Monitors Recording Guitar On My Laptop & Hardware Monitoring

O

octave

Adept
Hey guys,

I can basically record the guitar on my laptop. However, the sound card of my laptop doesn't support hardware monitoring (hearing what you're recording while it's recording). Software monitoring introduces an irritating delay.

I also have a digital piano that I'd eventually want to record, maybe simultaneously with guitar. So, what do you guys recommend? An external soundcard? Some kind of small mixer with midi inputs as well as audio inputs?

-octave
 
Mixer, preferably one with a dedicated monitor output with direct sends. You do get soundcards that will plug into the USB ports and offer zero-latency monitoring. The E-Mu 0404USB is a decent starting point (~12k India price).

I was using a small Behringer, fed into a m-Audio Delta 66 (which also had zero latency monitoring, but this was a PCI card). Sounds OK for basic work like scratch mixes and stuff.

You can also compensate the latency in most audio programs when doing overdubs. No matter how good the interface once you go multitrack you will need to compensate for some delay. It takes a bit of getting used to because the recording and the playback don't sync when you do record, but line up correctly afterwards.
 
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