A few questions on DI boxes.

[Thisnameistaken]

Hey everyone.

Do any of you use a DI box instead of plugging a guitar into your interface? If so, why? Is it always or nearly always a better alternative as far as audio quality goes?

If I was to get one for my guitar and then a single preamp for my mic would I need to route them both to an interface still to get them to my computer?

Thanks in advace! Looking forward to getting this cleared up.

 

[Justsomeguy]

I use DI box instead of going straight into my interface, but that's mainly due to force of habit. for years i worked with gear with either line level or mic level inputs and no instrument in so had to use a DI box. this was mainly for DI'ing bass guitar or taking a DI feed from a guitar along with an amp sound (mainly as a safety net).

I use an MTR DI-1 and have had no problems with it. tbh, the only other DI's i've used have been live (mainly behringer and EMO) so i can't really compare this to other boxes for recording but it works well and the through feed enables me to mic a signal as well.

And, if i'm reading this right (forgive me, i'm very tired), yes, you would need to send both the DI'd guitar and mic -> preamp into the interface to get it into the computer as the interface acts as an AD converter. Saying that, there are a lot of AI's with built in preamps that are of a good quality so if you bought an interface with 2 xlr/mic in's, you could run the mic directly into one and the guitar via the DI box into the other and record both simultaneously. Or, as i was saying on the other thread, an interface with two mic/instrument in's would bypass the need for the DI box (although i'm sure there are better reasons for using a DI box

 

[gecko zzed]

On the other hand, I plug guitars straight into the interface. The Firepod has a pair of instrument level inputs.

Guitar and voice need both to go through an interface to your computer

 

[mjbphotos]

Before I got my Tascam US800, I would plug electric guitar or bass through my Line 6 GuitarPort (and thus through PodFarm or GearBox) but using the Instrument Input on the US800 (and then using PodFarm as a plugin) sounds great.
So, as said, if your interface has an instrument input/preamp capable of good sound quality, you don't need DI.

 

[jimmys69]

I typically use a Rapco db-1 passive DI to split direct signal into my interface. I'm kinda anal about having a separate direct signal while tracking. Just in case kinda thing. It does not get used often, but it has saved projects a couple of times.