RiffWorks T4 and Gearbox (Line6 TonePort GX)?

[snmavronis]

Will this combination work out of the box or would I have to purchase the $99 "Gearbox plug-in" separately? I was reading other message topics and I am confused if I need this plug-in or would I just have the full Gearbox running at the same time as RiffWorks T4? I'm thinking of buying the TonePort GX this Friday, which includes the Gearbox software.

[mickeymix]

You are better off with an ASIO device like the TonePort GX , rather then the plug-in version of gearbox...........less latency....if you have the TP GX , you mos def won't need the plug in.......
you will need something to plug your guitar/bass in to........and the Toneport GX will do the trick...nice choice by the ways.

[snmavronis]

Thanks! It was confusing looking at the Line6 webpage about the TonePort GX. I mean it comes with Gearbox and then they were saying the separate Plug-in version was needed to interface with other recording software. Great to know it will work out of the box with RiffWorks. Plus I like there is a download library there to get some other presets like famous guitarist's tones or at least something close to them for my hobby purposes.

I'll play with TonePort GX/Gearbox and RiffWorks T4. Later when I feel like I'm getting good with it I'll spring for the standard version of RiffWorks or get more drummers and other add-ins as I need them.

[mickeymix]

Most cool.......Now make sure you head to the Green Room and check out the "new" guy rules!

[snmavronis]

One more question. I'm reading customer reviews and some are complaining you can't get output sound from your PC's internal sound card to the PC speakers, because the TonePort becomes your default sound card? One user suggested plugging your desktop speakers into the headphone jack of the TonePort. That would be a major hassle for me since it would be inconvenient to access the back of my PC to mess with wires back and forth the way it is situated. I don't want TonePort to always be the default sound card for everything non-guitar recording because I hear its mono only and I do more audio-wise in stereo with my PC (like 3D gaming for example) than mess with guitar. Plus if I'm running RiffWorks and Gearbox at the same time I want to hear the output of both through my internal sound card and/or headphones at the same time. Can anyone ease my concerns or tell me what my either/or choices are?

[Charvelguy]

you can change the default output of your ASIO to your soundcard. I think most the driver conflicts have been resolved if I'm not mistaken.

[cwight]

well I use guitarport, which is actually lower down the food chain, and I have that set as my default sound device and it handles stereo fine, so I'm presuming Toneport must. I think you might have been misinformed; I'm sure it's stereo. In fact, I'm sure L6 say that the Guitarport is a better sound device than most compute sound cards (until you start spending mega money).

[GuitarSlinger]

One more question. I'm reading customer reviews and some are complaining you can't get output sound from your PC's internal sound card to the PC speakers, because the TonePort becomes your default sound card? One user suggested plugging your desktop speakers into the headphone jack of the TonePort. That would be a major hassle for me since it would be inconvenient to access the back of my PC to mess with wires back and forth the way it is situated. I don't want TonePort to always be the default sound card for everything non-guitar recording because I hear its mono only and I do more audio-wise in stereo with my PC (like 3D gaming for example) than mess with guitar. Plus if I'm running RiffWorks and Gearbox at the same time I want to hear the output of both through my internal sound card and/or headphones at the same time. Can anyone ease my concerns or tell me what my either/or choices are?

So if you intend to use any device this way the question becomes, "will Riffworks work with my soundcard?" because you are going to use the Toneport's line out to connect to your soundcard line in. (Not the preffered method but it it should work fine)

The way to find out for sure is to download T4 right now and see if you can get it running with your soundcard. Post which soundcard you have, and if it doesnt have ASIO driver, most do not, then download ASIO4ALL and see if it works by opening T4 and playing some drums through it.

Then all you need to know is whether your soundcard has a Line in.

[trikloretylen]

i´m using the ux1 as my soundcard works fine for me but heres a link to line6 with the specs

http://line6.com/toneportgx/specifications.html


and what i can see it have stereo output

[snmavronis]

So if you intend to use any device this way the question becomes, "will Riffworks work with my soundcard?" because you are going to use the Toneport's line out to connect to your soundcard line in. (Not the preffered method but it it should work fine). The way to find out for sure is to download T4 right now and see if you can get it running with your soundcard. Post which soundcard you have, and if it doesnt have ASIO driver, most do not, then download ASIO4ALL and see if it works by opening T4 and playing some drums through it. Then all you need to know is whether your soundcard has a Line in.

I'm already using RiffWorks T4 and it works fine with my PCI-X slot Creative Labs SoundBlaster ExtremeMusic X-FI audio card to desktop speaker output. I also have Windows Vista Ultimate edition with a fast 2.4Ghz Quad Core CPU and 4GB of RAM, not that it matters.

So if the lag is still low that way, if I should end up using the TonePort GX's line out to sound card line in, does it include that cable and if not what audio cable should I buy at the store?

Besides doing that is it correct to state that just using the TonePort's USB cable only, is totally bypassing and disabling audio output out of the PC's sound card and speakers? If so and I just use the headphones output from the TonePort GX plugged into my PC's USB port, will I hear both RiffWorks output AND GearBox output in the headphones?

I'll just try using a good 1/8" jack stereo audio cable between the TonePort and sound card and see what happens.

[GuitarSlinger]

Yes. If you use the usb only method with headphones or speakers attached to the Toneport, Riffworks and all other computer audio will stream through the USB. The reason this way is the best is because you will have near zero lag(latency) using the Line6 driver. Line6 wrote a low level of processing into thier driver that makes this possible.

The other way is fine too, with a stereo cable, but you'll have to play with buffer sizes to get the lowest amount of latency.

Good luck.

[atalwar]

Your other PC audio does not need to stream through USB unless you want it to.

If you use gearbox to also play audio files or backing tracks then gearbox uses its native driver and audio will only come through usb device.

Your usb can be one audio device and you pc sound card the other and they can co-exist.

If you route your usb/toneport audio back into pc via line in and audio cable then you can hear its output via your pc soundcard, all your games and applications still use pc soundcard but when you use gearbox and riffworks its audio is processed via your usb device.

your pc soundcard acls like a headphone or speaker system for your USB device.

[snmavronis]

Thanks everyone!

[GuitarSlinger]

Yes that's good advice from Atalwar. For gaming and movies you will definately want to use your X-Fi card so switching devices is necessary. At one point I had my 5.1 surround speakers and Audigy card for gaming and switched to guitarport and monitors for guitar. But Riffworks has cured my gaming problem all together so I got rid of the 5.1 surround.

[snmavronis]

I'll experiment after I get my TonePort GX. I may try switching my X-FI card via it's Alchemy app to Audio Creation Mode, which the manufacturer says it will let you: "Enjoy low latency ASIO recording Get ASIO recording with latency as low as one millisecond and zero CPU load for the most precise audio recording capabilities in any class!"

I ordered the Line6 TonePort GX today online from American Musical Supply - $49.95 with free shipping, no tax, plus free extra year extended warranty. I hope to see it by next week! Then I can try out RiffWorks with it