probably very stupid...

[roinf]

whenever i try to record me playing anything in tremolo on my guitar (picking fast, not the tremolo effect), even when im changing notes, after about 5-10 seconds it starts to fade and distort, now since i only have 512 mb of ram im guessing thats the problem, because no matter what program i record in, it does the same thing

 

[legionserial]

This may have nothing to do with it, but what is the input level when you're recording? When you start trem-picking, does it cause an increase in volume that pushes it off the scale into clipping?

 

[Mindset]

try upping your buffer sizes.