recording electric guitar to mpc..

i want to buy a guitar to play riffs and layer them over my beats.

what do i need to know before i buy? i need also to buy an amp or just a distortion pedal or whatever? how will i record guitar? "guitar to amp to microphone to audio interface to daw to mpc record in", or just "guitar to distortion pedal to mpc record in"? is there anything else i should know? how do you sample your own guitars? thank you in advance

The easiest (and possibly cheapest) option would be a multi-effects unit. Boss, Digitech, Korg, Line6, Zoom (and many others) make several models specifically for guitar, you won't go wrong if you get one of the newest models by those companies. Of course, used gear is always an option. My personal favourite for recording guitars without an amp is Roger Linn Adrenalinn III - but if I were a first-time buyer, I'd go for something simpler, like a Zoom G2.1nu.

Don't just get a distortion pedal though, they might not work very well straight into MPC - they usually need to be fed to a guitar amp (or an amp simulator) to work properly. Get a multi-effect, plug your guitar into it, then plug the effect into MPC. Easy.

If you need - or want - an amp, many modelling amps have direct outputs you can connect straight to MPC. Roland Microcube, for example, is nice, cheap and fun (there are similar amps by Line6, Vox and others). I've tracked guitar overdubs with mine with good enough results.

These are all budget options: if you have the money, the facilities, the know-how, get a good amp and mike it up.
And don't forget to spend some time learning to play the guitar!

thank you for your answer, very helpful.

so i need a guitar multieffect, not just a distortion pedal.

would this work? i found it second-hand for just 50 euros.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3iGRj4S7lRQ

Yes, it would. But it might not be very good... You'd better get a newer Zoom (G2, G2.1u, G2Nu, G2.1Nu), you should find them for not much more.

Or a Line6: there are several models, check out the Pocket Pod.
Or Korg Pandora Mini and PX4D models.

i found a pocket pod for 50!! i'm going for this. thank you very much for the help!

You're welcome.

That's a nice price. Just make sure it is a Pocket Pod, and not the Pocket Pod Express.

another option would be to get a cheap tube preamp... something like the TUBEPRE by presonus [since i see them sell for $40 on ebay all the time] and you could use that to also amplify microphones as well as instruments...

True.

But that kind of preamp won't give the variety of sounds that an amp simulator/multi-fx unit (like the Pod) will. It would be fine with, say, electric bass, as bass records easily with no extra processing. Electric guitars tend to sound somewhat thin and flat when recorded dry (with or without a separate preamp).

OP mentioned distortion, that's what even cheap multi-fx nowadays are about. They have vast palettes of dirt, a studio preamp won't give you that. Oh, and dedicated guitar preamps are a different thing altogether...

tosfalma wrote:i want to buy a guitar to play riffs and layer them over my beats.

what do i need to know before i buy? i need also to buy an amp or just a distortion pedal or whatever? how will i record guitar? "guitar to amp to microphone to audio interface to daw to mpc record in", or just "guitar to distortion pedal to mpc record in"? is there anything else i should know? how do you sample your own guitars? thank you in advance

When I had my 2500 I would record my guitar to DAW then run the outputs of my soundcard to my Mpc and sample the guitar. You can also record your guitar to your DAW then export the guitar track, then import to your mpc via CF card or USB. I tend to record my electric guitar direct in and not from the amp but I do mic my acoustic guitar with a condenser. You may not need to buy a pedal if you are recording to your DAW as distortion VST's are EVERYWHERE. Hope this helps