For reasons unknown I have been having big problem with drop-outs when I try to record guitar through my Line 6 UX2 to record in Sonar X1.

Leaving the cause of the problem to one side(and another thread) I was wondering if you could advise me on possible alternatives to a usb solution.

I have an M-Audio 2496 audiophile pci sound card, and I was wondering if it was possible to maybe buy one of these Pod devices (or similar) with the guitar effects on board, and connect it to the audiophile card's inputs thus bypassing usb and the latency issue.

The inputs on the audiophile include female RCA (phono)
Coaxial S/PDIF RCA input
MIDI input 5 pin Din

As things stand, using the audiophile card, I can generate fairly decent backing tracks - but have not succeeded in finding the issue with my UX2 (which is USB 1.1, I believe).
So is there an alternative box (like the Line 6 Pod 2.0?) I can use going the pci route or would this not work out?

Thanks for any thoughts.

What are your Record & Playback I/O  buffers set at?  Sometimes they are set at like 64 or 128, try jacking them upto 512 or 1024 and see what that does

As far as the USB thing you mentioned, maybe try running from/to the SPDIF on both and see what that does for ya

You shouldn't be using 2 audio interfaces especially not 2 completely different models. That can give you timing problems. Disconnect the USB connection from the UX2 and connect the analog outputs to the inputs on the Audiophile. You'll need 2 cables with a 1/4" phone plug on one end and an RCA plug on the other (or you can get adapters, but that's not as good.) Here's a good one: http://www.musiciansfriend.com/accessories/hosa-cpr-201-dual-rca-1-4-3.3-cable

I have an M-Audio 2496 audiophile pci sound card, and I was wondering if it was possible to maybe buy one of these Pod devices (or similar) with the guitar effects on board, and connect it to the audiophile card's inputs thus bypassing usb and the latency issue.

 
You may want to look into Guitar Rig or Amplitube for decent guitar recording solutions, especially if you are not using an amplifier.  There are also a gazillion guitar free FX plugs out there, including TH2 that came with SonarX2.
 
I suspect your problems come with Line6 products using ASIO drivers, and your 2496 using a different ASIO driver or WDM.
An external unit like a POD will work just fine . . . . . . .
 
Brian

If you prefer to use the Audiophile as your main soundcard, you could connect the SPDIF out from the UX2 to the SPDIF input of the 2496.  I once had a similar setup with an Audiophile 192 and my UX2.

But I suspect that the problems that you are experiencing with the UX2 might be due to other things running in the background on your PC, rather than with the UX2 itself.

  Thanks for the responses, guys.

I was sort of trying to steer away from the actual causes of my UX2 problem, and just ask if a Pod 2.0, for example, connected by its audio out to my audiophile's audio input might be a viable prospect.

I don't know how this all works, but would it, by by-passing my usb system, perhaps also by-pass the latency? And would the quality be reasonably good via an analogue audio out?

(My UX2 won't even play an .mp3 through Windows Media Player nicely if the audiophile is physically connected to the pc, and even without it, DPC latency checker shows a fair bit of yellow and red when Sonar is playing.)
But I've taken up enough people's time on that in my other UX2 thread. Thanks.

You definitely do want multiple audio interfaces plugged in and trying to use ASIO drivers.

If the UX2 is not cutting it for you then unplug it and re-insert your M-Audio interface.  Make that the default audio device for your system and try playing something through Windows Media Player once you are using the M-Audio interface, and then post back the results.

IF that works OK, then since your M-Audio does not have any 1/4" jacks for plugging in your guitar, you would need an adapter (Radio Shack sells those for like $3-$5 I believe) to allow you to plug your guitar into your M-Audio interface.  Then you can configure Sonar to use the M-Audio, in ASIO mode - I suggest setting the Sample rate for both Sonar and the interface to 44.1, with a bit-depth of 16 for starters.  Then try to see if you get decent latency and sound quality with no effects on an audio track for your guitar.

Even before you were to go out and pick up an adapter for plugging your guitar in, you could still check the sound quality with Sonar and the M-Audio interface by starting a new project, inserting an audio track, selecting that audio track, importing an MP3 to that track, and simply hitting play.    If everything is cool, you should hear the MP3 playing back with no dropouts or crackles.

Please give the above a shot and post back with the results.

Bob Bone

It's worth noting that both the Audiophile and the UX2 can work in WDM mode, although the UX2 will lose some of its recording functionality.

orth noting that both the Audiophile and the UX2 can work in WDM mode, although the UX2 will lose some of its recording functionality.

The UX2 is a USB 1.1 audio interface.
As such, it uses a large hidden safety buffer (which raises round-trip latency) to help prevent dropouts/glitches.
If you monitor via the on-board hardware DSP, latency is low (like playing thru a POD).
If you try to monitor via software (to play thru 3rd party plugins in realtime), the round-trip latency will be too high. 
If you monitor thru the onboard DSP, you can increase the ASIO buffer size to help prevent dropouts/glitches.


USB-2 audio interfaces (if you choose the right one) offer low round-trip latency on par with the best PCI/e audio interfaces.
RME are excellent for low round-trip latency, as are the new Presonus VSL units, and the MOTU hybrid series.


The Audiophile 2496 offers low round-trip latency (5ms at a 64-sample ASIO buffer size/44.1k)
If the I/O suits your needs, by all means, install/use it.


You can have both the Audiophile and UX2 installed... and switch between them as needed.
I wouldn't try running both simultaneously... as they each run on separate clocks... and will be out of sync.