First of all, I'm also very new to the world of recording and using Guitar Rig, so please keep that in mind - I can tell you what's worked for me, but there are probably many other solutions out there!
DrGonzo wrote
What exactly do you mean by amp it up later?? i have heard the term re-amping is this what you mean?
Yes, that's what I meant. I'm using Reaper to record - I get the "raw" guitar and the processed signal recorded onto separate tracks. The "raw" track is a recording of the output from your guitar, so there are no effects on it yet, which means you can do whatever you want with the track after recording - run it through Guitar Rig with whatever settings you want, or even send it to your amp! This means you could record your tracks at night with your headphones, then when it's safe to make noise, play the track through your amp and mic the amp up and record that. There are disadvantages to this though - for one, your guitar will have much better sustain if you have it amped loudly while recording. The biggest drawback is that I've noticed I play very differently depending on what tone I hear while playing. So try to record with a tone very similar to what you want on the final recording. Especially if you're doing things like playing with volume or palm muting.
DrGonzo wrote
Also, similarly, like what i'm saying with the preamp out, (effects send) can I send my guitar signal through Guitar rig as like as normal hardware effect, and then return the signal from my sound card into effects return!?
I think this is one of the ways Guitar Rig is meant to be used! Just experiment with switching off the modelled cabinets, your real cabinet will do what they're meant to do. At the moment I plug my guitar directly into the Rig Kontrol input, and plug the Rig Kontrol output into my amp's effects return. I've got nothing plugged into my amp's pre-amp input or the effects send, don't think this is doing any damage but I can't be sure.
I'd love to see a list of ways to break equipment, just so I'd know what not to do!
Alan Ratcliffe wrote
Depending on the preamp and how you use it, it can work very well indeed. The guitar responds well with the amp's input (often the downfall of DIing a guitar) and if you keep the preamp clean, you can let the software do all the heavy lifting.
You can also use a good valve mic pre with a dedicated instrument input, which works very well and will improve quality over most interface's inputs.
Thanks for the advice - I'm definitely going to do some experimenting with this in future!
