Captain's log #22
Intestines! It turns out I do my best to get a great guitar tone in
Guitarix, only to find that the recorded version in Ardour does its own
thing, and it's not a good thing.
I tried all kind of things yesterday to corral this problem. The only options I can think of are: 1) some kind of mismatch between Guitarix sample rate and Ardour's, resulting in a loss of sound quality. 2) Some "channeling" stuff of the kind mono gets recorded into stereo, phase cancellation issues... 3) Some badly adjusted ratio of input-output volumes that makes the signal get "fried" at some point before getting recorded.
I tried all the experiments I could think of yesterday and got nothing concluding. It's not a preset thing, it happens just the same no matter which one you use. It's a torture getting such a good sound with the guitar while playing, and then being submitted to the turd that gets recorded (harsh, mid-rangey and fake, and yes, I've tried connecting head_fx vs head_amp, I've tried every trick in the book).
This is is a perfect depiction of what makes horrible wearing so many hats in home recording. I've been taken totally out of the flow, this was going to be that one song that, finally, took short to accomplish and went smooth. I feel hopeless and angry, I used to think Linux documentation was bad, I was wrong, the real horrific documentation is Linux Audio's... Broken links, unexisting forums, technical docs that give unnecessary details but ignore the basics... and those videos of guys who don't speak, they don't provide a context, just a screencast... what a bunch of creeps, in order to teach you have to TELL in addition to SHOW, I'd really prefer no video at all...
I'm going to get analytical again, define all possible hypothesis and plan for each the one or several experiments required to refute/corroborate them; asking at forums is like pulling teeth, and with very slim possibilities of success, so I reserve it as the very last resort.
I know I have to pull myself together, but I feel so frustrated... A good thing of this is that with so much testing I got to rehearse the song a lot, and the guitar part got new expression along the way. But I'm very angry and very concerned with this problem. Let's just keep pushing and hope for the best.
I tried all kind of things yesterday to corral this problem. The only options I can think of are: 1) some kind of mismatch between Guitarix sample rate and Ardour's, resulting in a loss of sound quality. 2) Some "channeling" stuff of the kind mono gets recorded into stereo, phase cancellation issues... 3) Some badly adjusted ratio of input-output volumes that makes the signal get "fried" at some point before getting recorded.
I tried all the experiments I could think of yesterday and got nothing concluding. It's not a preset thing, it happens just the same no matter which one you use. It's a torture getting such a good sound with the guitar while playing, and then being submitted to the turd that gets recorded (harsh, mid-rangey and fake, and yes, I've tried connecting head_fx vs head_amp, I've tried every trick in the book).
This is is a perfect depiction of what makes horrible wearing so many hats in home recording. I've been taken totally out of the flow, this was going to be that one song that, finally, took short to accomplish and went smooth. I feel hopeless and angry, I used to think Linux documentation was bad, I was wrong, the real horrific documentation is Linux Audio's... Broken links, unexisting forums, technical docs that give unnecessary details but ignore the basics... and those videos of guys who don't speak, they don't provide a context, just a screencast... what a bunch of creeps, in order to teach you have to TELL in addition to SHOW, I'd really prefer no video at all...
I'm going to get analytical again, define all possible hypothesis and plan for each the one or several experiments required to refute/corroborate them; asking at forums is like pulling teeth, and with very slim possibilities of success, so I reserve it as the very last resort.
I know I have to pull myself together, but I feel so frustrated... A good thing of this is that with so much testing I got to rehearse the song a lot, and the guitar part got new expression along the way. But I'm very angry and very concerned with this problem. Let's just keep pushing and hope for the best.
