[Sentry]

Originally Posted by Stratrat

I can't speak for all Macs, but my Macbook (Intel processor) has a line-in jack. I'm using a firewire A/D interface instead, but the line-in is definitely there, right next to the headphone jack on the left side of the computer.

Yup. My gf recently bought herself a new Macbook. She was quite pleased to discover the line-in because her old iBook didn't have one and she had wanted to convert some old audio cassettes of her band to digital and clean up the sound with Soundsoap. I wound up having to do it for her with my Powerbook G4.

Originally Posted by Tekker

It's also nice doing it that way because you can download backing tracks, load them into your recording program, and jam away with both your guitar and backing track coming through the same speakers without needing a hardware mixer.

Yes, I look forward to experimenting with additional tracks and instruments, even performing "duets" with myself by first recording myself playing, for example, the rhythm guitar and adding it as a track to play along with as I play lead. However, since I'm ok at removing hiss from audio imported from cassettes and lp's but haven't done much of anything else it'll be a while before I get that ambitious.

Originally Posted by Tekker

If you want to go free there is Kristal Audio, but I very highly recommend Reaper ($40).

I have made tutorials for both programs so you can set them up using VST monitoring:

Reaper Tutorial
Kristal Audio Tutorial

Good to know! Thank you! Although I almost never use my PC for anything, I like knowing about Windows ways of doing the things I do on my Mac. Since the majority of the world uses PCs it's nice to have an answer when a PC user asks me a question.

Originally Posted by Tekker

One of the (many) downsides in Kristal Audio is that you cannot record while monitoring VST plugins. You'd have to record your guitar dry and then add plugins afterwards. So you wouldn't be able to hear what your effects will sounded like while recording. But in Reaper, you have the option to do both simultaneously.

Hmm... that can be a problem. But is it really necessary to record with the same software that you're using for play-through? Would it be possible to use Kristal for play-through and effects and be recording in real time with a different app? I have a program called "Wire Tap Pro" (no longer available, per se, the company that made it added features, upped the price slightly, and re-named it Wiretap Studio) that can record any audio that is playing through the speakers in real time, regardless of the source. It doesn't extract audio from the source but instead simply makes a recording directly of whatever sound is coming through the speakers. No hiss or background noise like you would get if you attached a mic and placed it near the speakers. Only downside is that if you check your email or something while recording and get a new email, your "new mail notification beep" will also be in the recording.

Anyway, anything like that for Windows or would you just attach a splitter to the speaker jack and route one to the audio line in with a cable with two male ends and record with Audacity?