Guitars into computer

[dibliss]

Is it true you cannot record electric and acoustic guitars into your soundcard without a pre-amp?I want to create my own guitar parts for my cakewalk express software.

 

[Cliff]

You can do it, but it my personal experience, it doesn't sound very good. I have recorded a Gibson Chet Atkins guitar with an active pickup that sounded decent going directly into the sound card but other than that, the results I have had have not been good.

 

[dobro]

Well, if you're gonna record acoustic guitar you're gonna need a mic or some kind of pick-up, both of which need to be pre-amped in some way. Have you bought a decent audio soundcard yet, or are you using the wow! prestigious Cakewalk with the factory-issue soundcard that came with your computer? If the latter is the case, and if you've got some money, do yourself a favor and get a good soundcard so you can do some quality recording. (By the way, although I don't have one myself, I think Aardvark make a soundcard with built-in preamps (and a few effects - I think it's called the Direct Pro.)

As for recording electric guitars, you're gonna have to ask someone who does that.