Newbie Recording Help Please

Adey

I bought a cheap laptop recently to use primarily for learning to use recording / DAW software on.

But I'm struggling...

I'm using Reaper at the mo, and have been trying to record my attempts at bass guitar. My bass amp is a Laney Nexus, which has a USB output for recording on the back of it. There doesn't seem to be any reference to drivers needed by Laney, so I have downloaded ASIO4ALL.

I can record stuff, but the levels seem so low I can barely hear it when played back through the PC's speakers. I doesn't sem to matter how high the voulme is on the amp, the volume when I playback is pathetic.

I was thinking of just buying a Focusrite 2i2 and doing without the amp completely.

What am I doing wrong?

I did have a go a couple of years ago with my guitar through the Laney IRT Studio I have, and that seemed to work OK.

It all seems a bit of a faff at the moment.

andy_k

If I recall correctly, there are setting for levels in Asio4all, and there may be some better drivers available for the Laney, I had similar setup issues with my Boss Katana, these are complex do it all amps with sometimes overly complicated driver setups / apps.
There may be generic settings in Reaper which use Windows drivers, and you just have to persevere with things until you get results. Reaper has seldom let me down, but it does sometimes get a bit cryptic.
There are gain settings for the tracks you have recorded in Reaper, which will also bring up the noise levels if the recording is actually too low, you are using the Laney as a DAC, and there should be some form of gain compensation in there somewhere, Asio4all is a bit of a blunt tool, but it does often work when all else fails.
If you use a Focusrite, you will be recording a DI signal, and will have to use software VST to get a similar amp sound, which is what your Laney is providing at the moment, via it's USB directly to Reaper.
There are a few further stages which affect playback volume, and it is usually best to have some way of ensuring a unity level, to allow things to be mixed well, for example, a recorded track wants to be coming in at -18db on the meters, whether it is a DI or an affected track, and the master output on Reaper should be hitting around -1db, everything else in this chain will have to be adjusted to compensate, the actual output level through speakers can be adjusted by the volume on the PC, or the DAC that is powering headphones or speakers, and that level is entirely dependant on your comfortable listening levels.
There are a lot of places to check for gain, and I would start at the amp, if that is what you are using, but keep an eye on what the overall output setting you are using for listening. Hope this is understandable, and don't be afraid to make some notes when you have settings right, ie, it is easy to completely change the laptops output level when you are using it for something else, YT etc.
Generally, Reaper wants to use the same device for I/O, but Asio4all lets you hack that, sometimes with strange consequences.
I suspect there are some Laney drivers / apps available which might help, or even try using native Windows drivers, which can sometimes perform well, I use a Mac for my main work, which makes my memories a bit fuzzy about Win Reaper, and I have been using Linux Reaper, with similar experiences recently.

Heartfeltdawn

Adey said:

I was thinking of just buying a Focusrite 2i2 and doing without the amp completely.

Yes, do it. Buy a secondhand Steinberg UR22 for about £60 and learn on that. There is zero point trying to start out using a discontinued bass head that offers scant information on utilizing the USB output and even more scant info on drivers. 

Buy something that is supported, something that is popular, and something that will have a shitload of tutorials online to help you. 

Snap

Heartfeltdawn said:

Adey said:

I was thinking of just buying a Focusrite 2i2 and doing without the amp completely.

Yes, do it. Buy a secondhand Steinberg UR22 for about £60 and learn on that. There is zero point trying to start out using a discontinued bass head that offers scant information on utilizing the USB output and even more scant info on drivers. 

Buy something that is supported, something that is popular, and something that will have a shitload of tutorials online to help you. 

Yes to all this^

If you want to have a go at any sort of recording guitar, you really do need to get a dedicated interface such as the above. Makes a world of difference, and largely they are plug and play. 

I started off doing similar to you, where effectively your amp is working as an interface - they just aren't really up to it and IME end up giving you loads of problems with levels and latency. A total pain in the arse and discouraging.