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Just wondering. Right now I'm recording on an acoustic violin on an iphone multitrack app. The sound quality is not that bad, actually (see video below for example), but I've been thinking about purchasing an electric violin for a while. I've never worked with amps before, though and don't know if I can record *directly* into a computer, so that's the only thing holding me back.
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Hi Ip, I've been researching EVs for about 2 months and it's come down to a Bridge Aquila (which Oliver also has) and an NS NXT (I'm leaning toward this).
And then I'm going with the Yamaha THR10; it's a great in-home amp with incredible plug-ins and jacks directly into your computer and comes with Qbase (simple version).
I believe this is the cleanest, easiest setup for recording and small quarters,,, and it's portable (no a/c reqd). Check it out.
Btw, just watched your clip, you're a terrific player.
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I record directly from my electric violin sometimes.
At the most simple, any electric violin with a headphone output, you can just run a cable from it to the input of the computer's soundcard. Then adjust levels and away you go.
If it doesn't have a headphone output, you can use one of the little mini headphone amps they make for electric guitar that plugs right into the instrument. I have a Vox "AmPlug" I have done that with.
At the least, I would suggest getting a splitter so you can also plug in headphones and hear yourself while recording.
So, yes, it can be done, either just as the violin comes or with a very little bit of other gear. It won't be necessarily a great sound, but usable for recording, since you can add effects and etc after you record a track.
Electric violins are more fun with an amp, though, since you aren't just playing the violin, you also play the amp. Hard to explain, but you'll figure it out fast the first time you jack into a guitar amp or etc. An amp with at least some reverb and it definitely starts getting fun, and you can get some really nice and neat sounds.
For practice, I most often play my electric unamplified. I can hear well enough unamplified or use the headphone jack if the house is being too noisy for me to hear well enough, and then I can walk around the house and not have to fuss with cables.
But yeah, you can definitely record an electric violin direct. I can't say for sure they all sound decent that way, but mine is a very inexpensive electric, and it does. So probably most do.
"This young wine may have a lot of tannins now, but in 5 or 10 years it is going to be spectacular, despite the fact that right now it tastes like crude oil. You know this is how it is supposed to taste at this stage of development." ~ Itzhak Perlman
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Thank you, DanieB!! Really helpful. Out of curiosity, have you (or anyone else) ever tried using an apple product (i.e. ipad/iphone/mac) to record from a live electric violin, plugged into an amp? If so, how is the sound quality? I'm a little worried that electric might sound too loud for an Apple product microphone. Or maybe there's a way to adjust the volume...
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