From PC to amp and back? (Rockman)

[Valor]

Hello all,
great forum. I hope I'm posting this in the right section.

Is it possible to have your audio signal going out from your PC to an amp and then back into the PC and record it? Like when you're recording sounds in a DAW. Have the sound go out to the hardware amp and the amped up sound goes back into the computer and record that within the same DAW. Is that doable?
I realize that there are plenty of amp VSTs but some hardware amps or flangers etc can just not be emulated that well. The rockman for instance doesn't have any VST simulations and most amp sims I've tried so far don't really come close to that sound, even with Rockman presets (created by users). At least not to my satisfaction. I would like to have the real thing.

I have an Auzentech Xi-Forte soundcard (yeah, kinda old but still a good card for my budget) that has a Line out and Line in as well as stereo dolby outputs and TOSLINK audio. Would it be possible to connect the Line out to the line in of the Rockman and then have the Rockman line out go into the line in of the soundcard?
The Rockman features a guitar/keyboard in, and AUX in and two headphone outs. So I guess the line in would go into the guitar in (after all, you'd play the guitar or keyboard sound from your DAW) and its headphone output would go into the soundcard.
Here's the rear of the rockman headphone amp (there are also other rockmodules like the Sustainor that could be used as well I guess):
http://instrumentalsales.blogspot.de/20 ... -1985.html

Would this work, soundwise? Do I need a DAC? And how would I set up the DAW that it doesn't record the first sound but only the one that's been processed through the rockman or other amp of choice?
Any help would be greatly appreciatd! Thanks.

[Kevin63101]

What you need us a re-amp interface. Audio output of your DAW computer needs to be converted to the correct impedance prior to going into your amp or guitar pedals.

Then mic or use a direct box to go back into Daw.

Radial Engineering makes a great reamp set up, it's a little pricer than low budget, but it will last forever.

[resynthesis]

^ absolutely right for reamping through a proper amp but with the Rockman maybe you should audition all of the outputs back into your DAW through your line in. You might need to adjust gain levels for optimal signal/noise.

Routing is DAW dependant so I can't say for sure how you would do it not knowing your DAW.

[Valor]

Thanks for the replies and on the re-amping advice.
But yeah, I'm not sure if the Rockman is kind of in a category on its own. I recently found this on the rockman website, not sure if this plays a role and is one the reasons for the need to reamp? (Sorry, I'm a noob with these things)
Quote: "The microprocessors that were available in the eighties were not powerful enough to perform digital signal processing, but they could easily handle the control parameters of analog devices."
(http://www.rockman.fr/Reviews/XP.htm)
Well, seeing that the signal fed into the Rockman would be digital (from a synthesizer plug-in in Ableton Live) I guess it might not be handled properly? Or would the re-amping fix that? Maybe I'm also misunderstanding what the above quote is saying...

[Valor]

I have another question, hope you don't mind. Since my computer / soundcard only has one line out (which would go to the Rockman) how would I get the final sound from my DAW out to my speakers or stereo? I would need a second line out and a signal chain, wouldn't I. How would I set this up?

[bharris22]

I bought this Amp Interface from Orchid Electronics for exactly the purpose you are describing:

http://www.orchid-electronics.co.uk/Amp_Interface.htm

Heck of a lot cheaper than the Radial Engineering version, and John Godsland at Orchid was incredibly helpful. Google Orchid and Amp Interface and you can see the fantastic review this device received from Sound on Sound. Highly recommended.

[Wormhelmet]

I used to have a Rockman. Great sounds. My drummer friend and I would take it out under one of the bridges by San Diego Chargers stadium and I would plug it into a 600 watt amp connected to a dual 10" three way car stereo box and run off the car battery power and him on his kit. Great acoustics under the bridge. Live jams for hours.

I'd be real surprised if Bias Amp couldn't reproduce it in software simulation though. It has amp matching and can do a surprisingly good job. With a recorded dry signal you could send out of the DAW and into a preamp, adjust input gain to match a guitar output, then into the rockman, then the outs into the ins on an interface. No need for direct box with a rockman. The headphone out gives speaker sim already and a line level.

Maybe some other device to simulate a Hi Z guitar signal input. Ebbtech might make something like that.

[Valor]

Thanks for the hints!

@ Wormhelmet: I have already tried to simulate the Rockman tone with amp software and so have a lot of others. As a matter of fact you can find plenty of Rockman user presets for Amplitube, Guitarrig etc. But none of these really nail it IMO. I haven't tried Bias Amp yet but from the description it seems that the main difference here would be the tone matching - which to me sounds like they're just doing EQ matching and then making an IR out of that. Well, I've already done that too with Rockman songs - and so far it was not completely satisfying. Though somewhat close...so guess why I'm actually trying to go the hardware route now and am thinking about buying an actual 80's Rockman (never owned one). But for that I need to make sure that I can properly set it up from and to my DAW/PC.

p.s.: Do you know if the ToneCloud from Bias Amp has any good rockman patches? Maybe I'll check it out then...

[idfpower]

https://youtu.be/46lim9n3ZPM

https://youtu.be/b1O_5gaX4-s