Can't hear effects while recording or playback

Special Interest Groups Audio Processing
1

I am using an M-Audio Fast-Track USB interface to run my guitar into Audacity 1.3.9. The interface came with a guitar effects processing program called “DSound GT Player” which I updated to “InTone Guitar Express,” the current version. I added the effects into the “VST Plugins” folder of Audacity, downloaded the “VST Bridge,” re-started, etc.
I can hear the guitar effects through the headphones when I’m plugged into the M-Audio Interface, but when I record on Audacity, all I seem to be recording is the unprocessed signal. That’s all I hear when I playback, also. What I’m trying to figure out is how to record the sounds I’m hearing, not add effects after the fact.
I did my best to see if this question was answered previously on the forum, but I couldn’t seem to find anything. One user asked about a similar problem, and the answer was to "set the recording source to “stereo” or “what you hear,” but I’m not sure exactly where/how to do this, or if that’s even what’s needed.
Thanks for any assistance.

2

To add to my previous post:
I understand that in digital recording it is normal to “record” a dry signal in order to preserve flexibility to add processing later. I’m trying to figure out two things, I guess.

  1. Can I hear the “wet,” processed signal while I record the track? How?
  2. After I record the track, how do I add the effects? I don’t see the inTone guitar VST stuff as a choice under my “effects” menu, although I’ve added the plugins to the Audacity folder.
    Thanks again.
3

On Windows - probably not. Audacity does not do real time processing.

You may need to use a different program for doing your recording (Cubase LE? ProTools ? What software was bundled with your sound card?)
You can still use Audacity for editing and mixing, by exporting the recorded tracks from the other program as WAV files, then importing them into Audacity.

4

Aha, now I think I get it.
The interface came with a demo CD for LiveLite 6, but it costs a couple hundred to upgrade to the full version … same thing with Cubase LE and ProTools. Are you aware of anything free (or cheap) like Audacity that can handle this?
Maybe I’m just spoiled and should shell out some bucks …
Thanks again

5

I think that you will find that the Cubase LE version will work for recording, I believe that it just has less features than the full version.