I need a lot of help. I will be coming here a lot to ask questions. I really would like my own personal guy to help me with all my questions now so I can just get to work. So maybe someone is willing to just be my goto guy whenever I need help on something. So I never have done this with posting questions or been on any forum online on the internet ever. I don’t want to get kicked off or anything but maybe we can exchange email addresses or phone numbers? I don’t know I have no idea. But for now lets just start with my first question: (sorry about the long intro)
Question : I have a Toshiba lap top with Windows 8. I have downloaded AUDACITY and I have a Peavey X-Port USB Interface and I am using the guitar effects ‘ReValver’. So… everything is installed correctly and I have opened it and played around with it a little. So 1st question,
When I record, I can hear what my guitar is playing through my headphones BUT when I play the track back it only recorded the guitar WITHOUT the distortion. So on playback it is just the bare guitar with NO distortion. I want to tell you though I want a solution where I can play guitar with my effects no matter what it is and it gets recorded just like it sounds in my head phones. I don’t want to have to record the guitar then put the effect in over the track then do this then do that… I don’t want to go through all of that. There has to be a way that what I hear in my head phones gets put onto the track.
I cant control my volume setting on the recording level. I mean, when I start to play guitar and its to hot and its going over -12 in the Mic line how do I turn down the volume so it wont go into the red and sound crappy when I record. I have tried to fool around with all the volume controls whether its on my head phones (I know that’s not it but just to let you know Ive tried all) or the volume control on the Peavey X-Port box itself, or the mic line on Audacity or the volume on the ReValver program or on the computer itself. So… how do I control the volume when Im going to record with my guitar with X-Port and with ReValver so its not too hot?
Ok, lets re-cap, #1, guitar playback after recording, I don’t hear my distortion and #2 the recording volume control so its not too hot on the mic level.
Those 2 things are the first questions I want help with please. You guys are all great. Ive been reading some of your posts and answers and even though none of those questions are my questions your answers have been serious and really good help.
Ok that’s all for now. Please help me with those issues and walk me through it step by step. I am only kind of good at working my computer. The average guy. SO keep that in mind when answering. And think about the very first thing I wrote about a personal trainer of sorts.
We don’t provide 1 to 1 support. Audacity is free and is primarily developed and supported by volunteers. Support is via this public forum.
Audacity will record whatever audio data that you send to it. If you are recording from the X-Port interface, then that will record the direct sound from your guitar that is captured by the X-Port interface. To record the distorted sound you need to capture the sound from “ReValver”. Audacity cannot do that directly because Revalver does not provide output ports that Audacity can use.
To record directly from ReValver you would need to use a recording program that supports ReValver (possibly Reaper, Cubase, Sonar, or some other full featured DAW program).
You may be able to record indirectly from Revalver by setting your system so that the sound from ReValver plays through your normal sound card, and then set Audacity to record the sound that is playing through the sound card. I can’t help you set up your system to make ReValver play through your sound card as I don’t have ReValver, but perhaps you already have that set up.
To record sound that is playing through your sound card, use the “WASAPI loopback” option as described here: Audacity Manual
If you still have a problem with Q2 after you get this first part working, please ask that again as a separate question.
Ok. Thank You for your answer. I will keep my questions more brief and not run on and on. Question-
#1 Could I use my X-Port device with the ReValver amp effects and instead of putting the ‘head phones’ on in the ‘head phones’ slot, take a 3.5mm cord and put that cord into the ‘head phones’ jack on my X-Port and run that cord and plug it into the ‘Mic’ input slot on my laptop? SO the sound that would go into my head phones, which IS the distortion or whatever effect I want to use, would actually go directly into the ‘Mic’ input on the laptop. So…from the ‘Head Phone’ slot on my Peavey X-Port and plug it directly into the ‘Mic’ input on my laptop, would that work?
#2 Do you know any ‘FREE’ recording programs that I can download that HAS a ‘Full Featured DAW program’? Does ‘Quartz Audio’ or ‘Kristal Audio Engine’ have a full featured DAW program?
But I am mostly interested in question #1 because I really like Audacity and am excited to use it. Thank you again for all your help so far.
from the ‘Head Phone’ slot on my Peavey X-Port and plug it directly into the ‘Mic’ input on my laptop, would that work?
Probably not well. When it’s used normally, Mic-In is super sensitive to deal with low volume microphones…and it’s mono, not stereo. It’s designed to do this.
When I want to record stereo music on a machine that doesn’t have a blue stereo Line-In, I use a Behringer UCA202.
That’s my stereo mixer on the right.
The Behringer will play and record and it has a headphone connection of its own so you can hear what you’re doing. Plus, it’s certified for overdubbing sound-on-sound. if that’s how the rest of your system is connected.
We sometimes miss pieces of this when a poster has a complicated system. If someone here doesn’t happen to have the same system, it’s mostly guesswork.
Ok Koz. I appreciate the answers but Im a little down now because I am ready to record and do things. I will still try ways to make it work. But…Ok heres the last of this,
So easily tell me with what I have now (Laptop Windows 8, Peavey X-Port, ReValver Amp & Effects, Speakers, and lots of cords and adapters) what would be the easiest way to start recording so it sounds decent. With what I have, what else do I need, as little and cheap as possible to make what I have work?
If you can just give me a wrap up of this then I will be able to sleep at night.
And the one last of my Questions - Do those other Recording Programs I mentioned (Quartz Audio or Kristal) have a full featured DAW program so that my Peavey X-Port will work?
That’s it. Please let me know what I need to get going (little as possible) and do those other Free recording programs have the DAW that I need to work?
Without becoming an expert on your living room, what many people do when they don’t have enough or the right type of equipment is do everything in post. Connect your guitar through the X-Port into the computer and record it clean. Then use the effects and filters to make the sound you like. Revalver is a post production processor, right?
You might be able to use something like Effect > Limiter: Maximum, multiple passes to get a fuzz guitar sound.
There should only be one connection between the computer and the X-Port and that’s the USB cable. You should be able to change the volume of the X-Port in Windows control panels, or even in Audacity recording level slider if you have everything configured right.
Many audio programs have a stripped “free” version to get you to buy The Real Thing.
