Re: Recording gear... what do you use?
So, with rifftracker, can you use pre-recorded (pre-made) drum/bass rhythm grooves? Is there any reason to get a pod instead of a tone port if you're only going to use computer recording?
Thanks, I'm a recording idiot and would like to get into it.
that sounnds bomb cgord
i was thinkin about the tone port alone but i think the rifftracker mite be the way to go now that i heard in action :werd:
RiffTracker is a hardware/software bundle from Line 6; it includes the GuitarPort for your guitar to pc interface & RiffWorks recording software (from Sonoma Wire Works). You can buy both seperately if you choose.
Re drum/bass grooves, it can import .rex files, but NOT .wav files. So yes, you can import pre-recorded stuff, but not in the most common format. You can vary the tempo with the rex files, which is what I assume the difference is. Not being able to import wav's does suck.
I believe the POD has more options available re. all the different amp/cab/effects models, though I have more with the GuitarPort than I'll ever need.
Here are a couple of screenshots:
GearBox (the GuitarPort GUI):
All of the effects/cab models w/mic type & placement/etc show up in the screen where the EQ/boost effect is currently displayed. There is also a paid subscription service to GuitarPort online available which I do not use, so it's not shown. You can choose to have stuff like your reverb & delay in front of your cab or after, it makes a big tonal difference. There are bazillions of options to fool with. I mean ba
zillions.
RiffWorks GUI:
The Song Layers window shows that Riff 3(3) is the one being displayed in the window below. There are four guitar tracks & one bass track (plus a drum track that I'll show in the next screencap). You drag & drop riffs from the song layer window into the very top window to build a song. You can name the riffs (verse 1, pre-chorus, chorus, outro, etc) but I did not with this one.
You can also take whatever you've got in the top window & bounce it to a new riff. For example, if a solo is going to be over 3 8-bar sections of a song, I can take those three bars & bounce them to a new 24-bar riff; all the instruments playing in those three bars will be one track (so you've got to have all your post processing done first). Then I can play over it as often as I need to get the solo right, then insert that riff into the song structure in place of the original 3.
Here's the same thing but with the drum department visible:
You can see what drum loop is loaded up & the effects available to it. I've also got the EQ window open. This window with the eq is available for every track in the riff, & you can see all of the options that are available for post preocessing. EQ is pretty much all I use; the post effects are too heavy-handed for my tastes. If I want compression or reverb or whatever, I'll add it in at the GearBox GUI.
The restrictive part is the drums. They work great, but I can only EQ the drum track as a whole. Try to crank up the kick drum & the snare gets boomy, try to sharpen the snare & the cymbals get too much sizzle, etc. The upside for a n00b like myself is I do not have to write & program individual drums, though I am approaching the point of wanting that much flexibility. Also, there is not much in the way of metal double-kick loops available; the drums in my song "The Crushinator" are the heaviest of the bunch. If you're not doing metal there are many good ones, but I wish I had heavier drums to choose from.
Both programs come with a good assortment of choices, but you can spend much MUCH more than the original purchase in add-ons (& I have). Additional amps, additional effects, additional drum tracks, etc. That's cool in that you can do as much as little as your budget can take, but be warned, after 2-3 years of use I probably have another $500-600 invested in mine ON TOP of the original purchase. I do not regret it, but yeah, it wasn't $189 for long.
Here are the online stores for Sonoma Wire Works & Line 6; get your amps & effects from Line 6, get your drum loops from Sonoma Wire Works.
http://www.sonomawireworks.com/store/
http://line6.com/modelPacks/
Oh, re. final song output; I have RiffWorks output the song to a .wav file, then I convert that to an .mp3 file with Winamp. A neat trick with RW is you can upload directly from your RiffWorks to their site, like SoundClick just for RW users. This is me on their old system:
http://www.sonomawireworks.com/riffcaster/index.php?artist=fiveofanatic@gmail.com
& the new one:
http://www.riffworld.com/Members/CGord/?searchterm=CGord
Hope all this helps!
