Oversampling not coming to Pod Go :(

[rosskoss]

What a disappointment. I bought Pod Go because it was the perfect size and offered the key functionality that I was looking for - eg: I don't need 2 amps running simultaneously or 20 different fx in my chain etc. 

 

However, I always thought that we'd be getting the highest quality models with the Pod Go (i.e. would just be limited on how many you could run at a time)

 

My needs are pretty simple - OD -> amp -> delay -> reverb (I don't use cab modeling since I'm going into real guitar cab). Always thought that PodGo would have the highest fidelity models from Helix as well. Looks like that's not the case. :(

 

At this point, I might as well just pony up the extra and get the FM3 (which also limits you on how MANY things you can run at a time but not on the quality of the models). Seriously feel let down here. 

 

[rosskoss]

I'm replying to my own post here but I wish there was the option to least enable this with the realization that you wouldn't be able to run too many more items in your chain. 

 

If that CAB model wasn't a permanent fixture (I never use it) and if we could just play an amp through the new dynamic hall reverb - I'd be content. I already knew getting into the PG that things would be greyed out but I run a very simple chain so didn't bother me till now. I do hear the squirrels. 

 

In other words, I don't want too many things in my chain - but the things I have access to, I want them to be the best. I truly relish the differences between the different models (Vox, Matchless, Wreck, Mesa Lonestar etc.) as I'm very much a feel player.  

[grdGo33]

Where did you hear that we're not getting the oversampling feature?   About 6 months ago, Helix 3.0 came out, then a few weeks back, we got the lower DSP amps/effects from 3.0.  Now Helix 3.1 has just been released, it's very possible that in 6 months we'll get a patch which include this new 3.1 feature.

[phil_m]

2 hours ago, grdGo33 said:

Where did you hear that we're not getting the oversampling feature?   About 6 months ago, Helix 3.0 came out, then a few weeks back, we got the lower DSP amps/effects from 3.0.  Now Helix 3.1 has just been released, it's very possible that in 6 months we'll get a patch which include this new 3.1 feature.

The increased oversampling will not be coming to the POD Go. Eric Klein confirmed over on The Gear Page and on Facebook, I believe. The models in the POD Go were already optimized as much as they could be, so the processor can’t support this feature.

 

I think there are some sonic differences with this feature, but they are not anything I’d put in the category of being a dealbreaker. I don’t think most people could hear the difference in a true blind A/B test... I think many of the reactions you see from people with the 3.10 update truly are a placebo effect. It has happened with every update.

[voxman55]

The oversampling was I believe requested by those using Helix for pro recording in a studio. From the perspective of playing through an amp, FRFR, FOH PA etc, you'll hear no discernible difference.  But I don't understand your post.  Firstly, Line 6 has always made it clear that Pod Go is a Pod, not a Helix unit, that it has less processing power than Helix, and so wouldn't be getting all the Helix upgrades (we'll get some it can cope with eg as in v1.21).  If you liked Pod Go before, and it does what you want, and it now has some extra models it didn't have before, what's the problem?  If you bought it only on the premise of what you hoped it might become rather than what it is, and are disappointed, then I'm afraid that expectation is purely down to you, not Line 6 who were straight-up about Pod Go from outset. 

 

Sure, there are things I'd like to see in Pod Go, but only from a functionality perspective - I'd like to have snap shot and switch naming like Helix has, 1 or even 2 additional FX blocks for extra flexibility (I'm aware it wouldn't change processing power), FS7/8 to appear in the display, and the option to use FS7/8 as patch up/down when in 6 button stomp mode. At least some of this is on Line 6's radar so hopefully the next upgrade will focus on functionality rather than extra amp/fx models (there's already so much in there already, I personally don't need or see the point of any more!).  Now, if I don't get everything I'd like it doesn't detract from what I have and am very pleased with currently - they would be good to have, sure, but from hereon in any extras from future firmware upgrades are a bonus that I didn't have before.  If these things were that important to me, I'd have bought a Helix LT, but like you it did all the main things I wanted, was compact & light and it's easy to use and I accept it's compromises as at the time it was around half the price of a Helix LT. 

[benihanna]

If your needs are indeed that simple and your bar that high, why didn't you just get an HX Stomp? The Pod Go is the product that trades some of the Helix flexibility / power for portability and user-friendliness. This is like an LT owner complaining that their unit isn't 7 pounds lighter.

[grdGo33]

Ha...  Just look at it that way:  A bunch of Pros have been raving and using the $1,699.99 Helix for years now, and it always sounded great.  The $450 Go has the exact same effects quality.  And the quality of the amps/effects/etc., is already at a level where it's pretty darn tough to tell which is the emulated sound vs which is the sound of a real amp.  Jason Sadite for instance has more than a couple of comparisons; try to see if you can tell the real deal vs emulated:

 

 

Now, they added a new oversampling which will improve the $1,699.99 Helix.  Will this make a marginal or substantial difference?  Given the fact that already, the Helix/Go are near indistinguishable from the real thing, I doubt that it would make a substantial difference. 

 

Of course, you'll see a lot of people who will claim that it makes a huge difference, but it's mostly going to be placebo.  Same type of thing where some people will claim to prefer real amps over emulation, yet under blind conditions, will very often fail or really struggle to identify which is emulated vs real.   So IMHO, even with good studio monitors & in a recording setting, you would struggle to hear the difference.  That would be my guess.  That if you just walked in a room, a track was playing, that 50% of the time you would guess correctly if the oversampling was on or off.  You would really have to A/B both clips, multiple times, to hear the difference, IF you were able to hear it, which you might not be...   And then, chances are that it would be placebo; and again, under blind conditions, you would fail to identify whether the effect was on or off.  Such is the nature of subtle audio differences & human brain/hearing.

 

Anyway, Jason above is supposed to do a blind test for the oversampling feature, it will be interesting to see how much of a difference it'll make.  For me:  Go is more than enough.  If you are at the point where you need oversampling & absolute sound quality; TWF are you doing with a Go?  LOL  Buy a Helix or real amp!  At one point, expecting Go to absolutely equal the Helix is a bit silly!

[rosskoss]

Folks, I'm truly grateful for a product like this - super accurately modeled amps in my living room. Also very much appreciate L6 providing updates - that's why I skipped something like Amplifire/Headrush and went w/ L6.

 

What I'm asking is different - I'm asking if it'd be possible to enable oversampling even if at the cost of just having Amp + Reverb. I want to have the highest quality models possible even if I'm tapped out on resources and can't have a fancy FX chain. 

 

Sometimes, all I want to do is to dial up an amp with just some reverb and enjoy the amp modeling (sometimes I play just with amp model - no reverb). The amp modeling is accurate and especially through a real guitar cab, it sounds brilliant. I just want to enjoy that experience in best possible way understanding the CPU limitations of the Pod Go

[voxman55]

12 hours ago, rosskoss said:

Folks, I'm truly grateful for a product like this - super accurately modeled amps in my living room. Also very much appreciate L6 providing updates - that's why I skipped something like Amplifire/Headrush and went w/ L6.

 

What I'm asking is different - I'm asking if it'd be possible to enable oversampling even if at the cost of just having Amp + Reverb. I want to have the highest quality models possible even if I'm tapped out on resources and can't have a fancy FX chain. 

 

Sometimes, all I want to do is to dial up an amp with just some reverb and enjoy the amp modeling (sometimes I play just with amp model - no reverb). The amp modeling is accurate and especially through a real guitar cab, it sounds brilliant. I just want to enjoy that experience in best possible way understanding the CPU limitations of the Pod Go

 

No its not different. You are asking for something that Pod Go cannot do. The amp models are maximised. The architecture of Pod Go is different to Helix because Pod Go is  Pod, not a Helix. If you were happy with it before, why should that change? 

 

I've used Vox Valvetronix gear for years. My AD120VTX and Tonelab SE and LE all still sound great and are brilliant to use live. I don't start complaining about their tone now just because I now have a Pod Go. Great tone is great tone. I've been very pleased with my LG TV in HD. It doesn't become worse simply because you can now have 4k ultra HD. If I really want 4k uhd then I have to buy a 4k uhd TV. I can't expect LG to upgrade my TV to 4k because it simply wasn't designed to do that.  

 

If you want the over sampling and your mindset is that you always want the best, then buy a Helix and then you'll have the best of both worlds. But you can't turn Pod Go into a Helix and Line 6 made that very clear. And even if it could, at the next Helix update you'd still be unhappy all over again and want the new latest 'best'.  Pod Go is a great unit. Further upgrades will follow hopefully follow to improve eg functionality...but it can't do what it can't do so you have to make a choice. Either you accept Pod Go for what it is and live with it and enjoy it, or buy a Helix or other high end unit that meets your needs. With some folk there is a genuine need, with others the fidelity is a ' nice to have but not vital', but with some folk it's a vanity thing ie they always want to have the best even if they don't actually need it. Either way, the choices remain the same.

[grdGo33]

 

21 hours ago, rosskoss said:

I'm asking if it'd be possible to enable oversampling even if at the cost of just having Amp + Reverb.

 

Yeah dynamic blocks is something which comes up often; kinda like a dynamic feature request; get the very high DSP effects from helix, at the cost of blocks... But I don't think that'll be happenin...

 

The Jason test is up btw, if anyone wants to hear with and without oversampling.   I think I could hear a very very slight difference, but as I mentioned, it could very have well been placebo; really nothing to lose any sleep over.   That will not be the difference whether your album/show flops or whether it's a success...!  LOL    (IMHO; very very minor difference..)

 

Here's the link to comparison:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0qmP3-4cYM

 

[rosskoss]

I've actually come around - oversampling makes the tones 'too smooth & polished' (like Fractal before Cygnus). One of the reasons I went with L6 over Fractal was because I genuinely felt that the modeling was more accurate especially on the classic amps. (Fractal is greatly improved with this Cygnus update)

 

So yes, don't think I'm interested in oversampling....and yes, this is a truly killer device and perfect for me. I need to get off the forums because it sounds just perfect right now. 

 

 

[voxman55]

58 minutes ago, rosskoss said:

I've actually come around - oversampling makes the tones 'too smooth & polished' (like Fractal before Cygnus). One of the reasons I went with L6 over Fractal was because I genuinely felt that the modeling was more accurate especially on the classic amps. (Fractal is greatly improved with this Cygnus update)

 

So yes, don't think I'm interested in oversampling....and yes, this is a truly killer device and perfect for me. I need to get off the forums because it sounds just perfect right now. 

 

 

 

Interestingly, I have a Vox Tonelab SE which is 2004 tech with 20 bit processing.  I also have the Tonelab LE that came out in 2008 and this has pretty much exactly the same modelling but with 24 bit processing. The one I gig with is the TLSE. Partly it's because it has 2 expression pedals & A/B switching in the same patch, but it's also because I prefer the tone and feel which is slightly warmer and more natural sounding as compared to the later TLLE that is a bit more 'HiFi'. The latter is possibly slightly advantageous for recording, but in my view the TLSE sounds and feels just that bit more like a real amp. The difference is quite subtle but it's only because I have both that I'm aware of it especially in a side-by-side test.  

[OmegaSlayer]

That's really something I'm not concerned about

The difference is negligible for 99,9% of the users