Korgscrew
Group: Super Admins
Posts: 3511
Joined: Dec. 1999 |
 |
Posted: Oct. 19 2003, 11:48 |
 |
It should be as simple as plugging the guitar via the line-in of your soundcard (but using something to match the impedance of the guitar's output to the line input - a DI box will do that, as will multi effects devices like the Zoom 505II mentioned previously). The rest is down to how your VST host works, but you ought to be able to route the signal through it somehow (and if not, you should be able to find a VST shell program which will let you run amplitube like a stand-alone program, and will hopefully let you route signals from the soundcard through it).
If you find the software route isn't for you, I'd actually suggest having a look at the Behringer V-Amp, which costs roughly twice as much as the Zoom 505II, but provides a large number of amplifier and speaker simulations, which would let your practise through any hi-fi amp/headphones/computer speakers, as well as allowing you to record the guitar direct, without having to suffer the horrid weedy sounds which you might otherwise get by plugging a guitar direct like that. You could also try the Line 6 Guitar Port, which needs a computer in order to work (the V-Amp will work on its own), but comes with teaching software as well, which you might find useful. There are also others, like the Line 6 Pod and Pod XT, but they're more expensive. I wouldn't pretend for a minute that such devices are perfect (some people would), and I'd still use a miked up amp for a lot of things (for me, nothing can beat the interaction between the guitar and amp when it's turned up to the point of feedback...but not everyone can get away with doing that, of course...), but I think these amp simulators are great practise tools, and they can give good sounds for recording as well, when used with care. They all come with a selection of effects as well as the amp simulations, so there's plenty to play around with.
It's quite good to have a little amp around though, they can be useful for all sorts of things (if you get one of those really tiny battery powered amps, you can run vocals through it to get a kind of telephone effect, and you can also drive them really hard with an external distortion pedal to get a sound a bit like Brian May's 'Deacy' amp - they're very fun, and not at all expensive, though I'd imagine you'll want something larger as well, or maybe you could use one alongside an amp simulator, or the amplitube amp sim software, so you have the little amp for those impromptu moments when you don't want to be plugging lots of equipment in, and the simulator for getting more serious sounds when you've got more time).
There are really lots of options, so there's plenty of opportunity to find the solution which is best for the way you want to play/work...and when it all gets too much, you'll realise why some people stick to playing acoustic guitars 
|
