Newbie recording guitar on pro tools

[Bongsmoke84]

I got a couple of doubts id like someone with more experience to clear me in.

-im not sure if it's normal that i can only hear or see the guitar signal when i hit the record enable button on the track.if record isnt enabled i cant hear the guitar or see the levels.
-also when i insert eleven amp simulator i get some really bad ground noise.could this be the guitar line im using?what does anyone recomend?
-finally how can i use amplitube or any other guitar emulator with pro tools instead of eleven?im not quite sure how to make em show on the inserts list

[audiogeekzine]

Originally Posted by Bongsmoke84

-im not sure if it's normal that i can only hear or see the guitar signal when i hit the record enable button on the track.if record isnt enabled i cant hear

This is the way it works. Pro Tools Le or M-powered lack the separate (and mostly unnecessary) input monitor button that PT HD and other DAWs have.

Originally Posted by Bongsmoke84

-also when i insert eleven amp simulator i get some really bad ground noise.could this be the guitar line im using?what does anyone recomend?

Good quality cables will help. A properly wired guitar will help.
Try moving away from the computer and see if the noise goes away.

Originally Posted by Bongsmoke84

-finally how can i use amplitube or any other guitar emulator with pro tools instead of eleven?im not quite sure how to make em show on the inserts list

If the RTAS versions are correctly installed, they should be in either the Harmonic category, or Other, depending on what the maker decided. Also you're most likely to find them on MONO tracks only.


Welcome to Pro Tools land, hope you brought some Aspirin.

[albee1952]

+1 for the aspirin, but it WILL get better. As for this:
" i get some really bad ground noise.could this be the guitar line....",

there are a few possibilities. If your video screens are CRT, those cause lots of buzz in nearby guitar pickups(LCD screens do not cause this). Using an unshielded cable(don't laugh, I have seen it way too many times). Single coil pickups have noise problems a lot more than humbuckers. Sometimes turning to face another direction can find a quiet way to face. Lighting dimmers can cause noise and hum so turn them all the way up or down(where they often get quiet).

With keyboard focus on, the letter K will toggle between Input only and auto monitoring. Another quick solution to hearing without recording; create an aux track, set the input the same as the guitar, drag the plugin onto the aux track(which is live all the time).

[fenderrocker]

Originally Posted by audiogeekzine

Welcome to Pro Tools land, hope you brought some Aspirin.

Blasphemy!!

Ok, so PT can be a headache sometimes, but all his questions are relatively simple.

<long response>

1st Q: try setting the mix nob. This is what blends the "dry" incoming signal with the processed signal from PT. The dry signal is directly monitored, so there is virtually no delay. The processed signal will have delay no matter what. This can be reduced, but never eliminated. I'm not sure what your setup is, but amp sims are usually cpu hogs, so start at 128 (options>playback engine>buffer size>128) and if your computer chokes, move it up.

One thing you could do, which I discovered recently, is put your guitar sim on an auxiliary track and then bus it to an audio track. then, when you're ready to record, arm the audio track and you're ready to go!

Do this:

>create new mono auxiliary track
>set input to whichever input your guitar is plugged into
>put eleven on the auxiliary track

Now you should be able to hear the guitar playing without touching the mixer. If this is how you want to record, simply put a send on it and bus it to an audio track. I've never done this personally. I usually use the auxiliary track to practice, then when I want to record, I make the track inactive and switch to my guitar audio track to record.

<long response/>

Ok, now for the second question, audiogeek's probably right. If you know how, check the wiring on the jack. It's pretty simple if you know how to soder, but if you don't want to mess with it... put a noise gate on it! Eleven LE has one built in. Turn up the threshold. This means it will cut out any noises below that level (ie. -48 dB).

Q3: PODFarm. I tried it out ( you can get a demo from Line 6 for 15 days) and I loved it. I've already got a good setup so I didn't need it, but it has an awesome UI and tons of effects (try the platinum demo!).

Good luck
JC

[chrisdee]

Actually I'v had buzz picked up from LCD monitors also, but not near as much as CRT screens. As others had said, try moving far away from the screen, or better yet turn it off to check if it's the screen or something else.

I'v had buzz from nearby lamps also, so watch out for that.


SansAmp is very light on system resources compared to Eleven and AmpliTube. Check it out.