How to Record Guitar in FL Studio: DI, Amps & Acoustic

To record an electric guitar directly in FL Studio, plug it into an instrument/Hi-Z input, select that input on a dedicated Mixer insert and use the EXT recording pickup. You can then hear an amp simulator through FL Studio while the incoming DI file stays free of FL Studio effects. Miking an amp or an acoustic guitar uses the same recording controls with a different hardware input. That route will never give you a raw electric-guitar DI.

Make that choice first. No amp preset, however loud, can rescue a guitar plugged into the wrong input. And a great sound in your headphones doesn’t prove you recorded the signal you meant to keep.

Edition check: this external-audio workflow needs Producer Edition or higher, according to Image-Line’s audio-recording prerequisites. If you’re in the standard time-unlimited Trial, pick an edition that supports recording. You can save projects and export audio there, but you cannot reopen saved projects until you purchase and unlock FL Studio. So keep needed work open, export what matters, and check the edition and plugin requirements before you close anything.

Record guitar in FL Studio in ten steps

1. Choose and connect the source. Use an instrument/Hi-Z input for a guitar DI, a mic input for a microphone, or the documented matching input for a modeler’s output. Never connect an amp’s speaker output directly to the interface.
2. Select the interface. Open Options > Audio settings. Use its manufacturer’s ASIO driver on Windows when available, or select the interface through Core Audio on macOS. On macOS, allow FL Studio microphone access if requested.
3. Set the hardware gain. Play the hardest section you intend to record. Watch the interface’s input indication, leave headroom and avoid clipping; do not set input gain from the amp sim’s output loudness.
4. Link a dedicated Audio Track. In the Playlist, right-click a track header, choose Track mode > Audio track and select an unused Mixer insert. Name the route for its role, such as Rhythm L DI.
5. Select the input and pickup. Choose the mono version of the connected socket for one guitar or microphone. Click the recording-pickup selector immediately before the Input menu and choose EXT to exclude FL Studio processing. Confirm the track’s disk-record arm is on.
6. Choose one monitoring path. For hardware direct monitoring, set FL Studio’s Monitor external input to Off. To hear an FL Studio amp/cab chain, turn hardware direct monitoring off and set FL input monitoring to When armed or On.
7. Prepare the recording start. Select Song mode. Enable Audio in the main Record button’s right-click filter. For this arm-then-Play sequence, turn Recording starts playback and Wait for Input off. Leave Auto-create audio clip enabled under the Mixer’s Disk recording menu.
8. Record a test. Arm the main Record button, press Play, perform a short loud passage and stop. Listen back for clipping, noise, unwanted printed effects and consistent clip placement.
9. Record the performance. Mute unused earlier takes before another pass. Record separate performances for a rhythm double; label the chosen takes and keep their original audio files.
10. Save the project and its audio. Check where the recorded WAV files are stored and include them in your backup. On a licensed installation, reopen and verify playback. In standard Trial, check the files in the open session and do not close work you still need before purchase/unlock.

The broader FL Studio audio-recording guide goes deeper into device setup, Playlist recording and Edison. This page sticks to the decisions that matter for guitar: the guitar input, the tone you play through and the file you keep.

Choose the guitar recording route before the input

Electric guitar direct: keep the pickup signal

Connect the guitar to an input marked Instrument, INST or Hi-Z with an ordinary 1/4-inch TS instrument cable. For an unprocessed DI, plug in ahead of any pedal or hardware processing you don’t want baked in. You’re capturing the pickup signal itself. A speaker in a room is a different recording.

Without an instrument input on the interface, a suitable instrument DI box can feed its microphone input instead. Focusrite’s instrument-input troubleshooting explains why an unsuitable mic or line connection can sound weak, dull, distorted or noisy. Combo sockets don’t always switch to instrument mode by themselves, so check what the input is documented to handle.

Microphone on an amp: keep the amp sound

Here the amp, speaker, microphone and room are all part of the performance. Plug the microphone into a microphone input. EXT keeps later FL Studio effects out of the recording, but it can’t strip out distortion, cabinet tone or room sound the microphone has already picked up.

If you also want a raw DI, put a suitable DI/split arrangement before the amp: one path feeds the amp and the other records the guitar on its own. A spare copy of the amp-mic file isn’t a clean DI.

Acoustic guitar: microphone or pickup?

A microphone picks up the strings, the body and the room. An acoustic pickup captures its own transducer signal. Decide which sound you need, then match the input to the documented output of the pickup or preamp, because acoustic preamps don’t all put out the same level.

Shure’s home-recording guide suggests a first microphone position about 20 cm from the 12th-fret area. Record a phrase there and listen to it in the song. It’s a starting position, and there’s no rule that a guitar sounds best there.

Use the right input and keep speaker outputs out of it

A passive electric guitar goes into the interface’s instrument/Hi-Z mode. Active pickups, pedalboards and modelers take more checking. Their output levels vary, and a modeler may offer line-level or USB recording outputs. Follow the output device’s instructions and match that output to the interface input.

Never connect a powered amplifier’s speaker output directly to an audio interface. Use only a documented recording/line output or a correctly rated load-box setup with an appropriate output. An ordinary instrument DI box is not automatically a speaker load. Even when using a line output, keep whatever speaker or load the amp manufacturer requires connected. Two notes explains the different jobs of a load box, DI and reamp box. If you cannot verify the exact amp and connected device, do not make the connection.

Set guitar input gain without chasing a magic number

Play the hardest palm mute, chord attack or lead accent in the part while you watch the interface’s input meter or clip light. Set the hardware gain so those attacks don’t overload the input, then listen back with FL Studio effects bypassed. A distorted amp preset can easily hide distortion you never meant to record.

There’s no gain-knob position that suits every pickup and interface. Start from the interface maker’s guidance and leave room for an attack harder than you expect. Turning up an amp sim’s output only changes how loud you hear it. It can’t fix a weak connection, and lowering a Mixer fader can’t undo clipping that happened before the audio ever reached FL Studio.

Weak or intermittent input? Check the simple things first

Plug the guitar in directly, bypass the pedalboard and swap in a known-good instrument cable. Check the guitar’s volume, pickup selector, tuner mute and any active-pickup battery. Then try another compatible interface input. If the fault follows the guitar or the cable, rebuilding the FL Studio Mixer won’t help.

Create a dedicated FL Studio guitar Audio Track

The manual setup in the ten steps gives you time to check the source before the transport starts. Link a Playlist lane to a Mixer insert, then select the connected input and confirm the disk-record arm. The clickable recording-pickup selector sits just before the Input menu. Use it to choose EXT and to reach the separate external-input monitoring options. For a custom WAV filename or location, right-click the Mixer track’s recording icon. The clip you get points to an audio file on disk, because the FLP doesn’t store the audio itself.

There’s also a quick route. The toolbar microphone’s Into the Playlist as an audio clip command creates an Audio Track and opens the input selector. Selecting that input starts recording after a four-click count-in. That’s far more than opening an idle input menu, so set up the instrument, gain and monitoring before you use it.

Use clear names like Rhythm L DI, Lead Amp Mic or Acoustic Mic. If the link between lane and insert is new to you, the Mixer routing guide explains insert, bus and Master connections.

Why a mono input fixes many one-sided recordings

One guitar output or microphone usually feeds one interface channel. Select a stereo pair instead and that signal can end up on only the left or right side. Pick the connected socket from the mono list in the Mixer input menu, and FL Studio feeds that source into both channels of its stereo Mixer track. Then pan the part wherever you like.

That doesn’t mean every guitar setup has to be mono. A stereo pedal or modeler may have two distinct outputs worth recording together, so cable and select both correctly. When a mono test still comes out one-sided, check pan and output routing before recording the whole session again on the same assumption.

Use an insert, not the Master

Give the guitar its own insert and the route is easier to inspect and to mix separately. The Master carries the rest of the song, and pickup modes that include internal audio can capture that material too. EXT leaves out internally routed Mixer audio, but a separate guitar insert still gives you a clearer input and effects route.

Record a dry DI while hearing the amp sim

Plug the guitar straight into the instrument input, put your amp/cab chain on its Mixer insert and choose EXT as the recording pickup. Enable Monitor external input > When armed or On. If you only want to hear the software-processed input, turn off hardware direct monitoring.

The file captures the interface input before any FL Studio effects, but what you hear passes through the insert’s plugins. In Audio Track mode, recorded Audio Clips normally play back through that same insert. Hearing the amp again on playback doesn’t mean it was printed into the file, so bypass the chain and listen.

EXT does not undo upstream processing. Pedals, a modeler, a miked amplifier, interface processing or a processed input/loopback source may already be in the incoming signal. Call the file a dry guitar DI only when the selected source really is that unprocessed DI.

When should you print the effects?

Print a sound once you’ve decided to commit to it, never just because it sounded good in the headphones. The FX pickup records after the last Mixer effect slot and can include internally routed audio too. That point differs from track EQ, level, pan or mute, and Image-Line’s recording-pickup reference explains each of those stages.

For a flexible DI session, keep EXT and save the amp settings you want with the project. If you also record a processed version on purpose, label it clearly so nobody mistakes it for the raw source.

Check the cabinet stage before blaming the DI

The amp model and the speaker-cabinet model do different jobs. Focusrite’s amp-sim explanation separates the amp’s core tone from the cabinet/IR stage that shapes it. Many amp plugins already include a cabinet; others need a separate stage.

When the result sounds unexpectedly harsh, check what’s switched on before adding corrective EQ. You don’t need a second cabinet processor when the first one already sits inside the amp plugin. Check the stock-plugin guide to see which native effects you have, then build a small chain you understand.

Choose direct or software monitoring

Hardware direct monitoring sends the interface input to its headphone/output mix without a round trip through FL Studio, and it still passes audio to the DAW for recording. Focusrite calls it a near-zero-latency monitoring path, and near-zero isn’t a guarantee of zero delay. You won’t hear an amp sim running inside FL Studio this way, though hardware tone from upstream may still come through.

Software monitoring sends the input through FL Studio’s amp/cab chain and back out of the interface. You play into the tone you want, but the buffer and processing path add delay. Plug wired headphones into the monitoring device you plan to use, and keep listening levels comfortable.

Hearing a thin direct guitar and a delayed distorted one at the same time means you have two live paths. For direct monitoring, set FL Studio’s Monitor external input to Off and leave the recording pickup at EXT, since input monitoring is a separate control. For software monitoring, switch off the interface’s direct path and use When armed or On in FL Studio. If the doubling doesn’t go away, check for older takes that are still playing.

Reduce monitoring delay without making the session unstable

Start with the correct interface driver and a small tracking project. Lower the buffer only as long as playback stays free of audible glitches. Image-Line’s current Audio Settings guidance recommends 128 samples as a starting point on Apple Silicon, with specific higher values if needed. That number isn’t a universal setting for every computer, and it doesn’t measure total round-trip latency.

Pull processing that adds significant delay out of the monitored route for now. Some look-ahead, linear-phase or oversampling modes add latency. How much depends on the plugin and mode, so check its reported delay and documentation. Track through a simple amp/cab chain instead of a finished mastering setup. If the smaller buffer crackles, work through the crackling-audio checklist instead of living with damaged takes.

A late recording is a different problem

Live monitoring delay is what you feel while you play. Recorded alignment is where the new clip lands against the arrangement. The Mixer’s disk-recording latency compensation handles the second one and doesn’t change the live sound.

If clips land early or late by the same amount every time, test with the native interface driver and check recording latency compensation. Then look at the documented Playback Tracking or per-input delay controls. Never guess an offset from one loose performance. The audio-settings and latency guide helps you keep those checks separate from buffer changes. Hardware reamping can add a real round trip of its own, and that needs its own alignment check.

Place a microphone by listening, not just measuring

Acoustic guitar: start around the 12th fret

Try the starting position described above and record a phrase at performance level. Moving toward the sound hole adds bass; moving away can help when the sound is boomy. Change one thing at a time, including where the player sits in the room. Then compare it against the backing track instead of judging the solo sound alone.

Guitar cabinet: compare positions across the speaker

Shure’s home-recording guide suggests an outer-cone starting position about 9 cm away. Its separate amp-miking guidance explains the usual contrast: toward the center sounds brighter, toward the edge less so. Treat both as experiments, since no single spot is guaranteed to suit your amp, mic and part. When you like the playback, write the position down.

Find hum and hiss before adding a gate

Start at the source, then add processing back in step by step:

1. Listen to a DI test with the FL Studio effects bypassed.
2. Connect directly with a known-good instrument cable.
3. Check instrument input mode and hardware gain.
4. Check the guitar’s controls, pickup position and any active battery.
5. Try a different playing position away from nearby power supplies and other interference sources.
6. Add the amp/cab plugins one at a time and listen during rests.

Radial’s guitar-noise guidance separates pickup interference from ground-loop problems. Hum that changes when you touch the strings isn’t enough to diagnose the wiring from an article. If you suspect faulty equipment or unsafe power, stop using that setup and ask a qualified technician. Never remove a protective mains earth/ground to reduce hum.

A gate can mute low-level noise between phrases, but the noise is still there at the source. Set it while listening to quiet notes and decays too. An aggressive threshold can chop off the very performance you wanted to keep.

Make a test take before recording the whole part

Play a loud passage, stop, and listen back with your hands off the guitar. Check:

• Input: the interface did not clip on the hardest attacks.
• File: bypassing FL effects reveals the source you intended (raw DI, modeler or microphone), not an accidentally printed plugin chain.
• Tone: the playing sound supports the part without hiding a faulty input.
• Noise: rests and decays are usable.
• Timing: the live response was playable and the clip placement is consistent.
• Storage: the actual recorded WAV is in a known location and included with the project backup.

Run the reopen check on a licensed installation, since the standard Trial can’t reopen saved projects until purchase/unlock. Verify and export needed work while the session is still open.

Keep doubles, leads and raw files identifiable

A real rhythm double means two performances, for example Rhythm L, Take A and Rhythm R, Take B. Copying one clip and panning it doesn’t create a second performance. Listen in the arrangement to decide how wide to pan them. Not every guitar has to be a hard-panned pair.

Give leads, harmonies and textures clear names. Wherever you recorded DI, keep the original DI files, and mute unused clips instead of letting every safety copy play at once. RhythmL_T03_DI tells you far more than Guitar final new. For the wider folder and naming setup, see the project-organization workflow.

Pick the performance before you spend time editing every pass. For repeated attempts at one section, the loop-recording guide shows how to set the loop range and decide whether earlier takes stay audible. Those passes are easier to judge when the source is named and the monitoring route is deliberate.

Reamp the DI without feeding it back into itself

Swapping the amp plugin later only reuses the existing DI file. Sending that file to a real guitar amp takes a hardware route. For a standard amp instrument input, Radial’s reamping workflow runs a dedicated interface line output through a reamp box to match level and impedance, then records the miked amp on a new input.

Send only the intended DI to that dedicated output. Never route the new amp-mic return back into the output feeding the reamp box, because that creates a feedback path. Follow the manuals for your specific amp and reamp device, including any required speaker/load connection. If you can’t verify the route, keep the DI and leave the hardware experiment for later.

Save the guitar files, not just the project

Image-Line’s project-format reference is clear on this: an FLP doesn’t contain its separate audio samples, so back up the recorded WAV files with it. A zipped project includes the Audio Clip and Sampler files the project uses. It won’t include every external library that third-party plugins rely on, unless the plugin’s saved format embeds that data.

Before you move or delete a recording folder, verify the backup and, on a licensed installation, reopen it and play the guitar parts. In the standard Trial, leave needed work open until purchase/unlock and export what you need. A convincing live tone is nice, but the result worth protecting is a clearly labeled recording you can come back to.

Head to the FL Studio Recording hub for the next step, whether that’s another input source, looped takes or editing the recorded performance.

Frequently asked questions

Can I plug a guitar directly into my computer?

Use an audio interface with a suitable instrument/Hi-Z input, or an instrument DI box feeding a microphone input. A generic computer microphone socket cannot stand in for a guitar input. For a modeler with USB or line output, follow that device’s documented connection and driver setup.

Should I record guitar dry or with an amp sim?

For an unprocessed electric-guitar DI, use EXT to exclude FL Studio effects and monitor through the amp/cab chain with software input monitoring enabled. EXT cannot remove pedals, modeler processing or amp tone already present in the incoming signal. Print plugin effects only deliberately, using the pickup point you intend.

Why can I hear dry guitar and the amp sim together?

Hardware direct monitoring and FL Studio input monitoring may both be audible. To hear the FL amp sim alone, disable the hardware direct path and use Monitor external input When armed or On. For direct monitoring, set FL input monitoring Off. If doubling remains, check older takes and other monitored routes.

Why is my guitar recording only on one side?

A stereo input pair may contain your single guitar or microphone on only one side. Select that socket from the Mixer’s mono input list and record a test; FL Studio feeds it to both Mixer channels. If it is still one-sided, check pan and output routing. A true stereo hardware source needs both outputs connected correctly.

Can I connect an amplifier speaker output to my interface?

No. Never connect a powered amp’s speaker output directly to an interface. Use a documented recording output or a correctly rated load-box setup with a suitable output, and keep any speaker/load the amp requires connected. An ordinary instrument DI box is not automatically a load box, so read both devices’ manuals before connecting anything.

Can I record guitar in FL Studio Trial?

The standard Trial lets you test editions; choose Producer or higher for this recording workflow. You can save and export, but cannot reopen saved projects until purchase/unlock. Check required edition and plugin entitlements, and keep needed work open or exported before closing the session.

Eric Norris Nashville-based FL Studio producer and editor focused on practical workflow, mixer routing, troubleshooting, sampling and native Image-Line tools.