Digital Home Thoughts: Soundtech's Lightsnake USB Instrument Cable

You know how they say the best things in life are free? Well, sometimes the best technologies are the simplest, at least in terms of how easy they are the pick up and use. The Soundtech Lightsnake USB Instrument Cable falls into that category. It's essentially a sound card on a cable with an input designed to connect to an instrument that uses a 1/4" jack (typically a guitar or bass, though other instrucments can have 1/4" jacks). Here's how easy the Lightsnake USB Instrument Cable was to use: I took it out of the plastic blister pack (which took some careful cutting), unwrapped it, plugged it into the front USB port on my computer, watched it light up and waited a few seconds as Vista installed the drivers for it, went into the Vista sound panel and selected it as the recording source, then I fired up the Vista sound recorder and recorded this quick test. The hardest part of that whole process was getting the package open.

The cable is 10 feet long, which in some ways is a bit much to handle if you're just connecting it to your PC and sitting in front of it, but it's better to have it be too long than not long enough. The tech specs: it boasts 16 bit 48/44.1KHz audio, a dynamic range of 81.6 dB, frequency response of 48KHz: 20 - 19.2KHz, signal boost gain of +20 Db, and it uses power from the USB port. It has a pass-through 1/4" connector on the top so you can run a feed to your amp and hear yourself as you record. It will work with any computer running Windows 98/SE, Me, 2000, XP or Vista, Mac OS 9.0.4 or higher, and even Linux. Some of those might require drivers, so it ships with a driver CD. Also on the CD are demo versions of Sony Acid, Sony Sound Forge, Sony Vegas and other Sony software titles. If I had any criticism of this product, it would be that most people would find it valuable to have a "lite" version of Sony Acid or another program to get started with, or even Audacity (ugly thought it might be). Then again, with it only costing $39.99 USD from Amazon.com [Affiliate] right now, you could pick up Sony ACID Musid Studio 7 [Affiliate] and still have the whole package cost less than $100 USD. It would also be nice to hear the output from the computer speakers for those that don't have an amp handy.

If you're looking for an inexpensive way to connect your musical instrument to your computer and start experimenting with home recording, the Soundtech Lightsnake USB Instrument Cable is a great solution.

Jason Dunn owns and operates Thoughts Media Inc., a company dedicated to creating the best in online communities. He enjoys photography, mobile devices, blogging, digital media content creation/editing, and pretty much all technology. He lives in Calgary, Alberta, Canada with his lovely wife, and his sometimes obedient dog. He's no Victor Wooten, but he can hold his own on bass.