aaron__aardvark

OK, here are the answers: "They Want to Believe" uses Roland COSM amp models, and "Something For Nothing" uses PODXT.

I put 2 songs in my music website: "Something For Nothing" is the song on top, and "They Want to Believe" is the next song down. One song uses Roland COSM amp models on guitar, and the other song uses PODXT amp models. Can you tell which is which? Please tell me how you like the music and how it can be improved. Here is the link: https://www.soundclick.com/bands3/?bandID=224436

I put 2 songs in my music website: "Something For Nothing" is the song on top, and "They Want to Believe" is the next song down. One song uses Roland COSM amp models on guitar, and the other song uses PODXT amp models. Can you tell which is which? Please tell me how you like the music and how it can be improved. Here is the link: https://www.soundclick.com/bands3/?bandID=224436

I have never owned a guitar amp in my life, though I have spent a lot of time on the PodXT forum, years ago, when the PodXT probably had the best amp models you could buy. I always listen to my amp modeling through headphones. Some people played through a very clean amp, like a keyboard amp, because it doesn't color the sound much. If you are having distorted amp sounds on your Pod, and you put them through a distorted real guitar amp, that is equivalent to: guitar>distorted Marshall amp>distorted Marshall amp (well maybe that is equivalent to jumping the amp though). How many people would do that? If you play it through a very clean amp, it will probably sound pretty similar to how it sounds on headphones. I don't know if they are in business anymore, but there was some company that made a real clean guitar amp, made to work with guitar amp modelers like the PodXT. I have never tried one. Before I bought a keyboard amp (when I was in a band), I played synths through a guitar amp, and it sounded pretty crappy. Maybe this thread will help:

I didn't know about the automated EQ, that could be useful in the future. Since I use lots of synth plug-ins, and very often, most everything can be automated, though you don't have to assign a "knob" to be automated on the synth plug-ins. It will take me some time to get more speedy with assigning knobs to be automated in Helix Native.

Yamaha may not have the highest prestige, but I think they make very good guitars and basses for the money, in my experience. I looked up a photo of your guitar, and looks pretty cool to me. I have seen much more gaudy guitars than that, such as this:

soundog, Thank you for replying! Yeah, I'm really into effects. I probably won't go public with the song for years (I never go public with a song unless I have a formal U.S. copyright since I found out I was going to get played on the Radio BBC, and it's much cheaper to copyright a bunch of songs at once, instead of one at a time), but I'm almost done with a song with lead guitar with the Harmony Delay effect, Particle Reverb, and Whammy effect that I was pleased with. I tried a real Digitech Whammy pedal years ago, but had a hard time controlling the pitch in a nice fashion, so I never bought one. In Cubase, I can fine-tune the pitch changes with the automated tweaking function on Helix Native (I rarely play live anymore).

I bought Helix Native a few days ago since it went on sale (yay!). I have since recorded some guitar, and experimented some more with the Hi-Z input being on or off. What I recorded lately sounds better with the Hi-Z on, as Line 6 recommends. I wonder if it has to do with the particular preset or not. Since I am using this software more, I am liking it more and more, and learning how to use it better. I just figured out how to do the automated tweaking today BTW.

OK, here are the answers: 'Everything You Do Effects Tomorrow' has Roland COSM guitar amp models. 'Attack of the Zombies!' has all PodXT guitar amp models, and zombie approved.

I like the 80's sound, and that just seems to come out of me naturally; for better or for worse. For me the 70's and the 80's were the best decades for music, but that might have something to do with my age. There might be 'tone-suck' in 'Everything You Do Effects Tomorrow', but it is Roland COSM. 'Attack of the Zombies!' is all PodXT, and zombie approved. Thank you for listening and replying! The only electric guitar I have ever owned is a 1986 Yamaha SBG1300TS (kind of a Gibson copy). And I'm into synths, which often sound 80's.

I put 2 songs in my music website: "Attack of the Zombies!" is the song on top, and "Everything You Do Effects Tomorrow" is the the next song down. One song uses all Roland COSM guitar amp models, and the other song uses all PodXT guitar amp models. Can you tell which is which? Please tell me how you like the music and how it can be improved. Here is the link: https://www.soundclick.com/bands3/?bandID=224436

I put 2 songs in my music website: "Attack of the Zombies!" is the song on top, and "Everything You Do Effects Tomorrow" is the the next song down. One song uses all Roland COSM guitar amp models, and the other song uses all PodXT guitar amp models. Can you tell which is which? Please tell me how you like the music and how it can be improved. Here is the link: https://www.soundclick.com/bands3/?bandID=224436

OK, here are the answers: the rhythm guitar is BIAS FX, and the lead guitar is PodXT.

OK, here are the answers: the rhythm guitar is BIAS FX, and the lead guitar is PODXT.

zolko60, Thank you for replying! Though Helix Native can occasionally be difficult to get to work correctly (a few days ago the gui just refused to open and I could not edit anything; then I started with new tracks in Cubase, moved my recorded guitar parts to the new tracks and has worked OK since then), I'm starting to appreciate the sound quality more (at home), as opposed to trying Helix hardware in a noisy Guitar Center.

soundog, Thank you for replying! I was just wondering if I wasn't doing something correctly; or if I could make it sound better somehow. In my original post, I almost forgot to mention the passive pick-ups; apparently that was significant.

I am a newbie with Helix Native; I'm just using the trial version, but will probably buy it when it goes on sale next. I am glad Line 6 sent me an email with links to Helix Native Input Levels, and 2 other topics. I use Mac OSX 10.11.6, Cubase AI8 (latest version), and a steinberg UR22 mkII audio interface: for input #2, you have the option on clicking on the Hi-Z button. Now I've been happy overall with the interface, but in my experience, things sound worse for me with the Hi-Z (high impedance) setting, regardless if I am using Helix Native or not, when recording electric bass or guitar. The Helix Native video recommends using the Hi-Z setting, but it sounded worse for me. I'm even playing a Yamaha guitar & bass (both passive pickups), so we're talking a 100% Yamaha owned set-up here (since Yamaha owns Line 6 and steinberg)! On a different thread, I read about people using a very low input setting (not sure if it was Hi-Z or not) for best results, but that did not work well for me (though I recorded unwanted clicking noises with an electric bass, with the input level approaching, but not reaching 0 db). Anyone else experience the Hi-Z setting not working best for them?

Well, I thought I would give it one more try (since computers can be quirky beasts), and try to open the song that wouldn't open........and this time it opened up after taking at least a minute of the computer thinking about it (seemingly)! Otherwise, I would have changed a file name, but who knows what kind of Helix patch tweaking I would have lost (I did not save it as a changed factory preset). This time I made sure I closed the Helix Native gui's before I closed the song.

soundog, Thank you for replying! I haven't had time to wrestle with the troubled song project yet, but I will do so soon.

I am trying out Helix Native, trial version. Cubase AI8 (latest version), and Mac OSX 10.11.6 (El Capitan). I'm working on two songs: one song has one instance of Helix Native on one track, and I did not save the song (in Cubase) with the Helix gui open. That song re-opens just fine after I shutting down my iMac. The second song, from what I remember, had two guitar tracks, each with separate instances of Helix Native; and I believe I had both gui's open, because I was tweaking both separately for double-tracked guitar tracks. This song project will not re-open after several tries. I tried the bak file, and that did not work either. Have any solutions? I will probably buy Helix Native when it goes on sale again, but my trial period will probably end in less that 2 weeks. Several years ago, on a different forum, someone taught me how to open a song with a similar problem, and I forget how to do that in Cubase.......oh, I did find some old notes where re-naming the VST file to something else did the trick for Mac OSX 10.6.8, but my notes say it did not work in OSX 10.9.5. I have yet to try that trick with my current OSX 10.11.6.

I put a new song in my music website called “The Big T. Rex Grabs the Horse”. The rhythm guitar is one brand of amp model. The lead guitar is a different brand of amp model. One is BIAS FX, and the other is PodXT. Can you tell which is which? Anyway, tell me how you like the song, and how it can be improved. The song is at the top of this link: http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=224436 Why the crazy song title? The first dinosaur fossil was found in 1677, yet the Jewish Synagogue Umm-Kanatir (400-700 A.D.; on the Golan Heights) has a sculpture that looks like dinosaurs attacking a horse. How can that be?

I put a new song in my music website called “The Big T. Rex Grabs the Horse”. The rhythm guitar is one brand of amp model. The lead guitar is a different brand of amp model. One is BIAS FX, and the other is PodXT. Can you tell which is which? Anyway, tell me how you like the song, and how it can be improved. The song is at the top of this link: http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=224436 Why the crazy song title? The first dinosaur fossil was found in 1677, yet the Jewish Synagogue Umm-Kanatir (400-700 A.D.; on the Golan Heights) has a sculpture that looks like dinosaurs attacking a horse. How can that be?

At least with the "newer" version of the PodXT you have an equalizer. You could dial in more bass. Now that I think about it, you have the Bass knob also. Maybe that would help. Though if you are doing multi-track recording or playing live, a person could argue the electric bass should handle the "lower end".

I put a new song in my music website called "We Need Jason Bourne". I used the Bass PodXT for electric bass. Please tell me how you like the song and how it can be improved. It is the song at the top of this link: https://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=224436 There is electric guitar in the song, though I did not use my usual PodXT for that. People that like to follow my "Test Your Ears!" threads can follow it here if you wish: https://www.gearslutz.com/board/gear-shoot-outs-sound-file-comparisons-audio-tests/1231754-test-your-ears-u530-bias-fx-amp-models.html#post13532675

I put a new song in my music website called "We Need Jason Bourne". I used the Bass PodXT for electric bass. Please tell me how you like the song and how it can be improved. It is the song at the top of this link: https://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=224436 There is electric guitar in the song, though I did not use my usual PodXT for that. People that like to follow my 'Test Your Ears!" threads can follow it here if you wish: https://www.gearslutz.com/board/gear-shoot-outs-sound-file-comparisons-audio-tests/1231754-test-your-ears-u530-bias-fx-amp-models.html#post13532675