mini review of Fender Slide interface

[fazool]

I don't do any recording but wanted something small to save a couple ideas and critique myself.

So, I need a basic non-professional (aka cheap) interface. I had tons of troubles with the VOX AmPlug I/O (which has since been discontinued although MF is still selling them but now with the SW un-included)

Anyway, I was pretty frustrated and was going to buy a real USB interface box but MF had a SDOTD for a Fender Slide. It was so cheap I figured I would give it a try.





I plugged this in, Windows7 set up the drivers. I opened audacity, plugged in my guitar and it just worked.

I haven't done anything with it yet but the Amplug was such a convoluted cluster to get working and this was a breeze. I unplugged it and replugged it and opened and closed Audacity (tasks which confounded my Amplug who seemed to decide to come to work based on a fickle mood).

Anyway, this just worked.

It's a very basic, no-frills interface. But that's what I wanted. You can mix wet and dry signals and it has a built-in monitor that can skip latency issues which is nice.

I don't have any experience with recording or doing anything "real" in this arena but as a total novice I am qualified to talk about ease of use. This couldn't be simpler. If you just want something basic to get your guitar into your PC, via USB port this is a good choice.

I also liked that it's powered right off the USB so you have no need for batteries, power adapters or even an on/off switch.

Super simple.

Simple is good.

[KevWind]

Originally Posted by fazool

I don't do any recording but wanted something small to save a couple ideas and critique myself.

So, I need a basic non-professional (aka cheap) interface. I had tons of troubles with the VOX AmPlug I/O (which has since been discontinued although MF is still selling them but now with the SW un-included)

Anyway, I was pretty frustrated and was going to buy a real USB interface box but MF had a SDOTD for a Fender Slide. It was so cheap I figured I would give it a try.





I plugged this in, Windows7 set up the drivers. I opened audacity, plugged in my guitar and it just worked.

I haven't done anything with it yet but the Amplug was such a convoluted cluster to get working and this was a breeze. I unplugged it and replugged it and opened and closed Audacity (tasks which confounded my Amplug who seemed to decide to come to work based on a fickle mood).

Anyway, this just worked.

It's a very basic, no-frills interface. But that's what I wanted. You can mix wet and dry signals and it has a built-in monitor that can skip latency issues which is nice.

I don't have any experience with recording or doing anything "real" in this arena but as a total novice I am qualified to talk about ease of use. This couldn't be simpler. If you just want something basic to get your guitar into your PC, via USB port this is a good choice.

I also liked that it's powered right off the USB so you have no need for batteries, power adapters or even an on/off switch.

Super simple.

Simple is good.

Interesting little gizmo great review (oh BTW the picture is not showing for me just the image icon)
Apogee makes something similar for Mac, iPhone and iPad called the JAM 96k but more money @ $130

One great use for such units in place of a loop pedal is ( if they will play a loop) is to lay down some chords then practice playing leads while monitoring the looping chords .

[fazool]

It's on SDOTD again today for $29 (from $79)

[DavidE]

Originally Posted by fazool

It's on SDOTD again today for $29 (from $79)

I bought one too to eventually use Helix Native when it comes out this spring. I downloaded the free Amplitude software and the lack of instructions made it a frustrating experience. I comes with only a couple of free amp models with more available at a cost. I still don't have the license for the free Prodigy software which did not accept my serial number. Fender is working on it for me.....

After trying over and over to get some sound I finally clicked on the right combinations. In Amplitude, the latency was horrible until I lowered the buffer from 512 to 16. Now it's fine. Very limited without buying more stuff which I won't do because I have a Helix. But now that it's working, I'm happy I got it. I hope it works well with Helix Native.

[DavidE]

If you have an iOS device, I'd suggest downloading the music memos app. Record your acoustic via your phone or iPad microphone. It reads the chords and can add bass and/or drums on playback. Works pretty well actually.

[TheChicagoTodd]

Does anyone know how this would work with Amplitube? It would seem to me that your guitar would need to connect to that first before the Slide....

Todd in Chicago

Sent from my SM-G928V using Tapatalk

[FrankHudson]

Originally Posted by TheChicagoTodd

Does anyone know how this would work with Amplitube? It would seem to me that your guitar would need to connect to that first before the Slide....

Todd in Chicago

Sent from my SM-G928V using Tapatalk

There's no reason it wouldn't work with Amplitube (the software plugin suite with amp/stomp box modeling). From your question, I might guess you think that a USB interface like this is like a microphone. It's not. An interface like this takes the analog signal from your guitar, converts it to digital and passes it to whatever software chain (including plugin like Amplitube) you have on your computer.

Now if you have "outboard" stuff (real stomp boxes, stand-alone hardware amp modelers or multi-effect boxes, even amps with a direct out) you can put those before the interface in most cases.

[TheChicagoTodd]

Originally Posted by FrankHudson

There's no reason it wouldn't work with Amplitube (the software plugin suite with amp/stomp box modeling). From your question, I might guess you think that a USB interface like this is like a microphone. It's not. An interface like this takes the analog signal from your guitar, converts it to digital and passes it to whatever software chain (including plugin like Amplitube) you have on your computer.

Now if you have "outboard" stuff (real stomp boxes, stand-alone hardware amp modelers or multi-effect boxes, even amps with a direct out) you can put those before the interface in most cases.

Thx Frank...

My Amplitube software is on my Android phone, so I have an external device I need to use called an iRig UA. The guitar plugs directly into the iRig UA, which then plugs into my Android phone. Hmmm...not sure if this would help in plugging into my Surface tablet to record into Audacity.

Todd in Chicago

Sent from my SM-G928V using Tapatalk