NitroBlues Posted June 30, 2003 Share Posted June 30, 2003 Hi fellow bass players from all around the world! My name is Fabio and I play bass with my blues band NitroBlues. I have a question: how can I plug my bass direct into my computer? thanks in advance for any replies! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDL Posted June 30, 2003 Share Posted June 30, 2003 Well, Fabio, your computer probably has a soundcard in the back of your modem. There should be plug-ins in that. The cord that should fit in there, should be 1/8". If you want to plug your bass into your computer, you'll have to get a transformer cable, to plug your bass in(1/4"), into the soundcard, which is 1/8". Although, I don't recommend plugging in directly into your soundcard, because you may get feedback, and it just doesn't work as well, if you were to use, say, an effects processor, THEN plug the effects processor into the soundcard. You would have more control of what goes in, and what comes out. Do you have an effects processor? BTW, sorry if this is confusing, or if I mess up some terms. JDL on Purevolume Bird\'s Eye View on Purevolume Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davich Posted June 30, 2003 Share Posted June 30, 2003 I think if you are still beginner in computer stuff, you can always start with Home Recording Magazine, or some PC magazine. You absolutely need a sound card for that. Then more problem comes, like SW for your mixing, or sequencing. Or someother like how to prevent buzz from the monitor to your magnetic pickup and so on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilMan99 Posted June 30, 2003 Share Posted June 30, 2003 You may run into "ground-loop" problems connecting into a PC. If you have a lot of problems with "hum" or "buzzing", you may have a ground-loop. A company called Ebtech makes a product called the "Hum Eliminator" (about $60) that can help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SplitNick Posted June 30, 2003 Share Posted June 30, 2003 This may sound ridiculous to those of you that know more than I do, but instead of plugging in, I just mic my amp to go into the computer. It doesn't provide the most pristine sound but it gets the sounds out of my head, through my fingers and into the computer. We must accept the consequences of being ourselves-Sojourn of Arjuna Music at www.moporoco.com/nick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BenLoy Posted June 30, 2003 Share Posted June 30, 2003 If you're plugging your bass directly into a computer...you MUST use a DI box to ensure proper impedance matching... Your bass' output is high impedance, but the input of your soundcard will surely be low-impedance. Tech 21 makes a DI box called the XDI specifically for computer recording (you'll still need a 1/4" to stereo mini adapter): http://www.tech21nyc.com/Images/Pedals/XDI/XDI.jpg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bass Burp Posted June 30, 2003 Share Posted June 30, 2003 This is an easy solution..Go to radio shack and buy a reducer that allows you to go from 1/4" down to an 1/8"?..basically a headphone jack. Plug directly into the input of your sound card, then plug your cord into that reducer and start playing. I've had no problems doing this. I just stopped recently because I bought a peavey micro bass amp. --When all else fails play one note. Check out my Church, I'm in there somewhere holdin' the spector5: http://www.ecalvary.net/news/june/revival_gallery_01/index.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BenLoy Posted June 30, 2003 Share Posted June 30, 2003 BassBurp, that's a surefire way to make your bass sound midrangy and devoid of decent headroom. I'm sure you can get a bass sound plugging it straight in, but if you A/B it against the sound you get with even the cheapest DI box there's no comparison. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PETE_COMBS Posted July 1, 2003 Share Posted July 1, 2003 well on my laptop,I took a 1/8 cupler as I call it,fits on the head of your 1/4 chord and goes right in to the microphone imput ,comes right out the speaker,but I was on sonar so I dont no if it will generate sound form pluging it in but it should,yep worked on mine. Pete Combs... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilMan99 Posted July 1, 2003 Share Posted July 1, 2003 Originally posted by BenLoy: BassBurp, that's a surefire way to make your bass sound midrangy and devoid of decent headroom. I'm sure you can get a bass sound plugging it straight in, but if you A/B it against the sound you get with even the cheapest DI box there's no comparison.What causes the tone to change when not using the DI box. Impedance mis-match? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexclaber Posted July 1, 2003 Share Posted July 1, 2003 Originally posted by BenLoy: BassBurp, that's a surefire way to make your bass sound midrangy and devoid of decent headroom. I'm sure you can get a bass sound plugging it straight in, but if you A/B it against the sound you get with even the cheapest DI box there's no comparison.Spot on but only if you have a passive bass. If your bass is active it'll be fine plugged into a low impedance input. Alex Barefaced Ltd - ultra lightweight, high ouput, toneful bass cabs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GaryB Posted July 12, 2003 Share Posted July 12, 2003 I use an inexpensive mixer taking the tape out of the mixer into the line in of my sound card. This setup gives me a good quality sound for recording to n-track studio and Cakewalk home studio. I am using a Behringer ub1202 mixer which costs about $100 from Musician's Friend, but you can probably get one for about $60. You will also need a cable with phono plugs on one end and a 1/8 in plug on the other to connect the mixer to the computer sound card. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russell2293 Posted July 15, 2003 Share Posted July 15, 2003 yo Nitro....get a Sound Blaster Audigy 2 Platinum....it has a cool drive that installs in the front of your computer that allows you to connect all sorts of devices to your computer(guitars included)and the software will let you do some moderate tone shaping.just my 2 cents worth man. Keep Playing People!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dcr Posted July 15, 2003 Share Posted July 15, 2003 A simpleminded query from a simpleminded man, but...could you simply run a line from the line-out on a bass amp to the line-in on a standard sound card? (I.e. making necessary adjustments for connector sizes.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bartolini Posted July 16, 2003 Share Posted July 16, 2003 What Russel2293 said. The front panel is so convenient. Try the Tomb raider effect in the software and u'd find it so cool to be used for chords playing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dcwhut Posted July 18, 2003 Share Posted July 18, 2003 Dudes!! I've been MIA for awhile, so pardon me for butting in. Topc-related but maybe not the answer you're looking for. Digitech has started making some multis with USBs. I've seen one for guitar and one for vocals. They are built to record and come with some version of Protools or something. Maybe they (or someone) makes one specifically for bass. Here's my $. can I get my change now? Oh, and I'd like a receipt! Feel the POWER, the Rumble. Was that an earthquake?! No, it's just my BASS! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
genseng Posted July 30, 2003 Share Posted July 30, 2003 this topic was linked from the bassplayer.com mainpage and i had to sign-up (first post!) to give some feedback on my method for computer connection as i encountered this problem 3 months ago. so, sorry for dragging this thread back up. i tried to connect my passive bass (g&l sb-2) directly to my soundcard (well, my old soundcard now - sb live! value) and failed. then by way of compressor (with active gain) into soundcard which also failed miserably. i started to look into other soundcards, mainly the audigy line. after asking around on some computer hardware related messageboards i was directed to the m-audio/midiman products by another musician. they have a lot of options ranging from pro to amateur. i settled on a usb product called the MobilePre. it basically covered everything i needed and gave me a few options to expand later. it has two 1/4" inputs designed specifically for electric guitars/bass, 2 xlr inputs w/ phantom power (each 1/4" input is matched to an xlr input so you really only have 2 inputs), each input has a preamp gain control and clip led indicator, there is a 1/8" stereo out for computer speakers, a 1/8" out for headphones with independent volume control, asio drivers (realtime recording and monitoring), recording up to 16 bit@48Hz, relatively low system requirements (i can also confirm that it uses low system resources despite being usb dependent) and it's all bus powered so there is no wall-wart. all this and it is one of the low-end units =) there are some other companies out there that make similar products, like eridol (which i think is a break off of roland?). m-audio is widely available in canada so that's what i went for. if you go to musiciansfriend.com or your local music shop and check out the soundcards available you'll probably be surprised at the options. replacing your soundcard is probably more expensive than buying a di but for myself, it was a good investment as i'm often stuck living in small apartments w/o my amp. anyway, this wasn't meant to be a product review but to let you know of another option available for bass/computer connectivity. ~pAul. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matthew de Guzman Posted August 15, 2003 Share Posted August 15, 2003 I get a decent sound by just plugging my passive bass directly into the mic input of sb live!value sound card. Just carefully tweak the volume settings on the bass as well as the mic gain and main volume sliders on the sblive software that comes with the soundcard to avoid overdriving anything, and of course use bigger speakers. I record using Cakewalk Pro-Audio which include sufficient tone controls and effects (compressors, etc.). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thondar Posted August 17, 2003 Share Posted August 17, 2003 i had the same problem plugin my bass directly to my laptop. Even if i get the recording without the buzzing the sound doesn't really is a "bass" sound. The solution that i found is just get the sound from a mic, this is the only way that gets near to the real sound. If anybody else have a solution please tell me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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