HELP!! I need to plug my electric acoustic into my computer, all i hear is BZZZZZZZZ?

Question

i have a dell laptop, a fender acoustic electric, and a microphone adpter ting that makes the guittar plug fit int the computer, in all the free software i have downloaded to record, all i get is a loud bzzzz sound. please help, all i want is to be able to record, i will have an amp in like 2 days so do i have to run it through that. i dont know, PLEASE HELP!!!!!!!!!!

Answer 1

You might have some success by reversing the PLUG in the wall. That BUZZ sound is probably AC noise. Maybe your computer and AMP have to be on the same circuit. Hopefully, your computer and AMP are grounded.

Good luck and Happy Computing!

Answer 2

I suspect one of two things - either:

1) You are getting feedback, in which case simply moving the guitar away from the speaker may help; or:

2) There is nonspecific interference (line noise) caused by some other signal being picked up by your system. This is a lot harder to track down, but a nearby electromagnetic source (such as a large TV being on) could be responsible.

There's a possibility of internal flaws in your computer or sound card, but if this were the case I'd expect it to be present all the time, not just when the guitar is plugged in.

Answer 3

Try turning down the laptop speakers or wearing headphones.
I don't know if this is feedback or not.

Is your acoustic switched on?
Most use a small battery powered preamp.

Is your microphone source enabled and not muted?
Double click on speaker icon near clock in task bar. Microphone slider up all the way. Uncheck mute

If you plug regular pc mic in does it work?
If not this may be a problem with input. For those who don't use those slots regularly they get dusty and connections do corrode a little bit. Try blowing out hole with one of those compressed air cans and wiggle connector to see if you hear anything.


Hope this helps.

Answer 4

Dude you can't plug a guitar directly into the computer you NEED A AMP!!!!! an amp does more than just amplify the sound it also powers the device ur using. thats why your getting a buzzing sound from ur speakers. The guitar is trying to pull more power than what the computer is giving. Dude get an amp Plug to guitar hopefullt the amp has an outlet where u can plug to ur computer and bam, should work

Answer 5

for these kind of things the best solution is to purchase something like an Mbox that lets you plug in instruments and other sound sources to it. Mbox also comes with protools program. But this is an expensive solution. I think that the pickups on the guitar send too low of a voltage for the pc sound card to pick up properly.

Answer 6

Does your guitar has a built in pre amp?? if it does, check the battery. if it doesnt you need to pass it through one.
It is not the best idea, anyway, to plug the guitar directly to the computer, get a small mixer and an audio interface.

Answer 7

Sounds as though you have too high of an input signal or the is an impedance miss-match. Look to see what the output impedance of your guitar adapter is as well as the input impedance of the sound card is. I expect you will find one is high impedance and the other is low impedance.

Answer 8

You may have a problem.
Built-in sound chips have very poor Line-in quality. Since you can't put a sound blaster in you may be able to get an external usb sound translator.

Answer 9

Run the hardware diagnostic in the dell partition.

Answer 10

i had the same problem. i fixed it but the sound quality was horrible so i bought this from guitar center" m-audio mobile pre usb