Budget guitars through Cubase

neil68

Hi
I have an Ibanez RGA32, which I feel quite comfortable with and like the sounds I get through my THR10x. However, I don't really like what I hear when I record in Cubase (Ai 8) as it just sounds so 'digital' and sort of flat at the top end. I found one tutuorial to explain how to set up inserts in Cubase, but was wondering if you have anymore tips.

http://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/electric-guitar-effects-chains

Saying that, I wonder if it is just down to the guitar's pick ups. Part of me wonders if it is worth buying replacements (Seymour Duncan Blackouts perhaps) or going down the route of another budget guitar, with single coils pups. My aim is to record a bunch of tracks (I have a  Bass too) that have a punchy 70/80's new wave, punk sound.

dogload

How are you recording the guitar? 

Also, are you using any amp sims? I have Cubase 6.5 and the standard Cubase Amp Sim VST is not that great. I use it from time to time, but much prefer 3rd party plugins like Amplitube and Guitar Rig. However I also use a free one called California Sun which yo can get HERE. Basic but has a nice chimy clean sound (and sometimes useful dirty channel).
There are loads of free guitar pedal VSTs to download if you have a root around. 

neil68

Guitar - THR10x amp - Cubase on the PC via USB

I'll have another look for VSTs, although one I had suggested to me last year didn't sound any different to what I was getting already.

Strangefan

You need to look at speaker
simulation, guitar rig is great , any decent guitar will record well if it sound good by default you just have to adapt your recording setup for recording guitar, the guitar in my opinion is the least important factor when it comes to digital recording, 

neil68

Strangefan said:

the guitar in my opinion is the least important factor when it comes to digital recording, 

that's kinda what I was wondering. I'm just about to download guitar rig now 

Strangefan

I use an alesis quardoverb for guitar input, it has a decent speaker sim but I always use guitar rig to make any changes post recording, 

Strangefan

https://imgur.com/gallery/Ux2IP

Thisbis is the current set up

neil68

Slayer and keyboards?  Impressive
I'm keeping things simple for what I want to do. Am I right in thinking guitar rig is 160 then? or is there a non pro version with more amps than the initial download?

Strangefan

Hahah I have a very eclectic music taste lol, wow that's a lot of cash, do you have any old multi fx pedals as most have decent speaker sims these days , so the sound card is very important ,having decentt preamps really helps 

blobb

Just on your orignal point, yes I defnitely realised why budget guitars are cheap when I recorded a mate of mine nailing a real good improv piece. I had a rough old Tangelwood Strat copy lying around and for some reason it really got him in the mood for some raw but beautiful playing. The low harmonic content of the pickups was ok when monitoring it, but when I was mixing it there was nothing to work with.  The background riffing I did on something with more quality and the difference was astounding. Not sure this is the answer to your question, as you really need to explore all the options what what you have captured before you can say it's purely a pickup thing. Cab IR's make the world of difference for a start.

neil68

Strangefan said:

do you have any old multi fx pedals as most have decent speaker sims these days

Nah, until recently I didn't have an electric for a few years.

blobb said:

The low harmonic content of the pickups was ok when monitoring it, but when I was mixing it there was nothing to work with.  The background riffing I did on something with more quality and the difference was astounding. Not sure this is the answer to your question, as you really need to explore all the options what what you have captured before you can say it's purely a pickup thing. Cab IR's make the world of difference for a start.

I'll have to look into Cab Impulse Response (?) too now But I think what you have said is maybe what i'm thinking, that I am not capturing the dynamic range that I think the guitar is creating.

I've had a play around with Guitar Rig and cannot justify the cost; I could recreate the sounds with a bit of patience in Cubase alone, but still not be satisfied, lol!

p90fool

Given that the only thing in your signal chain that isn't a fake or a simulation is the guitar I'd look elsewhere for the problem in all honesty.

I'm willing to bet that the guitar would record perfectly well through a good amp played loud via a decent mic and preamp, and this is what you're trying to replicate.
 I'm in no way a technophobe and happily record direct all the time, but sometimes you have to take a step back and reassess your goal and your approach.

thegummy

For me there's definitely a point under which pickups sound terrible but the fact you describe the unpleasantness as digital makes me think it's not the pickups that's causing the problem

neil68

p90fool said:

Given that the only thing in your signal chain that isn't a fake or a simulation is the guitar I'd look elsewhere for the problem in all honesty...

 but sometimes you have to take a step back and reassess your goal and your approach.

I did actually think about doing this a year or so ago and have thought about just getting some songs down in cubase and then recording them in a local studio.

thegummy said:

For me there's definitely a point under which pickups sound terrible but the fact you describe the unpleasantness as digital makes me think it's not the pickups that's causing the problem

if I was actually any good on the guitar, i'd upload a few samples to demonstrate what I mean by "digital"