The Elf wrote: ↑Fri Mar 24, 2023 4:50 pm
Interesting. I've always preferred my Radial J48 for bass and my Red Eye (or Orchid) for guitars. I've often wondered what it is that draws me to these conclusions, but I've also never doubted myself. It's just become something I don't even question. Maybe there's something in it...
I think I am right in saying that the Radial uses a audio transformer whereas the Orchid does not? That might have some bearing on your preference Elf?
The Elf wrote: ↑Fri Mar 24, 2023 4:50 pm
Interesting. I've always preferred my Radial J48 for bass and my Red Eye (or Orchid) for guitars. I've often wondered what it is that draws me to these conclusions, but I've also never doubted myself. It's just become something I don't even question. Maybe there's something in it...
I think I am right in saying that the Radial uses a audio transformer whereas the Orchid does not? That might have some bearing on your preference Elf?
Dave.
Possibly, but the Red Eye does have a transformer inside.
The Elf wrote: ↑Fri Mar 24, 2023 4:50 pm
Interesting. I've always preferred my Radial J48 for bass and my Red Eye (or Orchid) for guitars. I've often wondered what it is that draws me to these conclusions, but I've also never doubted myself. It's just become something I don't even question. Maybe there's something in it...
I think I am right in saying that the Radial uses a audio transformer whereas the Orchid does not? That might have some bearing on your preference Elf?
Dave.
Possibly, but the Red Eye does have a transformer inside.
Right, but then for any given size/price of transformer, distortion increases as frequency goes down. I 'think' 3rd harmonic doubles for every every octave drop? So a bass is going to have a bit more 'attitude' than a sixer.
A splitter arrived before DI box and high pitched whine, earth loop by the sounds of it. So that’s gone. Hopefully DI box will do the job.
Whilst I was messing about I tried a mic in front of amp vs guitar straight into instrument input on my Apogee interface and then Amplitude.
Amplitude won hands down!
I’m sure you’re not surprised given it’s a modelling practice amp, but it was unbelievably worse than the DI. In fact I’m not sure if the DI box will be required
Clearly if I had a boutique amp (and a drawer full of mics) it might be a different story. But I don’t hear any real latency even going through the software. So for now I’m going to concentrate on DI and see if the box adds anything.
No Dave, I know it can do that but my projects run through my apogee and I didn’t want to use the AI capability because of workflow.
I suppose as a relatively inexperienced guitarist (being a keys player) I just wanted the best and easiest way to record guitar. The DI route seems easiest and leave the practice amps for well, practice!
IAA wrote: ↑Sat Mar 25, 2023 6:16 pmI’m not sure if the DI box will be required...
There are several reasons I record a DI along with any guitar, least of which is to simply re-amp for tone. That DI acts as a guide for timing corrections, and can also be edited to remove fluffs before passing back to the amp to re-record and hide the edits.
So if you get a DI it may be more useful than you imagine!
But if you now plan to always plug straight into your AI then it is, indeed, of questionable value.
It’s tricky Elf. In part I read info/opinion that says plugging into AI is a real no no because of coloring of signal, but to my ears it sounds fine. So i will try a DI just to see - I have a radial turning up on Monday, crossing the splitter going in the opposite direction.
I’m no Gordon, but I want my efforts to sound their best!
IAA wrote: ↑Sat Mar 25, 2023 9:44 pm
It’s tricky Elf. In part I read info/opinion that says plugging into AI is a real no no because of coloring of signal...
Most of that kind of info/opinion is of dubious quality. If it sounds fine to you then go with it.
It never ceases to amaze me what people can hear when they know what want to hear...
It can depend on the input impedance of the AI. I think it’s been said before in this thread, but worth repeating, that not all ‘Instrument/Inst’ inputs have the typical 1 megohm impedance that a guitar or bass amp has.
Some are significantly less, with a resulting loss of high end, and some are higher e.g. 2 megohms, resulting in a slightly brighter character.
But then not all active DI boxes have a 1 meg input impedance either.
Assuming that your AI has a 1 megohm impedance, then the other factor that can affect the sound is the lack of acoustic feedback (when using headphones or very quiet monitors) compared to playing a loud guitar amp. Not important in a lot of music styles, but for say loud rock music, you aren’t going to get very long sustained induced feedback notes without some artificial aid (such as a Fernades sustainer or a digital ‘hold’ pedal). Which still won’t get quite the same sound as a semi-acoustic guitar on the edge of body resonance through volume.
So in that instance there will be a difference to a straight DI to an AI’s Inst input that can only be solved by volume at the time of recording. But that’s not strictly down to the Inst input, just the lack of volume to get an acoustic feedback interaction with the guitar.
Loud monitors can achieve very similar results to a loud amp (though most small studio monitors are never going to achieve cranked Marshall stack levels of volume). But for most domestic recording environments, getting a guitar amp or monitors that loud isn’t a feasible proposition anyway.
Otherwise, recording via the Inst input on an AI should capture pretty much the same input as a DI box when playing an amp at fairly quiet levels (a subjective term I know).
Any other difference will come down to the feel of how the player reacts to hearing a software amp compared to a real one, due to the AI round trip and processing latencies (which will be variable depending on the AI and buffer settings and software used). Some people are more sensitive to latency than others. Some can adjust and play slightly ahead of the note, so they hear the note start at the correct time, and some can’t, so that slight delay can put some people off playing at their best.
