardware(showed me a 499 one and said it was the "cheapest") can anyone clear things up for me?what the hell I need I fall victim to false sale pitches alot please help.

Save up. You can't get anything decent for that cheap and you don't want to buy it, then want to get serious about recording, and have to buy a new setup again.

You can get a pretty decent interface for $250 - $300 and a good mic for $80 bucks used. Check out the Presonus Firebox.

__________________

Basically I only need something that will record some decent sounding rough drafts after we write at band practice and other little stupid shit I decide to record for fun. I looked at the Presonus Firebox, and it looks great, except they only connect through Firewire, and I only have USB. Is there another one you can recommend? I might actually be able to afford something around that price as I made a little extra money recently.

__________________

I didn't have a firewire interface on my computer either, but I bought one for like $30. Even cheaper, I believe, you can just buy a USB adapter.

__________________

Looking for something with direct-in for bass. Really don't know anything about bass gear but I'm looking for something a little more versatile in tones/maybe some effects. I know the new pod has guitar and bass. Haven't worked out a price range yet either so all suggestions are welcome.

Didn't read the entire topic here, but I'm thinking of buying a Line6 Toneport (UX1), especially to record my cab with a mic.
Are there better alternatives in the same price range? Just asking because I know very little about this sort of thing. Thanks.

__________________