Interface question

[bfloyd6969]

Hello everyone - my first post here. I am a guitar player / singer doing home recording. I play a heavier bluesy, classic metal style music. I use VSTi's for all other instruments, with the exception of some real bass tracks. I am currently using a usb interface (Native Instruments Session I/O that came with the Guitar Rig XE software package - it has line/instrument inputs and an xlr input with phantom power). When I am using the software amp sim and plug direct into the interface, I get good results. However, when I use hardware gear in front of it (I have a Line 6 POD 2.0 and a Sansamp), the results are not as good. The tones I get from the POD headphone jack are not the same as I get when going into the usb interface. I can get some very nice tones that I made from the POD's headphone jack on its own, but when I use the usb interface I get a more sterile sound. I'm wondering if I would get better results if I use a PCI based soundcard, and go direct from the POD into the soundcard. I'm thinking that perhaps the pre's in the usb interface are coloring the tones of the POD? Would a PCI soundcard be better for this. My computer's current stock soundcard is an el'chapo Realtek, and if a PCI soundcard would be better for this purpose I will invest in a nicer card (under $200). I have a small mixer I can use for mic's so that is not a problem. Please let me know what you all think. Thanks.

 

[miroslav]

...when I use the usb interface I get a more sterile sound.

.....

I'm thinking that perhaps the pre's in the usb interface are coloring the tones of the POD?

Even though I understand what you are saying, there's something so wrong about that comment!

 

[bfloyd6969]

Even though I understand what you are saying, there's something so wrong about that comment!

Yeah, I know the POD's tones are pretty subjective, but I spent alot of time tweaking in some presets that I am pretty pleased with

 

[TimOBrien]

Or are you saying that the sound you hear in headphones are different than the sounds from your speakers???

That would be understandable because yes they always will be...

 

[bfloyd6969]

Or are you saying that the sound you hear in headphones are different than the sounds from your speakers???

That would be understandable because yes they always will be...

Thanks for the reply. No, still using the same headphones and both are quite different. Going from the headphone jack on the POD which sounds good, to the headphone jack on the usb interface which sounds quite sterile and a bit fizzy. What I didn't try was going from the headphone out of the POD to the input on the usb interface. I'm using the POD's direct recording out to go to the interface, which is how it is made.

 

[mjbphotos]

Do you have the POD's left and right TRS outputs plugged into the Line Ins of the NI device?

 

[bfloyd6969]

Do you have the POD's left and right TRS outputs plugged into the Line Ins of the NI device?

Thanks, Mike. No, I am just going from the Left Output (Mono Mode) to the Line 1 of the NI Session interface. That could be what I am hearing different. Obviously the POD's headphone out is a stereo sound with the headphones and the NI headphone out will be mono because I am running it mono. I didn't think I would hear much difference, but maybe the stereo field sound is giving the overal tone a better impression...

However, I did give the PC's stock sound card a go (Realtek) and the sound, even though still in mono, seemed not as brittle as the NI's mono sound. The bad thing was that I couldn't get the on board sound card to see ASIO4all, only the Direct Sound driver and the latency was horrible - impossible to monitor input to record with. I thought the Realtek sound card would be recognized by ASIO4all, no?