Mic It Or Plug It? Grr. Options

[Salsashark]

So yeah. What do you guys say? I'm recording in my tiny room. Should I record using mics, and if so, what should I be looking for? Or.... do you guys know of any good, cheap (ish) interfaces so I plug in and record. Do not have money for digi 001 so yeah something below that. I have an iBook. Any help is good. Thank you.

[xenonaut]

only suggest recording by mic only if you have a suitable recording environement for it. Doesn't mean you have to be in a studio but if you have things on the walls that vibrate with low notes or lots of reverb... then you might want to consider just recording directly as this will most likely color your guitar sound and add unwanted noises. I have this prob with my bass...

Synthetic - I would like to respectfully point out that I think that the mic/DI question is a little different for bass than it is for guitar. For one thing, bass is more likely to cause rattles than guitar (not say that it is not potentially a problem for guitar, as well, but I've never had it). For another, sometimes you want to get things like feedback with guitar, which is only possible by amping it. Also, there is a long tradition of going DI with bass, but not with guitar, simply because they are different instruments with different sonic characteristics.

That said, amp simulation has come a long way, and "faking it" is certainly an acceptable option. I prefer to mic my guitar amp (though I always record bass parts direct), but in practice, I live in an apartment and really can't make all that much noise, so I wind up recording most of my guitar stuff without mics, as well. So in the end, Synthetic, I think you're right that it is often the more practical alternative, and can certainly provide reasonable results.

You said that there are a ton of devices that emulate the effect of mic-ing an amplifier, do you mean plug-ins like Amplitube? (not available as MAS yet...)

T1mon, by "devices", I was talking about hardware solutions. There are effects units and preamps which also have cabinet simulation, there are devices specifically geared toward sound processing for direct recording, and there are devices intended to act as sound processors and computer audio interfaces (Line 6 Guitar Port and PODxt, Roland's Edirol UA-700, etc.). For software, the solutions which I'm personally familiar with include Line 6's Amp Farm, and IK's AmpliTube. I sometimes use AmpliTube, but my preference is to hear the sound of the guitar "amped" while I'm playing, and we've already talked about the latency problem using computer-based amp simulation to monitor live playing.

I didn't realize that you already had DP4. Digital Performer enjoys a pretty loyal following, I think, so you should be in good shape. If you're looking for the cheapest and easiest way to get decent tone into DP4, I would investigate cheap audio interfaces (perhaps even the iMic, but if not, something from M-Audio or Edirol should be available - but you might check with MOTU for info on interface compatability) and a used POD or (even cheaper, and reportedly quite good) Behringer V-Amp. Maybe a local music store has some of this stuff for you to check out? If you're in Germany, it should be no problem to find Behringer stuff, right? Or look at the Tascam US-122 that rickenbacker mentioned - I saw that the other day in a local shop, and it looks like promising, and solves the monitor mix/latency issue, apparently.

Salsashark - this was your thread, originally. I hope you're still finding it helpful and informative.