nightrain5150

Thank you, this is really helpful. Basically, I use a 1/4" to 1/8" cable to connect the POD Go from its headphones output to the line-in jack on my computer's sound card, which has served my needs pretty well. Now that I think about it, I guess I could just take the cable from the POD Go and plug it in to the pedal, but would prefer to run it through the POD Go, and your explanation (disabling all the blocks except FX Loop) seems like the most workable idea. I've never thought about using the POD Go as the computer's sound card. I have an Audigy which works pretty well. The POD is also plugged into the computer via USB so I can access POD GO Edit, but if I could get real-time guitar output through my computer without the latency using this method, that would definitely be worth considering.

I have my POD GO connected to my desktop PC audio card's line-in and that works pretty well for me. I would like to get a separate FX pedal which is an emulator of a well-known guitar amp. If I plug this into the POD's FX return jack, how do I configure the POD GO to go completely on standby and only allow the sound of the pedal to play through?

Oftentimes when I download a tone from CustomTone that I want to use, it tells me it's missing the IR block or something else that is missing. How do I know what exact file I'm missing, and where do I get it?

At least with the POD X3 Live, I've only used the USB connection to download firmware updates through the Monkey updater program. I think I did try a couple of times using it as the connection to output audio through my computer, but it didn't work for whatever reason.

OK, I think I may have been operating under a huge misconception this entire time - since the Line 6 hardware is also its own soundcard, does that mean that, once connected via USB, it also processes and outputs sound from other applications on the computer, i.e. metronome app, Winamp, etc. My impression all along was that the only thing you hear from the Line 6's line out/headphones port is the guitar tone itself, but if I can hear everything through that port, then that changes my perspective completely. Of course I don't always prefer headphones so I could still connect it back to the laptop's line-in, but up until now my impression was that you'll only hear the guitar tone through the Line 6 port. Please set me straight on this and sorry for the cumulative idiocity of my posts.

Guys, the point here is that high-fidelity sound is not a priority for me in this endeavor - I want to be able to practice against a software metronome and backing tracks with the volume way down, because most of the time I'm using my laptop is in a quiet environment. Now, when I want to hear a good ol' screaming Line 6 amp simulator crunch, my POD X3 Live running through my desktop sound card's line-in and out my Advent AV-570 Powered Partners does the job just fine. The fact that the Line 6 USB interfaces are really sound cards in their own right seems to complicate the situation in terms of my desired setup. Maybe what I've been whining for this whole time is a Pocket POD. The Studio GX is already on its way, but if it doesn't live up to my expectations, I'll probably return that and go for the Pocket POD instead. I did like the idea of being able to change amp settings through the PODfarm software though.

Thanks for the input guys, it is appreciated. I went ahead and ordered the Studio GX, maybe I can jury-rig it to my satisfaction. If I end up using an external output, can anyone recommend a good microspeaker for that purpose? (or is that not allowed to be discussed on Line6 boards) I would just think, in this day and age, you should be able to plug a guitar through an interface into your computer and play. I know laptop speakers aren't the best, but if you're hooking it up to a laptop, there's a good chance you're not aiming for the highest fidelity in the first place. I just want to minimize the amount of hardware components involved in what should be a portable, on-the-go rig. That's the end of my rant. But I do appreciate where you guys are coming from on this.

Just a brief addendum: yes, I know laptop speakers generally tend to be pretty crappy, but the ones I have are decent - at least enough so to play guitar sound at a reasonable level. Otherwise, if the USB port can enable me to have the sound come through the laptop, I can use the computer's headphone port so that I can hear everything (guitar, background tracks/metronome) at once. Thanks in advance.

So what I'd like to do for my guitar jamming on the go is purchase one of the Line 6 USB interfaces w/ PodFarm (POD Studio GX, POD Studio UX1/UX2 - whichever is cheapest). From reading the product descriptions it seems that the user plugs in the device via the USB interface and "monitors" - that is, listen to the sound output - via a headphone jack on the Line 6 interface. What I'd like to do is be able to hear the guitar sound (modified with PODFarm effects) through the laptop's own sound system via its speakers or microphone port. Is this possible? My reason for wanting it this way is quite simple - if I can have the guitar mix from the Line 6 interface played through the laptop output, then it makes it very easy for me to jam along to whatever backing track or song or metronome that's open on my computer. Otherwise, listening to headphones plugged into the Line 6 interface means that the guitar sound is segregated from everything else that I want to hear along with it. Can this be accomplished merely by plugging in the USB interface? Surely, with adequate ASIO drivers, there must be a way to listen in "live" to the guitar sound through the laptop. Another potential workaround would be to take a cord with 1/8" plugs on both ends and plug it into the headphone port on the Line 6 interface and the other end into the laptop's dual microphone/line-in port. Can anyone confirm if either setup (listening live through laptop via USB connection or 1/8" connection) actually work? I don't understand why such a setup is not commonplace. For years, I've been able to plug in my PODXT, and then the X3 Live, into the line-in port of the Soundblaster card on my desktop computer so that I could have the guitar sound coming out of my computer speakers along with whatever else I was playing along to. All I had to do was uncheck the "Mute" button on Line-in under Windows 7/8's volume control panel (there were some hiccups along the way when I upgraded to Windows 8, but that's a different story and since resolved). At one point, I went to an electronics/music store to seek the solution I'm talking about now for a portable computer and the ssalesperson was incredulous that I was able to have this setup working on my desktop computer - he went so far as to call it "jury-rigged", when all was required was to plug the POD into the sound card's line-in port, make sure line-in wasn't muted on the operating system, and then jam away! No jury-rigging involved. If anyone can shed some insight into what I'm seeking to do, it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Recently I noticed on my POD X3 Live that the asterisks is always present on the display, which I had always known to indicate that a setting had been changed on the current preset. It never goes away, even after flipping through many presets. I checked all the adjustment knobs and nothing appears to be stuck or out of the ordinary. I tried resetting my device to factory presets (which doesn't totally reset the unit, it just goes back to the model's factory presets) and the asterisks is still there. Has anyone encountered this problem or has an idea as to what's wrong with it? I attached a picture which is a bit out of focus so I drew a crude arrow pointing toward the asterisks in question. Thanks for any help anyone can provide.