Amp Sim + Audio interface: What's out there?

[kazaamBLAM]

Hey
For my live set up, I use Ableton 8 with a couple of midi controllers. Out side of this I have (previously) had a guitar running through an old M-Audio Black Box. To cut a long story short, it has run it is dead. I discovered this when I had a really big gig to do in January, and ended up just running the guitar through an audio track in Live with effects on it. This was totally risky, but in the end it came off fine.
SO: I don't want to do that again until I get a new computer, so I need to get a decent live audio interface for my Macbook that will also do Amp simulation, to take that processing load off my computer. The Avid Eleven rack seems pretty good, but it's obviously totally geared towards protools. Also they didn't really seem to imagine that someone would be using it as a audio interface live at the same time as playing guitar, so Id be interested to know if anyone has tried it. Has anyone out there used it with Ableton? And if anyone knows any good alternatives I'd love to hear em. It's a significant bu, so I really wanna get it right!
I looked into the Pod interface but all the computer sounds are actually just plug-ins right?
Cheers!

[kanuck]

i would recommend the pod.

the eleven rack is nice but expensive.
I'm pretty sure you can record with the axe-fx which is top line as far as guitar modeling goes but that again is +$1000.

The new HD POD desktop has a built in audio interface and does all its modeling insdie the device itself.. it should be releasing soon.

[kazaamBLAM]

cheers for responding so fast!
The pod thing I looked at doesn't look like it has USB except for midi... what product are you looking at? I saw some that have the 'line inside' software, which isn't for me... I'm looking for something that puts the effects on before it hits the computer. Sonds like you have somethign that does that but i can't see it

[kanuck]

cheers for responding so fast!
The pod thing I looked at doesn't look like it has USB except for midi... what product are you looking at? I saw some that have the 'line inside' software, which isn't for me... I'm looking for something that puts the effects on before it hits the computer. Sonds like you have somethign that does that but i can't see it

http://line6.com/podhd/desktop/

not sure if the older versions have usb recording.

[kazaamBLAM]

Wow awesome! Amazing how much BAD and INCORRECT information music gear shops can give you. That really opens up my options, as I was feeling like the Avid Eleven was my only real option, and tbh it's functionality was looking pretty dicey. So how do you find it works for you? It says it has USB 2.0... what sort of latency and performance do you get out of it? All other options still much appreciated!

[Cezband]

That HD Pod does look pretty darn sweet...

The other option I guess would be to get a decent stand-alone guitar modelling unit (for instance some of the other pods), and put your guitar through that and then in to a seperate audio interface. It would open up your options regarding both which modelling unit you use and which specific interface, but the down side is of course you have to buy two different things.

[theophilus]

you might also look at the X3/X3 live. they are cheaper now as well. the advantage there is that, with ASIO, even though there are only 2 real inputs, you get 8 back to the computer - 2 are the main mix outs, 4 are stereo individual outs for chain 1/2 (it's dual channel), and 2 are DRY unprocessed outputs. This means that later when you get a more powerful machine and decide you want to start running your guitar through the computer, you just switch to using channels 7/8 instead. And the X3 comes with Pod Farm so you can recreate the same sounds inside if you want.

The HD is supposed to sound better for guitar (haven't tried one myself... don't want to get envious! And it's more flexible than the X3. But it's also more limited in some ways... the dual chain is different and not truly independent. No bass amps or mic preamps (if you use those). Fewer guitar amp models. The X3 can actually have more FX than the HD, since some fx that take up an fx block on the HD (vol, wah, loop) are always present on the X3. But for the above, the audio interface only sends the main mix to the computer - no dry processing, no reamping.

Note that AFAIK no line 6 device (maybe the pod XTL) sends midi over USB.

Oh yeah... as far as using it as an audio interface... it will work, but maybe not how you expect. The main outputs will have whatever you're playing through it as an audio interface, mixed with the live guitar signal - there's no way to turn that off without also muting the signal going to the computer. I practice bass (when I can) playing against songs in iTunes, and to get the bass loud enough where I can hear it to practice (which is admittedly usually louder than it's mixed in the song) I have to turn the output from itunes way down. You CAN run the dry signal through the computer, process it there, and then send it back, but then what's the point?

Also... the monitoring is really not very good for some of the things audio interfaces are used for... if you use the dry inputs, you will notice that when the processed guitar signal sounds right, the dry signal is rather low, averaging around -20 or -30 db or so. This is because of all the gain in the amp models. But if you are trying to record a vocal or something, then you'll also get somewhat low signal. It sounds fine, but it's different than a dedicated interface where it's easier to get a signal around -10 or -12db (my Emu 0404usb for instance has input meters right on it, so I know when it's peaking, and when I'm not getting a very strong signal).