Hi,

I have a question about using as a computer recording device and as a form of output for an electric acoustic guitar. My question is how do you get the signal of the instrument to be recorded as stereo as instrument cables are mono and how do u get the feedback from the computers speakers as stereo instead of mono? Is there a simple piece of hardware i need to buy such as certain instrument cable that has a mono jack at one end and a stereo jack at the other end. Please help!!

The guitar outputs only a mono signal. If you want to record a stereo signal, you'll need a stereo effect processor. It will accept a mono input, but split the signal and process two channels slightly differently and then have a stereo output.

You can record a mono track, duplicate it on another track and use different fx on each and pan them. That's the same as the stereo fx unit but can actually be more flexible.

uncle_jerr wrote:

The guitar outputs only a mono signal. If you want to record a stereo signal, you'll need a stereo effect processor. It will accept a mono input, but split the signal and process two channels slightly differently and then have a stereo output. You can record a mono track, duplicate it on another track and use different fx on each and pan them. That's the same as the stereo fx unit but can actually be more flexible.

Well... not really.... applying a stereo effect processor to a mono signal doesn't really give you "stereo" -- it's really just simulated stereo.

A stereo recording occurs only one way -- by capturing a sound source using a pair of mics in a stereo placement configuration.
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Bruce Valeriani - Mix Engineer

yes, I totally agree, multiple microphones are the best way to record acoustic guitars.

It's just that sometimes the home recordist doesn't have that option...

Almost forgot-- another age-old method for stereo is double tracking. Just record two takes of the same thing and pan them.