Eminence_Front
11-18-2008, 11:02 PM
Ok,
So here is my short little review of a novelty item Mama-Bear picked up for me one night at Target.
It's called the Light-Snake. And it's a USB to 1/4" instrument cable that let's you record direct from guitar to computer with no add'l equipment.
Many of you who are more serious gigging musicians surely have countless methods to digitize guitar music. From fancy signal processors with outboard firewire, to full-on studio Midi systems. There
are literally countless expensive ways to get your audio into your favorite editing software.
This however, is for those of us who don't need a whole lot of fancy options and simply want to bring greater value to our practice sessions with a record of what we've done. This is especially good for
distance learning teachers, and music students who don't have ready access to their instructor since they can easily plug this joker in, record to the Free Tool "Audacity" or some other software, and digitize, convert and share their music with the masses.
Here is the packaging, and here is what you get.
http://www.chucklesmafia.com/review-4.jpg
10' LightSnake audio cable w/ USB on one end and gold 1/4" stereo on the other.
1/4" to 1/8" stereo adapter
Manual
Drivers CD
Sony Software Demo CD Vol. 3 feat.
http://www.chucklesmafia.com/sony.jpg
FORM
The cable fit and finish is nice. It's not going to rival those expensive high fidelity jobs from Monster Cables but it's certainly noise free as far as I can tell. Also nice is that
it has embedded LEDs in the ends. I thought this was a novelty at first but the more I play with this the more I like it. It's also rubberized saving it from snags and the like.
LED ends are nice for several reasons.
1.) I usually have the lights low in my game room where I practice, so it's nice to be able to find it in the spaghetti.
2.) You can tell if you're plugged in or not. USB ports aren't the most secure form factor and tend to pull out easily, saves troubleshooting "is this thing on".
3.) Music-types like lights. Plain and Simple.
http://www.chucklesmafia.com/review-5.jpg
Worth noting,
The cable has a nice feature on the 1/4" end which is a 1/4" gold audio loop or pass through. You can connect this to your amplifier and simulatenously play through your amp, and through your PC.
http://www.chucklesmafia.com/review-3.jpg
Installation.
Installation was a breeze on my 3 year old Dell E1505 running Windows Vista (mojave, lol) Business. The driver CD was not even necessary as Vista has a built in driver for it. It does come with a driver CD for other OS but it's most likely embedded into XP as well.
Simply plug in the cable, and the OS detects a new device. IF you're not running Vista, I would load the CD first. Just a fail-safe to be sure the driver is in the Library.
At any rate, you can see that the device shows up as "USB Audio Device" so we know we're good to go.
Next, Launch your music app. of choice. I am using Audacity on Mark's req. because it's full featured, and FREE!
http://www.chucklesmafia.com/review-1.jpg
You'll need to go into the preferences under "EDIT" and find the page for "AUDIO I/O" you'll need to tell Audacity, or program of choice where to capture Audio from. Once this decision is made click ok, and you're ready to record.
I did my not so comprehensive demo of this playing open chord progressions and playing it back. Playback has no noticeable hiss or pop, and it keeps right up with my acoustic. There was
no noticeable lag or delay in capture. I have not tested with effects, or with electric so YMMV.
http://www.chucklesmafia.com/review-2.jpg
WRAP UP
For the aspiring guitarist in all of us, being able to constructively critique your progress and create an improvement plan is very difficult. I think this tool allows those working on their
own to have access to a great tool for doing this.
For those of us with lesson plans, and private instructors, it's an even better tool to help the teacher. Instructors can send home backing tracks and Mp3's over the internet or via email, and
students can record responses and return for critique. "You're out of tune" or "Slow down"...
All in all I can't think of a single reason not to have one of these.
List price at Target $39.99 and worth every penny. Can probably be had cheaper with coupon on MF.com.
Thanks,
Brad
So here is my short little review of a novelty item Mama-Bear picked up for me one night at Target.
It's called the Light-Snake. And it's a USB to 1/4" instrument cable that let's you record direct from guitar to computer with no add'l equipment.
Many of you who are more serious gigging musicians surely have countless methods to digitize guitar music. From fancy signal processors with outboard firewire, to full-on studio Midi systems. There
are literally countless expensive ways to get your audio into your favorite editing software.
This however, is for those of us who don't need a whole lot of fancy options and simply want to bring greater value to our practice sessions with a record of what we've done. This is especially good for
distance learning teachers, and music students who don't have ready access to their instructor since they can easily plug this joker in, record to the Free Tool "Audacity" or some other software, and digitize, convert and share their music with the masses.
Here is the packaging, and here is what you get.
http://www.chucklesmafia.com/review-4.jpg
10' LightSnake audio cable w/ USB on one end and gold 1/4" stereo on the other.
1/4" to 1/8" stereo adapter
Manual
Drivers CD
Sony Software Demo CD Vol. 3 feat.
http://www.chucklesmafia.com/sony.jpg
FORM
The cable fit and finish is nice. It's not going to rival those expensive high fidelity jobs from Monster Cables but it's certainly noise free as far as I can tell. Also nice is that
it has embedded LEDs in the ends. I thought this was a novelty at first but the more I play with this the more I like it. It's also rubberized saving it from snags and the like.
LED ends are nice for several reasons.
1.) I usually have the lights low in my game room where I practice, so it's nice to be able to find it in the spaghetti.
2.) You can tell if you're plugged in or not. USB ports aren't the most secure form factor and tend to pull out easily, saves troubleshooting "is this thing on".
3.) Music-types like lights. Plain and Simple.
http://www.chucklesmafia.com/review-5.jpg
Worth noting,
The cable has a nice feature on the 1/4" end which is a 1/4" gold audio loop or pass through. You can connect this to your amplifier and simulatenously play through your amp, and through your PC.
http://www.chucklesmafia.com/review-3.jpg
Installation.
Installation was a breeze on my 3 year old Dell E1505 running Windows Vista (mojave, lol) Business. The driver CD was not even necessary as Vista has a built in driver for it. It does come with a driver CD for other OS but it's most likely embedded into XP as well.
Simply plug in the cable, and the OS detects a new device. IF you're not running Vista, I would load the CD first. Just a fail-safe to be sure the driver is in the Library.
At any rate, you can see that the device shows up as "USB Audio Device" so we know we're good to go.
Next, Launch your music app. of choice. I am using Audacity on Mark's req. because it's full featured, and FREE!
http://www.chucklesmafia.com/review-1.jpg
You'll need to go into the preferences under "EDIT" and find the page for "AUDIO I/O" you'll need to tell Audacity, or program of choice where to capture Audio from. Once this decision is made click ok, and you're ready to record.
I did my not so comprehensive demo of this playing open chord progressions and playing it back. Playback has no noticeable hiss or pop, and it keeps right up with my acoustic. There was
no noticeable lag or delay in capture. I have not tested with effects, or with electric so YMMV.
http://www.chucklesmafia.com/review-2.jpg
WRAP UP
For the aspiring guitarist in all of us, being able to constructively critique your progress and create an improvement plan is very difficult. I think this tool allows those working on their
own to have access to a great tool for doing this.
For those of us with lesson plans, and private instructors, it's an even better tool to help the teacher. Instructors can send home backing tracks and Mp3's over the internet or via email, and
students can record responses and return for critique. "You're out of tune" or "Slow down"...
All in all I can't think of a single reason not to have one of these.
List price at Target $39.99 and worth every penny. Can probably be had cheaper with coupon on MF.com.
Thanks,
Brad