I have not yet tried to capture a whole lot but before I will, I wanted to make sure I understand this feature. I read through the manual, but haven’t found an answer to my question. But please let me know if I missed it.
To my understanding, when creating a capture, you have to dial in the input level and instrument level. After that, the instrument no longer serves a purpose. So what does it actually do? Is it just used to get the levels right?
And if so, does it matter what the settings on my instrument are (e.g. which pickups are selected, EQ, strings,…)? Or which instrument I am using (guitar, bass, keyboard,…)? And do I even need an instrument after adjusting the levels?
You use you instrument to dial in the tone you want etc., then yes, you would tweak the input and instrument levels on the capture page to just below peaking and then the QC will take over and send various tones to your capture source and about 4 minutes later, it will allow you to audition and compare the tones. It really is very simple, whether you capture a drive and or an amp, its the same process. If you capture an amp using a mic, you just need to change your input to mic etc., but identical process each time. You can capture preamps etc., same process.
If new to capturing, try capturing a drive pedal to get used to the process. Once you get it smooth, you can bypass the wizard and go straight to capturing. Just remember, if your instrument/mic level peaks at all, the capture will error out during the sanity check and ask you to re-adjust so I set to peak and then dial it down until it’s just about to peak etc. Technically, the instrument does not matter but you have to dial in to your liking somehow.
@MP_Mod So once I know my settings (basically the output of my guitar), I won’t actually need an instrument to capture anymore. Eg. when I want to capture pedal-X, all settings at 12, I can simply do that with the QC without an instrument. This would also mean when downloading a capture, it doesn’t matter which instrument the user has used to create that capture, right? Because I have seen some named: “Gibson into Marshall”.
Hypothetically, you won’t need your instrument but realistically you would need it to audition the capture afterwards and if you changed any settings etc. And that is correct, a capture is just a moment in time but some upload notes on the instrument used so you can kind of understand the tone they were shooting for and the uses for their capture shared. It doesn’t really matter what instrument was used as that technically doesn’t factor in the capture process.
Glad to help! Good luck with the captures!