# Help with Line 6 Ux2 and Reaper recording quality



## sgsummers (Oct 22, 2012)

Hello I just bought a line 6 ux2 and pod farm. I was using it with garage band and I didnt like the quality it was recording in so I checked out reaper. Reaper is WAY better. But Im still not happy with the way it sounds. My problem isnt with getting a nice tone. I actually have a pretty good tone. But the tone I hear in my headphones is not the tone I hear played back to me after I record. I dont know much about this stuff but I have set the quality to best where ever I can find. Maybe there is something I am doing wrong.

My sound is much thinner. Almost no meat to it. Its not horrendous but its definitely not what I hear in my headphones and it is really bothering. Does anyone else use a setup like this that can help me out? I am open to using another recording software if I can get better results. But I would prefer to get this one working better if I can.

What I am using:

2008 Schecter hellraiser C-1 with EMG 81's
Line 6 UX2 with pod farm with the metal pack (using pretty decent tone)
mid 2009 Mac with Mountain Lion (I have not updated mountain lion to the updates that cause audio issues with the UX2)


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## Chuggriffage (Oct 22, 2012)

I'm in the same boat. I can't get a stereo recording with Pod Farm and all the amps in the metal pack sound the same with only slight differences of high fuzz and low fuzz. A total waste of money. i got LeCab which is a free online plugin and it sounds way better than anything in podfarm. I'm beginning to think all those videos I watched of music produced by a UX2 and Pod Farm are hoaxes.


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## Winspear (Oct 22, 2012)

I have no advise for OP - but Chuggriffage yes definitely use cab impulses with the amp sims. I think most people using Podfarm are doing that anyway, cabsims aren't much good. It's likely the videos you've watched used cab impulses as that's what everyone is doing.

OP - Make sure your POD is set as the audio interface and your headphones are plugged in there. All your computer sound should play out of the POD. Is that correct?


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## sgsummers (Oct 22, 2012)

Well is that my problem? Its not stereo? I really dont know how to tell the difference.

I have my pod plugged up through USB. My headphones and guitar in my pod. And in reaper preferences I have the input and output sound set to the UX2. The tone I am using sounds very August Burns Redsy and I am pretty ok with it for now. But it just sounds so thin in reaper when played back to me. I dont know the difference between wet and dry sounds. Maybe thats my problem. Also this guy in the video gets two tracks when he records. I get one. This makes me assume that I have a mono recording and its only picking up one amp channel from the pod but on a mac I dont know how to test that. 

Maybe this video will help you. Its hard for me to follow along with this since I am on a mac and this is windows. There are much different options in this video that what I see on my end.


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## The Reverend (Oct 22, 2012)

If you're recording dry, yes, it is going to sound like shit. Make sure you have cab sims on, whether they be POD cab sims or freeware cab sims. I record using REAPER and a POD XT Live, and what I hear while playing is exactly what I hear recorded. I know that doesn't help, but it should be the same while using POD Farm.


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## sgsummers (Oct 22, 2012)

Are you using a mac? How do I set it that way?

I tried changing the wet/dry thing in the mixer in the pod farm but then I record and all my distortion is gone. Just sounds clean. This is frustrating. Gotta love not having a manual with the pod and line 6 has the most confusing to navigate forums I have ever seen.


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## Winspear (Oct 22, 2012)

No the stereo thing isn't your problem. A recorded guitar track should be mono.

Sounds like you're doing everything right. Wet and dry is effected or not. In this example a dry guitar signal is the sound coming out of your guitar. The wet signal is with the amp and cab on it. Recording dry signal would allow you to have the dry take saved to send through a different amp sound etc. rather than playing it again yourself.

What exactly is your chain in the POD and how is it set?


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## Winspear (Oct 22, 2012)

Hang on. POD farm is the plugin right?? That you insert in the DAW?? 
In that case, we are simply using the POD as an interface. You should be recording dry. And PODFarm plugin on your guitar channel in Reaper should be making the distortion. Can you confirm this?


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## Ryan-ZenGtr- (Oct 22, 2012)

If your starting out, as UX2 and Garageband would suggest, the most important thing is your playback system.
If you have low quality speakers or headphones they will not be able to reproduce the audio your DAW is presenting. Clearly, this presents a problem when dealing with audio.

Practice makes perfect, so keep moving forward, recording your ideas. As your experience increases you will be able to the sculpt the sound more to your liking.

There is a preset sharing website for line 6 users, perhaps there is a benchmark tone for your genre there, ready for you to try on your setup.

Try searching this website and google, there is a mountain of useful information just waiting for you to discover and make use of to improve your results.

At the end of the day, it won't matter anyway, as you will be wanting to use a professional studio for commercial releases and most producers will want to rework tracks, rather than reference from home demos / song writing demos.


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## sgsummers (Oct 22, 2012)

If I understand your question...Yes I am plugged directly into the pod and the pod farm is making all of my distortion. I then set the reaper settings to use the pod ux2 as the sound card and it gets the pod farm sounds and records them. Only it doesnt sound as good.

"If your starting out, as UX2 and Garageband would suggest, the most important thing is your playback system.
If you have low quality speakers or headphones they will not be able to reproduce the audio your DAW is presenting. Clearly, this presents a problem when dealing with audio.

Practice makes perfect, so keep moving forward, recording your ideas. As your experience increases you will be able to the sculpt the sound more to your liking.

There is a preset sharing website for line 6 users, perhaps there is a benchmark tone for your genre there, ready for you to try on your setup.

Try searching this website and google, there is a mountain of useful information just waiting for you to discover and make use of to improve your results.

At the end of the day, it won't matter anyway, as you will be wanting to use a professional studio for commercial releases and most producers will want to rework tracks, rather than reference from home demos / song writing demos."



I have nice headphones and I have played guitar for 16 years. Im not starting out. I am just starting as recording yes, but it is not my goal to record a lot. I just want my ideas recorded. But it makes no sense to me if my headphone sound one way with pod farm and one way when played back in reaper. Im sorry but the quality of my headphones would not matter in that sense. It has already proven it can sound better in podfarm. So I dont understand what you mean by that.


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## Winspear (Oct 22, 2012)

Maybe I'm wrong not having used this setup but I don't think it should be 'recording the PODFarm sounds'. 
I am under the impression that Podfarm is a plugin that you can bypass in your DAW, and the only thing you are RECORDING is the clean guitar direct signal. Maybe somebody else can confirm this. 
In this situation your UX2 should be completely bypassed to record a clean direct signal, no amps or anything on there. Then you add the amp sound in Reaper afterwards. (You can monitor with the plugin whilst you play, actually, but lets get it working like this first)


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## sgsummers (Oct 22, 2012)

Oh interesting.... How do I do that exactly? lol


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## The Reverend (Oct 22, 2012)

Click on the 'FX' button on the track where your guitar recording is, then look for a plugin that says 'POD Farm' or something similar.


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## sgsummers (Oct 22, 2012)

Ok so I click the "FX" button in Reaper on the track I would record on and I get this:








So I guess I dont quite understand yet. If I have a big chain of amps and other effects in pod farm which would I select?

This is my chain that i use inside pod farm to get my tone:






edit:
So Ive been messing with it and Im really confused. Ok so in that first pic above where you can see the line 6 pod stuff, you can also scroll down to another set of line 6 stuff with "VST" next to it. Not sure which one I should be messing with. If I click the "Au: line 6: pod farm guitar amps" I can select the "Mississippi Criminal" which is line 6's version of the 5150 II. That comes up in a new window where I can mess with all the dials but I dont get sound from it. I have sound but its the original sound That I had from the pod farm to start with. How do I switch sounds? Should I even have pod farm open? But I have a nice sound in pod farm. How do I use that? Or do I have to import every one of them like the Mississippi criminal? Im assuming im not doing the whole bypass part... not sure how to do that.

This is the second set you can scroll down too with VST next to it:








This is what i see after I add an amp or something:






To get my chain back do I need to add everything individually and reset all of the settings on each one, pretty much starting over through here? Or can I import my saved pod setup? I can mess with the knobs above but I still have the original pod farm sounds coming though.


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## Ryan-ZenGtr- (Oct 22, 2012)

You need to create and arm a new track for recording in your DAW. There will be an input selection for that track. Select POD Farm.

Alternatively, you may need to apply POD Farm as an effect insert to post process clean recorded guitar tracks (also called a DI or Direct Injection).

My previous assumption was that you knew how to work everything and just didn't like the sounds you were getting.

Perhaps a line 6 support ticket, the manual, their website or a phone call to line 6 technical support might help best.

Maybe something like this quick google search result might help?



You've clearly put a lot of effort into your posts in this thread so I hope this helps you find a solution.

Community: using ux2/podfarm/in reaper

http://line6.com/company/contact/


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## Chuggriffage (Oct 22, 2012)

I use the big bottom and the criminal combo as well. It just doesn't record well is all. 

Just to chime in about the quality of your speakers and other gear. I've listened to people's mixes on a set of cheap desktop speakers and it still sounds good so no matter what medium you are using you should be able to at least capture a sound within a reasonable level. All the fancy stuff requires the good toys like studio headphone and a set of studio monitors. I have these things and the sound capture sound like doo doo on any medium, whether its a set of IPOD earphones or my Dynaudio 5's. I can hear the problem every time I try to mix something, I just have no way to fix it because it isn't an issue with tone since all the knob turning in the world has not produced anything better. Something is up with my routing or some other issue.


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## TheDemiurge (Oct 23, 2012)

I use pod farm on my recordings and I don't use it as a pluggin, I use it as a stand alone. Setting the toneport as the sound card instantly allows me to record what I'm playing through the pod farm. here's a record I've done with the metal shop pack:All the things she said (Instrumental) by Clutter - Gonçalo Crespo on SoundCloud - Create, record and share your sounds for free

I can share tones if you want. Also I'm using cubase 5, not sure if it works the same way on Reaper. good luck mate.


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## sgsummers (Oct 23, 2012)

Wow that is definitely a nice tone. It would be incredible if you shared it. And your recorded guitar still sounds better than mine. Very nice clarity. Can you describe in detail how you have it connected and recorded? 

I have pod farm opened like I would normally if I was going to mess with tones. But then I have it set up in Reaper to use the input and output with the UX2. Then where ever I could I set the quality to best. I guess I could have missed an option...



"You need to create and arm a new track for recording in your DAW. There will be an input selection for that track. Select POD Farm.

Alternatively, you may need to apply POD Farm as an effect insert to post process clean recorded guitar tracks (also called a DI or Direct Injection).

My previous assumption was that you knew how to work everything and just didn't like the sounds you were getting.

Perhaps a line 6 support ticket, the manual, their website or a phone call to line 6 technical support might help best.

Maybe something like this quick google search result might help?



You've clearly put a lot of effort into your posts in this thread so I hope this helps you find a solution.

Community: using ux2/podfarm/in reaper

http://line6.com/company/contact/"


Thanks for the info. Ive seen the videos but after a few updates to pod farm and being on a different OS it makes it difficult to follow along. The manual sucks. And no one ever replies to me on the official forums. Thats why Im here...


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## niffnoff (Oct 23, 2012)

TheDemiurge said:


> I use pod farm on my recordings and I don't use it as a pluggin, I use it as a stand alone. Setting the toneport as the sound card instantly allows me to record what I'm playing through the pod farm. here's a record I've done with the metal shop pack:All the things she said (Instrumental) by Clutter - Gonçalo Crespo on SoundCloud - Create, record and share your sounds for free
> 
> I can share tones if you want. Also I'm using cubase 5, not sure if it works the same way on Reaper. good luck mate.



Just when that song was out my head


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## Eben (Oct 24, 2012)

sgsummers said:


> This is what i see after I add an amp or something:



Whoa, those settings...  if you're running a tubescreamer that's probably way too much gain and high-end.


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## Winspear (Oct 24, 2012)

Eben said:


> Whoa, those settings...  if you're running a tubescreamer that's probably way too much gain and high-end.



+1
Seems like you've just started recording yourself, which is when you learn that high gain and mid scoop = bad 
Try MUCH lower gain especially if you have a tubescreamer, let the bass take care of the bass, and let the mids be the focus of the tone.


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## Radicz0r (Oct 26, 2012)

I stopped using PODfarm altogether, i never could get the tones i wanted, so i stepped over to Peavey's Revalver.


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## sgsummers (Oct 27, 2012)

lol no those are not my settings! If you guys read above you would see that I dont have sound from that pic. I dont even use that. I cant get it to work that way. The only way I can get sound is through pod farm and not by using them as a plugin. I just messed with the dials cause there is no sound. I am actually using the pod farm pic with the big chain. Sounds very August burns redsy.


So anyone know how to use it as a plugin? I wathed that video posted above but I can't find the line 6 folder with the actual plugin files in it like the video shows. I can find some line 6 folders but they dont have those files in them. Even though I can pull up the Mississippi criminal I dont have sound. SO maybe that my current issue that I need to solve. The video shows a windows version and I am on a mac. Im fairly new to macs.


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## niffnoff (Oct 28, 2012)

Have you turned on monitoring? like on the channel? this may of already been said but worth a shot.


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## sgsummers (Oct 29, 2012)

How do I do that? To be honest Im new to this and I don't even now what monitoring means.


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## niffnoff (Oct 29, 2012)

sgsummers said:


> How do I do that? To be honest Im new to this and I don't even now what monitoring means.



I know how to do it on Cubase but on reaper I'm not sure,
on the channel you are recording your guitar off you should have a red icon to arm the track for recording, beside it there may be a speaker icon or something or other for monitoring, if you turn it on you should hear your guitar signal.


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## sgsummers (Oct 29, 2012)

Well the way its set up in reaper is that I have pod farm open at the same time. So I can continuously hear my guitar. In reaper all I do is set the UX2 as the sound card, then when I arm the track and hit record it just records. It just doesnt sound as good in the recording as in the headphones. So I guess Im doing something wrong. I dont know how to get sound out of the pod as a plugin. Maybe I need to switch to cubase. lol


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## Their Savior (Oct 30, 2012)

sgsummers said:


> Well the way its set up in reaper is that I have pod farm open at the same time. So I can continuously hear my guitar. In reaper all I do is set the UX2 as the sound card, then when I arm the track and hit record it just records. It just doesnt sound as good in the recording as in the headphones. So I guess I'm doing something wrong. I don't know how to get sound out of the pod as a plugin. Maybe I need to switch to cubase. lol



I have a feeling I know your issue.

1. Make sure you have "Input Monitoring" on when you're tracking. It allows you hear (monitor) what your input signal (guitar, in this case) is receiving. 

2. Your tone doesn't sound the "good in the recording" because your amp simulation from pod farm, possibly, isn't connected to a guitar cabinet. You can do this by inserting a pod farm cabinet, or using an impulse loader like LeCab by LePou.

If you didn't understand the terminology at all it would probably be best to take a look at Reaper's manual or I might take screenshots tonight if I have time.


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