One Last Question About A Pod, I am THIS close to buying one... |
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Apr 25 2007, 03:20 AM
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Sorry for posting yet another question about PODs, but trying to find info on their website is harder than pulling teeth. And I still haven't found any local shops that have answers.
Anyway, here's my plan so far... it's mostly based on assumptions so please let me know if I'm drawing the wrong conclusions here. I'll buy a Floor POD Plus (link) because as far as I know, it's similar to the POD 2.0, only more versatile (and the only one I've seen that lets you input jam tracks from a CD and still use headphones). I want to use the POD for jamming with headphones on (I'll be in a dorm in 4 months), and making recordings. As long as I'm not misunderstanding the point of owning a POD, my next question is ... How do I use it to record stuff to the computer? I am completely new to this so I don't know if this is simple or not. Does the POD come packaged with stuff to connect to a computer? Would I have to buy something else to use the POD for recording? My computer is running Windows XP and is about 4 years old if that matters. Hey Andrew, you're the official POD expert! What do you think? 
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Apr 25 2007, 03:41 AM
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QUOTE (radarlove1984 @ Apr 24 2007, 10:20 PM)  Sorry for posting yet another question about PODs, but trying to find info on their website is harder than pulling teeth. And I still haven't found any local shops that have answers. Anyway, here's my plan so far... it's mostly based on assumptions so please let me know if I'm drawing the wrong conclusions here. I'll buy a Floor POD Plus (link) because as far as I know, it's similar to the POD 2.0, only more versatile (and the only one I've seen that lets you input jam tracks from a CD and still use headphones). I want to use the POD for jamming with headphones on (I'll be in a dorm in 4 months), and making recordings. As long as I'm not misunderstanding the point of owning a POD, my next question is ... How do I use it to record stuff to the computer? I am completely new to this so I don't know if this is simple or not. Does the POD come packaged with stuff to connect to a computer? Would I have to buy something else to use the POD for recording? My computer is running Windows XP and is about 4 years old if that matters. Hey Andrew, you're the official POD expert! What do you think? Evening! Well, you connect your pod to the computer with a regular USB cable, and at that point it becomes just like a soundcard for output and input. To do a really good job of recording you need to buy some multitrack software although there are a few free alternatives. For someone starting out I'd suggest something like Cubase LE - that will give you a fair amount of room for growth and it isn't heinously expensive ... multitrack recording is a lot of fun although there is a learning curve, but with some practice and that kind of harware/software setup you should be able to put together something pretty damn decent. Thats the broad outline, happy to answer any more detailed questions, especially for someone who appreciates Music Theory as you do 
-------------------- Check out my Instructor profile
Live long and prosper ... My Stuff: Electric Guitars : Ibanez Jem7v, Line6 Variax 700, Fender Plus Strat with 57/62 Pickups, Line6 Variax 705 Bass Acoustic Guitars : Taylor 816ce, Martin D-15, Line6 Variax Acoustic 300 Nylon Effects : Line6 Helix, Keeley Modded Boss DS1, Keeley Modded Boss BD2, Keeley 4 knob compressor, Keeley OxBlood Amps : Epiphone Valve Jnr & Head, Cockburn A.C.1, Cockburn A.C.2, Blackstar Club 50 Head & 4x12 Cab |
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Apr 25 2007, 02:05 PM
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heya
For recording multiple tracks I use a freebie called Audacity from audacity.sourceforge.net It's quite basic, but it's free and for open source software, it's reasonably powerful. It'll handle a boatload of stuff and with the addition of LameEnc.dll to the folder it'll encode right to mp3. You'll have to check it out and play with it to see if it meets your needs... for free and about 5 megs of hard drive space it can't hurt to look at it. all the best G. -------------------- wanna save more money for gear?
Check out the site your cell phone company doesn't want you to see! http://www.gaelansplace.info |
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Apr 25 2007, 03:11 PM
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QUOTE (Gaelan @ Apr 25 2007, 09:05 AM) heya For recording multiple tracks I use a freebie called Audacity from audacity.sourceforge.net It's quite basic, but it's free and for open source software, it's reasonably powerful. It'll handle a boatload of stuff and with the addition of LameEnc.dll to the folder it'll encode right to mp3. You'll have to check it out and play with it to see if it meets your needs... for free and about 5 megs of hard drive space it can't hurt to look at it. all the best G. Another free one that looks good is Kristal: http://www.kreatives.org/kristal/index.php Neither Kristal or Audacity do any kind of Midi though, Cubase LE does (but its not free). Midi is necessary if you want to sequence drums, bass, synths etc - if not either Kristal or audacity will work fine - you could use them with drum loops for instance. -------------------- Check out my Instructor profile
Live long and prosper ... My Stuff: Electric Guitars : Ibanez Jem7v, Line6 Variax 700, Fender Plus Strat with 57/62 Pickups, Line6 Variax 705 Bass Acoustic Guitars : Taylor 816ce, Martin D-15, Line6 Variax Acoustic 300 Nylon Effects : Line6 Helix, Keeley Modded Boss DS1, Keeley Modded Boss BD2, Keeley 4 knob compressor, Keeley OxBlood Amps : Epiphone Valve Jnr & Head, Cockburn A.C.1, Cockburn A.C.2, Blackstar Club 50 Head & 4x12 Cab |
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Apr 26 2007, 03:08 AM
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Thanks for the software links. For now, I'm sure a free program will be all I need.
I checked the specs of the POD I was planning on buying, and found that it doesn't have a USB connection. The POD XTs do, but this one doesn't. Is that going to be a problem for recording? It says it can be connected to a computer through MIDI. This is going to sound really stupid, but I have no idea what MIDI is. Here's the link. http://line6.com/floorpodplus/ins_outs.html Would that work for recording, or would I have to buy a lot of extra connectors and equipment to hook it up? Thanks again for the help. |
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Apr 26 2007, 03:33 AM
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QUOTE (radarlove1984 @ Apr 25 2007, 10:08 PM) Thanks for the software links. For now, I'm sure a free program will be all I need. I checked the specs of the POD I was planning on buying, and found that it doesn't have a USB connection. The POD XTs do, but this one doesn't. Is that going to be a problem for recording? It says it can be connected to a computer through MIDI. This is going to sound really stupid, but I have no idea what MIDI is. Here's the link. http://line6.com/floorpodplus/ins_outs.html Would that work for recording, or would I have to buy a lot of extra connectors and equipment to hook it up? Thanks again for the help. Ahh, ok I'm sorry - no, MIDI on its own won't let you record. It seems that the floor Pod is aimed at live performance. In that case, you would need to feed it into your soundcard, being careful with the input levels - line into line, not microphone as has been discussed in other threads. Playing devils advocate - for about $60 more ($360 instead of $299) you could get the Pod XT Live which does let you record direct, has lot more upgradeability and is generally a better product as far as I can tell (I have one of those and they absolutely rock!). The floorpod plus seems like a cut down version without the usb (which is also extremely useful for programming effects, and downloading them from the web, and saving them to disk for security) - less flexibility, less expandability. I think that because it is newer it is being less deeply discounted than the XTL, and for $60 I think it is a no brainer. -------------------- Check out my Instructor profile
Live long and prosper ... My Stuff: Electric Guitars : Ibanez Jem7v, Line6 Variax 700, Fender Plus Strat with 57/62 Pickups, Line6 Variax 705 Bass Acoustic Guitars : Taylor 816ce, Martin D-15, Line6 Variax Acoustic 300 Nylon Effects : Line6 Helix, Keeley Modded Boss DS1, Keeley Modded Boss BD2, Keeley 4 knob compressor, Keeley OxBlood Amps : Epiphone Valve Jnr & Head, Cockburn A.C.1, Cockburn A.C.2, Blackstar Club 50 Head & 4x12 Cab |
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Apr 26 2007, 08:09 PM
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QUOTE (Gaelan @ Apr 25 2007, 02:05 PM) heya For recording multiple tracks I use a freebie called Audacity from audacity.sourceforge.net It's quite basic, but it's free and for open source software, it's reasonably powerful. It'll handle a boatload of stuff and with the addition of LameEnc.dll to the folder it'll encode right to mp3. You'll have to check it out and play with it to see if it meets your needs... for free and about 5 megs of hard drive space it can't hurt to look at it. all the best G. Hey Gaelan, I've seen some of your posts and it looks like you know your computers so I wanted to ask a question related to this. I just bought a PC with Windows Vista and I am wondering if there is an issue with audacity + Vista? Also, you mentioned LameEnc.dll. Any problems with compatibility with that and Vista as well? thanks! |
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Apr 26 2007, 08:32 PM
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QUOTE (radarlove1984 @ Apr 25 2007, 11:23 PM) Thanks for clearing that up. I had no idea. So a PODxt Live would be all I need, right? I wouldn't have to buy anything else afterwords if I use free recording software, and the USB connector will fit into any standard computer? Am I right so far? Oh yeah, did your POD come with a USB connector, or would I have to buy that separately? It's cheap, so I guess it won't matter either way. Thanks for clarifying everything. You probably saved me from wasting $300 bucks now, and having to buy a separate POD later for recording. Yep, that's correct - I think the pod came with a USB cable but I don't recall, but they are cheap as you said. Yes, get the Pod XT live and you won't regret it. I would also recomend Kristal over Audacity (sorry Gaelan!) for the follwing reason - Kristal supports a standard called ASIO, which is a high performance audio standard that the Pod also supports. The pod comes with ASIO drivers, and Kristal uses that driver to work with the Pod. One final thing - you will need to hook your pod up to a decent AMP and speakers for recording (for playing as well) - it has a headphone socket though and it sounds awesome on headphones, which I think was the point of your original post ... Good luck! -------------------- Check out my Instructor profile
Live long and prosper ... My Stuff: Electric Guitars : Ibanez Jem7v, Line6 Variax 700, Fender Plus Strat with 57/62 Pickups, Line6 Variax 705 Bass Acoustic Guitars : Taylor 816ce, Martin D-15, Line6 Variax Acoustic 300 Nylon Effects : Line6 Helix, Keeley Modded Boss DS1, Keeley Modded Boss BD2, Keeley 4 knob compressor, Keeley OxBlood Amps : Epiphone Valve Jnr & Head, Cockburn A.C.1, Cockburn A.C.2, Blackstar Club 50 Head & 4x12 Cab |
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Apr 26 2007, 10:54 PM
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QUOTE (radarlove1984 @ Apr 26 2007, 04:33 PM) I have one more question about something you just said though. Could you elaborate on hooking the POD up to an amp and speakers for recording? I know all about whole Amp vs. PA System debate for playing live, but do I need an amp for recording as well? I was under the impression I could just pipe everything into the headphones. Headphones will do fine - and you know anout the PA/Amp thing so that is cool. In general for recording, especially if you start adding drums, bass and other stuff you need accurate monitoring to get a balanced sound. If you want to get really into it, you can argue that mixing on headphones has its pitfalls, and you should use a neutral pair of speakers designed for monitoring - you can get decent ones for $200 - $300 later if you really get into the reording thing. Until then headphones will work great. QUOTE (radarlove1984 @ Apr 26 2007, 04:33 PM) Either way, it won't be a problem until I get serious about recording, and then I'll have an excuse to buy more gear! Thanks for your help. I just placed the order.Cool - hope you like it as much as I like mine and let me know if you need any help with it, either on the forum or you can PM me
This post has been edited by Andrew Cockburn: Apr 26 2007, 10:55 PM -------------------- Check out my Instructor profile
Live long and prosper ... My Stuff: Electric Guitars : Ibanez Jem7v, Line6 Variax 700, Fender Plus Strat with 57/62 Pickups, Line6 Variax 705 Bass Acoustic Guitars : Taylor 816ce, Martin D-15, Line6 Variax Acoustic 300 Nylon Effects : Line6 Helix, Keeley Modded Boss DS1, Keeley Modded Boss BD2, Keeley 4 knob compressor, Keeley OxBlood Amps : Epiphone Valve Jnr & Head, Cockburn A.C.1, Cockburn A.C.2, Blackstar Club 50 Head & 4x12 Cab |
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Apr 27 2007, 12:45 AM
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Thanks for the offer. When it shows up in a few weeks, I'll take you up on it.
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Oct 26 2007, 08:11 PM
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QUOTE (rockdoc @ Oct 26 2007, 01:46 PM) Could someone point me to the thread about PA vs. Amp for live performance please - or give me a brief summary if you can put it in a nutshell! Thanks https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/guitar_fo...?showtopic=7723 https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/guitar_fo...?showtopic=6090 https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/guitar_fo...?showtopic=3539 -------------------- Check out my Instructor profile
Live long and prosper ... My Stuff: Electric Guitars : Ibanez Jem7v, Line6 Variax 700, Fender Plus Strat with 57/62 Pickups, Line6 Variax 705 Bass Acoustic Guitars : Taylor 816ce, Martin D-15, Line6 Variax Acoustic 300 Nylon Effects : Line6 Helix, Keeley Modded Boss DS1, Keeley Modded Boss BD2, Keeley 4 knob compressor, Keeley OxBlood Amps : Epiphone Valve Jnr & Head, Cockburn A.C.1, Cockburn A.C.2, Blackstar Club 50 Head & 4x12 Cab |
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