POD xt Questions

[Tom Olson]

I was just curious to know if anyone has had any experience using the POD xt to do any recording directly into a PC-based recording system via the USB port.

Are there only certain programs that it'll work with, or will it work with most anything? Do you have to do anything to the POD unit?

I've read some reviews which state that extensive programming of the POD was required and that it didn't work with some brands of recording software and that the USB cable caused noise, etc.

Just wondering if anyone has had any personal experience with it and if so, how well it worked.

Also, can you use the POD as a sort of interface to record into a PC from, say for example, a tape deck? That is, can you bypass any type of effects and just go directly through the POD and into the PC via the USB?

Thanks for any input.

[David Spires]

Hi Tom,

I'm a big fan of the XT, and just recently starting playing with the USB recoridng feature. I did upgrade to v2 of the internal software, etc, with Line 6 Monkey.

Actually, I had all kinds of problems - primarily with latency, and recorded files playing back out of time. To be fair, I just got a new laptop, and finally tweaked it to death (with tips from the net - musicxp.net, etc). Now, I did have good results laying down some steel tracks at soundcheck last weekend recording at 16 bit (not 24) using the ASIO driver in SONAR 4 Producer.

So, in theory, you should be able to record with it - into any software using WDM or ASIO drivers. However, most will agree that the USB bus sucks for audio devices.

At least I have gotten mine to work, and I'll be doing a lot more work with it on the road.

In a nutshell, I would not buy the Pod XT for a primary recording device, but if you are like me - have one, and need to record some with it, you can get it to work (but might require extensive tweaking of your machine to do it).

The POD control panel will let you record anything plugged into the input without any effects (their intent was then "re-amping" a dry sound later).

Give it a try, and maybe I can help you troubleshoot. I'm no expert, but I have been at this for a while.

Good luck,

David Spires

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Steel Guitarist for Jo Dee Messina: Carter D-10 8&7 / MSA Classic D-10 8&5; Line 6 Pod XT; Jagwire Artist Series Strings; Walker Professional Players' Chair; Peterson VS-II Tuner; and Goodrich Matchbro & LDR Pedal

[Tom Olson]

David -- thanks very much for your post. I'll send you an email.

Tom

[Eric West]

Tom. I"m reading this after my time allotment for the nite on the internet has expired.

I have had REAL good luck with it, and adding tracks to recoding masters.

I have a 24bit soundcard, and SBLive. This on a PIV 533 ASUS with a pretty standard half gig of RAM. I think less than that can get freezes.

I had severe problems with a Sonar version, and read of problems with them.

None with Cakewalk9 or CoolEdit 2.

If you use your amps as a monitor you must tuen the level way up and your amps way down to get a good clean signal. That, for me was the missing element when I started fooling with it.

Now that I think of it, you could use a tape or CD 1/4" input through your XT to create tracks. Thanks for making me think of it. You'd use the "bypass" mode.

I don't think the USB limits it if you have a good 24 bit soundcard.

I've got Cakewalk 9, and I'm pretty sure I got the upgrade to Sonar2 that solved the latency problem.

I"ll dig into it tomorrow after work.

It's dark when I leave, and past dark when I get home.

EJL

[Tom Olson]

Hi Eric,

Thanks for the reply. I've sent you an email.