I am simply trying to record a guitar part onto a real band song. The song was originally generated in the band in a box.

Is there some way I can hear the effects while I’m playing them rather than only hear them after the recording is done?

Seems like there should be a way to do that but I can’t figure out what it is.

Thanks.

Michael

In Audio Prefs, enable Input Monitoring. This lets you hear them.
You can optionally choose to also record the IM signal (or record dry and FX later).

Then on the selected (armed) track right-click and select Port, scroll to bottom and select Input Monitoring as the Port.
(this was from memory so some details/labels may be a little off)
I can verify in a bit and add images.

Added images..

For some reason I don’t get the input monitor port that you’re showing. All mine shows is my Focusrite box.

Also if I select ASIO call my sound sounds muddy. I don’t know what’s going on.

What you are seeing here is exactly the type of reason I switched away from Real Band.
I watched a few of the "how to record your band" videos on Reaper.fm and everything seemed so easy and trouble free.
I installed the 60 days for free version of Reaper and never looked back.

of course that is only my experience, but the Reaper videos walk you through everything so easily.

Maybe there is similar stuff available for RealBand but I never found it.

Well I’m not experienced enough to make any judgments about the quality of any particular application.

All I can say is if I plug a guitar into Real Band, I should be able to: (a) hear myself playing, (b) hear real time affects, and (c) record the track. If I can’t be done then there’s some sort of a problem I would think.

Probably something I am doing wrong, but I have no idea what it is.

What Focusrite Box?

If it is an audio Interface and the sound is muddy you have something set wrong.
In my top image I had the WAS driver selected (which I never use). The ASIO Focusrite drivers have worked flawlessly for tens of thousands of people including me.
It is important to get them set up right, but once you do it should work as advertised.
I know many of us have used this feature.

Is the Track you've selected to record on set to be an Audio track (track type).
If it is a MIDI track you won't see the Input Monitor option shown in my second image.

To answer your question, yes it is an audio track. It is just a guitar plugged straight into the Focusrite box. Just thought maybe I could record the guitar direct like that and take advantage of the built-in effects in real time (i.e. not applied after the take), but it is sounding like this is not possible.

The Box is Focusrite 18i8.

Thanks.

Michael

It should definitely be possible,
and listening to audio via the 18i8 ASIO should NOT be muddy unless something is set up wrong.
Post screen shots please.
May need to include how the Focusrite Mixer is set up too (separate app).

Also make sure the Focusrite settings match the bitrate you are using in RB.
And you could also try enabling ASIO always on (image below).

Like I said, if you could post screen shots of the settings it would probably help a lot.
Calling the Focusrite 18i8 'the Focusrite box' is ambiguous; try to be clear and concise so we can help better.

You may need to check the inputs that your guitar is plugged into. Maybe you're not getting enough input signal. I believe you can also view the inputs in Realband and you can see if that is high enough.

Screen shots are attached.

personally - and i stress this is a personal opinion - i'd record without fx. i know some guitarists like to play to the fx - like delay but if you record with fx that's what you get and you are stuck with it. some of the guitar Real Tracks have a di version and you might like to experiment with the di track and amplitube to see what you can get from a simple straight input. you can vary the drive from slightly dirty to screaming lead. you can add delay and change the repeats and timing to suit the song. add chorus and play around with the settings. and its non destructive - tomorrow you can tweak it if you've had second thoughts.

in the dim and distant days when i used pro studios, the feeling was that a guitarist might like to record the drive/overdrive sound of a pedal or processor or rack to get 'their sound', but add time based fx on the desk.

it's purely a preference and i can see why you might want to hear overdrive when you play to play to the sustain you get but even then i'd find it easier to use a pedal like a tube screamer to set the drive and distortion i like (my favorite is an Ibanez Mostortion i bought years ago) as twiddling physical knobs to get the sound I want is easier than manipulating digital fx with a mouse.

EDIT - I see in another thread you say it is working better now.
Therefore take the below with a grain of salt.


I'm pretty sure BiaB files are 14/44. Try setting your ASIO driver to 16/44 instead of 24 .. that's the first thing I see.

Once we solve the 'sounds like noise' issue we can look at Focusrite mixer.
We may need to see the Input side, you showed the output side.

The Focusrite mixer takes a little tinkering with sometimes to get things to go wehre they are expected, but it should not sound bad at all.

I tended to record in Sonar and had it set to record flat (without effects) however it still had effects on it whilst playing I prefer to hear guitar that way. Only the recording did not have the effects. Similar can be done in Reaper by setting up the recording point on the way into the track (before effects) rather than out (after effects). That allowed me to add effects later including what Amp Sim I wanted. For example use TH3 on the way in then maybe Guitar Rig on the final product.

Understand however having effects turned on can increase latency so don’t have too much going on at the same time. I.E. don’t have a bunch of MIDI tracks going to synths and something like Ozone of the Master track (you’ll be waiting an age to hear your note)

I don’t know if setting up the record point can be done in RealBand (I don’t use it)

Edit: having another look, Cakewalk records flat even though I have effects on the track so nothing really requires setting.

Tony

Yes, you can Monitor (hear) the FX in real time, but record the track either with/without those FX.
Been that way for many years, and very few complaints, so pretty sure it was some kind of config issue.