PC Recording in Linux

NorioDS · 2008-05-23T16:06:19+00:00

So this whole Guitar Idol 2008 thing got me motivated to record myself. I know I won't win but it was the inspiration I needed to take my finger out my bum and give this recording stuff a proper college try. So I grabbed my Roland 30 + Francis' Ibanez (that I'm borrowing until I can afford to buy it ?) and headed to my laptop in the lounge. And then the fun began. Audacity is a pretty decent program so I decided to give it a go. It's easy enough to import a backing track, add another track, hit record and just jam. Much like the BR600 in ease of use but without the drums and maybe other stuff I'm too dof to miss ? Problem comes in that that mic-in on my laptop that I was using to record through is crap. I've read on some Linux forums now that it's "too sensitive" for the output that would be coming from my amp. So here I sit with a recording that has loud, blunt, bad guitar playing all over it ? I tried all sorts of things to lower the input level of the mic but it just didn't work. I've never tried this in Windows so I have no idea if it's a Linux problem or if there really is an issue with recording using a laptop mic-jack goodie. In my naivety, I decided to give Ardour a shot. It's apparently much better recording software and, as soon as I opened it, I could see why -- it's COMPLEX! I eventually figured out the basics (add track, select input, arm track, record) But the same problem was there. What have I learned? That I should probably get a decent external sound card if I want to record on this laptop, using a direct line from my amp. Oh and Ardour is AWESOME but very complex and will probably take me the better part of five years to learn to use ? I don't have much dosh to be spending right now so that probably marks the end of my foray into recording for a little while but I'm hoping that this post will inspire someone to download a free copy of Ardour (not sure if it's available for Windows) and give it a go. They say it's designed to be used by pros so my appeal goes out to Alan to try it and give us some feedback ;D Well, that was fun. Back to work now ?

Gareth

Woo hoo, good for you,
glad you're able to make a noise and record it ...

Here's something else to sink your teeth into if you're interested.

http://forum.cockos.com/showthread.php?t=16786&highlight=wine+asio

NB. Reaper is not OSS but it is under active development. It's also a bit off the JACK route and goes with wine and ASIO but with Reaper you get to have the VST plugins.

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