Tone

[JohnN]

I am slowly relearning tone.

After a lifetime of playing through stomp boxes connected to an amp I am relearning tone now that I am playing through a computer.

This is not a complaint. I guess I am "blogging" my experiences here for posterity.

First of all, I am having to get used to AmpliTube (I don't have the Line6 version of RW). I set up my system so that my guitar is plugged into my M-Audio FastTrack USB which goes through the AmpliTube plugin in RW. The technology part of the setup was easy. I am a bit of computer geek so I got the idea of drivers, ASIO, latency etc. I even have fairly decent Pioneer and Roland monitor speakers - not tinny laptop/desktop speakers.

The initial sound was ok - not good but ok. I resisted the urge to tweak with every stompbox and every amp etc, and just tweaked with the effects I know. I got what I thought was a reasonable sound. I usually play rhythm with a slight reverb, some low-end boost, and just a touch of chorus, no biggies.

I laid down a few tracks - some rhythm with the acoustic-electric, and a few clean finger-picked layers with my Ibanez lawsuit strat.

Then I plugged in my bass. Which nearly popped the monitor speakers out of their cones.

Into the Rubbermaid patch cable box I went and found an RCA stereo to TS patch cable to plug the output from the M-Audio device to my bass amp (Roland Cube 100). I even remembered to turn off all the amp shapes and use the flat input setting. So far so good. Hey - that bass sounds not-so-bad through the AmpliTube thingy. Tweak tweak... getting better.

"Ok John, turn on the guitar and drum bits recorded before. YUCK! WHAT IS THAT TWANGY GUITAR CRAP COMING OUT OF MY SPEAKERS. I don't play *that* bad!!"

*Sigh. Guess I had better re-learn how to set my tone. But then, isn't tweaking knobs a good thing for guitar gearheads?

John

[davenz]

Hi John

I started with a Fast Track as well, and to be honest, I could have written what you have up there. I was primarily a live player. I played acoustic and electric via a Marshall setup for years, and it was a case of arrive at the venue, plug the thing in, test it with a few twangs and head off to the bar for pre-gig preparations. Now though, I sit at my computer and try to get the sounds I hear in my head into my headphones. It is a challenge and a completely different way of doing things. The guitar sounds different, the strings aren't being aided by 100 watts of sonic colouring (plus the rest of the cacophony that is stage sound) and it is a whole different ball game.

I find Amplitube a little clumsy and over-blown after having since purchased a Line 6 TonePort and the GearBox software that comes with it. I find Gearbox infinitely more useable with some genuinely killer tones, and a million (maybe not quite) more available for free download. The downside, and this is a huge downside, is the Line 6 drivers do not play well with Vista and Riffworks, requiring constant unplugging and re-plugging to get it working correctly. I have also just happened on Zoom G2.1u which allows computer connectivity - the sounds are also overblown and clumsy, but at least the ASIO driver works well. It may be useable but I am already missing Gearbox.

What I am saying I guess is that it may not be 'you'. It may be that you just need something more useable to get what you hear in your head into Riffowkrs. But hey, isn't it fun trying!

Dave.

[JohnN]

Yes... it is fun but frustrating. Then I read these posts about how some of the guitarists here record dry, then post-process, and my mind boggles. What's that quote? "I'm not worthy".

My SM-57 is out on loan, but I am sorely tempted to get it back to mike up the guitar and amp (or bass and amp), and try out RW that way through the FastTrack's mic port. But that's not so good for quiet evening suburban living.

I am tempted to try the Line6 route to get a grasp on their set of tones, and may just do that pending some ready cash. I do have some questions for the gurus out there:

Is the Line6 silver bundle for $99 an improvement over FastTrack/AmpliTube?
Does the Line6 amp simulator use USB-1 or USB-2 speeds.
Does the Line6 amp simulator work with my midi footpedal (not a deal-breaker by any means).

I am NOT a big fan of AmpliTube. I prefer the Audiffex InTone stuff which came with my FastTrack USB to AmpliTube, but their VST plug-in capabilities leave a lot to be desired. For non-RW play, I stick to the InTone sounds - I even upgraded to their Pro versions.