Would this be a good place to ask some really basic questions about getting going with Guitar Pro 8?
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Hello @Liazard and welcome to the Community.
Go for it … 
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Thanks! Will do!
a number of folks here use it, so someone might have the answers you seek.
Some of this and some additional background were covered in my Intro post ([Hey from southeast USA]).
After cycling through a good number of scary DAW apps that I seriously have been unable to figure out (I feel like I’m wasting practice time on them anyway), I’ve landed on Guitar Pro 8 as one of the few that seems to have what I want: a) a well-designed, apparently intuitive interface, and b) it should hopefully let me produce scores and tabs from guitar playing while I play in real time.
Problem is, I’ve installed the GP8 trial but can’t seem to get it going. I’m using a Focusrite Solo interface connected to a laptop running GP8. While I can hear the guitar while I play, of course I can also hear it without GP8 turned on. So as a first step, it would be nice to be able to confirm whether GP8 is even getting the sound. I’ve been through the pdf help file (the “Line In” section on page 199) and it seems to be missing an answer to that.
I’ve set up the settings in “Line In” as shown in the screenshot. One thing I notice is the tuner in GP8 is not responding, so maybe that’s an indicator that the sound is not getting to GP8? I’m also not seeing any response anywhere the GUI graphics.
So my first question is, how do I confirm my audio is getting to GP8?
Second question is if I’m set up right. Screenshot below. Don’t know at this point if the MIDI output fields are needed or how they got filled in (I didn’t do it).
Third question is whether basic effects like reverb and delay etc. are available in GP8? They seem to have a different definition of “effect” so it’s not clear. For example, is there a way to add an effect (say a lot of reverb or something)? That might be a way to know when sound is going through the app and that I’m not just hearing raw sound directly from the interface?
I’m sure I’ll have more questions when (or if 
) I ever get GP8 going, assuming it meets my needs.
Thanks in advance!
First of all, GP8 is NOT a DAW.
You cannot feed in a signal from your guitar → interface → computer signal chain.
Sorry to bring bad news but if that is what you want GP8 is not the software you need.
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It’s definitely not a DAW but I think from Guitar Pro 7.5 they brought in the feature to connect your guitar to play along.
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Yeah, GP8 is good for writing down your scores. But it’s not going to just interpret the score based on what you play. That’s not what it does.
Sure, you can connect your guitar to the interface and play along with the MIDI output from whatever you’ve written out. Yes, there are effects in the program, and there’s a way to apply them to what you’re playing on guitar. But you effectively have to write out the whole guitar score and define the pedal effects chain before any of that will apply to your guitar.
The manual goes into the way these things are meant to be used. I fear the details are not going to be as beginner-friendly (to the tech side of this) as you want. Looking at how it describes the tuner feature, I suspect you have to write out a track at least in part first. It does say, “The tuner is set on the current track’s tuning.” So if you’re trying to use the tuner before you’ve written out anything, then there may be no track at all or whatever empty track you have does not have tuning defined. In short, the software has no reference point for the tuner to compare your instrument to.
GP8 is more useful as a practice tool. Say, you download a song or lesson that was written out by someone else. It has playalong tools that allow you to slow the track down and repeat sections and whatnot to help you learn it. THAT is what the input function is meant to do. And if that piece has multiple tracks on it (drums or bass or simply a recorded backing track or something to accompany the guitar part), it will mute playback of the programmed guitar part so that your guitar playing “takes over” that part. It doesn’t record that. It’s a practice tool.
For me, the act of transcribing a song into GP8 helps me to learn it. It lets me wrap my head around the things I’m supposed to do so the mental part takes less effort when I’m actually trying to play it. And, of course, transcribing something is also helpful if you want to share it with someone else. Maybe you’re collaborating on writing a song. Maybe you’re sharing something with a jam buddy that you want to play together. Stuff like that.
It honestly does sound like you need a headphone amp with all the modeling gizmos you want. Maybe a modeling pedal/pedalboard that can output to headphones so you can play with the effects you want and control them with footswitches.
Or just buckle down and learn how to use a DAW. Highly technical software has a steep learning curve. And a DAW is a highly technical bit of software. You might consider seeking a book that supplies lessons on a particular program of interest. Or maybe find some tutorials on youtube. Or find classes somewhere.
Audacity isn’t really a DAW, but it’s more approachable and can do at least some of what a DAW can do. It might do most of what you want.
I’ve no doubt that there is at least one scoring program that will take what you play and write out the notation for you. But something that can do that will be more expensive than GP8.
Me, when I sit down to play I just want to play. I don’t want to fiddle with the computer and opening programs and checking settings and tweaking stuff just before I can play. If I’m going to record stuff, then that’s fine. I understand that I’ll have to do some of that. Even if I’m just doing a basic recording with a phone, I’m going to have to experiment with some things before the recording sounds right. And that’s before I even deal with playing through the song to my satisfaction. But just to play, I want to be able to just grab my guitar and at most, plug some things in/flip a couple power switches.
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Yes, that seems to be correct:
If you want a reasonably priced DAW I’d recommend Reaper.
Yeah most DAWs have a reasonably steep learning curve but they support multi track recording, mixing and mastering. Reaper is not too complex but with Kenny Gioia
https://www.youtube.com/@REAPERMania
There is a wealth of tutorials from basic to supper complex.
Worth a look.
Most of the audio and sometimes video I have recorded over the years have use Reaper as the DAW centre piece. It’s a good place to start!
Thanks all for your thoughts and suggestions. Looks like GP8 is not what I thought. Looking through some DAW instruction videos now.
People tend to be a bit tribal when it comes to DAWs. I’m no exception. I use Cakewalk Sonar, and maybe the best thing about it is that it has a completely free, fully supported, version.
Ah, but I just had another thought; there is a simpler version, also completely free and fully supported, called Next:
And still the ideas keep coming! There is also a cloud-based version, same terms, called Studio: