Question

I'm a new user and either need some basic help with my setup, or have a wrong expectation of what this device can do. During quarantine I decided to pickup guitar again and discovered Rocksmith as a fun way to get back into guitar. The cable connects to the guitar with a 1/4 plug and the other side is USB. With this simple and fairly inexpensive setup I am using my Computer headphones and hearing my guitar play through Windows Audio with preset effects to match the song I'm playing. I sought ways to use the Realtone cable to connect into a few DAWs but couldn't figure it out. Everything I read suggested I needed and Audio Interface to make this happen and I found the Audiobox USB96.

But I have been unable to use this device through my PC headphones. I am also unable to apply effects to my guitar. All I hear is the clean sound. What am I doing wrong? Or is this device/software only supposed to bring a clean sound into my pc and then apply effects using Studio One after recording? Any help would be appreciated.

Answer 1

With your Audiobox you don't need the Rocksmith cable. I would recommend just using a regular guitar cable and pluging it into the input of your Audiobox.

You want to plug your headphones into your Audiobox and use the headphone volume control on it. If you change the audio output to windows sound you could end up with an annoying delay in the sound called latency.

You can hear your effects in real time in studio one. Just insert them into the track. You do this by clicking on the small '+' on the upper right hand corner of the track by 'inserts' in Mix View (choose 'Mix' on the bottom right of the screen) and selecting the effect. Once inserted if the icon to the left of the effect name is blue the effect is on, if gray it is off. Arm the track it's the speaker icon and you should be able to play with the effect with or without recording. And it will not be recording the effect when recording so you can remove or change it later if you want.

I hope that helps. Have fun.

Answer 2

Thanks for the reply wesleypeterson!

I wasnt actually using the Rocksmith cable in this configuration, it was more of an example of how a device could work with my computer the way I wanted it. Basically saying this $30 cable can work, why isnt my Audiobox?

I followed your instructions and it still didn't work, but it did help me understand a few things about Studio One. And it was your suggestion of using the Mix View that put me on the right path. Even with Studio One closed (even while rebooting my PC) I was still hearing the the clean guitar through my headphones. Studio One was seeing my Guitar input but it didnt seem to be doing much else. After some additional attempts I look back at the Audiobox Device itself and see the "Mixer" knob. It was set all the way to "Input."  I switch it to playback and now I'm getting the benefit of Studio One.

I had the Phones connected to a line in on my PC, and could use Windows Audio with Studio One and hear my Guitar through my PC Speakers. Although, as you mentioned the latency was noticeable and annoying. A follow up question would be if a separate Sound Card or more RAM might reduce/eliminate this latency. Connecting directly to the Audiobox works good and I can finally do what I want with it, even if I need to keep swapping the headphones. Thanks!