Some time ago, I got interested in modeling different amps and effects when recording guitar. I already used Reaper for recording for the last 10+ years, so I finally paid for the full license (only like $60). Reaper’s free version doesn’t have limitation in functionality, but does have a nag screen that pops up for 10 seconds when you start and you can’t use it commercially. Reaper is a full-featured DAW (Digital Audio Workspace) complete with pitch correction, MIDI and tons of other great features and plugins. On its own, you can record some nice quality music. The issue is external equipment… When you are cheap or broke, you likely don’t have one of every amp or pedal ever made to use when recording guitar. That’s where VST plugins come into play.
There are a lot of good VST plugins that allow you to make your guitar sound like it is going through any amp head, cabinet, effects pedal, etc. TH3 is one I played with for a while that I likes a lot, however the one I settled on that fit my needs best was Guitar Rig 5 Player. There’s a pro version as well, but the PLayer version is free. You could set it up on your computer as a stand-alone application, or as a VST plugin inside Reaper, Audacity, Ableton, etc. to record with. It is kind of complicated if you are unfamiliar with VST plugins or just getting started, so I made a how-to video to show step-by-step how to install and actually use Guitar Rig 5 player.
While it comes with a lot of patches to make you sound like different artists, or different songs, or even different styles, you can also google around and find patches online to download that other people have made for free. Note that if someone has the paid version of Guitar Rig 5 Pro, you might not be able to use their patch if it utilized amp and pedal models not available in the free version.
Plugging your guitar into the computer can be a bit of a challenge. You need some kind of interface. I’ve used a lot of things over the years. Up until recently, I used a lot of cheaper Behringer mixers and USB interfaces. I stopped because the drivers became an issue for my Windows 10 setup and Reaper. A friend of mine really like his Yamaha MG10XU mixer that has built-in effects. I’ve switched to what I see a lot of recording folks on youtube using, the Focusrite Scarlet 2i2. Its drivers play nice with everything (except OBS for some reason as you can see in the video above. This is not actually Focusrite’s fault, it’s all OBS’s fault since they don’t support ASIO audio drivers without a plugin and couple of workarounds). These options allow you to connect multiple channels at once so you can get mics and instruments at the same time.
Another option is to get a guitar pedal with a USB interface built in. There’s more on this option below.
Guitar Rig 5 Pro used to be sold with an awesome little MIDI pedal with multiple buttons and an expression pedal you could use to trigger different effects chains in the software or plugin, however it seems hard to find nowadays. Literally any MIDI controller would work, even something you can build yourself for cheap like the Mini UNTZtrument. If you build your own, I recommend forgoing the keypad and instead opt for some actual pedal pushbuttons, and maybe hack an old broken expression pedal from ebay or reverb nation as one of the pots. I’ll have another custom designed post within the next year or so from a project I’ve been working on (or rather which has been sitting on my desk) for a year or so now that is a guitar direct input/pedal/looper using a Teensy microcontroller. I’ve seen a lot of people using the SoftStep 2 and I nearly bought one of these myself (and still might actually…)
Eventually I wanted a bit more… A friend of mine had a Fractal AX8 which has a lot of this functionality built directly into a pedal (including a USB interface). Fractal makes really quality equipment.
A Perfect Circle and lots of other bands tour with Fractal modelers exclusively, then just run their audio out the venue’s monitors.
I can’t afford one of those. I looked for a lower cost solution. I wanted to be able to play without having to bring my laptop everywhere. I opted for a POD HD500x. The HD500X is a bit older, but it has a lot of these same capabilities built into a pedal form. In fact, in comparing to the AX8, there are a (very) few things in which the HD500x sounds a little better.
You can setup your own custom amp, pedal, and effect chains you want (within reason) using Line 6’s HD Pro software. Lots of other peoples’ patches are available for free download on Line 6’s website, but there are lots of people on youtube and online forums either sells or give away patches. This guy’s channel shows you how to set the patches up directly on the pedal itself.Check out the video below showing how that works. It looks quite similar to Guitar Rig Player 5 to some extent which made the switch to using it easy. You can also edit these presets and create new ones directly on the pedal itself if you want to. It is a ridiculously flexible piece of kit! It has a built-in tuner and even a 40 second looper which I love! You can run it as a pedal into an amp like normal (for live shows), or as a USB audio interface to just record awesome riffs, or as a pedal into another audio interface (this is what I typically do), or as a MIDI controller. You can use this as a complete replacement for the Focusrite Scarlet I mentioned above because it has a separate Mic input as well by using this patch. The only difference is that the HD500x doesn’t supply Phantom Power, so you’ll need a driver for that if you use a condenser mic, which is why I have the Scarlet. TIP: Don’t update the firmware to 2.6.2 because it’ll make a lot of the older patches sound horrible. Flash Firmware 2.6.1 is where it’s at. Luckily if you are dumb and updated it like I did, the Line6 Monkey program allows you to rollback the firmware.
I hope this article was helpful for you. Please comment to ask about other things in this area. I haven’t posted much about my music ever even though I’ve been playing and singing for like 20+ years at this point. I’ve only recently gotten more into recording more and digital tools.