Modeler vs Preamp vs PCI/USB Card

[johnkimball]

Im new to recording, and plan to record guitar as well as vocals in a way that they would be on my computer. I've read about amp modeling, but it does not seem like it will sound very good, and I'm not even sure what preamps do, and I've also seen the sound cards which seem like they might work. What solution would work the best? Do not worry too much about price.

 

[therage!]

You might want to post this in the newbie forum. I think you will get more responses.

Your question(s) are very broad.

 

[SuperSkyrocket]

Modelers sound good. Many pro recording engineers will roll their eyes if you come in without one. Line6 and Roland make respected units. If you don't want to model, you'll be mic'ing your cabinet or combo.

A modeler is a preamp. A preamp amplifies a very weak signal, say directly from a microphone or guitar, into a line-level signal accepted by a mixer, recording device, or power amp. A preamp is not necessarily a modeler.


You need:
audio source -> preamp -> audio interface -> computer w/recording software

So:
guitar -> preamp/modeler -> firewire/usb/pci card -> pc/software
or
guitar amp -> microphone -> preamp ->firewire/usb/pci card -> pc/software

And:
vocals -> microphone -> preamp ->firewire/usb/pci card -> pc/software


A lot of audio interfaces will have preamps on board for the mic inputs
so you could do:
source -> microphone -> firewire/usb/pci card w/preamp -> pc/software .

So with a mic or two, a nice audio interface, and a computer with decent recording software you can potentially record your guitar and vocals to disk.