Not sure if this will reach the right audience, but the line 6 guys haven't given any decent responses, so here goes:

Current Gear:
Various Guitars/Basses (Acoustic-Electric)
A decent mic
behringer 2mono, 2 stereo mixer (MX620A)
Pod XT
decent computer, two crappy sound cards
USB midi interface
keyboard controller
cubase sx 3
(M-Audio 2496 coming in mail tomorrow)
Home theatre system (big SM's, harmon kardon receiver, subwoofer)

I recently discovered that I could use the PodXT as my sound card as my two sound cards aren't very good (e.g., bad latency, low midi volume). Unfortunately, I ordered the new sound card before figuring this out.

Right now, I have the pod pro hooked up to the computer via USB, and have chosen it as the ASIO source for cubase. Ideally, using this set-up, I would use various inputs into the mixer -> PodXT. The PodXT sends USB digital signals to the computer for recording, and output to the monitors, and the computer sends its play back to the Pod which is also sent to the monitors so I can hear it (via the Aux of the mixer).

First question, is it a good idea to run guitar (/other things) from the mixer to the Pod XT into the guitar input? Should I use the line input? Seems like line would make more sense, but when I choose either it doesn't seem to matter (sound wise).

Second question, when I use the mixer (for the guitar, with all levels at 0db) in and turn the volume pedal up (on the XT), I hear some noise on some of the amps that isn't present when the guitar is straight in. Is this inherent with mixers, or is it just that I have a cheapy?

Third question, when I get the Sound card, should I use it, or the Pod for inputting. I hate having to switch the ASIO stuff, so I think I'd rather just pick one. Does anyone know, in general, if the PodXT does better digitizing than the M-Audio 2496?

Fourth question, for the USB, does increasing the digital gain increase volume input to the computer/does it affect the quality at all? (Right now, its a decent volume, but there's room for more when recording.)

Thanks in advance!

Ok... I really don't know the situation here, but I am assuming that the Pod XT is a pre-amplifier? no? or some sort of DSP effects processor? pre-amplifiers are necessary before you hook your guitar or bass up to your sound card due to the fact that if you tried to connect it straight in the impedance levels would be extremely hi and the output would be noisy. This is why pre-amp's exist.



I would be more than willing to bet in all cases that it's the SNR. That's why you really need a Hi-End card of course I could be wrong.

Sorry, I probably needed to be a little more clear on this forum.

The Pod Pro is a guitar effects processor that has a USB input to the computer. So, if I use that, the Pod Pro bypasses the sound card. It can also play back stuff from the computer recording software (in this case cubase). So, my idea was to run the mixer into the pod pro like I would a normal sound card, but this buzz came into play, so I'm trying to figure out whether or not its the mixer or some input gain thing.


also, not sure what an SNR is? This is my first real recording set-up so I'm trying to get educated.

(The third and fourth questions are really Pod Pro specific, so I doubt anyone here will know them... I wish the pod people would respond... le sigh...)

I don't know too many things about using mixers off the bat and I have only seen a few audio hardware setup's when recordings. The most common setup is people prefer to use a pre-amp, and then add a mixer in on the side. Maybe you understand what I am getting at?

http://www.m-audio.com/images/en/connectiv...room_bundle.gif

http://www.m-audio.com/images/en/connectiv...astTrackPro.jpg more expensive model.

This is what I have in mind. I understand what you are getting, but I am confused as to why you would want to do that? . I would be easier to just use a Hi-End card and a pre-amp in your setup.



SNR (Signal To Noise Ratio) the higher the SNR the better, especially for recording. The noise could be impedance related though too. You won't find to many people into recording on this forum. Most of the hardware guru's would make the same recommendations that I am giving to you. They would rather dicuss specific things about audio hardware like sound card's, etc I just happen to be into sequencing.

yeah, the side set-up looks pretty good, but I'm not sure if I have the right connections out of the back of the pod for that.

The main reason I was trying to figure out how to just use the pod was because the recording software (Cubase) only allows one ASIO active at a time. Thus, I would have to choose one of the two ASIOs (the sound card and the Pod) and switch back and forth, so I was trying to figure out if I could just use the POD.

On a side note, I just found out that ASIO4all driver allows you to have multiple devices housed in one ASIO choice, so I might get the best of both worlds!

As for the SNR, I was hoping that going through the mixer with flat db changes, I wouldn't be changing the signal at all, but apparently that's not true... (at least with this mixer); I wonder if a really good mixer wouldn't have this effect?

Yes I have seen those drivers before, that's the beauty of ASIO . If I were you that's what I would probably end up doing. Go with both.



That would just complicate the situation more. I would stick with ASIO4ALL drivers that have been modified and released, then work with the setup. In the future maybe consider a pre-amp? it's less of hassle. The pre-amp has high impedeance load so it can handle a lot of different signals at a time. That's why they exist. Pre-amp supports ASIO 2 as well.