Being a beginner Iāve found it useful to play guitar along with original audio tracks and sometimes ones with bits removed through Moises. However getting a decent balance of guitar and music is tricky. Phone is a no go as one drowns out the other. Hifi a bit better but still not ideal.
Basically looking for kit / pedal with headphone out and aux in that will allow me to blend both inputs into a decent mix into headphones.
Is the Katana Go good when it comes to sound and setting the balance between sources? Does it play nice with an acoustic? Otherwise Iāve been looking at pedals but the price goes pretty north pretty quickly with things like the Darkglass Element Headphone amp and the Canvas rehearsal pedal. Is there a better solution that will handle acoustic sound well? I keep seeing looper pedals but donāt want the hassle of having to load each track into a pedal first, an aux in would be a must.
I would politely say before anyone suggests that I know the best setup would probably be an audio interface into a computer and being able to scroll tab in guitar pro and play along would be good but I want something simple that means Iām practicing not tinkering with kit*
Basically:
Quick to setup
Suitable for acoustic
Blends the guitar and background track well into headphones.
Thanks in advance.
I have a pretty big work station computer in a room whose space doesnāt lend itself well to sitting in and playing guitar. Plus I also run Linux so I can already imagine the joys of getting open source acoustic cabsims and DAWs and cable routing all talking to each other and ALSA and Pipewire . Donāt get me wrong Iām all over playing around with that sort of stuff but I know Iād spend more time perfecting that and tinkering rather than practicing.
I donāt really have an answer for you because my setup is running Moises on my iPad, connected to an audio interface connected to a Yamaha acoustic amp. The one observation I will make is that some degree of faffing will always be necessary because no 2 audio tracks ever seem to be recorded at the same volume, so I play one song and itās all great, move onto the next track and Iāve likely got to give the levels a nudge (not a huge amount of faff, generally a small tweak to one dial but itās not set-and-forget)
I should stress that Iām not worried about that level of faff. Indeed there is always going to be some need to balance different audio recordings, thatās why I was wondering about the ability to blend sources on the bits of kit I mentioned.
Do you need an audio interface if your using an acoustic amp? Presumably you could just use aux in for ipad and headphone out on the amp or does it not have these or is the sound of headphones out on amps generally not very good?
Technically you are right - I could bypass the audio interface.
The only reason I donāt is my iPad is the main computer I have. Sometimes I play acoustic, other times I play electric, and sometimes I just use the amp for playing music from iTunes. Going via the audio interface all the time means that when I switch from one activity to another thereās no cables to connect and disconnect. But yes you are right, with an audio cable into the amp from the iPad (avoiding Bluetooth lag), the audio interface isnāt necessary for acoustic guitar playing over Moises
(My iPad doesnāt have headphone out but itās inexpensive to buy a USB-C hub that does have audio out if that was what I wanted to do)
for playing acoustic? I just play along with a recording from my computer speakers. I have a bluetooth page-turner pedal I can use to start/stop playback.
donāt see the point of using headphones when playing an acoustic guitar.
I feed YouTube into my Fender Acoustasonic amp via a Bluetooth dongle, my Taylor is connected to the amp by Line 6 Relay G10, and headphones connected to the headphone jack on the amp. I can balance the video volume to the guitar volume to my liking.
Not quite sure if this is what you are asking about. I have a very simple system for playing along with an audio track. I just plug headphones into my computer and then adjust the volume until I can hear both the audio and my guitar. Works well enough for my practice.
yeah, it doesnāt need to be a complicated setup. this is easy. probably gives you a bit better control of the audio levels than I have going without headphones.
Itās also worth bringing up that I also have a Boss Rhythm Station drum machine. Itās completely self-contained with its own speaker. I play along with it all the time and I just set the volume on it so I can hear it at a level that balances with my guitar.
Thanks for the tip. Iāll have a play around again. I have tried that before but even with one can off Iām finding it hard to balance both sound inputs, especially when itās a particularly busy track with lots going on. Hence my feeling it may be easier with both sounds balanced well from the same mix source inputted more immediately into headphones.
I have one of these, great bit of kit same tech as in their Spark amps, interfaces to computer and mobile devices, come with around 10 amp models, and 20 effects pedals in BIAS FX. Interfaces to DAWs
@AJSki2fly Thanks for the info. Iāll do a bit of reading up as this may come in handy.
II think Iām tempted for something similar to katana go as I basically want to be able to pick up guitar and headphones and play without worrying about computers but this could be handy done the line. Thanks.
Hi, if you are talking about a Katana amp then try it first or be able to return. I know someone who had a smaller one and gave up with it due to poor sound quality, good for what they do but limited.
Might be worth considering a PositiveGrid Spark has great reviews, and all the RIFf functionality built in, several price levels to choose from.
I think the answer is yes, this is from there site info on it, but I would be cautious using Bluetooth,WiFi interfaces for music play along and recording, as often latency issue can be introduced. If you go for one make sure you can return it incase.
ā * Wirelessly edit sounds and play along with music from your mobile device via BluetoothĀ®
Companion BOSS Tone Studio app with powerful tools for sound editing, memory organization, and YouTube practiceā
This is pretty much the definition of a mixer. I use them all the time - plug in my guitar, drums / backing track and vocals - mix appropriately and output to a PA speaker.
Behringer do some great inexpensive models and they will usually include an AI too, so you can record to a DAW if you want to.
Since itās an acoustic guitar, I assume itās pluggable (electro-acoustic).
If simply adjusting the volume of the backing track as others suggested isnāt enough, then what you need is a mixer. Itās the simplest and most effective thing in my opinion. A 3-channel mixer will do (2 channels for the stereo backing track, 1 channel for the guiar). This allows you to independently adjust the volume of each track and pan your guitar. Panning is huge but is often overlooked. Finding space in the mix and placing your guitar there goes a long way.
You can plug your headphones directly into the mixer, connect it to external speakers, or both.
Mixers are very cheap. A decent new 5-channel mixer costs less than 50ā¬ (Behringer Xenyx 302USB) which does even more than what I described above (EQ, phantom powe, etcā¦).
Using a mixer is compatible with both an electric or an electro-acoustic guitar. Note however that you canāt connect any of those directly to the mixer. You need a pedal or an amp to bring the sound from instrument level to line level.
This is not an all-in-a-box solution, but itās cheap, effective, and modular. It will fit any hardware you get in the future and any way you decide to expand your setup.
Guitar ā Amp/pedal ā Mixer ā Backing track.
I have a virtual version of this setup at home because I lack the space. I use an audio interface and a DAW. The DAW is essentially my mixer, amp, and effect pedal. I use the physical setup that I described when practicing in a different space.
. Donāt get me wrong Iām all over playing around with that sort of stuff but I know Iād spend more time perfecting that and tinkering rather than practicing.