Jun 22, 2009 1:31 PM
Mac Gearbox Toneport UX2 Recording Issue (Sound Changes)
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I am having an issue with recording on my Macbook Pro. When I use the standalone Gearbox software, I get the sound I want and everything sounds fine. When I open any recording software (Garageband, Logic Pro, Ableton, etc.) the sound is completely different. I don't mean the Gearbox sound changes; I mean that the sound coming into the input on the recording software is different than the sound being sent to it by Gearbox. I know nothing is wrong with the UX2 since I can repeat this process on my Windows PC, and the sound never changes in the recording program; it always stays the same and is an exact representation of what I hear in the Gearbox software. I am using the most current version of OSX Leopard and I have the UX2 set as the Mac's soundcard, both input and output. I've spoken to a Line 6 tech, who said I tried everything he would have suggested and he said I should post something here in hopes that somone else has seen this issue and has figured out a way to fix it. Please help me if you have this figured out. I've been trying to fix it for 3 days straight now.
How exactly is the sound different? Can you maybe post a couple of sound clips to this thread so we can hear them? Thanks.
Line6Miller
I'll do my best to get sound samples if I have time. Basically though, the sound becomes muddier and buzzier in the low end and lacks sustain in the high end. Like I said, this does not happen in Windows with the same software to record , same tone, same settings, etc. The weird thing is that is that it can't be the Mac driver since the tone is fine when playing through the Mac using only the Gearbox software. However, if you mute the monitor on the Gearbox software so that you are just hearing the guitar input on the recording software, it's different. It also sounds that way after recording something and playing it back. One thing I didn't mention is that I can record the dry guitar signal from inputs 3&4 and use the same tone from the Gearbox or Podfarm plugin on top of it and the sound ends up being different in the exact same way as recording straight from processed inputs 1&2. I verified that everything is the same by testing a recording using Riffworks Line 6 edition on both Mac and PC. Same Gearbox version, same tone preset, and the PC recording is perfect, whereas the Mac recording gets changed everytime. I have absolutely no idea what could cause this. People record on Macs all of the time with Toneports and have no problem.
As requested, I recorded 2 test clips last night; one on the Mac and one on the PC, but I didn't post them. The reason is because in exporting these clips from the recording program, I learned something. The final rendered file on the Mac comes out sounding great, and is exactly what I wanted. The only bad part is that while I'm still in any recording program on the Mac, the sound is not quite right. The sound still is different while monitoring in the recording software and even playing back what was recorded while still in the software. But when you render the file and listen to it, it sounds great. I still don't understand this, but at least I can work with it. Like I said, this happens with 4 different recording programs, so its not the software. The other problem with this is that it makes it hard to use the Gearbox or Podfarm plugin to edit any sounds in in an editing setting while listening to a recording, because the rendered sound will be different. If I want to know what something will sound like, I'll have to get the sound right in the stand alone Gearbox program first, then record unprocessed outputs 3&4, and finally apply the plugin using the sound I edited in Gearbox. The final file will come out right, so at least it's usable, but this is certainly not an ideal scenario for recording and editing after all of the moey I've spent between Line 6 and Apple. I'm wondering if the fact that the ASIO driver is not available for use on the Mac has something to do with it. This is the driver I use in Windows, which always works fine. Maybe someone at Line 6 could check into this. If it is possible to have the ASIO driver available for the Mac, it could very well fix this issue.
Apple doesn't use ASIO for their driver format. Instead they use Core Audio.
Without hearing what you are hearing it's impossible to tell what's happening. I have a MBP on my desk here and everything sounds fine when monitoring either through headphones, studio monitors, whatever. I've used Logic. Garageband, Live, DP on this computer with exactly the same results each time.
Line6Miller
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