OK. I've seen several people on here looking for help with recording programs as well as exactly what they need to record. If you are one of these people, then this tutorial is for you.
What you need to record directly into your computer
There are really only three things that you need to record directly into your computer. These items are:
Acoustic/Electric Guitar or an Electric Guitar
An Adapter (approx. $3.99)
A Recording Program
The Guitar:
The guitar is totally up to you. There are several threads around here that provide very good suggestions.
The Adapter:
This is the exact one I have. It's about as cheap as you're going to get.
Gold Mono-to-Mono Inline Adapter
$3.99
A Recording Program
This, like the guitar, is totally personal preference. You may want to go out and buy a program, and that's totally fine. But, if you're one of those people that don't feel like spending any money, get Audacity. It is by far the best free recording program out there. It supports VST plug-ins, so you can go download the exact effect you're looking for.
Recording
Now that you have everything you need, it's time to start recording. Take your guitar and plug it in. On the other end of the cord, you may have your preamp, amp, or simply the adapter (which is my setup). A preamp isnt really necessary for an acoustic guitar, but it does allow you to choose effects before recording, so you don't have to mess with it after. If you choose to to go into your amp before your computer, it basically does the same thing as a preamp, since you just have more controls on your amp then on your guitar. You may also like a certain sound that comes out of your amp, in which case you can capture that particular sound. If you are using your electric guitar, you will need an amp or preamp to go through. If not, it will sound horrible. Plus, you will also be able to get more effects with an amp or preamp.
Okay. Now you'll need your adapter. Take the adapter, and plug into the line-in port in the back of your computer. Then take your cord coming from your guitar/amp and plug it into the opposite end of the adapter. Note that not all amps have a line-out jack, in which case you'll need a preamp.
Now that you have everything set up, press the record button and strum away.
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Recording and Editing with Audacity
Before you do anything in the program, you'll need to record a track. I don't think I need to explain where the record button is.
Now you have your first track. What do you want to do?
I want to give the track an effect.
Highlight the part (or all) of the track you would like change the sound to. Now, choose an effect from your list. Some require you to specify the actual sound. In this case, it's pretty much trial and error. Fool around with various effects and see what suits you most.
I want to record over the track.
Go to File -> Preferences. Check the box that says "Play other tracks while recording a new one." This will make the whole process a lot easier. Of course you could always do without this, but it would be kind of hard.
The track is not in time when I playback the sencond track I just recorded. Why?
This is because there is a slight delay from when you play to when the sound actually reaches the computer. You wil have to fix this manually. I like to use the Selection Tool to mark a specific beat/note that you can "see" in the waveform. Then take the Time Shift Tool (it looks like this: <->) and move the track to match the other.
How can I pan a track to a desired location, or make it only come out of one channel?
The new version of Audacity makes this really easy. Use the marker all the way to the left of the track that has an "L" and "R" on either side. Move this to wherever you want. However, I have noticed that if you pan one track to, say, 40% left, it will be in the middle if the recording if you do not make one track stereo. To make the track only come out of the Left/Right channel, use the dropdown menu by clicking on the track name. It's a little more then halfway down.
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I hope this helps everyone. If you have anymore questions/comments, feel free to post them here.
Perhaps this could be stickied as well.
