Hammacher Schlemmer USB Guitar

Hammacher Schlemmer’s USB guitar is a tool for recording artists who don’t want to deal with microphones, amplifiers, outboard mixers and lots of XLR cables. The USB guitar plugs into your computer. It comes with analog-to-digital conversion software and is fairly easy to work. You can also use the USB guitar as a standard guitar, as it has a .25-inch jack output. Pretty nifty for $200, right?

The bad news is, it’s going to take a lot of work to make something like this sound good. Even with all the advanced software out today, recording artists still prefer to mic a guitar cabinet/amplifier rather than plugging the guitar straight in. If you’re set on using analog-to-digital conversion software and bypassing messy signal flow, you might want to start loading up on plug-ins for whatever software you’re using.

If you’re using Pro Tools LE, Cubase, Acid or Logic Pro Audio 7, this isn’t tough, but it’s going to cost you a lot of money. A solid plug-in sets you back a minimum of $60, and you’ll need one for each specific tone you’re going for. It all comes down to how professional you want to make your recording sound. Personally, I’d stick to microphones and amps, plugging straight in always makes the guitar sound bad.

USB Guitar Brings Recording Studio Home [gear factor]