Whole direct recording setup
 

Hi there
I want to record directly to my computer to avoid the acoustic sound of my bass, but I'm not sure how I would do this well. I've tried connecting my amp straight to my laptop with a normal jack lead, using Audacity, but there is hideous amounts of fuzz and a bit of delay on the playback.

Could someone suggest a complete direct recording setup please, bearing in mind that I'm a student, so money isn't too plentiful.

I have an Acer V3 731 laptop, if that's of any use.
Thanks

Hello,
you need an usb-audiointerface. The cheapest ones start around 40$ like the Behringer UCA-202. The more expensive ones have microphone-inputs often with phantom power.
There are mixing desks under 100$ that have integrated usb audio-interfaces from different companies. With a small mixer you have much more flexibility.
If your notebook has digital inputs koaxial or optical (sometimes it's the same input as the analog audio input but you need a different cable) and you have an old dat-recorder or minidisk-recorder, you could use those as analog/digital converters.
But even the cheaper usb-interfaces are of decent quality.

Dirk

I have a Focusrite Scarlett interface box. The best thing about it - there is a dedicated monitor function in the box itself, so the sound you hear is real time - no sound card delay or latency whatsoever.

Line 6 UX 1 is popular and comes with some guitarsim trials build in. I use MAudio gear which has sketchy reliability but is very cost effective.

Get REAPER as your DAW and you're off and running.

Yes, you need appropriate tools. Buy an interface sound card for your computer. You absolutely have to do this, even if you buy a cheap one.

Then you need a DAW. Don't use Audacity, that's not meant for recording. Reaper is great, and propbably the cheapest you can get, - at ca. $ 37 I think. Free trial.

An individual/non-commercial use Reaper license is currently $60 US.

And my interface of choice is an Akai EIE.

I bought a Presonus Audiobox USB interface for $145 at GC last year. It came with Studio One Artist software. All of it has been extremely useful and totally worth the money.