Bizarre problem - notes going sharp digitally some how

jazzadellic

New member
This is a really strange thing I've never heard of before and when I do google I can't find anything about it. I've had this problem happen both on my PC and my Ipad. The notes I'm playing are sounding sharp sometimes through the monitor, but the recorded file is not sharp. I'll give you an example, I was recording my bass and playing the notes E & B. But through my monitor I was hearing the B go up to C, but not all the time just sometimes. So I could play E & B for a few seconds and at the start it will be in tune, and then randomly after some time passes the B will start sounding sharp and sounding more like C. If I remove one of the sides of my headphones, I can hear the note on my actual bass is fine and in tune, and I can hear it out of tune with the note in my headphone. I'm literally hearing a B on my bass with my left ear, and simultaneously my headphone ear hears a C, and I can hear the weird vibration you get when two notes are out of tune with each other - but it's the same note!!!

If you've never experienced this problem yourself, your first instinct is to say I'm a newb and hearing it wrong. But I can assure you it's not that. I have 28 years experience, a degree in music, and excellent ears / ear training - that's why I noticed this in the first place. If I didn't have the years of ear training, I could have missed it. I know what I'm hearing. I can't record it for you because the recorded track is in tune. When I listen to the track through my normal PC speakers it's in tune. The problem is my PodXT - when I listen to the track through that it is out of tune. So I know something is happening to the audio that's making it sound out of tune, and no I don't have any effects that would detune it, I'm just using an amp simulator and no effects. I first noticed this exact same problem over a year ago when I was trying to record something on my Ipad using garageband, with a few apps like a guitar effects app. I got the EXACT same problem - a note would be in tune one second and a few seconds later it would go sharp, and then back to being in tune again. I only had this problem when I used the guitar effects app. If I just record straight into garageband with no effects processing going on, I don't get that problem. I don't know if it means anything or not, but the two times this has happened to me it was always the upper note that sounded out of tune, never the lower. I remember on my Ipad I was playing a minor 3rd interval (a to c) and it was always the top note that went sharp and made it sound like a major 3rd. On my PC with the PodXT it was also the top note going sharp and making a P5 sound like a minor 6th.

I can guarantee you 100% it's electronic / digital sound processing that is causing this. I'm not hearing it wrong, I'm not bending the string on my instrument.

The problem this is causing me is that I can't monitor the track when recording because it sounds out of tune. Given that I know it's some type of audio processing from my PodXT or the guitar effects app that is causing it, I could just not use those anymore, but I'm curious if anyone else has had this issue and if anyone knows exactly what causes it. Also, it'd be nice to still be able to use my PodXT but not have to hear the distorted audio through it. As far as I know I have to set my Pod as my soundcard and monitor through the Pod's headphone jack, but maybe there is another way?
 
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Ok, so you are using the Line 6 Pod as your soundcard, what DAW are you using? Are you sure you have the updated drivers (does Line 6 even offer the correct drivers for your O/S?)
 
Ok, so you are using the Line 6 Pod as your soundcard, what DAW are you using? Are you sure you have the updated drivers (does Line 6 even offer the correct drivers for your O/S?)

Using Reaper, yes the Line6 drivers are for my OS. Just installed reaper & drivers yesterday, so everything is up to date. Yeah I'd rather not use the POD as my soundcard, but it's the only way (that I know of) to record with it. I'm going to probably just get some type of audio interface and record without effects and use some VST plugins for effects. But if there is a way to still use the POD without this problem that'd be nice so it won't just be an expensive paper weight.

Gtoboy said:
This can be a driver issue, a converter issue, and a sample rate issue.

Kind of what I was thinking. I do remember way back having problems with sample rates causing strange sound artifacts and screwing up the timing, but this seems quite different from that. Drivers are up to date on everything. Not sure what converters are. It's good to know that there are at least some possible causes for this. I'm guessing using an audio interface instead of the POD will fix this, but it bugs me that I can't use the POD without this problem.
 
Converters - AD(analog to digital) and DA(digital to analog) hardware chips that are in the Pod and any interface to convert analog signals (guitar , mic, input etc) to a digital signal that's fed through USB/Firewire/Thunderbolt etc to computer where it can be stored/accessed and manipulated by software and convert digital output from the software/computer to an audio signal output. The conversion done onboard the computers sound card can be less stable than a standalone. They also are controlled by a "clock" and not having the proper clocking source set can cause issues.
 
Do you have another interface? If so, I'd put a DI in front of the POD, and route both the guitar from the DI's XLR to the interface and take the audio out from the POD to the interface. Record both tracks and see if either is going out of tune. I'd expect not, but if it's both, it's your computer that's the fault, or if just the XT, then check that the expression pedal's not set for some whammy effect. If they're fine that way, then I'd say the interface part of the POD or its driver are suspect.

Pretty sure you can go from the POD's audio output. I used to have an HD, and it had L/MONO & R [analog] outputs and you can simply take those to a regular interface, which is what I did because I had an interface set up. Only used the POD's USB when I was updating firmware or editing patches.
 
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