Amplitube - too much noise

Hi,

I'm a happy user of Cubase SX (v.1.0.6). I recently got Amplitube and I like it a lot. I'm plugging my guitar on my PC line in through my Korg Pandora PX1. It follows the recommendations of the makers of Amplitube saying that you need to match the output of your setup to the input of the soundcard (I think!). I actually prefer the sounds I get this way as opposed to plugging directly the guitar in the PC. The clean sounds sound much much better, fuller, brighter, they sound really good, I love it!

It gets complicated though when I use high gain settings for very "heavy" sounds. Then I get a LOT LOT of noise, and it gets even worse with the Pandora plugged in. It's better with the guitar straight in the PC, but still too noisy... It doesn't seem to be the guitar (it stays the same with the guitar unplugged), and I don't know what to do... Does anybody have any suggestions? Would it help if I used a noise gate? Does it exist as a VST plugin?

Thanks for the help,

Olivier

I know what you are going through, it is bad !
I have been there my self with Boss pedals.

First up an noise gate wont help as it only cuts out noise between bursts of playing, what you need to do is stop noise from getting in in the first place.

Are you using single coil pickups ?
Do you have fluorescent tube lighting near the guitar ?
Is your computer monitor on when you are playing ?
Have you eliminated any ground loops ?
Are there any other things that could be generating "electronic" noise in the vicinity.

All of these things are easily fixed and if not, then we can have another think.

Originally Posted by: Dr_simonAre you using single coil pickups ?
Do you have fluorescent tube lighting near the guitar ?
Is your computer monitor on when you are playing ?
Have you eliminated any ground loops ?
Are there any other things that could be generating "electronic" noise in the vicinity.

All of these things are easily fixed and if not, then we can have another think.

Hey Dr! Thanks a lot for your help. My pickups are humbuckers (seymour duncan, jeff beck and jazz model), so I don't think that's it. No fluorescent lighting, but the TV is about 4 feet from me when I play (less than 2 ft from the preamp). Could that be it? I can't remember if it was on or off when I was playing so I'll try again. My monitor is a LCD monitor, so I don't think it can be a problem. My Korg preamp is on the computer and next to the TV, should I move it?

Also, the wire connecting the preamp to the computer is quite long and is "hi-fi" type, with a big jack going into female RCAs, then male RCAs going to a small jack... it's not a regular guitar jack.

How can I make sure that all my guitar metal components are properly grounded?

I'm going to try looking into all this things. Thanks a lot!

OK, I replaced my long big jack -> M RCA / F RCA -> small jack by a short guitar amp cable on a small jack adapter and it seems like there is a lot less noise. I'll try that tomorrow (baby's sleeping!). Night! :p

OK, it's solved; I had the recording input set to line-in and the level was way too high (max...). I turned it to 0 and now everything is peachy. Thanks! :cool:

Cool, happy recording !

Well, almost solved. :o

It seems like I need to adjust the recording input level for the soundcard line-in input every time I switch between a clean sound and a heavily distorted sound. Or that I need to adjust the noise gate threshold of most presets. In short, when I use clean sounds (no gain or almost no gain), looking at the input light (making sure I reach the green) and listening to the output, it sounds better when I raise the recording input level (to about 50%). If the input level is too low, my sound is sort of flat.

Then, when I switch to a hi-gain sound, I need to either lower the rec input level (close to 0%) to reduce the background noise that becomes quite invading, or to change the noise gate threshold to stop that noise, which is not ideal because it still is there when I play.

Anyone with the same problem? Or can anybody just use amplitube with the same level settings for the guitar input no matter what the preset is? I don't mind that much considering how good that thing sounds, but it would be heaven on Earth if I could just set the soundcard input level once and for all and never worry about it again... :p

The problem is the out put is not matched between your clean and dirty channels.

Three solutions:

1) record the clean and dirty tracks on different channels i.e. separately

2) balance the output of the clean and dirty channel

3) record the whole lot as a clean channel and add distortion later with a plugin.

Expect to have to adjust input level with every different input signal !
Unfortunately this is one of those "whatever it takes to get a good recording" moments.

Hello there,

Try using a noise reduction plug when using Amplitube or any other VST amp modeller, in case u haven't tried it. I'll explain it with reference to Waves X-noise plug but the process should be similar for any alternative plugs.

Record your guitar track as normal, making sure your input levels are satisfactory.

Now open the .wav and fire up X-Noise. Click the 'Learn Profile' button and then play the initial portion of ur recording (before anything is played). Stop playback and disable the learn. The plug now has the profile for the non-musical content of ur recording, this works better if u haven't palm muted prior to ur first note. Preview the effects of the plug using the 'Difference' button. Adjust the threshold and reduction until u can hear just the noise, u might need to crank ur monitor level up for this part. Don't be tempted to reduce too much of the signal as it can kill some important harmonics.

Havin applied the plug, try playing back thru amplitube...should be a helluva lot cleaner.

You can record the noise seperately by hitting record and not playing anything, but I prefer to use the beginning of the recording. This way the noise profile will be more accurate for that take, ur exact sitting positions, levels, etc.

Even if u think your overall sound is clean enough through amplitube, try using a little noise reduction on the raw .wav and the sound becomes a whole lot cleaner.

Hope this helps.