How-to - Turn your #! into a guitar amp (Page 1 of 2)

Vansgo · 2012-01-25 01:05:36

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Topic: How-to - Turn your #! into a guitar amp

How-to - Turn your #! into a guitar amp

rhowaldt has suggested that I start a how-to on this project. So here we go #!

I have identified four key elements:

1) linux-image-2.6-liquorix-686 - for real-time and low latency

2) qjackctl - for audio transport/connections

3) jack-rack - to add the amp controllers/effects

4) LADSPA plugins - the source of amps and effects

All of these basic elements are available from the default #! repositories.

The goal here is to connect your electric guitar/synth/instrument to your laptop/PC directly and have the sound come out over your speakers, without needing an external amp.

This is a good starting point and I will continue to develop and edit content for this topic as it evolves.

Hardware used:
Acer Aspire One with Intel(R) Atom(TM) CPU N270 @ 1.60GHz - with only 1GB RAM

VastOne · 2012-01-25 01:53:56

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Re: How-to - Turn your #! into a guitar amp

Nice.

Can you explain how you are jacking in? Do you have a reducer/adapter for a regular guitar cord that you are then using in one of the input jacks of your soundcard?

Vansgo · 2012-01-25 02:09:54

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Re: How-to - Turn your #! into a guitar amp

Yes, I have some more details to fill in and will work with this

1/4' guitar output jack with 1/8" plug or adapter as input to laptop mic jack/sound-card - there is only one physical in/out on this laptop.

So now we are running a straight line from guitar to laptop/sound-card, no preamp required.

NOTE:
I also close any browser sessions or audio players so as not to conflict with or block the sound resources we will be using.

falldown · 2012-01-25 02:11:23

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Re: How-to - Turn your #! into a guitar amp

Very interesting!! The sky is the limit as far as the uses for this. Preamp, passive EQ, multi-track recorder.. ect, ect.. Very cool!

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Vansgo · 2012-01-25 02:29:46

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Re: How-to - Turn your #! into a guitar amp

The sky is only limited by your CPU and RAM - to much audio processing at once can cause problems. This technique requires the device to sample audio, buffer and playback in "real-time". Thats why I use the liquorix kernel.

True, many LADSPA plugins to choose from for all the amps, preamps, eq's, etc.

For Multi-track recording I like Traverso, used in a similar way.

Vansgo · 2012-01-25 02:41:41

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Re: How-to - Turn your #! into a guitar amp

OK so now we are plugged in -

Start "qjackctl" from terminal or run line. - you may have to adjust frames/buffers in "setup" tab

then start "jack-rack"

now you can open the connections tab from qjackctl and connect system to jack-rack and jack-rack to system like the screenshot. Image also shows "lingot" guitar tuner.

Vansgo · 2012-01-25 03:06:29

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Re: How-to - Turn your #! into a guitar amp

Here is a shot of the qjackctl setup:

Vansgo · 2012-01-25 03:12:03

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Re: How-to - Turn your #! into a guitar amp

and a shot of the qjackctl connections, at this point, if the guitar is not plugged in, I get feedback from the system.

Vansgo · 2012-01-25 03:19:52

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Re: How-to - Turn your #! into a guitar amp

and a shot of the mixer setup. By default, ALSA is being used for this project, but that should already be installed anyway.

Vansgo · 2012-01-25 03:32:08

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Re: How-to - Turn your #! into a guitar amp

next, we can select and rack the LADSPA amps, etc. with the "add" tab or button

Vansgo · 2012-01-25 03:36:24

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Re: How-to - Turn your #! into a guitar amp

then enable the amp and adjust the levels

pvsage · 2012-01-25 06:38:38

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Re: How-to - Turn your #! into a guitar amp

How much latency are you getting from jack-rack itself? The processing involved in even the simplest amp/effects modeler is significant...

This does look like a very interesting project, and it might do in a pinch if you don't have the real thing handy, but I don't foresee many Linux guitarists selling off their toob ampz & pedalz...especially when you could scratch-build a really good amp and buy a nice instrument speaker for less than the cost of a new netbook.

while ( ! ( succeed = try() ) );

mynis01 · 2012-01-25 07:03:05

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Re: How-to - Turn your #! into a guitar amp

I actually have a proper amp-emulation setup using NI Guitar Rig 3/Overloud TH-1 in Windows with a Behringer FCB-1010 midi pedal and an inexpensive but proper input chain with a Radial passive DI box and a M-Audio delta 1010 LT. All in all, the gear would cost you around $300 (plus a guitar and some speakers) but the sound and flexibility is amazing. You just tap the pedal to change presets and go from a Marshal Half Stack Death Metal rig to a Vox Jimi Hendrix Fuzz style sound. Every single fx pedal you can imagine is right at your finger tips (err....foot tips?) as well, from the cry baby to a harmonix synthesizer. The linux guitar amp software was decent but denfately had some kinks to work out. One thing I can say though, is the last thing I ever worry about when using JACK is latency. That's probably the best thing about using 'nix for music stuff, you can actually get a lot better latency than you can in Windows with the exact same hardware. I think I'm going to install AV Linux on my desktop soon and see how that's coming along. They've been working on wineASIO, and a wrapper that would allow you to run windows VST plugins as an LADSPA instrument/effect. It would be interesting to see how compatibility with that stuff has come along, as well as all the native apps like JACK rack and guitarix. My main issue with guitarix was just the volume knobs being too....jumpy. It didn't really seem like there was a smooth curve going from 1 to 10. Sometimes I would tap the pedal a tad with my foot and the sound would go from "moderately audible" to "I think I might need new monitors."

rhowaldt · 2012-01-25 07:46:16

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Re: How-to - Turn your #! into a guitar amp

thanks Vansgo, will check this out when i have some time on my hands. as i said in the other thread, looking to connect my synth to my laptop because i don't have an external amp.
i agree with pvsage that an external amp isn't terribly expensive, but i'd like to make this work the way i want anyway, even if it is only so i don't have to pull out an entire amp each time i wanna play with my synth (my setup is too portable for that).

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pvsage · 2012-01-25 07:48:02

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Re: How-to - Turn your #! into a guitar amp

@Mynis01: Ya ever played through a really nice SE amp like a Champ 5F1 or an AC5? Once you've played through the real thing, the lag in any kind of emulator becomes quite noticeable. (PP amps like the Plexi are also quite lively, but somehow SE amps have a terrific immediacy to their response.) Even the lousy Valve Jr. with its bargain-basement tone crushes emulators.

The 5F1 is a dead-simple amp to build, and a clone can be built for about $80; decent speakers start around $50. I live in Garner...could dig out some of my gear this weekend...

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Vansgo · 2012-01-25 13:04:30

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Re: How-to - Turn your #! into a guitar amp

no time to post much now - this is a project for fun and not intended to replace the Marshall Stack

let me know when you get it working - I will post more later

pvsage · 2012-01-25 15:04:29

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Re: How-to - Turn your #! into a guitar amp

It certainly looks like fun! I'm actually working on a TrainWreck Express Mini-Me (subminiature "pencil" tubes) clone though...also not intended to completely replace a real TW.

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mynis01 · 2012-01-25 17:55:38

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Re: How-to - Turn your #! into a guitar amp

To be honest I rarely pick up my guitar anymore. I would love to learn to build my own amps and synths and stuff though.

pvsage · 2012-01-25 18:09:34

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Re: How-to - Turn your #! into a guitar amp

^ wattkins.com - join the Tone per Buck Club. Great community! They are to amp building forums as CrunchBang is to Linux forums.

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VastOne · 2012-01-25 19:28:28

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Re: How-to - Turn your #! into a guitar amp

^ Then I must join that one... Been thinking about building my own also.

Thanks for the links and heads up pvsage ..

pvsage · 2012-01-25 22:24:58

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Re: How-to - Turn your #! into a guitar amp

I'll give them a heads-up that "The nerds are coming!"

I'm also an admin there, by the way...

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VastOne · 2012-01-25 22:32:28

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Re: How-to - Turn your #! into a guitar amp

^ Nice... Joined and I am impressed... A massive amount of information

Again, thanks!

Vansgo · 2012-01-25 22:39:59

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Re: How-to - Turn your #! into a guitar amp

pvsage wrote:

How much latency are you getting from jack-rack itself? The processing involved in even the simplest amp/effects modeler is significant...

My understanding is the latency factors are set with jack audio controller and then jack-rack
uses those settings for processing. I am plugged in now and hear no perceptible delay from playing to playback. I think up to 11ms is considered acceptable for real-time. I have used these latency setting with jack and Traverso to multi-track record in real-time and the tracks synch up. One good sign is "no xruns" from jack with this amp setup - that indicates it is processing clean and smooth

Vansgo · 2012-02-04 19:10:56

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Re: How-to - Turn your #! into a guitar amp

I have found a better amp setup with the LADSPA options - by jacked into a preamp first, then an amp followed by a cabinet - nice controls over tone/output/mix

Testing with 3.2 Kernel next and no real-time option

pvsage · 2012-02-04 19:36:15

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Re: How-to - Turn your #! into a guitar amp

^ So basically, you found you get better results by putting the preamp first, with the cab simulation after the power amp? In other words, a virtual stack?

Kernel 3.2 seems to be more efficient than 2.6.39...if latency wasn't an issue with the older backported 686 kernel, it should be no problem with 3.2.

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How-to - Turn your #! into a guitar amp (Page 1 of 2)

Posts [ 1 to 25 of 27 ]

1 Topic by Vansgo 2012-01-25 01:05:36

Topic: How-to - Turn your #! into a guitar amp

2 Reply by VastOne 2012-01-25 01:53:56

Re: How-to - Turn your #! into a guitar amp

3 Reply by Vansgo 2012-01-25 02:09:54

Re: How-to - Turn your #! into a guitar amp

4 Reply by falldown 2012-01-25 02:11:23

Re: How-to - Turn your #! into a guitar amp

5 Reply by Vansgo 2012-01-25 02:29:46

Re: How-to - Turn your #! into a guitar amp

6 Reply by Vansgo 2012-01-25 02:41:41

Re: How-to - Turn your #! into a guitar amp

7 Reply by Vansgo 2012-01-25 03:06:29

Re: How-to - Turn your #! into a guitar amp

8 Reply by Vansgo 2012-01-25 03:12:03

Re: How-to - Turn your #! into a guitar amp

9 Reply by Vansgo 2012-01-25 03:19:52

Re: How-to - Turn your #! into a guitar amp

10 Reply by Vansgo 2012-01-25 03:32:08

Re: How-to - Turn your #! into a guitar amp

11 Reply by Vansgo 2012-01-25 03:36:24

Re: How-to - Turn your #! into a guitar amp

12 Reply by pvsage 2012-01-25 06:38:38

Re: How-to - Turn your #! into a guitar amp

13 Reply by mynis01 2012-01-25 07:03:05

Re: How-to - Turn your #! into a guitar amp

14 Reply by rhowaldt 2012-01-25 07:46:16

Re: How-to - Turn your #! into a guitar amp

15 Reply by pvsage 2012-01-25 07:48:02

Re: How-to - Turn your #! into a guitar amp

16 Reply by Vansgo 2012-01-25 13:04:30

Re: How-to - Turn your #! into a guitar amp

17 Reply by pvsage 2012-01-25 15:04:29

Re: How-to - Turn your #! into a guitar amp

18 Reply by mynis01 2012-01-25 17:55:38

Re: How-to - Turn your #! into a guitar amp

19 Reply by pvsage 2012-01-25 18:09:34

Re: How-to - Turn your #! into a guitar amp

20 Reply by VastOne 2012-01-25 19:28:28

Re: How-to - Turn your #! into a guitar amp

21 Reply by pvsage 2012-01-25 22:24:58

Re: How-to - Turn your #! into a guitar amp

22 Reply by VastOne 2012-01-25 22:32:28

Re: How-to - Turn your #! into a guitar amp

23 Reply by Vansgo 2012-01-25 22:39:59

Re: How-to - Turn your #! into a guitar amp

24 Reply by Vansgo 2012-02-04 19:10:56

Re: How-to - Turn your #! into a guitar amp

25 Reply by pvsage 2012-02-04 19:36:15

Re: How-to - Turn your #! into a guitar amp