weak sounding guitar in GB with POD studio GX & POD Farm

Question

weak sounding guitar in GB with POD studio GX & POD Farm

With either Line6 or M-Audio plugged into Garageband, the signal seems weak using POD Farm.
Without changing anything, GearBox sounds great and full. Even switching to going direct from the guitar into the Mac via the mic jack sounds better than POD Farm in Garageband.

I've checked in the preferences of the system and in Garageband to make sure the sound is going to the program. Almost everything is maxed out to near feedback for just a few bars on the input level to show in the track or in the instrument level meters.

Even with this setting, the guitar sounds like its in the next room and when I add drums or bass, they are too loud and have to be turned down.

Because GearBox is using the same settings and sounds fine, I'm assuming its my setting in Garageband that is the culprit. Or is this the nature of the beast?

Intel macbook pro, Mac OS X (10.5.5)

Posted on Feb 5, 2009 6:15 AM

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Answer 1

isteveus

Level 5

4,340 points

Feb 5, 2009 7:07 AM in response to Stephen Morimoto

Do you own POD farm and have the usb key?

Did you install it as a AU plug-in and are you using it inside garageband as a AU?

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Answer 2

Feb 6, 2009 6:52 AM in response to isteveus

I'm not sure. Pod Farm shows up at the bottom of the drop down menu in the amp section.
It will bring up Pod Farm okay.
I'm new at this, so bear with me.
I noticed above Pod Farm and Gearbox, there are AU effects.

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Answer 3

Feb 7, 2009 8:32 AM in response to Stephen Morimoto

Went into the sound preferences and boosted the input volume which helped.
At least now I can get the level of the guitar to half fill the level meter when recording.

Now I have to turn down any software instrument I add to the mix because they come across so loud.

Is this just the nature of the beast or is there something else I need to do?

When used as a stand alone, POD Farm and GearBox are plenty loud.

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Answer 4

Feb 11, 2009 5:37 AM in response to Stephen Morimoto

Turn Grarageband back down.
In PodFarm, after you get a sound going, go to the "mixer" section, then bring the levels DOWN, and then press the +18db buttons on the output master faders. Then bring them up slow till you get your volume.
Make sure you also tweak the master out on the amp first , and the output volume in the bar.
That should do it.

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Answer 5

Feb 12, 2009 6:56 AM in response to James Asherman

Thanks for answering my question. I'll give it a try, but I just upgraded to Garageband 09 and am having new problems just getting GB to recognize PodFarm.
Just posted the question in the 09 forum.

Will play with it more tonight and report back on the sound levels.

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Answer 6

Feb 12, 2009 10:35 AM in response to Stephen Morimoto

Stephen, I have been looking at more podfarm info. You might have to run it in standalone and feed that to GB in order to use the podfarm mixer, but that should work well on your machine.

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Answer 7

Feb 12, 2009 8:19 PM in response to James Asherman

You're right. The mixer didn't show up on the garageband connection, but it did on the stand alone.

Now I need to find out how to make them work together in that mode.

I've been able to get decent volume in Garageband via the Studio GX now. Its usable in clean mode. More than enough with a high gain amp. Must be the nature of the beast.
thanks for the help.

Steve

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Answer 8

Feb 12, 2009 9:03 PM in response to Stephen Morimoto

It is really easy.

Download these PDF's and read them.
http://line6.com/support/manuals/
There's lots more. The Line 6 website is really helpful.

http://line6.com/data/l/0a06007211cf84911ce83d02af/application/pdf/POD%20Farm%20 Recording%20Setup%20Guide%20(Rev%20A)%20-%20English.pdf

Start here. The '09 is the same since we are really talking about the Podfarm.
http://line6.com/data/l/0a06007211cf84911ce83d02af/application/pdf/POD%20Farm%20 Recording%20Setup%20Guide%20(Rev%20A)%20-%20English.pdf

I did it on my G4 and it worked very well even though I was only able to do a drum track one guitar and one bass.
I didn't push that plus 18 button but I did crank up everything from one end to the other.
I am using a UX2 which for guitar should be the same.

Message was edited by: James Asherman

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Answer 9

Feb 14, 2009 7:40 PM in response to James Asherman

James,
Posted on the Line6 support and got no answer, but found someone else with the same problem.

Problem now is POD farm is only available from the master track menu. It brings up POD Farm and I can pick settings, but the GB amp is still there and also contributing. I tried to turn down the amp in GB and the POD Farm sound goes away with it.

Is there another way to access POD Farm from the guitar section??
Is there a way to use the stand alone and input it to GB?

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Answer 10

Feb 14, 2009 7:48 PM in response to Stephen Morimoto

No stephen,
It is one or the other.
You can go one of three ways.
You can hook into Garageband without loading any Podfarm at all and use the apple models ( Crunch is nice)
That is using the "Electric Guitar " type of track.
Or.
You can make a "Real Instrument" track, and use the Podfarm Plugin from the garageband "effects rack. It will never be right there like the Apple models so stop expecting that.
Or,
you can use the Podfarm in standalone and feed it to Garageband (again as a real instrument) and you will have a clean shot and no doubling up the modeling.

The very easy settings are in the PDF's from Line 6. Podfarm is VERY Garageband friendly.
I was able to hook this up on my G4 ( before my kid spilled water in the Keyboard) so you should have no problem at all with your computer keeping up.

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Answer 11

Feb 14, 2009 8:23 PM in response to James Asherman

Okay, I'm finding out things the hard way!!
If I select Guitar in the new track, I get the GB amps.
If I select real instrument, I can access POD Farm from the edit menu.

I'm still not getting very good sound from POD Farm this way. Checked POD Farm as a stand alone and it sounds great.

I've checked Line6 and didn't find anything on GarageBand 09. I'll check again.
Thanks,
Steve

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