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477 Views 21 Replies Latest reply: Sep 18, 2012 3:00 AM by Bowslayer RSS
Bowslayer Just Startin'
Bowslayer
32 posts since
Dec 17, 2011
Currently Being Moderated

Sep 13, 2012 5:22 PM

Please help me improve my sound.

Hey everyone. My current set up is:

ESP M300-FM to PODHD 300.

POD connected to computer via USB

2 KRK Rokit5's hooked up to POD thru 1/4 cables.

 

I do not own an amp. I only play and record

with Audacity and recently trying to figure out Reaper.

Unfortunately I am not happy with the tone or sound

I am getting with presets Ive downloaded or created

myself.

 

Anyway sorry for rambling. My questions are,

Will installing a M-audio Fast track between the computer and POD

do anything to improve the overall 'Realism'  to the tones I trying to achieve?

Also will switching to XLR instead of 1/4 cables help also.

I must warn you all I am a rookie,  so if you don't mind dumbing down

any insight you can share?  Thanks in advance.

  • silverhead Expert Line 6 User
    silverhead
    9,592 posts since
    Apr 1, 2009
    Currently Being Moderated
    Sep 13, 2012 5:34 PM (in response to Bowslayer)
    Re: Please help me improve my sound.

    Two things I can suggest:

    - make sure your HD300 Output Mode is set to STUDIO. There is a switch on the rear panel of the device for this.

    - make sure you are using the HD300 and its ASIO driver as the audio input/output device when recording. Check your audio configuration in Reaper or Audacity for this setting. In particular, make sure you are not using ASIO4ALL in Audacity.

     

    There should be no difference between the XLR and 1/4" outputs over short distances (which I presume fits your situation). In particular, the outputs you use are irrelevant for the recorded sound, which tavels via the usb connection. Playback to your Rokits will most likely be virtually identical via XLR or 1/4" over the distances involved in your home studio.

    • Bowslayer Just Startin'
      Bowslayer
      32 posts since
      Dec 17, 2011
      Currently Being Moderated
      Sep 13, 2012 5:46 PM (in response to silverhead)
      Re: Please help me improve my sound.

      Thanks a lot. I double checked and everything is set up like you said

      Except I didn't see anything marked ASIO4ALL in the Preferences for

      Audacity. Possibly I have an outdated version?  For the Interface should it be set for

      MME or Windows DirectSound?

      • joel_brown Just Startin'
        joel_brown
        90 posts since
        Nov 26, 2006
        Currently Being Moderated
        Sep 13, 2012 6:14 PM (in response to Bowslayer)
        Re: Please help me improve my sound.

        How does your guitar sound when you plug headphones directly into the HD300 ?  Does that sound the same as the recording ?

      • silverhead Expert Line 6 User
        silverhead
        9,592 posts since
        Apr 1, 2009
        Currently Being Moderated
        Sep 13, 2012 6:17 PM (in response to Bowslayer)
        Re: Please help me improve my sound.

        Bowslayer wrote:

         

          For the Interface should it be set for

        MME or Windows DirectSound?

        Neither. It should be set to ASIO (not ASIO4ALL). Try Reaper with this setting.

        • medievil1 Just Startin'
          medievil1
          26 posts since
          Apr 12, 2010
          Currently Being Moderated
          Sep 14, 2012 5:47 PM (in response to silverhead)
          Re: Please help me improve my sound.

          ummm. Audacity doesn't display ASIO... never has... still works fine..

          my 500 is conencted only via USB, I use MME and it records just fine

           

          Dunno whats worng with usign ASIO4ALL though.. used it plenty on various products and never had any issues

          • silverhead Expert Line 6 User
            silverhead
            9,592 posts since
            Apr 1, 2009
            Currently Being Moderated
            Sep 14, 2012 8:48 PM (in response to medievil1)
            Re: Please help me improve my sound.

            I have never used ASIO4ALL or MME with Line 6 products, but I understand from various posts in this forum that compatibility with Line 6 products can be spotty. Some, like you, report that they have no problems with those drivers. That's great. However, many others report problems that are immediately resolved when they switch from ASIO4ALL/MME to the Line 6 ASIO driver.

             

            All I know is that Line 6, like any manufacturer, can only support its own products. So if you are not using the Line 6 ASIO driver for the given Line 6 product, and are using ASIO4ALL or MME instead, then your installation is not supportable by Line 6 with respect to USB/DAW communications issues. That's why I recommend that people using Line 6 products avoid using anything but the Line 6 ASIO driver. Again, it's not because I have experienced problems with those other drivers, or that I deny that they works in some situations - just that they are not supported. So  anyone who uses them and has problems is in a difficult situation in this Line 6 support forum.

  • meambobbo Iknowathingortwo
    meambobbo
    1,702 posts since
    Dec 13, 2007
    Currently Being Moderated
    Sep 13, 2012 8:33 PM (in response to Bowslayer)
    Re: Please help me improve my sound.

    instead of using the cab/mic simulation in the pod, why don't you load some IR's in your DAW?  There are lots of free ones.  Then there's OwnHammer and RedWirez and Guitarhack.

     

    also, i wrote a guide - it's a bit long, but i did make a shorter quick guide page.  it's geared towards the 500/pro/bean, but a lot of it applies to 300/400

     

    http://foobazaar.com/podhd/toneGuide/

    • Bowslayer Just Startin'
      Bowslayer
      32 posts since
      Dec 17, 2011
      Currently Being Moderated
      Sep 14, 2012 6:53 AM (in response to meambobbo)
      Re: Please help me improve my sound.

      Thanks for the help. Looks like I have some reading to do after work.

      Im not sure what IR's are but I'll figure it out. I realized last night that my monitors are connected to the HD300 with regular guitar cables TR not TRS (cheap ones).  That's all I have right now.  Since I do not play thru an amp do you think XLR would be my best choice?

      • meambobbo Iknowathingortwo
        meambobbo
        1,702 posts since
        Dec 13, 2007
        Currently Being Moderated
        Sep 14, 2012 12:46 PM (in response to Bowslayer)
        Re: Please help me improve my sound.

        if you're getting sound and nothing's broken yet, it's probably not a huge issue.  The Pod's 1/4" analog outs are unbalanced, regardless of what kind of cables you use.  So you'd still be exposed to hum and other interference getting into the cables AFAIK.

         

        You'd have to have XLR cables to take advantage of the balanced outputs, which protect better against external interference.  XLR and TRS cables are generally the same - 3 wires inside - it's just the actual connector that's different.  So you could XLR - XLR cables or XLR - TRS cables, so long as your monitors accept both XLR and TRS connections.

         

        As far as the Pod goes, the balanced and unbalanced I believe send different output levels.  Also when using a single unbalanced output the signal is summed to mono, whereas the balanced XLR outputs never sum to mono - if only the left output is connected, you'll only get the left half of the output signal.

  • ozbadman Gear Head
    ozbadman
    1,474 posts since
    Apr 17, 2008
    Currently Being Moderated
    Sep 14, 2012 11:56 AM (in response to Bowslayer)
    Re: Please help me improve my sound.

    Hi Bowslayer,

     

    It seems to me that you feel the problems you have in getting a good tone are all post-HD500. Given your setup description, I think it's more likely that you haven't got the HD300 configured to get the tone you want. Have you tried headphones plugged in to the HD300? How is that tone? You don't necessarily have to try to use the headphones to get the tone you want, but your post implies you feel the problem is after the HD300 whereas it sounds to me like the problem is the configuration of the HD300 itself, or before the HD300.

    • Bowslayer Just Startin'
      Bowslayer
      32 posts since
      Dec 17, 2011
      Currently Being Moderated
      Sep 14, 2012 3:38 PM (in response to ozbadman)
      Re: Please help me improve my sound.

      Ok,so after doing some reading and fooling around with one of my favorite presets, I think Im on to something great. at least it sounds pretty good to me when I play it on Windows Media player.

      I reall want thank everyone who stepped in to help me out. The tone Guide is helping to understand how adjustments"Really" affect the overall sound I hear. You guys are great, I only wish I could upload my latest recording

      so you could hear for yourself and judge. It is a work in progress like my playing of course. Thanks all

      • silverhead Expert Line 6 User
        silverhead
        9,592 posts since
        Apr 1, 2009
        Currently Being Moderated
        Sep 14, 2012 3:48 PM (in response to Bowslayer)
        Re: Please help me improve my sound.

        You can't upload your recording directly here, but many forum users upload to youtube and then post the link here. I'd love to hear it.

         

        You can upload your tone files (presets) to the Customtone site.

        • Bowslayer Just Startin'
          Bowslayer
          32 posts since
          Dec 17, 2011
          Currently Being Moderated
          Sep 14, 2012 3:51 PM (in response to silverhead)
          Re: Please help me improve my sound.

          Cool thanks, Im working on a Youtube Vid right now. Take it easy on my lack of skills, I havent been playing very long, Link to follow.

          • Bowslayer Just Startin'
            Bowslayer
            32 posts since
            Dec 17, 2011
            Currently Being Moderated
            Sep 14, 2012 4:42 PM (in response to Bowslayer)
            Re: Please help me improve my sound.

            Hope this works, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmYPfn42fNI

            • Apologist Iknowathingortwo
              Apologist
              638 posts since
              Jan 24, 2007
              Currently Being Moderated
              Sep 14, 2012 6:29 PM (in response to Bowslayer)
              Re: Please help me improve my sound.

              Sounds okay to me though sometimes it sounds like sound is breaking up due to clipping .. have you unchecked  the 18db boost in the driver settings for the Pod recording level driver section when your DAW is on and your recording?

              • Bowslayer Just Startin'
                Bowslayer
                32 posts since
                Dec 17, 2011
                Currently Being Moderated
                Sep 15, 2012 6:51 AM (in response to Apologist)
                Re: Please help me improve my sound.

                Thanks for the response. I believe most of what you're hearing is the crappy backing track I got off the internet.  The volume shifts up and down quite a bit. Im watching Reaper Tutorials now to learn how to improve the overall quality these recordings. I like to record myself so I can hear all my screw ups and try to play better.

                Some of the fluctuations in volume are me losing my place within the song on one of the individual .tracks I recorded so I just stop playing to catch up.

                • Bowslayer Just Startin'
                  Bowslayer
                  32 posts since
                  Dec 17, 2011
                  Currently Being Moderated
                  Sep 17, 2012 2:10 PM (in response to Bowslayer)
                  Re: Please help me improve my sound.

                  Ever since I got my studio monitors it always seemed  like the left side was considerably louder than the right side connected to my POD HD300 . I didn't really think that much about it and  ignored it til today. I don't have headphones so I couldn't do the test recommended by.

                   

                  Well I turned off the left speaker and it was significantly quieter. I thought,  Crap..  I've  got a bad monitor. Well the next thing was to switch the cables and verify that the problem was the speakers. Wrong... Even after switching I still heard the left side over the right even sitting closer to the right side.

                  As far as I know there isn't a balance control on the POD?  Is this a warranty issue for Line6?

                  • ozbadman Gear Head
                    ozbadman
                    1,474 posts since
                    Apr 17, 2008
                    Currently Being Moderated
                    Sep 17, 2012 2:32 PM (in response to Bowslayer)
                    Re: Please help me improve my sound.

                    I don't think it's very likely this is a fault with the HD300, but I guess it's possible.

                     

                    When you say you switched the cables, did you just switch the cables or did you switch the speakers? Have you got another pair of speakers you can try? Have you tried the existing speakers with some other source? Are you sure your cables are mono cables?

                    • Bowslayer Just Startin'
                      Bowslayer
                      32 posts since
                      Dec 17, 2011
                      Currently Being Moderated
                      Sep 17, 2012 3:16 PM (in response to ozbadman)
                      Re: Please help me improve my sound.

                      I unplugged both cables from the back of the POD and swapped them. And you are correct.

                      It does appear to be one of my cables is not doing its job. I picked these two XLR cables from two different places. One was used.

                      It kinda weird the quieter monitor actually seems to sound better or cleaner. Does it make sense?

                      • ozbadman Gear Head
                        ozbadman
                        1,474 posts since
                        Apr 17, 2008
                        Currently Being Moderated
                        Sep 17, 2012 7:55 PM (in response to Bowslayer)
                        Re: Please help me improve my sound.

                        Oh, so, you're using XLR?

                         

                        In that case I'd do two things:

                        1) Switch the plugs just at the POD so the left epaker becomes the right speaker. and vice-versa. This will isolate the problem to the POD or the speaker/cable (perhaps this is what you have already done, but when you said you switched the cables I'm not sure if you meant you completely swapped the cales, or just switched which speaker was plugged into which output).

                         

                        2) Because you are using the XLR outs, I'd check the 'gnd/lift' switch on the back. It shouldn't make a difference, but you never know.

                         

                        XLR connections are balanced, so if one wire in the connecting cable is either broken or connected to signal ground, you'd probably end up with a half-amplitude signal (but that's a guess).

                        • Bowslayer Just Startin'
                          Bowslayer
                          32 posts since
                          Dec 17, 2011
                          Currently Being Moderated
                          Sep 18, 2012 3:00 AM (in response to ozbadman)
                          Re: Please help me improve my sound.

                          Thanks so much for your help.  I believe I've isolated it to the 1 one of the cables. Maybe I should be more specific about the issues I have with my tones.

                          Everything sounds Tinny and over digitalized. Almost like my speakers are blown. I thought different cables might fix the issue. Maybe too much distortion. But if I turn down the gain I get no sustains for us playing solos.

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