POD Farm Help (and IR Loaders)

Hi Shaun,

Maybe you've already checked that but, just in case...

There's an input meter and a knob to adjust the incoming signal on the upper left-hand side of POD Farm's GUI, just above the gate section. If for some reason that knob is turned too low, you'd typically get a processed signal that doesn't sound as distorted or overdriven as you'd expect.

Sometimes it doesn't look like it's turned down all that much but, for example, if that knob is at 12 o'clock, you're effectively trimming 12 db's off your signal. Enough to make a patch sound weak. On the picture below as you see, my input gain is at 0 - no boost, no cut.





You may also want to make sure that the noise gate isn't set up so that it eats away your signal. Again, you may have already checked that, but it's worth mentioning.


That's the first thing I'd check.


As for impulses... These are meant to be used in conjunction w/ an amp sim. The impulses themselves are like snapshots of speaker and cabinets. You still need to feed them w/ something that sounds like an amplified signal. 


Typically, you'd place an amp sim like Pod Farm or Amplitube or Guitar Rig before the impulse loader and disable the cabinet emulation in the amp sim.


Let me know if that helps. :)

I assume you're plugging your guitar into the POD which is USB'd to the computer. Hace you tried using the POD ASIO drivers instead? Then you can use the POD settings in Control Panel and the POD's ASIO driver settings to make sure the audio routing is correct. Since the POD lets you record dry or wet, with options to reamp etc. you might want to check this out if you haven't already. Some of these settings but not all are also available in Gearbox. I haven't used this in 64 bit yet so I don't know if all the Line 6 software works on 64 bit systems.
 
For what it's worth, have you tried running another amp modeler like Amplitube or Guitar Rig (whatever) to see if you get the same results? This may help you figure out if it's a routing/hardware problem or if it's only happening in Pod Farm.

Hey guys, thanks for the replies.

Stoons - You are correct. Guitar into the POD, and the POD is USB into the PC.  I have tried Guitar Rig in the past, but never really liked the tones for recording (I usually prefer to record a dry sound / no effects). In any case, Guitar Rig's tones never seemed to lack distortion, at least not anything like POD Farm does.

Kev999 - It's been a while since I got this setup, so I don't remember specifically why I decided to use the ASIO4ALL...I recall having some kind of problem though and upon google searching I learned of ASIO4ALL and I must have learned somehow that it would fix my issue.  It may have been a sync / lag issue, or getting SONAR to recognize the POD...again I really don't recall though. 

I'm going to mess around with the drivers again since you brought it up. I'll try uninstalling ASIO4ALL and start fresh.  Again, many thanks!

Shaun

In order to hear the effects, you have to turn Input Echo on. Its the button on the track next to M S R. Sonar does not record the effected sound, just the sound of the guitar. If you're using the Pod Farm and want to preserve the effected sound on a track, you just need to Edit-Bounce to Track and a new track will be created with the effected sound. 

It sounds like you might just be recording and outputtng your dry signal.
 
This is how I do it.    I use Line 6 UX2 Audio interface for recording guitar, they are cheap at around $150 (obviously your POD HD will do the trick too).   I have a FF800 as my regular sound card but the Line 6 hardware is excellent for avoiding latency and monitoring your guitar work in real time.   I tried the other route using Input Echo but I don't like it, there is noticeable latency even at low settings.   I just never got good results that route either.   As a side note,  I put a compressor in front of my Line 6 to give it a little beef going in.   Makes a huge difference.   There is a recent thread on the Techniques forum about this topic.
 
Open Podfarm 2.5 in stand-alone mode.    Check your Podfarm Mixer to make sure you have your settings for Channel 1/2 Wet and Channel 3/4 Dry.  I always leave my stand-alone PodFarm instance running with my "Preset"  selected when recording in Sonar.   When I record in Sonar I always record two tracks, Track One is recording the Channel 1/2 Wet Stereo Signal from the Podfarm Mixer and Channel Two is recording the Channel 3/4 dry signal from the PodFarm Mixer.   Using this method allows you to hear the part and record it in realtime, and, also capture an identical dry track that you can tweak later by adding a PodFarm, or other VST instance, to change the amp, effects, effects settings,  etc.....    Usually I end up just using the wet recording but have the flexibility of using the dry signal recording to change things up if need be.
 
Hope this helps.

sketterman


Dave - I am familiar with the input echo option, but going that route causes way too much latency. I could never record anything remotely accurate with that option!

Cactus - Is there a link that maybe explains how to properly set that stuff up (monitoring, signal path)? I'm all for assuming my problem is user error lol

Mark - This method does makes sense, and I imagine it would work for me. In POD Farm, when I open up mixer view, I dont see anything that suggests channel 1/2 or channel 3/4.  I've got "Tone A" and "Tone B". I'm thinking you are referring to the "DI" knob. If I turn this knob I can hear more and more of my clean signal mixed in with the processed signal. Channels 1/2 and 3/4 would correspond to a dual amp tone? Whereas just channels 1/2 would be a single amp tone?

Regardless, none of the distorted presets in POD Farm sound right...the distortion is super weak, and previously I created a brand new tone with a JCM 900, maxed out the gain, and got zero distortion. I think it's my settings...everything is pretty much as it would be after install though.

If you're having that much latency it is a driver issue. First of all did you install Line 6 Monkey to ensure you have all the neccessary line 6 drivers and Contol Panel etc. for the POD HD?

Stoons - Yep, all drivers are definitely up to date

Dave - I'm using the POD Bean Asio drivers now, uninstalled the ASIO4ALL. The only real problem I have now is the tones in POD Farm not sounding right. 

All, what program to people use to record their desktop as they work within a program? I could just record what happens in POD Farm so everyone can see the presets, settings, etc.

Like I said, it's obviously a routing issue. I don't own a Pod so your need to read the manual of follow the advice of people here that have told you how already.

Ok, you know what I'd do?

Just don't bother w/ POD Farm for the moment. Record the dry signal coming out of the you POD into Sonar. 

Leave the fader in Sonar at it's default position and tell us how loud it registers on the meters. 

The logic being that no matter the latency, you should still hear something coming out that sounds like what you expect, albeit slightly delayed.

You mentioned trying Guitar Rig in an earlier post, do you still have it installed? I'm thinking of a few things I'd try.