Advice on different ways to connect via Pod

[Ridcully]

I'm interested in any advice on the best way to connect to RiffWorks from my Pod XT to get the best performance/hot signal/low clipping.

Here's what I have and options I've messed with.

Variax digital connection to Pod, USB to RiffWorks, headphones/monitored at Pod = nice hot signal, no clipping but every now and then Riffworks briefly hangs or screeches then carries on. (Screeches haven't caused me to wet myself yet but it makes me jump!) Setting the buffer slider to higher latency/less CPU seems to have no noticeable effect on screeching or latency.

(USB is on a PCI card, not the mainboard and behaves well in general).

I also have an Emu 0404 sound card, if I connect my Pod's L/R outputs to Emu in, then there's never any screeching but I get lower volume levels and a fair amount of clipping (monitoring through Emu sound output).

I also have a Berhinger 802 mixer that I can throw into the mix (poor joke, I know).

Perhaps the combined wealth of guitar greatness on the forum could offer suggestions on interesting combinations in connecting and getting a superior sound quality (beyond me actually learning to play better).

Cheers.

[davenz]

I don't know much about greatness, but I have played around a bit with a few different devices and they all have their quirks with Riffworks. The most common way of doing things is via USB using a some kind of interface. With Line 6 users, usually a Toneport or GuitarPort is used, and for the better paid an XT or Pod 3. Some use M-Audio devices and some other interfaces, including 'mic'ing' amps and piping in via a mic input. They all work and all have pros and cons.

Machine-wise the faster the better in every respect, though even USB 1 ports (usually found on older machines) should be fast enough for high-bitrate capture. XP seems to be the OS of choice, with a nice fast CPU and lots of RAM. Celerons and Semprons don't tend to cut the mustard audio-wise so steer clear of them.

With devices that have no inherent monitor output of their own (like some EMU and M-Audio stuff) monitoring of the inputs can be done via Riffworks, and this is where a low latency is much favoured. If you are hearing clicks and pops, your system can't cope with the ASIO driver settings and the sample rate should adjusted, though this can increase latency. If you use Gearbox, then you can monitor the sound directly from that with zero latency - a very handy feature and more CPU friendly, but in some cases the actual 'recorded' sound may differ because of the vagaries of your sound system. I sometimes use a Toneport myself and a simple test recording is all that is needed to ensure tone and levels are what I want.

You don't say if you use XP or Vista. There are quirks with both, the most noticeable being that the Line 6 driver will 'fall out' of the system every now and then requiring a replug of your device - annoying but not mission critical. Vista, on the other hand, throws the driver often, causing underwear-soiling screeching and what-not until the thing is unplugged and Riffworks/Gearbox restarted. On the odd occasion trying to use another audio application (like Skype) while Riffworks is still alive causes a massive system stop with a TonePort dll file listed as the cause. Can't do much about this except grin and bear it until Line 6 up their game or the Riffworks devs find a way of coping with the instability.

Hope this helps.

Dave.

[Ridcully]

Cheers Dave,

Well, I'm on XP, P4 3Ghz dual core processor and 2GB Ram and the USB ports are USB 2 so that should all be up to scratch.

One thing I hadn't tried that you mentioned, is USB in and monitor through Gearbox - I've been monitoring via the Pod so maybe the USB bandwidth is the thing, I'll play around with that idea.

You've given me an idea for further experimentation, so yes, that does help.

Cheers,
Steve