How to play without MIDI device??

[shinderhizzle84]

Hello everyone! Before I begin, please excuse my complete lack of knowledge, as I have just downloaded the free trial for this and have never used anything like this before...I've written quite a bit of song material but I've only used a program called Guitar Pro, which uses MIDI sound, but sounds terrible....

Anyways, so, I have no MIDI Device...no keyboard or anything. I've downloaded the free trial for this thing, but I'm wondering if there is a way to still use this thing with just a standard computer keyboard and mouse??

And, if there is, how the heck do I record??? I press some of the strings, but it doesn't hold, and I have no idea how I can record or whatever to string a song together...

Thank you very much!

EDIT: Also, I'm wondering about the RealGuitar for this next question, but I've got a buddy who has Guitar Rig...is there any way for me to somehow use RealGuitar through guitar rig?? Again, I have no experience with this kind of stuff (I don't even think that he does, really...he always says how he never uses it), so please be gentle

[sanguino2001]

The best way to use RealGuitar, RealStrat or RealLPC is to use them as VSTinstruments inside Cubase, Sonar or any other VSTi compatible DAW. There you will be able to draw midi notes in any MIDI track whose output is sent to the instrument.

And your friend is right... you can use Guitar Rig as an insert effect for the instrument in your DAW. Any VST effects can be used as an insert effect in your daw for your virtual instrument.

I'm afraid it would take a bit long to explain all the steps here and now, but believe me, it's possible to use RealGuitar (or RealStrat, etc) as a VSTinstrument and send its signal to any VST effect (like Guitar Rig, or Amplitube) and get a decent guitar sound.

Good luck.

Jose, Spain