POD HD500X + Audio Interface vs POD HD500X to USB

[Venza]

When using the Line 6 POD HD 500X to record straight into your DAW, is an audio interface needed? Sorry this might sound like a stupid question but I recently watched Misha's video on how to record guitar. l saw he used a AxeFX2 for his tones and it seems like it was connected to his Focusrite 2i2 because he was testing it for clipping.

I'm new to audio production so I don't know how the connections really work. I just bought that same audio interface because thats what I thought was needed for guitar recording. I have seen a few studio recording blogs where people use it as well.

Currently I have my guitar plugged into the POD and my POD connected to my computer via USB. So far I don't have any latency and it actually records. Here is how I have it set up: http://i.imgur.com/YqhbpDD.png

So my question is if I need to get the POD to the audio interface to the DAW. If not are audio interfaces mainly used to record with mics? I noticed you can [plug your guitar jack into them], so I'm guessing you can record directly into your DAW while having some kind of guitar tone/amp VST added or something like that.

[phil_m]

What you're doing is perfectly fine, and, actually, better than using another interface when it comes to latency. The HD500X is your audio interface in your case.

[Palico]

So my question is if I need to get the POD to the audio interface to the DAW. If not are audio interfaces mainly used to record with mics? I noticed you can [plug your guitar jack into them], so I'm guessing you can record directly into your DAW while having some kind of guitar tone/amp VST added or something like that.

 

As already said the POD can function as an audio interface for guitar and actually a very very basic one for mics as well, no phantom power so no condenser mics. 

 

Most audio interfaces have input for low z (guitar/bass/etc...) and mic inputs. When they are used with a guitar typically you use a VST or other type of software solution for modeling the guitar amp/pedals etc.... so the POD covers those in one box. The stand alone audio usually also handle most any type of mic so you can mic a cab or vocal etc.... So they are more a bit more extensive for recording say an entire band in tracks but for just guitar the POD works fine. I have both for different purposes. Last time I did some recording with my band, I used my Tascam inteface for vocals and micing up a drum set but used a POD X3 for Bass guitar and my POD HD500x for guitars going straight from the POD to the DAW in both cases.

[Venza]

What you're doing is perfectly fine, and, actually, better than using another interface when it comes to latency. The HD500X is your audio interface in your case.

 

Oh phew. Glad to hear this. I had no idea the HD500X acted as an audio interface as well. Thank you!

 

 

As already said the POD can function as an audio interface for guitar and actually a very very basic one for mics as well, no phantom power so no condenser mics. 

 

Most audio interfaces have input for low z (guitar/bass/etc...) and mic inputs. When they are used with a guitar typically you use a VST or other type of software solution for modeling the guitar amp/pedals etc.... so the POD covers those in one box. The stand alone audio usually also handle most any type of mic so you can mic a cab or vocal etc.... So they are more a bit more extensive for recording say an entire band in tracks but for just guitar the POD works fine. I have both for different purposes. Last time I did some recording with my band, I used my Tascam inteface for vocals and micing up a drum set but used a POD X3 for Bass guitar and my POD HD500x for guitars going straight from the POD to the DAW in both cases.

 

Yeah that actually makes sense. That's what I was thinking. I guess I can keep my audio interface if I need to record vocals or something. Thanks for sharing your experience. Appreciate it.

[amsdenj]

I found the HD500X to be a very good audio interface for guitar, even sounded better to me than an Apogee GiO and Apogee makes very good interfaces.

[DunedinDragon]

Even though the POD will work perfectly fine as an audio interface I choose to have a separate audio interface (MOTO UltraLite MK3) that I plug my POD into via XLR the same as I would any recording studio board or mixer.  Typically stand alone audio interfaces have a few more features that allow for better control over both recording and playback, more appropriate connections for studio monitors, not to mention better support from the manufacturer since that's their main business. More importantly I don't have to worry if I take the POD somewhere for a gig or practice and it's out of the house for a few days.  The sound system on the computer still works the same as always.

[rd2rk]

When using the POD as interface, it converts the analog guitar signal to digital (A/D) for processing before sending it to the DAW. It converts it back to analog when the signal is sent out the 1/4" or XLR sends (D/A). Something is lost in the conversion (A/D) and re-conversion (D/A). If this were not true enough for MANY people's ears, there would be no analog vs digital effects debate. So, it stands to reason that a further conversion (analog guitar to digital, digitally processed guitar to analog before out the 1/4"/XLR cable to another (not the POD) audio interface where it's converted back to digital for the DAW) would be one more generation of degradation of the original analog guitar signal.

 

My M-Audio Fast track Pro has a SPDIF input. When I took the POD's SPDIF Out to the interface that way, it removed that second generation of conversion, and SEEMED (to my ears) to be more "lively" than when using the XLR to the interface, Using the POD as interface has the same effect as using the SPDIF send (to my ears), thus (seemingly) confirming my thoughts about the second A/D-D/A conversion.

 

Anybody want to weigh in on this? Preferably from actual experience as opposed to "In Theory" or "Bro-Science". What do YOUR ears say?

[DunedinDragon]

I think people can convince their ears of anything that want to hear, whether it's logical or not.  Mathmatically speaking, once you convert analog to it's digital representation, the uncoversion won't won't restore it to the pure analog representation.  Rather it will be the analog representation of the digital source.  Any additional conversion to digital of that analog representation will simply reproduce the same 1's and 0's of the original digital source representation since digital operations are commutative in nature as long as the sampling rate remains the same.

[shredjsx]

Mine sounds fine and you are setting it up perfectly.... I have a Tascam Rack interface and I don't use it for anything except Mics and Acoustics.... I run the HD500x direct USB...

 

I don't understand the whole "Analog to Digital" process thing... I could see an issue if you were using a mic'd cab over a DI out on an amp...

But isn't the xd500 already digital?

Mine sounds great, your fine and less hassle

[pfsmith0]

The whole idea is the biggest source of signal degradation in this system are the data converters so you want to go thru as few of those as possible. It's probably true, but whether or not you can hear the difference is another issue. I figure if it's true then why go there, so I use SPDIF and only go thru one set of conversions.

[rd2rk]

The tally so far - 

 

One Nay, on purely theoretical (but seemingly logical) grounds. Oh, and, my ears heard the slight. But don't worry, DD, I have big ears, they can take it! :P

See below for additional considerations. 

 

One "Mine sounds great, so don't worry about it."

 

One "I dunno, but there must be a reason for SPDIF. I got it, so I use it, just in case." Not very scientific, but sounds logical to me!

 

Additional Considerations:

 

From the marketing literature of a $2500 Audio Interface:

 

"Next-gen digital converters provide pristine sound and superior stereo imaging"

 

Maybe there's more to this AD/DA thing than simple conversion of analog signals to zeros and ones?

 

Also, why did the POD's designers bother to equip it with SPDIF in the first place? The HELIX has both SPDIF and AES/EBU. Somebody with better ears than me thinks it matters.....

[rd2rk]

Shred - 

 

You said you have a rack interface which you use WITH the POD via USB? I have a Tascam 16x08 and with my DAWs (Sonar and LIVE) it's either or. Are you running them as an Aggregate Device on an Apple system or....?

[rd2rk]

DD - 

 

Realizing that I didn't really know the meaning of "commutative" (math is not my thing), I looked it up:

 

"involving the condition that a group of quantities connected by operators gives the same result whatever the order of the quantities involved, e.g., a × b = b × a"

 

You mentioned bit depth changes as a possible modifier of the digital signal. Subtle though it may be to the human ear, wouldn't the analog cable (quality and/or length) from the POD to the interface also influence the result of the second conversion vs the first? Might this be a reason why the POD includes the SPDIF option?

[DunedinDragon]

rd2rk -

 

Theoretically any analog signal is subject to interference and potential loss of signal over long distances, so it's certainly a possibility.  Low impedence XLR connections are less subject to such things, but the potential is always there.  That's the reason for SPDIF.  If it were that significant a possibility however, SPDIF would be a much more prominent connection than it is in actual usage and you'd likely see PA loudspeakers for live performances using them.  But in reality and actual usage in the industry it's not considered very significant so that's why you don't see it all that often.

 

You do see it used more often in recording environments however due to the potential for electromagnetic interference caused by equipment.  Even there you don't see it used that often in my experience.  Granted in a home environment it could be useful in that a fair amount of homes have electromagnetic anomoles due to dirty or unconditioned power.  That's one of the reasons I'm a big advocate of using power conditioners for equipment used for recording in home studios.  If it were to be a real problem you'd likely hear more than just a loss of signal.  More likely you'd hear slight buzzing, humming or some other noise artifact.  That's what typically causes someone to opt for SPDIF instead of analog connections.

 

As I mentioned in my post sound quality isn't a consideration in my case for why I opt to use a separate audio interface.  It has more to do with configurability of the preamp stage for recording as well as the ability to not have to have the POD connected into the computer in order to have sound through my monitors or headsets.  Very often when I'm mixing or mastering I don't have any need for the POD and I'd rather it be free for other uses.  It's also comes in handy when I'm working out arrangements while I play back tracks from the DAW and work out guitar parts to them on the POD.  I let the audio interface manage the sound coming from the DAW and from the POD leaving the POD free to be dedicated to processing the patches with no risk of latency.

[shredjsx]

Shred - 

 

You said you have a rack interface which you use WITH the POD via USB? I have a Tascam 16x08 and with my DAWs (Sonar and LIVE) it's either or. Are you running them as an Aggregate Device on an Apple system or....?

I have a Tascam 1604, I use a really easy music daw program, not home but I think it's called Music Maker 7, I've also used a cakewalk program called Guitar Tracks...

 

Using Aiso for all, I can turn both on and assign both to be used by the Daw program....

It's cool, I use the backing tracks on the Music maker and record instrumentals...

 

Drag MP3 music tracks to one track, jam HD500 on another, with vocals or acoustic on another track through my 1604...

 

You have to use AISO for All

[shredjsx]

All. Thru usb

[silverhead]

One caution about using ASIO4ALL: it is known to cause problems with Line 6 devices in some situations. That's not because of the Line 6 devices, but because ASIO4ALL is not a fully compliant ASIO driver. Devices that require fully complaint drivers (like Line 6 devices) do not always work well with ASIO4ALL.

 

And be aware that if you do have problems when using ASIO4ALL, Line 6 does not support this configuration. The first thing Line 6 support will tell you is to remove ASIO4ALL, use  the Line 6 driver provided for the device, and if the problem persists you can be supported by Line 6.

[shredjsx]

Program.... Music Creator 7

[shredjsx]

Unfortunately ASIO for all is the only thing that allows my program to see the HD500. But it seemed to work.... I only turn it on when I'm using my DAW though

[AlexKenivel]

I don't use usb recording. I try not to plug a USB cable to my 500x unless I have to. The port is fragile and I've managed to ruin a unit because of this.

 

Also the global EQ doesn't work through usb, and I use it for my guitar presets

[shredjsx]

I got the global EQ to work on the board and it changed the sound thru the unit into the PC

 

Hey I wanted to say how great and proffesional all of you guys are on here.... I've learned so much and since I moved and lost my band I have no gear heads to all too... And I appreciate line 6 guys involvement too, that's awesome

You guys are great... ( I'm gonna post this in the main forum too )

[rd2rk]

Shred - 

 

Since I still can't get ASIO4ALL to let me use any two of my several interfaces at once, I was wondering what a "TASCAM 1604" was, so I googled it. As far as I can see, it doesn't exist! I found this :

 

"When the Tascam US-122 device is plugged in to a USB port, it appears on the USB bus with a vendor ID of 1604 and a product ID of 8006"

 

in a very technical document about using the US-122 in Fedora with Alsa, but now we're out of Windows World and deep into Penguin Land.

 

What exactly is a TASCAM 1604? Can you provide a link to info?

 

Merry Christmas!

[shredjsx]

Lol sorry Tascam US- 1641

http://tascam.com/product/us-1641/

[darkfury]

I have a question. so Im using a focusrite scarlet 2i2 with my pod. Basically 1/4 outputs into the focusrite(inputs) in my DAW should i choose focusrite or pod as my device?

[cclement]

I have a question. so Im using a focusrite scarlet 2i2 with my pod. Basically 1/4 outputs into the focusrite(inputs) in my DAW should i choose focusrite or pod as my device?

 

I tend to use the interface I have (Presonus FP10) via SPDIF from my HD500x... but that's not an option on the 2i2. Any loss you have from going analog outs of the 500X to the 2i2, and then back to digital into your DAW is probably negligible. If your setup is already dialed in.... I say go with the 2i2 for convenience sake. If you use the HD500X, you will eliminate the need for the extra conversion, but then you need to have you speakers/headphones plugged into the 500X to hear anything.

 

Either option is valid... just depends on your personal taste and comfort level.

[darkfury]

I tend to use the interface I have (Presonus FP10) via SPDIF from my HD500x... but that's not an option on the 2i2. Any loss you have from going analog outs of the 500X to the 2i2, and then back to digital into your DAW is probably negligible. If your setup is already dialed in.... I say go with the 2i2 for convenience sake. If you use the HD500X, you will eliminate the need for the extra conversion, but then you need to have you speakers/headphones plugged into the 500X to hear anything.

 

Either option is valid... just depends on your personal taste and comfort level.

Thx :)

[Jayjon]

Hi for some reason my hd 500 line 6 does not communicate with the mac so I have bought a focusrite 2nd gen but how do I connect the hd and focusrite 

[pianoguyy]

let me sure I got this right.... 

 

You revive a 3 year old thread because you don't know how to hook up your Pod up to a computer.

So, instead of asking about that, you bought an unrelated product, and you have come here asking how to hook up the Pod via the 3rd party device?

All on an unrelated thread that has been dead for 3 years. 

 

Is that about right?

[CameronShakibi]

I have a MacBook air 2017 and I couldn't get it to read anything from usb not the first I read people with macs having a problem. I tried going through all the common usb problems so far. Pretty annoying every other hardware to usb works fine. I already have an interface from before but If I can go without it Id rather just do pod to usb. Ill try calling support monday. Seems like there shouldn't be a problem using external interface though after reading through this if thats what I have to do.