guitar simulator and play along total newbie

als427

Hi all ,been playing 35 years  always guitar amp etc.
Finally considering how to play through computer , I know I need an interface and then software  any recommendations - guitar rig / aoplitube etc and why?  decent speakers for computer ( mac) ? do I need an amp?
I would also love to be able to play along to tracks on software  - is this possible - is there one where you can lay down chords and the software  adds drums etc?
One where you can play your guitar but it converts to bass?
If I wanted to lay down very basic drums . bass guitar , chords myself  to play along to any recommenations?
Do i need separate software
sorry - I haven't got a clue about this stuff
Just play the guitar or play along to a cd!!

fnpt

My suggestion would be to look into a multi fx which would also work as an interface. There are several options depending on your budget but look at the helix stomp or a boss gt1000 core, or if on a lower budget have a look at the several offerings from hotone. All connect via usb into the pc.

you can then play to any music you have on your pc or on YouTube.

Musical_Mystery_Tour

I would recommend you get hold of a guitar to USB cable (probably cost about ten quid on ebay for one of these) so you can get your guitar audio into your computer, and then maybe take a look at Odesi Music Composition, which you can either buy via Steam (I'd recommend acquiring it that way since it is only £35 quid on Steam) or you can buy it direct, but that is usually nearer 45 quid, so the Steam route is cheaper and probably less hassle. It works on 32 Bit and 64 Bit operating systems, so no fancy expensive computer is necessary to run it.

But before you go racing off spending money, since you are new to all this, a bit of an explanation is probably useful, so here goes...

The typical way most people work on music with their computer, is to use DAW (digital audio workstation) software. Essentially a DAW is like having a software version of a recording studio, whereby on your PC, you create a new project file to work on, add tracks to that project, record on those tracks, either using instrumets connected to your computer via an audio interface (microphone, plugged in guitar, mixer etc), or via MIDI (musical instrument digital interface) which would typically be keyboards, synthesizers etc, plugged in via a five pin midi cable, or a USB connector. Then you add all the effects and processing and do all the editing and correcting needed, mix it, and finally you output the track as an audio file, or if you like you could just listen to it or play along to it.

With a DAW, the really great thing is that you can also use software instruments too, which you add to the DAW software as 'plug ins' known as VSTs (virtual studio technology). There are absolutely loads of VSTs available, lots of these are free on the internet, some are payware. but many of the freebie ones are as good as the ones you buy, so it's easy to acquire lots of cool effects and istruments for your virtual studio for no monetary outlay whatsoever. VSTs cover everything from virtual pianos, synthesizers, guitars, trombones, drum kits, or any other instrument you could think of, to things such as  reverbs, distortions, choruses, phasers etc. 

There are lots of DAWs available, some are very expensive, others are free or offer trial versions so you can try them out, but some are markedly easier to use than others, with some of them being complex and having quite a steep learning curve, and this could be offputting if you just want something easy to get you up and running which you might then choose to expand upon when you get more into it. This is why I suggested you get hold of Odesi, because it is essentially a very simple to use DAW with many automated assists and presets available to you, making it a gentle introduction to this kind of thing, If you watch a couple of the tutorial videos for it, you could easily be banging out really professional backing tracks within an hour of getting hold of it. Then using it more allows you to pick up the rest of it very intuitively and start doing your own thing.

Odesi comes with a ton of built-in instruments, loads of drum kits, basses, keyboards, brass sections etc and loads of preset rhythms and chord sequences, or you can forgo all that and do it all yourself, but because of all those presets, you can literally create a cool sounding track in five minutes, and it also help you with chord progressions, correct keys and stuff. It's a great tool

So don't let Odesi's apparent simplicity fool you into thinking it isn't capable of producing some great stuff, because it can indeed be used to do that. However, because of its simplicity, most people use Odesi as kind of a 'sketchbook' for trying quick ideas, which they will either complete in Odesi, or export to their fancier DAW software to complete. I do that sometimes, using Odesi to get ideas and stuff, then I export it to Reaper (Reaper is one of many DAWs which are free to try out, it costs fifty quid to turn it into a licensed version if you like it).

I did this song you can see below in Odesi. It's not really the kind of thing I usually do musically (doesn't even have any guitar on it at all, although it esily could have had some) but it does show you what you could knock out with Odesi if you wanted to, and yes, that is me in my car looking like a twat lol:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0c_AI6HdtE

hollywoodrox

A used Focusrite scarlet interface if going the computer route & your amp simulator of choice .
  

Although looking at what you want to do  one of the Positive Grid Spark amps would be ideal 
  You can use it with a phone or tablet  to play along to anything & it has a feature where it will show you the basic chords you want to play over.  It can use any sort of output on your device 
eg YouTube ,Spotify , slow down apps etc . You can get all sizes spark go ,spark mini , spark 40 
& it can also I think be used as a computer interface for recording . It couldn’t be simpler  I got the mini version & it’s really great . You can even now get a huge FRFR speaker for them making them gig worthy 

hollywoodrox

It also does this among loads of other stuff

https://youtu.be/tLAdD9IRPQE?si=WsL7jsmtJSk1d0HS