XLR8R

Ever wanted to mod your iPod, set up your stereo properly, or organize your record shelves? Six experts explain how.

How to Digitally Process Your Guitar
With Christopher Willits

Not only does San Francisco-based Christopher Willits have releases on Ghostly International, 12k, Ache, and Sub Rosa, but he also teaches sound art and design workshops at the SF Art Institute and Bay Area Video Coalition. "There are tons of ways to process a guitar with a computer, and no right or wrong method," he advises. "Experiment to find the sound you need."

1. Get a Clean Source Signal
Make sure you have a strong, solid signal from your guitar. Good pickups will make your guitar output hotter, as well as using new, good-quality strings (I use Seymour Duncan humbuckers and Ernie Ball strings). And don't skimp on a heavy-duty quarter-inch cable. Every connection from the guitar to your computer can add noise to the signal path. Be wary of cathode ray tube (CRT) computer monitors, too, which can create a nasty (or tasty) hum.

2. Use Preamps and Analog Processing
Using a preamp to boost your guitar output before an audio interface will help you avoid extra noise in your signal. And don't feel like you need to do everything in the computer. Mix analog and digital signal processing. Analog distortion may sound better and it's one less thing for your computer to process. I use battery-powered preamps and pedals in case a European show doesn't have a voltage converter. My preamp recommendations: the Line 6 Pod and the SansAmp Classic.

3. Choose Your Direct Interface (DI) and Audio Interface
I like to use an active DI (either a Countryman or a SansAmp) following my preamp, and I output to an audio interface that has XLR inputs (MOTU Traveler). This protects the signal from radio interference, making it more robust. There are a lot of FireWire audio interfaces with XLR inputs (bus-powered interfaces don't hurt), but make sure you have phantom power on your interface to power the active DI–or make sure the DI takes batteries.

4. Be Careful of Latency
Latency (delayed input vs. output) can be especially annoying if you are playing to a pulse or a drummer. Set your audio interface input/output buffer size to no more than 512 samples (128 or 256 even better). Less buffer size equals less latency and also more processing tax. Get the fastest computer that you can afford and fill it with as much RAM as possible.

5. Use Your Feet
I free my hands for playing guitar and mixing control, and I use a Behringer FCB1010 MIDI pedal to control my software, Ableton Live, and the plug-ins I make with Max/MSP/Jitter. I use the computer for nonlinear processing, folding, frequency-domain munging, etc. Unless you are doing something similarly fun, stick with chains of analog foot pedals. You won't need worry about computer issues, and will have more time to play your guitar!

12345