ChucklesMginty

Hi there, I used to do a lot of recording when I was a bit younger. But I stopped because I could never afford any decent gear and I was frustrated with how bad everything I did sounded!

Anyway, currently I have a pretty good PC (4gb ram, Intel i5 processor.) A Line 6 UX2, Ibanez RG1451 prestige and a Yamaha TRB bass. Pretty good stuff.

I'm planning on buying Superior 2.0 as it seems to be the standard in the DIY metal world!

Next would of course be the Axe FX... I don't have £2000 to spare... Not even close. So I'm thinking of going the POD route, it should keep me satisfied for a while. The problem is I've used POD Farm and I hate it for distorted tones. I can never get enough definition, clarity etc. It always seem very fizzy and muddy no matter how much I tweak. Lead tones always seem very harsh too.

So theoretically if I buy a used X3 or XT it's going to be the same sounds, but I've heard tones recorded with those I really like! So I'm a little apprehensive. Does the metal expansion and using another cab sim really make a huge difference?

For a DAW I have Reaper, I'll upgrade to Cubase when I have the money/feel the need. I'm worried about not having a good enough compressor, EQ and reverbs though.

Thoughts? This the absolute most I can afford to spend! Anymore than £200 for the guitar processor. I've tried a few free plugins but they're never quite to my taste.

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josh_salty

regarding the metal pack for podfarm it makes a hugee difference especially for the high gain tones (i agree the low-mid gain stuff is fairly average) try turning the gain down its suprising how little you need especially after compression, Which DAW you use is essentially a preference decision ive used pro tools, cubase and logic 9 and they all have their advantages and disadvantages so don't upgrade to one from reaper unless you know its actually worth the extra money, does reaper support 3rd party VSTs? if so dont bother about upgrading youre DAW if thats the only reason as scour round the internet you can find a bunch of decent and free VSTs which surpass most of the built in ones, Personally your biggest improvement could be made by buying superior drummer and purchasing the software packs for podfarm. You might also consider getting a superior interface and just running podfarm as a plugin which leaves you with more post-take opportunities for editing?

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Amps:
Orange Rocker 30
Marshall JCM 800 1960 4x12
Guitars:
Ibanez SAS32EXFM White
Epiphone SG G400
Pedals:
Boss SD-1
Boss GE-7
Behringer TU-300

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EpiExplorer

The thing to do with Pod Farm, like on any amplifier, get your amp head of choice, a 4x12 cab (smaller ones make the tone fizzy), Tube screamer (or whatever they call the green pedal), turn DOWN the distortion, turn UP the gain, turn up the tone, then do whatever you do. I recommend Treadplate, P-ball and Chemical X amp heads for this method.

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zakarai

The closest thing you are going to get to an Axe FX is a POD HD, the Pre amp model. It's about £800, exactly the same as the HD500 floor pedal model but with more I/o's. So in this case, I recommend the HD500 cause it's about £300-£400. I currently run a Zoom g2.1u to my computer via USB straight in to cubase with my speakers plugged in to the output of my pedal and does the job well. I'm acting the pedal as a sound card too and latency isn't any bother as I can get all the way down to 0.10ms

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zakarai

Also, with the HD500, you can plug it straight in to the computer via usb, small latency, good quality of tones on the pedal too, you can't act is as a sound card with the correct driver instead of using an ASIO driver (hate them).

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Heminator89

I've been using Pod X3 Live for 4 years now and I am more than satisfied with it. It's not the BEST processor out there, yes, but for its price range it is one of the best. Regarding the tones, it requires a lot of patience and experience to produce just the "right" tones. You definitely get a great definition and clarity from Pod. If you have more money, I would highly recommend POD HD Pro/HD 500. They should help you bridge the gap till you get enough money for AxeFX and will definitely produce more than decent recordings.

For your reference, this song was recorded with Pod XT. Just listen to the beautiful tone (he recorded the entire Monuments album with it)

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Comments and feedback welcome!

pwrmax

Unless you have a descent amount of experience with drum micing, I suggest saving some money and getting EZ drummer instead of Superior.

ChemicalFire

Don't bother with PodFarm, there are free amp sims with better tones available in the sticky. If you want to upgrade your interface stay away from the PODHD, the pre-amps are naff and this is a large part of your clarity problem, the standard rec on this board is the Focusrite Saffire6/Scarlett 4i2 (same thing).

Don't bother with SD2, I'd recomend SSD4 EX instead, about $80 and to me at least it sounds better than SD 2.

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kyle62

No. It sounds like crap.


As for guitar amps, if POD Farm isn't doing it for you, keep your existing hardware and download some of the amazing free guitar amp software that's available.

There's loads more information elsewhere on this forum, but LePou plugins with the Redwirez 1960a cab, and Amplitube 3 Free will both net excellent results.


If you do go down the hardware route, the Digidesign Eleven is probably better for you than the POD series.

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pwrmax

Devin Townsend made an album with EZ drummer. The samples packs are the same, it's just a matter of how you can manipulate them.

ChucklesMginty

Okay I did some more tweaking with POD Farm and I'm actually kind of happy with it now... But I'd still rather have a hardware unit. Cheers for all the suggestions.

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So you want to write a fugue?

So you want to write a fugue?

You've got the urge to write a fugue

You've got the nerve to write a fugue

So you want to write a fugue?

ChemicalFire

He did... and the Drums sounded like Crap.

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schwinginbatman

i would still say to go for something other than POD Farm. I have the original POD Farm, and I seriously have never used it to record. Look up TSE and LePou amp sims, they'll get you farther than POD Farm. If you REALLY want a hardware unit, either bite the bullet at get an Axe-FX, or just go the natural route of micing an amp. Either Superior or SSD4 will get you to a good place in terms of drums.

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Wesbanez

+1 for LePou amp sims. I've recently tweaked my VST signal chain to oblivion and am very happy with it now, try this in two channels, one panned hard left one hard right:

TSS > Poulin LE456 > GGate > KeFIR/LeCab > Catharsis impulses

Sounds insanely good.

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ChucklesMginty

The reason I'm not so keen on the free stuff is because in my experience they're good for high gain rhythm sounds but not so versatile. Even though I'm mainly into doing metal stuff I'll want to add less gainy textural sounds, clean sounds etc. Plus have modulations, delays reverbs etc and I can use a hardware unit live through a PA.

Perhaps I didn't do enough tweaking or I simply didn't know enough about it last time I tried but I kind of felt lost as to how an amp should normally react in terms of the EQ, so I couldn't get a good a lead sound either.

Anyway, what I'm going to do is get Superior first. Work really hard on my mixing and see how far the free stuff and POD farm can get me. If I'm not satisfied after several months of hard work I'll look into buying something.

Cheers!

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So you want to write a fugue?

So you want to write a fugue?

You've got the urge to write a fugue

You've got the nerve to write a fugue

So you want to write a fugue?

ChemicalFire

I have to say I've been recording my rock band that uses a lot of crunch and clean stuff. The Ignite Amps and the LePou Hybrit sound great for creamy overdrive and the cleans are decent too. Use them with some RedWirez cabs and it sounds awesome.

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