# PodXT and Impulses?



## Moonfridge (Aug 27, 2009)

Hey, my first post here on Sevenstring. Ive been using a Podxt for a little while now and I wanted to ask two questions. 

The first one is why do my Pod Xt metal tones sound so weak? I know it can make awsome tones cause ive heard some awsome recordings, I downloaded tones such as Bulbs ect, but they still sound shitty. They all sound really thin. Am I just using my settings wrong or what? 

My second question is how in gods name do I use impulses? 

Ive downloaded the guitar hacks impulses (wav files?) and have the keFIR files on my computer, but how do I actually apply these impulses to my Podxt? Is it even worth using them?

Any help would be greatly appreciated 

Thanks


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## Mattayus (Aug 27, 2009)

Hey man,

impulses are definitely worth it, depending on how well made they are. In any event, they give you much more tonal scope than the inherent podxt A.I.R techonology.

To use them, you need to record a track only using the pre-amp of the XT tone, so turn the cab to "no cab". Then, once that track is recorded, open up KeFIR as a plug-in on that track, and open up one of those wav files and it will complete the power amp/cab/mic stage of the signal chain.

And welcome!


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## thesimo (Aug 28, 2009)

if your downloading patches which use the metal pack the pod, they will sound shit and the pod will do nothing to tell you that. it just sounds horrible

I uploaded some here which I made using the metal pack


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## Mattayus (Aug 28, 2009)

thesimo said:


> if your downloading patches which use the metal pack the pod, they will sound shit and the pod will do nothing to tell you that. it just sounds horrible
> 
> I uploaded some here which I made using the metal pack



Oh yeah, that too, I forgot to ask - Have you actually got the metal packs installed, Moonfridge?


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## Default_M (Aug 28, 2009)

Where abouts do you get some high quality Impulses? I think I'd like to have a go at using some of them.


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## Mattayus (Aug 28, 2009)

Guitar Amp Modeling &bull; Index page


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## Default_M (Aug 28, 2009)

Thanks for that. I've downloaded a few and I'll give them a try later.
Any you recommend? I got one called the Brohymn X1.


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## Mattayus (Aug 28, 2009)

Brohymn's stuff is amazing, as is Alu's. They're both mods there, so anything you get from those guys will be top rate.


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## Joeywilson (Aug 28, 2009)

no idea how impulses work I need to figure that stuff out.

but when your recording you don't want a lot of gain on your POD: most metal mixes are quad tracked (I think) so in the final mix everything will sound a lot bigger to much gain will make everything sound like poo


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## Moonfridge (Aug 28, 2009)

Hey guys thanks for the feedback, I do have the metal pack yeah.

After messing around with middle ect for a while I manged to get a few good tones, (I actually used your patch as a starting point Mattayus xD). But they still don't sound nearly anywhere as good as peoples that i've heard. What settings do you use for your music Matt? Cause I have your setting and I dig your tone, but I can't seem to replicate it. 

But more about the impulses.

I use Audacity to record stuff. So I need to record something on audacity with the A.I.R cab turned off? But how do I actually open up keFIR and put it into the track?

More importantly, how do you even open keFIR?  When I downloaded it, I just got 3 dll files. 

Also, is it not possible to just completly replace the A.I.R cabs with better quality Impulse ones?

Thanks for you help guys, and sorry that im such an extreme noob . I know very very little about this sorta thing.


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## mnemonic (Aug 28, 2009)

recordings people post are usually at least doubletracked, so one single track of guitar isn't going to sound nearly as good

(in case you dont know how, doubletracking is when you record a riff two times, then pan one track left and one track right. makes the guitars sound roughly 9000x better)

next, most people's recordings also contain drums, bass to make the guitar (and mix) sound thicker, and a fair bit of EQ on the guitar tracks to make them sound less fizzy. pods by themselves are very fizzy and usually pretty thin sounding. you can tweak alot of that away with the eq and options in the pod, but it seems there's always a certain amount that you'll have to fix after you record the track.


personally i think impulses are awesome, and very important to pod tones if you want them to sound realistic (the cab models i think are line6's biggest pitfall) most line6 models sound waaaay more real when recorded through an impulse rather than the built in cab modeling. unfortunately i'm pretty lazy and usually dont use them, mainly because i've been too lazy to tweak my patches to sound good with impulses as i'm not unhappy with the way they sound now.


ok, how to use impulses;

which DAW are you using? keFIR is a VST, so first you have to install it (or if its just DLL's move it to your VST folder, probably in C:\program files\VSTplugins or in the folder of whatever DAW you're using. i use cubase, so i put mine in C:\Program Files\Steinberg\VSTplugins.

then you restart your DAW, and hopefully it will automatically scan for VST's. if it doesn't, there should be an option somewhere, depending on your DAW.

next, you make your audio track, and in the list of effects 'keFIR' (or possibly whatever the name of the DLL is) will be in the list. select that, then load an impulse into it. it should have a load button on it, and impulses are of .wav format.

when you record into this track, make sure to turn off the cab modeling on the patch you're using. it will sound fizzy and shitty, that means you're doing it right. next, record your guitar, and then when you play it back, it will sound like an actual guitar. with pretty much all DAW's you can monitor what you're recording so you can hear the guitar sound with the impulse applied, but the option is in a different place for each DAW.



if you dont like using keFIR (which i've never used if you can't tell alredy) there are other free alternatives, such as voxengo boogex, which i use and like because it looks simple and has an EQ in it. one thing i dont like, however, is it automatically sets some settings up to make things sound awful, i always have to turn the distortion and crunch settings to 0% in boogex or else everything sounds god awful.


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## Default_M (Aug 28, 2009)

I've given them a try and I'm not sure if I'm doing something wrong.
I'm using keFIR and I set it to 100% mix etc but of the 6 impulses I've tried (all Brohymns) they all seem to have massive bottom end, but really fizzy highs that I can't seem to get rid of.
I think I tried the X1, 2 Kranks, 2 Marshalls and a Mesa.

I'm using my Pod XT and the Big Bottom model.


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## Moonfridge (Aug 28, 2009)

Thanks Mnemonic, that was very helpful, it's late now, but i'll try that out and post the results some time.


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## Mattayus (Aug 28, 2009)

Default_M said:


> I'm using my Pod XT and the Big Bottom model.



This will be why. Using the BB with impulses makes a HUGE woofy rumble, because the impulses are very "whole" in that they are not tailored to any particular frequencies, so it's just like getting a real mic'd amp up in your mix. You need to hi-pass at around 80hz (probably even 100 with the BB model), and, on the pod, roll the bass down to like 40%, max.

As for the scratchiness - are you sure you have dry turned off? There should be a dry mix, and wet mix. Dry is your pod signal, so you want that all the way off, so only the wet (processed) signal is being heard.



Moonfridge said:


> Hey guys thanks for the feedback, I do have the metal pack yeah.
> 
> After messing around with middle ect for a while I manged to get a few good tones, (I actually used your patch as a starting point Mattayus xD). But they still don't sound nearly anywhere as good as peoples that i've heard. What settings do you use for your music Matt? Cause I have your setting and I dig your tone, but I can't seem to replicate it.



Where did you download it from man? I have various different ones knocking about the place. Also, which tone in particular are you going for dude?



> But more about the impulses.
> 
> I use Audacity to record stuff. So I need to record something on audacity with the A.I.R cab turned off? But how do I actually open up keFIR and put it into the track?
> 
> More importantly, how do you even open keFIR?  When I downloaded it, I just got 3 dll files.



you have to put the .dll file into your DAW's VST folder. So find your DAW's program files folder, find the VST folder in there, and drop the .dll in it. Then, open that up on your track as a plug-in (like you would an effect like reverb or compression or something).



> Also, is it not possible to just completly replace the A.I.R cabs with better quality Impulse ones?



If you mean put them actually ON the pod, then no, the pod (or any other modeller for that matter!) doesn't work like that unfortunately. Only the Axe FX can transport files back and forth like that as far as I'm aware.


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## Moonfridge (Aug 29, 2009)

Hey, thats a shame about not being able to replace the A.I.R cab but oh well, i'll live .

The one i downloaded was called "Burning Metal," I got it from the Pod recording tips and eq's page. I was looking at your music and I liked all your tones, but the ones I liked in particular were "Make your escape" "We Don't Go To Ravenholm (FINISHED!)" and "Exhumed Alive (NEW VERSION!)". But to be honest all of them sounded kickass.


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## Mattayus (Aug 29, 2009)

Cool man.
Go to Downloads | Darkadian Studios and you'll get all the tones and impulses I used on Exhumed Alive and Ravenholm. As for Make Good Your Escape, that was the same impulse (i think?) but with the Big Bottom amp model. Have at it dude!


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## Moonfridge (Aug 29, 2009)

Thanks alot for you help , I would thank you, but I don't know how >.>


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## Default_M (Aug 29, 2009)

Thanks for the advice. If I load up the impulse and then record is it recording the impulse'd tone, or just the pre amp tone from the Pod and I can feel free to change the impulse for a different tone later on?


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## Moonfridge (Aug 29, 2009)

YAY! It worked, thanks for the help everyone.


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## Mattayus (Aug 30, 2009)

You're welcome Moonfridge!



Default_M said:


> Thanks for the advice. If I load up the impulse and then record is it recording the impulse'd tone, or just the pre amp tone from the Pod and I can feel free to change the impulse for a different tone later on?



It will only put your pre-amp tone to disk. The impulse can be changed at any time, which is the beauty of it.


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## Imdeathcore (Dec 17, 2009)

what do you think about recabinet guys?


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