Moving to a laptop instead of pedals

68 lost souls

Hi,

I know a few people, like El Pron, on here are already using laptops live and for rehearsing. Im going to be moving away for a while and won't be able to bring my gear with me but will have my laptop so I was hoping to buy a guitar while Im away and use my laptop with me. I must say it is one of the few areas I have not experiment in.

I already have Reason installed for using wiht my MPK mini which I will hopefully be bringing but I want something to replace my pedals and such aswel.

I have an Edirol UA4X interface for my PC which is really annoying and awkward and I rarely use because its a pain swapping between soundcards on my PC. I dont fancy bringing the UA4x with me to America either.

Basicly what I would like is something as easy as an iRig to setup but I dont have an iPhone or iPod. I like the useability of podfarm and was wondering what you guys recommend software wise and also hardware wise? I was thinking just a USB to guitar lead which I normally would be against but for the price and being able to fit in my pocket it may be worth it.

Going to be limited on baggage so have to take that into consideration.

Was also thinking while Im at home I could integrate this into my setup?

Also I should mention the laptop is not the most powerful in the world here is the spec.

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c01995917&tmp_task=prodinfoCategory&lc=en&dlc=en&cc=ie&product=4100044&key=null&site=null


Thanks

Squidgy Black

I'd pick up a Pod Studio GX if I was you, just a direct guitar interface made to use with Pod Farm. It's USB powered too, and it's quite small, a little bit bigger than a pedal. I have the next version up, the UX1 with a mic input too, and I use it with Pod Farm quite a bit when I can't be bothered to bring an amp with me or when I'm just messing around, it's grand.

Those guitar to usb leads aren't really that good to be honest, no sort of preamp, quite high latency, it's almost like plugging into the mic input of your laptop.

68 lost souls

What is the impedence like from this going into a signal chain if I am using it in line with my effects? How well does the GX take drive pedals infront of it? Was thinking when I am near my pedals I could still use my drive pedals for that part of the tone (HT-Dual, Voodoo boost, bluesbreaker).

Squidgy Black

Not sure yet, I've never used my pedalboard with it. I figured it'd be the same as through an amp, just driving the signal through the preamp. I'll try it out tomorrow and get back to you.

68 lost souls

Cool man. Thanks.

rcaz

Hey, uh, thanks for the namecheck

If I were you and I wasn't worry about the size of things I'd go for a bigger interface than the one you have. One input is fine for processing guitar, but what about output? I'm still just working on my laptop 'rig', but I'm looking to have;

Guitar -> overdriver/filter/pitch effects -> laptop -> delay effects -> laptop -> amp

Or something similar. That way I could do some processing on the laptop before sending it into my delay pedals (I already have three great delay effects that work perfectly, no point trying to program better ones) use the stereo outputs of my delay pedals, and then be able to sample all that when it comes back into my laptop, then stereo outputs again from the laptop.

So that's 3 inputs and 4 outputs used just for guitar processing? I'm also using software instruments, so 2 more outputs would be nice. And a microphone in 'cause chopping up vocals sounds cool :pac:

But I think I'm going about this the hard way, I know there are software packages already made for dealing with guitar signals that will sound way more high-quality than what I'm trying to do... I just like programming my own

roast

A UX1 or UX2 would probably be your best bet.
I'd recommend checking out Guitar Rig 4 also, with the Rig Kontrol. Pricey, but you get what you pay for. Pure excellence.

reniwren

http://www.thomann.de/ie/ik_multimedia_stealthpedal_thomann_edition.htm

I have this and it works very well

68 lost souls

actually that is one of the first things i looked at before posting. How heavy is the pedal?

reniwren

3lb exactly so an average wah pedal

Squidgy Black

The UX1 doesn't sound the best with an overdrive in front of it with pod farm. The amp drive on the modellers sounded better. Other effects sounded okay though.

68 lost souls

reniwren wrote: »

3lb exactly so an average wah pedal

Hmmmm, that would be a good chunk of weight since Im gonna be moving over for the best part of a year so Im gonna have to bring over a lot of things.

Im assuming the outputs are the processed out and not a dry out?

Thanks for checking out that SteTyrrel.

Gonna do some more research into whats available with all of this idvice.

rcaz

Do you reckon you'll get much better than that? Anything lighter than that would require more extra equipment to get the same functionality, right?

68 lost souls

This is true. Im gonna do a bit of video watching on the stealth and read some reviews. I might be able to stick it in the hand luggage.

zafo

Might be worth waiting til you get to the states before buying anything. It's probably going to be cheaper and you won't have to worry about weight on the way over.

68 lost souls

The Stealthpedal with jsut one plug in is actually $300 over in the states and its 195 euro in europe with 3 plug ins at the moment so it is far cheaper hear surprisingly. Gonna buy it at the end of the month. Something to look forward to after exams and on pay day. Getting myself a nice new set of headphones this month too. Trying to decide between HD380pros or HD25s.

EDIT: Think I might end up getting the stealthplug for when Im traveling and the stealth pedal for when Im at home.

flyswatter

This video is very interesting. He uses a laptop mostly for effects instead of pedals running Guitar Rig.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEu-IyztvG8

Menolias

i use this http://www.behringer.com/EN/Products/UCG102.aspx
and guitar rig as a no hassle method.