Electric guitar connectivity to PC

@rgbrock1 6016 wrote:

Hi.

Forgive me for asking a question which could be construed as having an obvious answer but
I’ll ask anyway!

How does one connect an electric guitar to a PC? USB? In other words, what are the choices in interfaces between the two?

Thanks much in advance.

Richard

Hey Richard (rgbrock1) , 🙂

That’s NOT a stupid question at all! I just asked Sean some related questions like that a few weeks back! There are several options (as I think you’ll discover,) and some of those options will be determined by your budget, whether you want the analog-to-digital conversion (via USB for example) to to be a part of a signal processiong unit that creates preamp sounds/models and/or effects, OR if you’re just trying to convert your 1/4″ (analog) guitar signal to digital (say USB for example)and THEN get your guitar sounds from inside your PC (assuming you have such software?) Examples of hardware devices that act as analog-to-digital coverters AND generate various desireable guitar sounds would be Line-6’s GuitarPort (I think they still make this??? – ASK SEAN!!!) or on the more expensive and more elaborate side of things, there are products like Native Instruments Kontrol Edition (Guitar Rig 3), or IK Multimedia’s Stomp I/O (Amplitube.) I’m sure there are lots of other products at various price-points, but these are the ones I’ve had MY eyes on!!! From what I’ve heard, Line 6 has a lot of user-friendly products that fulfill this basic need. I believe Sean Conklin (IG Instructor) uses Line 6 GuitarPort, and I think that several IG members and (virtuoso) IG Instructor Rick Graham use Line 6’s POD-XT Pro. Oh yeah, resident IG-“Jazz-Dude”-Instructor Mike Edwin also uses some Line 6 stuff (I think) too! All of these Line 6 users seem to get excellent results (IMO!) 😎

Best of luck, and feel free to post your discoveries, opinions, and comparisons as you see them. 😉

P.S.: I’m SICK of shoveling SNOW here in the Northeast (Massachusetts) of U.S.A.!!! 😡

~Bill Meehan~ 😀

I love the snow. 😀 I don’t mind it at all. Although I’d imagine it’s much more severe where you guys are located in the east. Hope it doesn’t get too deep for you guys!

Richard, there are a couple ways to connect your guitar to a PC. USB and your Line-IN input (if you have one) are both pretty common ways. The key is to figure out the best device to actually connect your guitar to those inputs, such as a Guitar Port, a mixer of some sort, or like Bill mentioned the Guitar Rig 3.

Usually the stuff that connects to your USB acts as a sound card too, which is excellent. You can record directly to your PC with flawless sound and mixing. If you’re looking to get recording on your PC, I’d highly recommend a Line 6 Guitar Port. It’s super cheap, and let’s you get recording in seconds. I have an old version of it, but I’m pretty sure the new version comes with full recording capability and even drum programming.

Good luck with your search!
Sean