real time USB recording using Tracktion 1 and a laptop?

[bugzapper]

Is it possible to link a PODxt Live through USB to a laptop running Tracktion 1 and get low enough latency (less than 5 ms) to record guitars in real time?

Also, how much does hard drive speed matter in using Tracktion 1 on a laptop? Is 5400 rps adequate?

[Distorted_Mastermind]

I own a laptop and Tracktion and record audio all the time. I run through an analog mixer though, but it should be about the same. The audio interface I use is USB and works fine with asio drivers. 5400 should work fine....if not buy an external hard drive. Audio recording isn't too hard on a computer. I've been doing it a long time, and computers didn't have spec near what they are today. Tracktion is a solid program and will handle it fine.

[naturestoned]

Hi bugzapper,

My PODxt has the same usb-interface. I think 5400 is sufficienct for HD
It's real fun to record with the pod in tracktion 1.6 and the 24bit quality is great.
It's important that you use the ASIO drivers and use the podxt as the only sound card in tracktion for recording & playback. I also have to deactivate my network card to avoid clicks & pops, but this may be an issue just with my network chipset.

You don't need to care about software latency because the pod has real time monitoring on its outputs for the guitar sound including all effects. So if you do playback over your podxt and play along with it, it is the perfect feeling. You can also do a preview with PODxt sounds but just record the clean sound so you can adjust amp sounds later (re-amping features in ASIO setup panel). Also good for guitar amp plug-ins.

You won't achive latency less than 5 ms so it is not possible to preview additional vst-pluging effects without hearable latency. For this purpose I use my firewire card.

have fun, greetings from germany

[bugzapper]

Thanks, Distorted_Master -

Thanks, naturestoned -

So, naturestoned, may I ask you to clarify a couple of things?

I had read that the PODxt could serve as a sound card, but I don't I fully grasped all that that means.

If you simply have a USB cable running between the POD and your computer, you can monitor the full mix through, for example, headphones connected to the POD's headphone output? That's way cool and would be perfect for my uses.

Regarding the pops and clicks, I think it's just that something about networks and DAW software don't mix. I use Sonar on my desktop, and the only time I have problems is when I forget to deactivate my wireless network card.

On another note, I just saw a fully set-up version of Tracktion for the first time yesterday, and I'm looking forward to giving it a try. Last winter, I downloaded the free version that Mackie was giving away before rolling out T2, and it just sat because I've been finding my way around Sonar pretty well. Now, however, that I'm looking into laptops (for reasons other than audio), I find that it would most likely take a more powerful laptop than I can spring for to run Sonar smoothly. So, I got interested again in Tracktion because its system requirements are relatively modest. But, from what I saw yesterday, all the key components are there, the sound quality is excellent, and the user interface is is really straightforward and cool.

How do you find Tracktion as far as CPU use?

Greetings from the USA.

[naturestoned]

I had read that the PODxt could serve as a sound card, but I don't I fully grasped all that that means.

If you simply have a USB cable running between the POD and your computer, you can monitor the full mix through, for example, headphones connected to the POD's headphone output? That's way cool and would be perfect for my uses.

How do you find Tracktion as far as CPU use?

Greetings from the USA.

Hi bugzapper,

to your first question...
yes it is exactly like you wrote. The PODxt is connected just with USB cable and for the OS(in my case WinXP) it is a normal sound-card device (MME, DirectSound and ASIO drivers). Since Dec 2004 I have used it as main sound card for my Laptop for all recording and playback purposes connected to active monitors and headphones. In the POD ASIO Control panel or the GuitarPort-SW you can control the mix between playback volume and direct monitoring volume of the modeled sound. I just recently bought an external firewire card for additional stereo line inputs and XLR Mic preamps. In Tracktion you can switch between the audio cards while Tracktion is running and project stays open, so it is no problem to handle.

.. and the CPU use.
My Laptop is a PIII 1000 with 1 Gig RAM and I am very happy with Tracktion if you consider CPU use (also the free version from Dec 04!). Tracktion seems to be programmed well from the scratch without the legacy of the big market leaders. Just very demanding VST-plugins (multiple IR reverbs and modular synthesizers etc.) are sometimes to much for my system. Personally I am more productive and creative with Tracktion (the CPU in my Head The user interface is very intuitive and for the guitar & bass songwriting I do it is nearly optimal not to have 1000 options for everything. The only thing I miss at the moment is a good drum editor like the one in Cubase with individual drum sound maps etc...

Greetings

[polaris20]

I use the POD XT with my 1.33Ghz Celeron w/ 768MB of RAM, and with Tracktion 1.6. It is amazing! Excellent scratchpad, and for that matter, I find myself using some of those tracks on the main recordings.

The re-amping feature is crazy, a very cool tool for making guitars sound huge. I love it.

I am also picking up a Toneport UX2 when they come out this fall/winter.

[bk]

You can also do a preview with PODxt sounds but just record the clean sound so you can adjust amp sounds later (re-amping features in ASIO setup panel).

How exactly does this work? I've got a Guitarport and would like to be able to run a clean guitar track back into it for processing, but haven't been able to achieve this yet.

[naturestoned]

You can also do a preview with PODxt sounds but just record the clean sound so you can adjust amp sounds later (re-amping features in ASIO setup panel).

How exactly does this work? I've got a Guitarport and would like to be able to run a clean guitar track back into it for processing, but haven't been able to achieve this yet.

I don't know if and how this works with the GuitarPort! I just own the PODxt.

For the PODxt you have to go to the ASIO Control Panel ("l6lvcon.exe" in Line 6 Folders or within Tracktion under "show ASIO control panel").



Then you click on the button more and ... ta ta... here you can choose between normal behaviour an the re-amping features. You can now configure which signal ist recorded (e.g. clean without amp models) and which signal is played back through POD Outs. This way it is possible to play back the clean recorded signal again through the AMP+FX section in the POD and tweak the sound as long as you like it.

Greetings and hope this helps[/img]

[timmyo]

You can also do a preview with PODxt sounds but just record the clean sound so you can adjust amp sounds later (re-amping features in ASIO setup panel).

How exactly does this work? I've got a Guitarport and would like to be able to run a clean guitar track back into it for processing, but haven't been able to achieve this yet.

I don't know if and how this works with the GuitarPort! I just own the PODxt.

no - Guitarport does not have these options - PodXT (and I suspect XT Live) does though.