Line 6 Goes Plug-In?

[Funkybot]

But why not take the Lexicon approach, and create software linked to the hardware? I'm still hoping that's what this will end up being, but I'm starting to doubt it.

[Trojan Badger]

The hardware vs software thing is less applicable to guitarists though for live playing - the outboard gear you need to control your guitar sound (low latency soundcard, foot controller, MIDI interface) alone is the same as the cost of, say a PodXT Live - and that's before you buy the laptop and any software. Whereas you can reasonably play a softsynth (output latency alone, remember) with a USB keyboard and onboard sound using ASIO4all.

[dasjambo]

definitely looking forward to reading some reviews. thanks for the tip-off!

[Trojan Badger]

Yes, me too. For me (normally a guitarist) the mic preamp stuff sounds intriguing.

[Hink]

Yes, me too. For me (normally a guitarist) the mic preamp stuff sounds intriguing.

TB, have you tried the line six editor? (not soundiver) I posted the link a ways back.. When I first got my POD 2.0 it was kind of a no brainer.....it was while I was in retail and with the offer made to us I would of been a fool not to buy it.

I too found what you state, but using the editor I have the features the do not have knobs on the POD. I guess they're on the pedalboard, but I dont want or need that. Since I have found with some tweaking I can create some nice sounds, better yet I can edit them and save them on my laptop. The first 6 months I hardly touched it, I was using GT2 mainly, somtimes with a super chorus. I now use the POD far more then the sansamp. But part of that I must admit was ear fatigue...

[Lawnmower Of The Damned]

Nope, this is usually when the 'models' are not even close and you have problems getting a famous engineer advertising them as true models.

- bManic

Then we agree to disagree

I've heard more than a few producers put their seal of approval on it. I've also seen a ton of multi-platinum artists release albums using a Pod/Spider/Flextone/HD147/Vetta for all of the guitars.

Dream Theater, Evanescence, Nine Inch Nails, Theatre of Tragedy...

Not only that, but side by side comparisons to many amps, (Vox AC30 comes to mind as a very good example) showed that with a good ear and some careful tweaking the sound can be spot on.

Close enough for rock 'n roll, says I!

[bmanic]

Nope, this is usually when the 'models' are not even close and you have problems getting a famous engineer advertising them as true models.

- bManic

Then we agree to disagree

I've heard more than a few producers put their seal of approval on it. I've also seen a ton of multi-platinum artists release albums using a Pod/Spider/Flextone/HD147/Vetta for all of the guitars.

.. umm, I meant the mic-pre emulations, not the guitar ones. Oh, and like I said earlier, the Pod is not useless but if I'd have a choise of recording a full stack with nice real amps or a Pod, guess which one I'd choose?

- bManic

[Wormhelmet]

Agreed on line 6 editor being pretty cool and working great. I will be watching for this one to come out fairly priced. I love my POD 2.0, even though I am getting the sounds I want from GSuite plugs also, I think Line 6 has done a great job with modeling and making a slew of amps affordable to the everyday working man. I wanted the POD since it was first reviewed in Keyboard magazine and they raved about the warm tone. Yeah, it's not the real deal, but for the money, it's pretty damn close. i think this is a good move for them to break off more into the computer arena/plugin dept.

[Hink]

Nope, this is usually when the 'models' are not even close and you have problems getting a famous engineer advertising them as true models.

- bManic

Then we agree to disagree

I've heard more than a few producers put their seal of approval on it. I've also seen a ton of multi-platinum artists release albums using a Pod/Spider/Flextone/HD147/Vetta for all of the guitars.

.. umm, I meant the mic-pre emulations, not the guitar ones. Oh, and like I said earlier, the Pod is not useless but if I'd have a choise of recording a full stack with nice real amps or a Pod, guess which one I'd choose?

- bManic

my choice is made for me ...for now....I live in a small 2 bedroom apartment (me, my wife, my daughter and a guinea pig) so my 1/2 stack stands in silence about two feet from my bed (BTW wash day the wife uses my mic stands to hang clothes)

mic-ing the cab is not gonna yeild any favorable results, I live right on a busy street with lots of truck traffic, there's a big dip in the road (and one in my house too ). I can't listen to vinyl sometimes...vox can be a a bitch, but because of the way I do it the thumps are less probmatic for me (shorter clips) then when mic-ing my cab...so emulation is a must...plus it would limit my night time playing which when my wife goes to bed is my most productive time...

[bmanic]

Fair enough!

I have a quite similar situation except we live in a 1 room flat in central helsinki. Which is why I was so disappointed by the latest Pod. I was really looking forward to how the technology surely must have improved in this day and age but alas, no.
I think a smarter device would be a cabinet only simulator that would let us buy a proper JCM 800 head or soldano head or whatever we want and then get fantastic, modelled cabinets to properly record the sound. I think that the distortion or overdrive itself is the biggest flaw in the Pod, not the cabinet modelling. Had some pretty good results today running the ART sgx2000 into the pod and using the pod only as a cabinet/mic modeller.

However, as I do have the possibility to record fully cranked amps in the universitys studios I'm kind of spoiled for choise so my apologies if my writing comes out too snobby. I'd absolutely kill for 'the perfect amp simulator in a small box' and I'll be the first in line to praise one when it comes (which I think it will, sooner or later).

Cheers!
bManic

[greendoor]

There are plenty of DI boxes with speaker level inputs designed for exactly that. The Avalon U5 is one from memory. For cabinet modelling, I don't think you can beat a good convolution impulse taken from a real cabinet.

[Hink]

There are plenty of DI boxes with speaker level inputs designed for exactly that. The Avalon U5 is one from memory. For cabinet modelling, I don't think you can beat a good convolution impulse taken from a real cabinet.

speaker level inputs? Are you say ing a DI that can take 100 watts input? I'll google on Avalon U5...I know that there use to be a few speaker emulators in the late 80's-early 90's...I would love a nice emulator to go with my marshall pre-amp...it has a cabinet switch, but it sounds aweful...

edit

http://www.avalondesign.com/instrudi.html

400watt input

[bmanic]

There are plenty of DI boxes with speaker level inputs designed for exactly that. The Avalon U5 is one from memory. For cabinet modelling, I don't think you can beat a good convolution impulse taken from a real cabinet.

No, impulses suck. One needs to properly model a cabinet for any realism. An impulse is static and does not provide the breakup or the dynamics of the speaker cone nor the different resonances of the cabinet itself. I have some dynamic convolution impulses on the sintefex from different amps but even these do not sound that good (could be poor microphone placement and crap amps.. I will investigate this further some other day).

- bManic

[ugo]

heavy smooth distortion or nice crunchy semi-clean sounds

have you tried roger linn's adrenalinn? its got a much more rich, smooth and hearty tone than the pod XT. i actually chose the pod XT specifically for its brighter, thinner, more digital tone because i felt it would fit better within the types of mixes i go for.

i would like to get an adrenalinn one day too though.

-ugo

[Hink]

because I'm happy enough with 2.0, and the fact that if I didn't get it the way I did I never would of bouught it, I cant see me ever getting xt...I'll wait for the next generation. But tbh I dont want something that uses cpu for processing, I myself would prefer to leave the resources for other apps and let it do it's own processing.