Can't hear guitar with my brand new GX device

[bostaf]

Hi,

 

I bought the POD GX and can't get it set up. Basically - I can't hear my guitar. Instead, I can hear continuous noise.

The noise reacts to the main volume knob - it gets louder or fades respectively. But in none conditions I can hear the guitar sound. The device however seems to be aware of the guitar - the noise gets slightly down as I touch the guitar strings.

 

Tried on 2 laptops (Dell Precision and MSI GX 600) with the same result. Please check the attached screenshot with the POD Farm and drivers configuration. I installed ASIO drivers but the issue is the same with other drivers.

The guitar and the cable work perfectly when plugged to a regular guitar amp.

 

I attach a screenshot showing my device configuration along with drivers and POD Farm interface. See the green indicators at the top of POD Farm window, next to In and Out controls? The do show up when I plug the guitar cable in GX. They gently pulsate all the time. Changing volume does not have any effect on their amplitude. I mentioned that the noise gets slightly down when I touch guitar strings, same happens to the indicators they get slightly down. Hitting strings do not have any effect.

 

Thanks for any suggestions on how to solve the problem.

[TheRealZap]

get rid of ASIO4ALL install and use the line6 drivers.

[bostaf]

Thanks for your answer.

Actually I installed ASIO after I did try with Line6 drivers. Without ASIO drivers it was the same with the only difference that the noise was ~2 times louder.

[Triryche]

How are you monitoring the GX?

[bostaf]

Thanks for you time Triryche.

I'm not sure if I understand correctly what do you mean by "monitoring" so please ask more details if my answer is not precise.

 

Once plugged in USB, the GX gets green control on the rack. Also I can hear system sounds and other sounds coming from both laptops perfectly (movies, music, etc.) with headphones or with an outer speakers. The system volume controls are at maximum. The GX volume knob is slightly over zero - this is just enough to hear the system sounds not too loud.

When I plug in my guitar, the noise comes in. There's no difference whether the guitar is plugged on the other end or not - the noise is exactly the same.

 

Thanks.

[silverhead]

He means "How are you listening to your sound?"

 

When you connect the GX to your computer it becomes your sound card. You need to connect your headphones or external speakers to the GX outputs. That is how you should be monitoring (listening to) the sound. You should hear the sounds from your guitar as well as from your system and other sounds through the GX outputs.

[bostaf]

Thanks silverhead.

 

So yes - I'm monitoring with headphones. I did a test with external speakers too.

Just performed another test:

• In my laptop's audio device settings I disabled all playback devices except for Line 6 GX speakers; and set them default. In the recording devices tab I disabled all except for Line 6 GX Digital Audio Interface device.
• Closed POD Farm. Before closing I did change in Preferences / Hardware from ASIO to GX (ToneDirect)
• Unplugged GX.
• Unplugged guitar cable.

 

• Plugged GX - the green control went on.
• Opened Windows Media Player and started a track. I could hear the music perfectly, with the GX volume knob just slightly above 0.
• Plugged in guitar cable. A noise (hum) has appeared. The noise volume was slightly louder than the music (Wake Up Dead by Megadeth). Increasing volume resulted in both music and noise getting louder.

 

• Opened POD Farm. The music has stopped. Media Player popped up an error box saying than an audio device has been unplugged or reconfigured. The noise got lowered. Probably because the global gate turned on in POD Farm. When I turned off the global noise gate the noise got back to previous state (with POD Farm closed) but it got different tone. I changed the tone in POD Farm from Groove to Blues Rock - the noise tone has changed (got louder).

 

I was monitoring the guitar all the time - I could not hear it :(

 

After that I restarted the testing procedure (closed everything, unplugged GX and guitar) with ASIO enabled in POD Farm preferences / Hardware. The result was basically the same, with slightly different noise volumes.

 

During the tests the GX got slightly warm at the bottom (just mentioning, however this is not something I wouldn't expect).

 

Thanks for your support.

[silverhead]

Can you post a picture of the screen display in the Hardware / Preferences page of Pod Farm? and in your Sound system settings? In both cases, show the state where you have selected the GX as the audio device and the Line 6 driver as the ASIO interface.

 

I think you might have a faulty GX. Do you have a microphone that you can further test the GX with? It needs to be a dynamic mic, not a condenser mic that requires phantom power. If the mic works OK then you probably have a hardware fault in the Guitar input jack of the GX.

 

In any case - can you easily return it for replacement?

[bostaf]

Thanks silverhead,

 

I will come back tomorrow with the screenshots (got some stuff to do and it's bedtime in my timezone already :)

 

I don't have a mic unfortunately.

 

Yes, I can return the GX for replacement easily. I was already offered that option by the seller. However I wanted to check with you guys if I'm doing everything as I should.

 

Thanks for your support.

[bostaf]

Here are the screenshots. Polish interface, but hopefully self-explanatory. Please let me know if I need to translate something.

 

Thanks for your support.

 

[Triryche]

Just for clarification, you headphones are connected to the GX and not the computer?

 

Are you selecting Instrument in POD Farm?

[silverhead]

Ok - you should definitely be using the settings in your second screenshot. Do not use ASIO4ALL.

 

In the Line 6 Audio MIDI control panel, visit the tab that says Iinput and Recording. Experiment with the settings there. Also, experiment with the ToneDirect Settings in the displayed PodFam window.

[silverhead]

+1 to Tryriche.

 

Visit the Mixer page in Pod Farm to select the Instrument input.

[bostaf]

@Triryche

Yes, headphones are connected to the GX line out socket at the back of GX. I'm continuously monitoring with the headphones.

Am I selecting instrument? No sure. Please read on maybe I am but I'm not aware. (you have noticed I'm a total newbie in musical software and hardware stuff, haven't you?)

 

@silverhead

OK - uninstalled ASIO. Restarted PC. The first good thing is that I'm able to play both Media Player music and POD Farm noise simultaneously. Previously, as mentioned before, Media Player stopped with errors when I opened POD Farm.

 

Please take a look at the attached screenshots.

 

1 - Line 6 Monkey, for reference.

 

2 - POD Farm closed. Opened Line 6 Audio-MIDI Devices from Control Panel. As you can see there's only one element listed in the Line 6 Devices combo box, and one element in the Input Source combo box in Inputs & Recording tab. The Record Sends list-box shows 2 elements (1-2, 3-4, Instrument unprocessed). No settings to experiment with. I can select each of the items but no more than that. Double clicking, right clicking, middle clicking - no effect.

 

Oh, just to mention that the noise (hum) comes in once I plug the guitar cable in the GX.

 

Closed the control panel. Launched POD Farm. There was a short interruption and the noise came back with a different tone. Changing tone in the tones list-box at the top of POD Farm window changes the tone of the noise. Touching guitar strings makes the noise a little bit louder. Hitting guitar strings has no effect (except for that lightly louder noise when touched).

 

3 - POD Farm preferences views.

 

4 - ToneDirect Settings as launched from the POD Farm Preferences / Hardware tab. Experimented with Buffer Size - the tone of the noise changes slightly but still can't hear guitar.

 

5 - POD Farm - Mixer View, Assignments View and Show/Hide Tuner.

In Mixer View there are two list-boxes to the right, above sliders. The first responds to changes - the tone of the noise changes. The other does not.

The A tone can be muted (see screen 6) - the noise remains but gets slightly quieter. The green bars disappear, but the noise doesn't.

 

I don't know how to select the Instrument input.

 

Thanks for your support.

[Triryche]

In your mixer view your are missing the drop-down menu's to select Instrument or Mic.

 

Have you tried a different USB cable?

 

Or re-installing POD Farm?

[bostaf]

Thanks Triryche. Can you please post a screen showing how should the Mixer View look like when installed properly?

 

I did not try a different USB cable. There's only one provided in the package. However I don't think the cable is the root cause - as I said before, I can hear every sound coming from the laptop. I think I have another similar cable in my printer. Do you think I should give it a try?

As for USB - I did try the 4 USB slots provided in my Dell Precision and the 3 USB slots provided in my MSI GE600. I did test with other USB slots empty, and with other devices plugged in the other USB slots. No difference in result.

 

I did not try re-installing yet. I'll give it a shot later today if this is your recommendation.

 

A question. Why does the Record Sends list-box in Inputs & Recording tab of the Line 6 Audio-MIDI Devices say "Instrument unprocessed"?

 

Thanks

 

Oh, please post that screen showing an example of correct Mixer View.

[Triryche]

I can't do a screenshot until later this evening, but I found this screenshot with a Google search.

 

As for the Audio-MIDI control panel, you can send your unprocessed signal directly to your DAW without launching POD Farm.

Also, for the PODxt and X3 interfaces, there were more options for how the interface interacts with your DAW.

 

 

 

 

 

[silverhead]

Observing the difference in the Mixer screenshots, it may be as simple as you needing to activate one of the Input channels, A or B, that appear on the left side of the display. Perhaps once you click on those buttons the Input selection area will appear above the activated channel(s) as in Triryche's posted image.

[bostaf]

I'm attaching one more screen showing that the input controls to the left of Mixer View are inactive - not clickable. Also the B channel controls in the middle are inactive. I was not surprised with it as GX has only one input slot (guitar), so the disabled controls make sense to me. But anyways, I will proceed with re-installation now. Will uninstall everything, restart machine and install again.

Thanks for taking your time again.

[Triryche]

You can have have a dual tone path, just click dual.

 

Also make sure you have all your Windows updates, especially concerning C++.

[bostaf]

So, re-installed everything with freshly downloaded installer. Restarted system. No change. Still the noise. Screens are exactly the same.

I was able to turn into this dual mode (thanks for this, I missed it on your screen). It did not help. The noise is exactly the same with both channels active and with either of them.

Yes, all C++ packages are there.

 

Faulty GX? :(

[Triryche]

Sounds like it.

 

I think you pretty much eliminated everything else, especially since you tried 2 computers.

[bostaf]

Yes. Did try on both.

OK, I'll return it for replacement.

I'll come back here in a few days to let you know if the new gear works. Until then I'll leave the topic unanswered if you don't mind.

 

Thanks for your support and patience :)

[Triryche]

No problem.

[Triryche]

Something just occurred to me regarding your Mixer View screenshot.

Since the GX only has a guitar input, there may not be a dropdown option.

I honestly do not know since I have a UX2. Hopefully someone else with a GX can confirm.

 

Either way, hope the next one works properly.

[bostaf]

Just received new (replaced) GX from the seller. Works like a charm :) Apparently that first GX was faulty.

Thanks for your support Triryche and silverhead!

[silverhead]

Good to hear. Enjoy!

[Triryche]

No problem.

 

Glad it's working!!