New Variax Standard Owner - Recording Question

[DavidNoble1983]

Hi everyone,

 

I got a Variax Standard last week and I'm blown away by it. I'm selling my other electrics and considering picking up a backup one too as the range of sounds and the dimensions of the guitar itself are exactly what I've been looking for.

 

My question is what is the next best bit of kit to get; I'm a hobby songwriter who is looking to start recording, I understand that the acoustic models don't sound their best through an electric guitar amp, and eventually I'd like to get a Firehawk/Helix, but for now my priority is to be able to start recording the various models, including the acoustic ones....so is the next step for me to get some sort of DI box that I can run into my PC? Will this be enough to accurately record these models?

 

Are there any particular recording setups that you've found work well with the Variax? Apologies if these are basic questions, but the guitar has got me really wanting to finally get into recording all the tunes I've written over the years but never got round to doing anything with...

[silverhead]

You mention that you are new to recording and that you are considering running a DI box into your PC. That suggests that you are not already using an audio interface. That should be your next best bit of kit to get.

 

Many manufacturers make audio interfaces. The Line 6 options are here:

https://line6.com/products/#computer

 

I would suggest the GX (if you never want to record vocals), UX1 (if you want to record vocals and guitar at different times), or UX2 (if you want to record vocals and guitar simultaneously). All of these come with licenses to Pod Farm. You will then be able to connect your Variax (and/or mic) directly to the UX input - no need for a DI box -  and be able to use Pod Farm to apply various FX to the guitar and/or vocal signal (e.g. compression, EQ, amp, chorus, delay, reverb,...) while recording.

 

[DavidNoble1983]

On 7/24/2019 at 2:45 PM, silverhead said:

You mention that you are new to recording and that you are considering running a DI box into your PC. That suggests that you are not already using an audio interface. That should be your next best bit of kit to get.

 

Many manufacturers make audio interfaces. The Line 6 options are here:

https://line6.com/products/#computer

 

I would suggest the GX (if you never want to record vocals), UX1 (if you want to record vocals and guitar at different times), or UX2 (if you want to record vocals and guitar simultaneously). All of these come with licenses to Pod Farm. You will then be able to connect your Variax (and/or mic) directly to the UX input - no need for a DI box -  and be able to use Pod Farm to apply various FX to the guitar and/or vocal signal (e.g. compression, EQ, amp, chorus, delay, reverb,...) while recording.

 

 

Hi Silverhead,

 

Sorry for the slow response - thank you for the info; much appreciated - I have a Steinberg UR22 MkII USB Audio Interface (which I've yet to use!) - could I plug the variax straight into this or would I still need a separate DI?

[silverhead]

You do not need a separate DI.

[DavidNoble1983]

Thanks! Will give that a go this weekend.

[soundog]

Your UR22 interface should be fine. Just be sure to set levels on the interface "line" input so the meter peaks at around -6 dB (yellow on a meter, no red!). Record your guitar "raw" and when mixing use a good guitar amp modeler plug-in in your DAW on the guitar track. I recommend Helix Native or S-Gear, but your DAW may already have decent free guitar plug-ins.