Playing with backing tracks

[AX17609]

I wonder if you could help me with an issue that is apparently so simple that no one deigns to answer it.

What is the best software arrangement to use when you want to plug your guitar directly into your computer and play along with backing tracks and instructional material?

The guitar signal comes into the computer via a USB-enabled audio interface, so this is not a plug-in question. All the guitar signal processing has already happened before it hits the computer. It's also not a recording question. It is a play-along-with-backing-tracks question.

My backing tracks are stored in the Amazing Slowdowner, and I need to retain its capabilities. Instructional material comes from YouTube, TrueFire or some other instructional platform, and it usually ends up in the Amazing Slowdowner. The guitar signal has to be received by something that can either integrate with Slowdowner or operate at the same time. I have to be able to monitor the mix with headphones.

If you can help, please explain the setup to me the way you'd explain it to a small child or a golden retriever. I used to be smart, but I am not smart anymore. What I know about computer audio can be written with a magic marker on the head of a pin.

Thank you.

[Brent Hutto]

I don't really understand the question. Do you want to mix the audio from the backing tracks (on the computer) with the audio from your guitar interface?

I'm pretty sure the built-in audio mixer in Windows (10 or 11) will combine audio playing on your laptop with audio coming in through a USB audio interface. Then you can listen to the mixed/combined audio on headphones or any output audio device your laptop is connected to.

[waco kid]

I'm probably the least qualified guy on this forum to answer this question, but here goes, When I play along with backing tracks I plug my computer into the auxiliary port on my amp, and if the wife is around, I plug in my headphones. And sometimes I use my Vox amp plug instead of my amp. Actually I think the amp plug sounds better.........Bruce

[nostatic]

What operating system are you using, what usb audio interface are you using, and how are you listening to computer audio?

The easiest way to do this is as above, take the computer out to an amp or mixer and do with same with your guitar. I don't use Slowdowner, but if it doesn't have a provision for bringing in audio in real-time while playing a file, then you'll need to have a software mixer that can route/combine them. I'm not a windows guy - on a Mac I would end up using the RME mixer application to do something like this (I'm running an RME interface). But usually I'd just play computer audio to my speakers and play my guitar through my amp.

[Glennwillow]

I routinely play along with YouTube performances to learn someone else's song. I also use Windows.

I have an amp and also a Line 6 POD HD PROX rack mount unit going to a separate PA amp that I can use, which are separate from my computer. However, most of the time I use my computer. I have Native Instruments Guitar Rig 7 in my computer. Cost is $99.50 from Sweetwater. I can plug into my Steinberg UR44 interface and use Guitar Rig as my amp and play along with anything else on my computer.

You might even like Guitar Rig. It's easy to use and their guitar amps are pretty accurate and I find them very usable. They are good enough that I no longer record with my Fender Blues DeVille 410 amp but instead use Guitar Rig. I cannot tell the Fender Bassman Guitar Rig amp from my Blues DeVille. They sound the same to me. I also use Guitar Rig as a plug-in for my Cubase recording system.

I hope this helps.

- Glenn

[AX17609]

TL;DR alert

Originally Posted by Brent Hutto

I don't really understand the question.

Thank you. Apparently, I asked a more difficult question than I thought. Please let me explain.

Who I Am

I play electric guitar along with instructional videos and backing tracks that are played on an iMac. That’s all I do. The backing tracks do not come from an iPad or iPhone, they come from an iMac. I’m not in a band; I’m not a worship leader; I don’t jam with friends; I don’t busk in the park; I don’t record. I play electric guitar along with instructional videos and backing tracks that are played on an iMac. I do it for many hours every day. I would think that I am not unusual. Anyone learning guitar would do this.

Current Setup

The amp I’m currently using is a Spark 40 modeling amp. The Spark is exactly built for this purpose. You plug the Spark into your computer via USB, send your computer’s output signal to the Spark, plug your guitar and your headphones into the Spark and that’s it. Anything you play on your computer comes out your headphones. Anything you play on your guitar comes out your headphones. You can play along with backing tracks or instructional videos or a football game. It doesn't matter.

With this setup you control the volume of the computer’s audio with either the input volume on the Spark’s control panel or any of the various output controls on your computer, including its keyboard. You control your guitar volume with the guitar output volume on the Spark. In other words, you have two separate volume controls, one for the software and one for the hardware. This is key. Mixing the two is no more difficult than adjusting one knob or the other.

Desire

I wanted to upgrade my modeler, because the Spark doesn’t have a couple of features that I would like, namely cabinet profiles and high/low cut filters. In the world of modelers, these are a big deal. While researching various modelers (e.g., Line 6, Fractal, etc.) I read their manuals to make sure that they could perform the play-along-with-backing-tracks function I need. I was astonished to discover that there was never a clear answer. There was, however, a lot of technogibberish. It was as though I was asking how to tell time, and they were telling me how a watch is built.

[memo to modeler manufacturers: your manuals stink]

Attempts at Finding a Solution

I contacted one of our most experienced AGF members and asked him if a modern modeler could mix guitar and backing tracks. He responded that he didn’t do it that way and didn’t know the answer. In fact, he seemed surprised that I using a modeler as the centerpiece of the play-along function.

So, I asked Corey Congelio, with whom I take lessons. He rather impatiently replied that he had described his recording setup in his YouTube videos, and that I should simply look for those. I did; he doesn’t. Also, I'm also not recording.

I asked Tim Pierce. He replied that his step-son set it all up, and he doesn’t know how it works. This in spite of the fact that in his videos he has an FM9 right under his right elbow, and he plays along with backing tracks. All he would say is that he uses ProTools, which isn’t a useful answer. I’m not recording.

I Take a Chance

I bought a Fractal FM3 figuring that surely it has to be at least as capable as a Spark costing $1000 less. I hook it up in the same manner as the Spark (i.e., USB to computer, guitar into the guitar input, headphones into the headphone output). What I discover is that the USB connection disables the volume controls on the computer. Separately controlling the volume of your guitar and the volume of an incoming backing track is not easy. It's possible, but clearly Fractal doesn't feel it's an important enough function to make convenient.

Astonished, I contact the Fractal FM3 forum and ask what's going on. I'm told by a Fractal engineer that the FM3, like all other devices, is a "core audio" device, and that all those devices disable the volume controls on the computer, too. Everybody knows this. Really? So, the Spark isn't a "core audio" device.

An Alternate Solution

I figure I'm doing it wrong. Maybe I should be sending the guitar signal into the computer and mixing it with the backing track in the computer rather than the modeler. So, I try it. I run my guitar thru an interface into the computer and tell my DAW where to find it. I hear nothing. Maybe I need to press "record". Still nothing. I read another manual and learn that if you want to hear what you're playing as you're playing it, you have to go deep into the menus and flick a particular switch. I do.

Sure enough, I can hear myself play. Success! The problem is that the latency is unacceptable. I don't know why that would be, but it is. It's also a clumsy process.

Current Status

So, here I sit. I'm back to using the Spark because it works. It's not ideal, but it works. I sent the Fractal back.

Still, I feel I'm missing something obvious, which is why I posted my question to you. In every single video I watch, the teacher plays along with backing tracks. He leans into the camera, presses something on the keyboard, and that's it. What's he doing? What's the setup? What is it that is so obvious that apparently everyone knows it from birth?

[imwjl]

Originally Posted by AX17609

TL;DR alert



Thank you. Apparently, I asked a more difficult question than I thought. Please let me explain.

Who I Am

I play electric guitar along with instructional videos and backing tracks that are played on an iMac. That’s all I do. The backing tracks do not come from an iPad or iPhone, they come from an iMac. I’m not in a band; I’m not a worship leader; I don’t jam with friends; I don’t busk in the park; I don’t record. I play electric guitar along with instructional videos and backing tracks that are played on an iMac. I do it for many hours every day. I would think that I am not unusual. Anyone learning guitar would do this.

Current Setup

The amp I’m currently using is a Spark 40 modeling amp. The Spark is exactly built for this purpose. You plug the Spark into your computer via USB, send your computer’s output signal to the Spark, plug your guitar and your headphones into the Spark and that’s it. Anything you play on your computer comes out your headphones. Anything you play on your guitar comes out your headphones. You can play along with backing tracks or instructional videos or a football game. It doesn't matter.

With this setup you control the volume of the computer’s audio with either the input volume on the Spark’s control panel or any of the various output controls on your computer, including its keyboard. You control your guitar volume with the guitar output volume on the Spark. In other words, you have two separate volume controls, one for the software and one for the hardware. This is key. Mixing the two is no more difficult than adjusting one knob or the other.

Desire

I wanted to upgrade my modeler, because the Spark doesn’t have a couple of features that I would like, namely cabinet profiles and high/low cut filters. In the world of modelers, these are a big deal. While researching various modelers (e.g., Line 6, Fractal, etc.) I read their manuals to make sure that they could perform the play-along-with-backing-tracks function I need. I was astonished to discover that there was never a clear answer. There was, however, a lot of technogibberish. It was as though I was asking how to tell time, and they were telling me how a watch is built.

[memo to modeler manufacturers: your manuals stink]

Attempts at Finding a Solution

I contacted one of our most experienced AGF members and asked him if a modern modeler could mix guitar and backing tracks. He responded that he didn’t do it that way and didn’t know the answer. In fact, he seemed surprised that I using a modeler as the centerpiece of the play-along function.

So, I asked Corey Congelio, with whom I take lessons. He rather impatiently replied that he had described his recording setup in his YouTube videos, and that I should simply look for those. I did; he doesn’t. Also, I'm also not recording.

I asked Tim Pierce. He replied that his step-son set it all up, and he doesn’t know how it works. This in spite of the fact that in his videos he has an FM9 right under his right elbow, and he plays along with backing tracks. All he would say is that he uses ProTools, which isn’t a useful answer. I’m not recording.

I Take a Chance

I bought a Fractal FM3 figuring that surely it has to be at least as capable as a Spark costing $1000 less. I hook it up in the same manner as the Spark (i.e., USB to computer, guitar into the guitar input, headphones into the headphone output). What I discover is that the USB connection disables the volume controls on the computer. Separately controlling the volume of your guitar and the volume of an incoming backing track is not easy. It's possible, but clearly Fractal doesn't feel it's an important enough function to make convenient.

Astonished, I contact the Fractal FM3 forum and ask what's going on. I'm told by a Fractal engineer that the FM3, like all other devices, is a "core audio" device, and that all those devices disable the volume controls on the computer, too. Everybody knows this. Really? So, the Spark isn't a "core audio" device.

An Alternate Solution

I figure I'm doing it wrong. Maybe I should be sending the guitar signal into the computer and mixing it with the backing track in the computer rather than the modeler. So, I try it. I run my guitar thru an interface into the computer and tell my DAW where to find it. I hear nothing. Maybe I need to press "record". Still nothing. I read another manual and learn that if you want to hear what you're playing as you're playing it, you have to go deep into the menus and flick a particular switch. I do.

Sure enough, I can hear myself play. Success! The problem is that the latency is unacceptable. I don't know why that would be, but it is. It's also a clumsy process.

Current Status

So, here I sit. I'm back to using the Spark because it works. It's not ideal, but it works. I sent the Fractal back.

Still, I feel I'm missing something obvious, which is why I posted my question to you. In every single video I watch, the teacher plays along with backing tracks. He leans into the camera, presses something on the keyboard, and that's it. What's he doing? What's the setup? What is it that is so obvious that apparently everyone knows it from birth?

From a bunch of recent and current learning after my son swapped my THR with his Spark.

If you have an Apple ID you have a simple and secure way to log into the Positive Grid stuff. The Spark will be an audio interface with a reasonably late model Mac via USB. The Bias FX2 is much less expensive in mobile version but most iPads and phones won't have the USB-C port so you can need audio interfaces $50ish to $100+.

If you have Apple Music logging into Spark (Positive Grid) with your Apple ID gives you that in Spark app in addition to a huge amount of YouTube content where some has already parsed the chords of the music. You can search in Spark app for the YouTube and your Apple or Spotify entitlements.

Positive Grid support site has articles on the audio interfaces but web search and Reddit content says Apple's camera adapter and others with USB-C to Lighting works to make the mobile Bias FX 2 sync.

The looper and smart looper function in Spark app seem a but unreliable and I even set all that up on a new iPad thus some interest in the mobile (inexpensive) route for the Bass FX 2 looper.

I just play along with YouTube and music without any of this but I have the Spark foot switch and like the way it controls Youtube content. I have to get back to work but will be happy to share any of my learning here. I'm not a recording pro but at the boss or sometimes direct level manage around 200 Android and Apple mobile, more desktops, and we have devices that plug into them so it is kind of exactly like I find with the music stuff as far as troubleshooting and connections.

I'll keep at this because moving that battery powered spark around the house or on my desk is a lot of fun.

[GCWaters]

I don't know if it helps, but I run a Boss ME-90 and an iMac into a Tascam 8 track recorder, using it as a mixer. I run the Tascam outs into a pair of JBL studio monitors. I have the Boss on one channel and the iMac on another, giving me the ability to control volumes independently. It's a very simple setup with no lag. You could replace the Tascam with an inexpensive mixer if you want.

[Greg02]

Originally Posted by AX17609

TL;DR alert



Thank you. Apparently, I asked a more difficult question than I thought. Please let me explain.

Who I Am

I play electric guitar along with instructional videos and backing tracks that are played on an iMac. That’s all I do. The backing tracks do not come from an iPad or iPhone, they come from an iMac. I’m not in a band; I’m not a worship leader; I don’t jam with friends; I don’t busk in the park; I don’t record. I play electric guitar along with instructional videos and backing tracks that are played on an iMac. I do it for many hours every day. I would think that I am not unusual. Anyone learning guitar would do this.

Current Setup

The amp I’m currently using is a Spark 40 modeling amp. The Spark is exactly built for this purpose. You plug the Spark into your computer via USB, send your computer’s output signal to the Spark, plug your guitar and your headphones into the Spark and that’s it. Anything you play on your computer comes out your headphones. Anything you play on your guitar comes out your headphones. You can play along with backing tracks or instructional videos or a football game. It doesn't matter.

With this setup you control the volume of the computer’s audio with either the input volume on the Spark’s control panel or any of the various output controls on your computer, including its keyboard. You control your guitar volume with the guitar output volume on the Spark. In other words, you have two separate volume controls, one for the software and one for the hardware. This is key. Mixing the two is no more difficult than adjusting one knob or the other.

Desire

I wanted to upgrade my modeler, because the Spark doesn’t have a couple of features that I would like, namely cabinet profiles and high/low cut filters. In the world of modelers, these are a big deal. While researching various modelers (e.g., Line 6, Fractal, etc.) I read their manuals to make sure that they could perform the play-along-with-backing-tracks function I need. I was astonished to discover that there was never a clear answer. There was, however, a lot of technogibberish. It was as though I was asking how to tell time, and they were telling me how a watch is built.

[memo to modeler manufacturers: your manuals stink]

Attempts at Finding a Solution

I contacted one of our most experienced AGF members and asked him if a modern modeler could mix guitar and backing tracks. He responded that he didn’t do it that way and didn’t know the answer. In fact, he seemed surprised that I using a modeler as the centerpiece of the play-along function.

So, I asked Corey Congelio, with whom I take lessons. He rather impatiently replied that he had described his recording setup in his YouTube videos, and that I should simply look for those. I did; he doesn’t. Also, I'm also not recording.

I asked Tim Pierce. He replied that his step-son set it all up, and he doesn’t know how it works. This in spite of the fact that in his videos he has an FM9 right under his right elbow, and he plays along with backing tracks. All he would say is that he uses ProTools, which isn’t a useful answer. I’m not recording.

I Take a Chance

I bought a Fractal FM3 figuring that surely it has to be at least as capable as a Spark costing $1000 less. I hook it up in the same manner as the Spark (i.e., USB to computer, guitar into the guitar input, headphones into the headphone output). What I discover is that the USB connection disables the volume controls on the computer. Separately controlling the volume of your guitar and the volume of an incoming backing track is not easy. It's possible, but clearly Fractal doesn't feel it's an important enough function to make convenient.

Astonished, I contact the Fractal FM3 forum and ask what's going on. I'm told by a Fractal engineer that the FM3, like all other devices, is a "core audio" device, and that all those devices disable the volume controls on the computer, too. Everybody knows this. Really? So, the Spark isn't a "core audio" device.

An Alternate Solution

I figure I'm doing it wrong. Maybe I should be sending the guitar signal into the computer and mixing it with the backing track in the computer rather than the modeler. So, I try it. I run my guitar thru an interface into the computer and tell my DAW where to find it. I hear nothing. Maybe I need to press "record". Still nothing. I read another manual and learn that if you want to hear what you're playing as you're playing it, you have to go deep into the menus and flick a particular switch. I do.

Sure enough, I can hear myself play. Success! The problem is that the latency is unacceptable. I don't know why that would be, but it is. It's also a clumsy process.

Current Status

So, here I sit. I'm back to using the Spark because it works. It's not ideal, but it works. I sent the Fractal back.

Still, I feel I'm missing something obvious, which is why I posted my question to you. In every single video I watch, the teacher plays along with backing tracks. He leans into the camera, presses something on the keyboard, and that's it. What's he doing? What's the setup? What is it that is so obvious that apparently everyone knows it from birth?

It sounds like what you're looking for is a modeler that has an aux in port. To name a couple, both the Helix and the Tonemaster Pro have them.

[imwjl]

Originally Posted by Greg02

It sounds like what you're looking for is a modeler that has an aux in port. To name a couple, both the Helix and the Tonemaster Pro have them.

In this case the OP has the Spark. That means the Bias FX 2 purchase options that are as low as $8 for mobile version or $100 + for a huge array of options gets you to an audio interface, a jam/practice environment and few sorts of looping without having to buy anymore hardware.

Staying in that family or brand also means you have the options of nearly pocket size amp or the cab that works with the all of them.

https://www.positivegrid.com/products/bias-fx-2

I'm not saying this is perfect but it is really growing on me as a very nice practice, play along and simple recording scenario. The Positive Grid help pages also list interfaces that start at $50 that can have specs beyond the simple amps and they have their $100ish interface.

Something I found pretty sweet with the Sparks that do have aux and sound plugs in addition to USB-C is the amps do a good job of handling Bluetooth were that is an output speaker separate from the rest. It is simplicity and portability the more traditional and old school setup we own has.

I don't mean this as other solutions are bad as much as I got fond of this over past solutions in a hurry. Doing same with our Yamaha THR, tube amps and old school stuff is more gear and cables. I can carry the guitar, amp and phone or iPad around the house.

[keith.rogers]

If you're not recording, why are you connecting to the computer at all, other than to send the ASD output to your modeler, via some Aux/Ext input on that device? If you must connect to the computer, can you use something else, like a smartphone, to run your slow-down app on and generate the input to the modeler that way? Or, you could take an analog output from the modeler (with the backing track also playing) and put that into the interface?

Whenever you're looking at somebody playing along to a backing track on YouTube, they're recording. Chances are they've got the backing track as an actual file that's a track in the recording software, and they play along to that, recording the guitar part at the same time. They're not playing the backing track through the modeler. If I am using slowed-down tracks to play along with, I just create the actual files at whatever, 50/60/70/80/90% speeds and work my way up through those, "boiling the frog" so to speak. I don't use the slow-down app (well, RX, in my case) in real-time while I'm practicing.

[Gordon Currie]

Originally Posted by keith.rogers

If you're not recording, why are you connecting to the computer at all, other than to send the ASD output to your modeler, via some Aux/Ext input on that device?

Earlier in the thread the OP said they were using Amazing Slowdowner software, requiring a computer (iMac in this case).

[keith.rogers]

Originally Posted by Gordon Currie

Earlier in the thread the OP said they were using Amazing Slowdowner software, requiring a computer (iMac in this case).

Well, yes, but it's purely outputting a stream to play along to, and you could do this with any device, like a phone and leave the computer out of it, or just take the headphones out from the Mac or audio interface if that is configured as the output device, and run an analog cable to the modeler's aux/ext input, and monitor on the modeler. Maybe the Fractal is different, but the Line 6 stuff I used to use only needed to be connected to the computer if you wanted to download your own patches, update firmware/software, but not necessary to use otherwise. I mean, I never took a computer on stage with me...

[Charlie Bernstein]

Beats the hell outa me!

[TiffanyGuitar]

I think I can actually help with this question!

I recently wanted to be able to do the same thing (although I don't use Amazing Slow downer - but I used to and this setup should work). And this setup isn't that expensive.

I put this setup together to make it easier to play with backing tracks and to simplify using headphones in my home studio/office when I need to. I was also really curious about being able to experiment with plug-ins. I have found that I still don't like playing into headphones (especially with single coils) and would much rather play into an amp, but when I need head phones, this really simplified things. Also, I wanted powered monitors that sounded a lot better than regular computer speakers, but I did not have space for big monitors. I came out really liking the setup. Backing track either will play into the headphones or the speakers, along with my guitar. You can use the speakers and headphones at the same time or the speakers or headphones alone (a twist of the dial on the Universal Volt- read on below...). And the speakers sound awesome turned up to keep up with my Champ, if I want!

And if the setup sounds complex, it really isn't that bad - I was a total NOOB about using interfaces and was a little intimidated - but with a little reading and a tiny bit of trial and error, it came together really easily.

Here's my setup - I bought a Universal Volt 1 interface - about $140. I bought iLoud micro monitors, I got them for $299 - looks like maybe the price has gone up some (these speakers sound great and they aren't much bigger than computer speakers. They were perfect for me!)

You need a usb c to normal usb cable from the Volt to the computer and an RCA to speaker jack cable for the ILouds. This setup revolutionized playing into and with the computer for me. I got rid of all of my desktop amps which I wound up never liking.

It was very easy to setup. If you go this route and get the parts, PM me if you need help connecting everything.