Community: Message List

Re: POD Farm sound quality (vs X3 live)

support@line6.com — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 10:08:03 GMT

Well it seems that there's a difference between using the X3 as the sound interface or the Babyface (and running Pod Farm on either of them).

Turns out that me finding the sound of the Pod Farm subpar with the Babyface had more to do with the gain levels on the Babyface's Hi-Z guitar input and the POD Farm input itself.. adjusting them seemed to make things sound more even again. Although (and probably obviously) using the X3 as the sound interface needed no adjustements between it's direct monitoring sound and Pod Farm because it's the same hardware.. it just sounded the same.

Changing sample rates in the X3 didn't seemt o affect the sound at all (i.e. it sounded the same between 44100 and 88200 Khz). However the same procedure using the Babyface causes a sonic change which can be seen in here https://soundcloud.com/mindwalker/44100-vs-88200-pod-farm-in

PS: the recording of this clip was done in Reaper using Pod Farm VST

So in short here's the summary of my findings:

a) If running POD Farm using the POD X3 as the sound interface, there is no difference if I set the sampling rate in Reaper from 44100 to 88200. Also using the X3 as the sound interface seems to make Pod Farm sound identical to the POD itself (this is easy to check by alternating between switching between direct monitoring or monitoring through Reaper and POD Farm)

b) Using the Babyface as the sound interface things aren't so clear. There must some difference in the gain levels that make it sound slightly different to the POD. Ultimately I was able to find a setting that yielded the most similar results (by lowering the guitar input gain on the babyface to +9db) and slightly adjusting the Pod Farm input + output levels. Although this is a bit of trial and error and comparing to the sound of the POD X3 isn't easy since it requires switching cables around and the brain can easily be fooled

c) Both the Babyface and the X3 used as sound interfaces running at 44100 sounds almost identical between each other.

d) Changing the sampling rate in the Babyface from 44100 to 48000 or higher (88200) produces noticeable sonic change (to my ears, better). This didn't happen if I used the X3 as the sound interface

I still don't know what to make of all of this.. or why the Babyface changes the sound in higher sample rates whereas the X3 doesn't. Anyhow.. worst case scenario the Babyface sounds pretty similar to the X3 and can sound better with higher sampling rates. Now I dunno if I want to start using higher sampling rates

In fact the most dramatic difference with the Babyface is heard from 44100 to 48000 Khz. From 48000 Khz to 88200 it's pretty much the same.

Re: POD Farm sound quality (vs X3 live)

support@line6.com — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 14:27:45 GMT

hmm maybe! I can indeed try to plug in the second USB port to make sure it gets enough power! However if power would be the issue then I suppose it would still not sound right by changing the frequency to 96000...

POD Farm sound quality (vs X3 live)

support@line6.com — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 10:38:21 GMT

Hey guys,

I've got the POD X3 Live and with it, the POD Farm (2.55 Platinum I believe).

I'm trying to use the POD Farm with a newly acquired RME Babyface and my Macbook Pro (late 2011 model).

First thing I would expect is that using POD Farm I would be able to get the same tones as the POD X3 since they're compatible. I would also expect the sound quality to be the same (i.e. not hearing any difference between playing directly with the X3 using headphones or with my Mac + Babyface + Pod Farm with headphones).

I did a little test this weekend so I'm not sure yet if something failed along the way as I may need to replicate the steps, but with my Babyface set to 44100 Khz I found the sound quality of POD Farm to be subpar. The sound wasn't very defined.. it was kinda fuzzy and muddy. Setting the Babyface to 96000 Khz seems to have made everything sound good again.

But now I wonder if I even need to do this ? Shouldn't POD Farm sound as good as the X3 live with the Babyface set at 44100 Khz ? Isn't it the internal frequency at which the X3 processes the sound anyway ? I am a bit concerned about having to use 96000 Khz on the Babyface + POD Farm because it will result in more strain on my computer plus bigger file sizes. (and the need to downsample in the end)

I still need to play a little bit more with it but so far that's what I found!

On a side note, POD Farm seems to crash a lot with my Babyface. Not so much if I use it as VST in Reaper but the standalone version crashes a lot..

Re: Connecting a POD X3 Live to a Blackstar HT-5

support@line6.com — Thu, 18 Oct 2012 14:42:32 GMT

Actually I kinda fixed it but forgot to came here and report upon it!

In short it was all right but when connecting the POD in front of the amp, I didn't raise the volume high enough to hear it. It can sound a bit ridiculous but I normally have the master volume on the POD set around 10 o'clock and that's enough to blast my pair of speakers or the headphones.. but when connected to the amp I basically had to max out the volume on the POD, something that I just wronlgy assumed in the beggining as not working

Connecting the POD straight to the FX loop of the amp produced a freaking loud sound on the HT-5 but since it doesn't have a master volume you have to control the sound on the FX loop volume output of the POD. I guess if using the 4 cable method this wouldn't be a problem because you would be using the volume of the pre-amp of the HT-5 back into itself via the FX-loop

Connecting a POD X3 Live to a Blackstar HT-5

support@line6.com — Mon, 08 Oct 2012 08:04:58 GMT

Hey guys,

I know this isn't a new topic and it has been covered in other threads but somehow I didn't find the exact answers to my woes in those..

So basically I have bought a Blackstar HT-5R and I'm digging it so I thought of expanding it even further with my POD X3 Live.

I have read about the 4CM but I'm trying to avoid it for now as 1) I don't have 4 cables yet 2) I should be able to connect the POD to the Blackstar without the 4CM but using only the POD's effects or the POD's stomps

So I've tried 2 things and I got problems with both

First off I tried to just use the Blackstar's HT-5 poweramp to color my POD's tones. Here's what I did.

Guitar into POD input > POD FX send to Blackstar FX Receive. I took my favourite patch, enabled the FX-loop in te pacth and then when I tried to play I almost turned myself into ashes because it was as loud as it could be! I managed to get the sound right by using the POD's FX Loop db level configuration (had to put it around -40 db). It was interesting that the Blackstar's volume controls for both the clean and overdrive channels became useless... it seems the POD's fx loop level became the volume control feeding the poweramp directly or something

Second attempt I tried to use the POD as a tube screamer to tighten up the Blackstar. So I did:

Guitar into POD input > POD Live out to Blackstar guitar In

I set the POD's live out level to compo amp front (in the Outputs page). I did the same to the switch on the POD itself from line to amp. I created a new patch with no amp. At this point I tried to play something and no sound was coming from the Blackstar except some hiss. I would expect this to make the Blackstar sound very similar to as if I'd plug directly into it ? Anyhow, I configured a tube screamer but still no sound at all... any idea of what I could be doing wrong ?

I still have to try connecting the pod to the fx-loop of the blackstar and the guitar into the blackstar so then I just configure a patch with fx's that should run after the pre-amp (like a delay) and see how that sounds... but the fact that the first connection attempt always blew the roof of my house off and the second didn't make any sound puzzled me.. any ideas why ?

Thanks a lot for any ideas!

Re: POD X3 + guitar + laptop = hum

support@line6.com — Tue, 17 May 2011 15:12:41 GMT

Just to share my developments on this.

So I realized I could lower the hum substantially by switching my POD X3's guitar pad switch. Then I realized that I could further reduce the hum to very usable levels as long as the guitar cable would not be touching the floor (crazy stuff he ?). This guitar cable is the one provided to me with an Ibanez GRX40 starter kit.

In the meanwhile, I had ordered a Klotz Eminence guitar cable which finally arrived. When I tried with this cable, touching or not touching the floor, all hum was gone!! All my guitars are now silent as they can be. What a difference a cable can make...

So I guess my problem is now solved

Re: RE: POD X3 + guitar + laptop = hum

support@line6.com — Thu, 12 May 2011 07:41:08 GMT

This morning I realized I was able to get the hum much quieter (though not desirably quiet but I guess usable) by Setting the Guitar In Pad to off. I had it on since I never noticed a big difference with any of my other guitars so I never bothered with this setting.

Also I had the Direct Out Ground Lift off... I set it back to on but this didn't change a thing as apparently it only affects the XLR connections and my problematic wiring is the USB cable.

I realize now that I forgot to mention that I have the POX X3 Live...

Re: RE: POD X3 + guitar + laptop = hum

support@line6.com — Wed, 11 May 2011 07:48:06 GMT

Thanks for the pointers guys! I'll check my guitar more thoroughly. The major hum only happens on the bridge humbucker position (so, 1 out of 5 possible humbucker combinations) so that might be a good pointer. I opened the pots cavity and it seemed ok.. but I haven't opened the other ones to see how they are.

Re: POD X3 + guitar + laptop = hum

support@line6.com — Fri, 06 May 2011 20:29:30 GMT

Hey, thanks for replying!

Indeed I've read some threads before, but the only real solution I've seen so far is using this Ebtech Hum-X filter between the laptop and the outlet, however I do not live in the states and this solution only works there and doesn't suit me.

I've seen other workarounds but they involve direct injection boxes or hum filters in the cables running into the POD, which wouldn't solve my problem since the cable I use is the USB cable and I would like to keep it that way and as far as I know there's no hum filter or DI box for this. In fact USB recording is one of the great things about the POD.

So I guess I'm going to have to live with it for the time being. It's just strange that the hum is acceptable with 3 of my guitars, but not with one.. however the guitar tech guy told me everything is fine with that one guitar... go figure!

POD X3 + guitar + laptop = hum

support@line6.com — Fri, 06 May 2011 10:24:58 GMT

Hey guys,

I've been reading a bit about humming issues when connecting the pod to an amp and having a laptop in the loop however this is not my case.

My setup currently consists of:

Laptop -> usb -> pod x3

Guitar -> pod x3 guitar in

Headphones -> pod x3 line out

I have these 3 connections established. I have 4 guitars and there has always been some hum but only recently one I got off ebay has a very increased amount of hum that I can't get rid of even with a noise gate in my POD patch.

However, if I inplug the power chord from the laptop, the hum is suddenly gone. All my 4 guitars are silent as they can be. I took my 4th guitar to a technician who said everything is ok with it. For some reason it created more hum than my other 3.

If I remove the laptop from the equation, and connect my portable mp3 player to the POD's aux in, then there's no hum. If I connect the mp3 player to a charger on the mains, then there's a little hum but nowhere as bad as when the laptop is connected.

I mean this is really the most basic setup I can have for recording and even then there's hum... any ways to get around it without running the laptop on batteries ?

Thanks for any help!