Recording guitar into computer, plugins etc – how do they work?

Question

I’m not the most technologically minded o people, and it’s hard to get a clear answer in a single place – how does someone connect guitars/bass to a computer to record? And then where do things like DSPs and plugins come in?

In: Technology

Answer 1

First you need an interface. That converts the sound into a digital format. This signal is processed by a DAW. Imagine a large, expensive app which recreates a mixing desk, that’s a DAW. Usually in a studio you’ll see racks of effects units. Reverb, compressors, delays etc. The plugins are the digital emulations of these effects. With these three things you can turn your laptop into a portable studio.