Line 6 UX1 TonePort

Well, it's pretty easy to use. Installing software, connecting hardware, just follow instructions ;-)
Working with the toneport is purely intuitive. As a guitar-player you seek what feels and sounds best. You can use different presets who give an acceptable sound, or when you feel like it, you can search for you best setup. It's like a toy-store: always something new to be found.
Just in case of setting drivers and hardware, it might get tricky, but once that's done, it's fun all the way

You have to realize: nothing can beat the real thing. But Line-6 has brought it pretty close to the real thing.
My setup is just: putting my LTD or Jackson straight into the Toneport. I play some kind of crossover-metal, so I use different types of settings.
I use the toneport for composing new songs and it works just fine! I'm getting very acceptable tones.
Most of the time, when I'd like to present my riffs to the other members of my band, I record heavy guitars in two guitar-settings. I record it mono into two seperate tracks, so I have a very huge sound in my mixdown.
The effects... nah... I don't use much effects. Most of the time I use a chorussing sound on my clean. It doesn't sound great, but it does what it should do: giving an impression how it should sound.
When I'm using distortion, I put a little compression on it, and it sounds fearly great! With my settings I'm close to getting a Killswitch Engage sound.
For amplification of the toneport, I'm using just a 2+1 sound system of Creative. It sounds great for it's purpose: home-composing. Everyone knows that the tone-port isn't really stage material.

Well, I didn't have much difficulties up untill now. the only thing I have is that sometimes there are gaps when I'm playing, like unwanted pauzes. But I guess I have to adjust my hardware-settings

I would never use this on a gig as backup. It's a toy for home-use, and there it stands tall. I wouldn't rely on it for stage-use

I have never dealt with the Line 6 company, and I guess I wouldn't.
I'd rather search on different forums for user reviews ;-)

I did download an upgrade for Gearbox. I must say: it's a whole improvement! With extra's: cd-player (half speed!!!), metronome function, extra libaries...

As I said: I play kind of metalcore, and for me the sounds and settings work great! I use it for home-composing and to send the result around to the other bandmembers.
If it was stolen, I think I would buy it again, it's a tool I can use all the time!
I did compare it with other products, but for this price you get good quality.
For my purposes of composing, it would be great if the software could record and make a notation out of it: for example: tablature! But I guess that is utopia...
Use this gear at home is a place-saver, I can compose quietly without disturbing my neighbours... and its biggest advantage is: you can record it very easily!

I am writing this as a second glance review. I've already posted a review on this thing on April 15th, 2007 giving it 10 for sound.

After a year of struggling with this hardware I find it almost useless. Why? I have not recorded one song I was pleased with past the last year and a half or so with Toneport. It's endless possibilities mean nothing to me. Hours, days of tweaking with no satisfactory results.

I agree to people complaining about the high frequencies here. The sound is fuzzy and even ear piercing. We're talking about distorted tones. There's too much treble - you might think, but will You find one way to reduce it without making the tone dull...

Technical matter - Line6 says you should set the ASIO interface bit resolution to 32 bit, provided the host DAW supports it. What are the benefits? The converters are 24 bit, however internal processing might be more precise - let's say, 32 bit. Having said that, it's possible to record your tracks precisly - with more accuracy than you get at the output - to improve further processing. That is great. There is, however, a surprise. The estimated resolution of such recorded audio is... 28 bit. That - in my understanding - equals nothing else but 28 bit internal processing resolution within Toneport. Shame... Most audio processors I came along are 32-bit nowadays.

Since I gave up recording at home pretty much and switched Toneport to ZOOM G2.1u which also is capable of USB operation, I was once again surprised. The maximum ASIO bit resolution with ZOOM is 16 bit, which is less from Toneport's 32 bits, however ZOOM recorded tracks sound smoother and more pleasing to my ears. The converters are 24bit/96kHz and the internal processing is 32-bit. Perhaps that makes the difference.

Zero latency monitoring is another flaw. Two sliders, hardware direct monitor and the feeling that what you record doesn't really fall where it should in the DAW. It does work, it's not that bad, it just seems to be lame. The smallest latency provided is like 5ms. The new ZOOM drivers are even better and offer latencies ranging from 20ms to 1ms (works very well on a AMD X2 5000+ system).

Test - try recording rhytm parts while listening to a metronome or rhytm section only. The more you record to previously recorded stuff, the more parts get misplaced.

More on drivers in Customer Support.

I think the previous Line6 products sounded better in a way. Ironically amongst all the demos on www.line6.com I like the POD2 demo most.

For it's sound itself I would give it 7 today. Because of the driver issues it's gonna be less. Did I mention of poor reverbs? The less distorted the greater your chances...

I have to complaint. The newer the GearBox the bigger it is. It's actually too big for what it does. You downlad the latest GearBox with drivers to an enormous list of devices...

The first ZOOM ASIO driver for the G family (G2.1u...) was only 92kB big. It's installation was a breeze and it worked fine. The latest ZOOM drivers are stated to be "High Performance" and they in fact are while weighting no more than 293kB. Simple, yet very well written. It's like "It's inside, what is really important, what matters".

What I don't like about Line6 policy here is making things big, colorful and boomy instead of focusing on effects (1ms latency...). More over there are too many new buttons that appear recently - buttons leading to optional functionalities that have to be payed for to use them. I find most of these lame and uninteresting. The best for me was the oldest GearBox.

Otherwise the customer support is rather fine.

Very easy - I had a problem with sonar 4 producer looping back theought the direct monitoring when recording after updating the driver (3.1) - but a quick re-install fixed it. Im running windows xp home (no 64 bit here till everyone gets their drivers together) I have tons of my own patches made - its very easy - and the software remembers any changes you may have made from the last time you were playing.

I do not use the mic input - I strictly use the toneport for guitar and bass. I play american schecters, (A HEllcat, a Hollywood Custom (strat style), and a C7 with Duncans) and an ibanez 5 string. The software allows you to mix in the dry signal and delay it to taste with bass patches - thats useful but leads to some phasing problems. On some songs I prefer a tube di for bass but the line 6 DOES provide some nice bass amp sounds. I DONT like the compression offered in the line 6 software - the plainer the better (thats how I would record a miced up bass usually anyhow)
The Metronome/ Drum machine setting is a GREAT practice/songwriting tool!!! My only complaint is that theres no way to route the drum machine to a seperate channel so you can record yourself jamming to a beat.
Its not my amp but it REALLY sounds good the more I play with it. I've had it for 2 years. The fender tweed model REALLY sounds so much like my old super reverb that I cant believe it. I record in alot of different styles from jazz to metal and I use this for all of it.
The only thing I DONT like about it is when you record with an amp you can get feedback that sounds natural. You can crank up your studio monitors - and the guitar will feedback but its usually a very plastic sound tone - very un natural.

Its the application I run most on my recording computer. Its not a gigging peice obviously.

My only complaint is that I never heard back on RECORDING sample rate conversion. I felt mislead as I wanted to record at 88.2 k. I bought the peice because it said it supported up to 96k. It only RECORDS up to 48k - which is useless. They have remedied this with the ux8 which I will be buying soon! Sorry line 6 - you get a zero for this category.

I play and write in LOTS of styles from jazz to metal. Music and guitar for 18 years. www.myspace.com/thedukewestern
I would explore other units for sure - but this would be tough to beat for the price.

I bought this product after checking out the videos at the line6 website. Its just as good as shown there.
Installation was quite easy. Just follow the simple steps and your done.
However the recording software that comes with this product is not very nice. I am using Cool edit pro for recording and sometimes fuity loops.
I had to mess around with my sound drivers just to get everything to work, since the cool edit pro was using the default soundcard drivers of the pc.
Anyways everything was great till I got a new PC for recording. It turns out that line6 has not done 64bit drivers for this product, so at the moment it's sitting on my desk and being worthless.

Sound Quality is better than you might think some plastic cheap box could do. I am using Jackson and ESP guitars directly linked to toneport. Not using any blocks. Obviously it's not as good as the amps I use Marshall TSL head for example or Marshall AVT, but its far more better than some small combo amp that sounds like crap. So far practicing with this thing has been awesome. Especially handy for night practicing. Also I have used this little product to record small demo, and everything turned out to be nice. I have even got positive feedback about a good sound quality. Toneport has some good features what you might be interested in, for example noise gate. Very handy. However some other effects do not sound very impressive. Of course you can get allot of disortion with it and use equalizer. There are allot of amp and cabinet models to choose from, so this should suit for every possible kind of style you are playing. When trying to record bassguitar we ran into some trouble. Seems that this product is better for just vocals and guitars. Doesn't handle bass very well, since the sound was quite weak while recording.

The box is very lite and looks solid, but I would not recommend throwing it on the floor, since the plastic doesn't look very strong.
I would not use toneport for a gig. Just too many things that can go wrong. PC's - they are not 100% reliable. Also the sound, its not just the real thing. Use this product for home practicing or demo recording.

So far I have been emailing line6 now about two times, wondering if there will be 64bit drivers. But so far they have not replied.
So Customer Support for me was poor.

I am playing melodic death metal and a little bit deathcore. Some amps in toneport's gearbox software are pretty nice for my style.
I have been playing electric guitars for 4 years by now and using mainly my Marshall TSL head with my Marshall 1960A cabinet. Also sometimes playing through Marshall AVT 150 combo that has Marshall AVT Extra cabinet connected to it. The PC I used before with toneport was AMD Athlon XP 2500 (1,8Ghz) with 512MB DDRAM, Windows XP pro 32bit and 80GB HD. My new one is Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 (3.0Ghz) with 4GB DDRAM2, Windows Vista Home Premium 64bit and 320GB HD. This was supposed to be a nice recording station that I hoped to use also with toneport, but didn't quite work out.
If this thing would be stolen I would not buy the same unit again, since I don't have nothing to do with it now that I am using 64bit op system.
Things that I really like about this product: wide range of different tones and noisegate. Effects are not so good. Guess what I don't like? - That it does not have 64bit drivers!!!
Toneport really helped me to make music. I even think, every guitarist should have such box at home. At least you wont kill your roommate while practicing :)

I found this unit very easy to set up and use. There's really no need for instructions in my opinion - the software does everything for you. It takes a couple of minutes to get up and running. Using the Gearbox software doesn't take too long to get used to either. Tweaking the amps and FX is much simpler than I thought it would be.

Okay. First let me say that I have a Gibson Les Paul Studio guitar with a Marshall valvestate combo and an array of good quality FX pedals so this is what I'm comparing to, and I've been playing the guitar for over 20 years. The sound quality of this thing is really excellent for the money but don't mistake it for a professional product. Switching to 24bit increases the quality of the sound tremendously. The sound is clear and precise but I found that the FX don't work exactly like the real thing when tweaking and, overall, the sound lacks depth and character. People have complained about pops and crackles, etc, but I don't suffer from this at all. I use the UX1 with a Compaq notebook which has a 1.66gH core solo processor and 1GB RAM, and I use Sonar Home Studio for recording, and it all works just fine. The sound is quite clear, with no digital fizz, and the latency is not noticable at all. For quick recording, this thing is really superb. I'm giving the sound quality a mark of 9 based on price but if I were to mark it in comparison to my actual gear, I would give it a 7. It doesn't sound like the real thing but it sounds good.

It feels rather light and I doubt it would stand up to road use but I've had it over a month and nothing has gone wrong.

I had one small issue while updating the software and Line 6 responded quite promptly.

Right. This thing is really good fun to use. In fact, it's probably the best toy I've ever owned. I always laugh when using it because it's so easy to get a good recording. There are reviews that slate the sound quality, but it's really quite good unless you compare it to gear which cost bags of money. I'd stress that using sound gates and compressors tends to produce an ultra clean digital sound that lacks response, but take these out and, hey, the sound is much closer to the real thing (er.. maybe noisier too). If someone stole it, I'd buy another one tomorrow. This is an excellent practice and home recording tool but don't mistake it for professional equipment. Think fun!

Put CD in, Plug in when told to, open program and you're away! ok thats the setup, how about fiddling around with sounds? is that easy? hell yeah! basically if you've ever used an amp or stomp boxes, and you're happy with a mouse, then you'll find this ridiculously easy.

Only difficulty i find is that there's no way of changing preset during song. BUT! thats not what this is for, its for recording, plus im gettin a podxt live soon anyway!

Ok i play mostly thrash and groove metal (my own material i hasten to add) with a super cheap westfield SG, Westone Spectrum, and JJ Acoustic (yeah i know they're all crap). I also play a lot of rock, blues and jazz. This baby handles all these no problems, despite having a crappy guitar. At the moment, im using an ACER travelmate laptop, and have this toneport setup as an external soundcard handing all my sound, and is much better quality than the onboard soundcard for this.

I recorded my whole album with this, but one thing i found helpful:

I plugged the preamp from my marshall valvestate into the toneport, then setup gearbox with no amp, treadplate cab, screamer, small amount of reverb and EQ, and had a wicked metallica/mastadon tone that sounds top notch!! In fact, most people who hear my music ask me what studio i went to, cos they wanna go!!

Of course, there are a lot of trashy sounds you can get, but dont give up! there are also some brilliant ones. I can get the exact tones from loads of songs, the pantera: walk one ALWAYS makes me smile! but of course the great thing is you can tinker around and get the exact tone you imagine in your head for your new song.

One other proof of its quality:

I bought the UX1 and showed 2 of my guitargeek mates. next week, they both had them too!

Check out www.myspace.com/calldafuzz for my band's page and check the quality out for yourself

Its quite solid, i've dropped it a lot from overzealous thrashin and shredding, pulling it off my amp with the lead, and it doesn't so much as a scratch. I wouldn't worry about taking it to a gig, in fact i'd be more worried about my laptop. As i said, im getting a podxt live soon so i wouldn't need this anyway

N/A

Incredible! This fits the need i had exactly! at the time i had a desktop and i'd blown the soundcard up, so i needed something to record with that went in the USB. I was a bit wary of modeling software after tryin amplitube (super crap) and GuitarFXBox (latency was horrible). But this is incredible! ZERO latency ZERO ZERO! and this is bearing in mind i have half the RAM required, yet can still easily run guitar pro, gear box AND cubase at once. If you do any recording at all, you HAVE to buy this. At such a low price, you're stealing it!

By the way, check out www.myspace.com/calldafuzz to hear some stuff i recorded with it.

I'm submitting this in response to the person who got loud, ear-splitting noise periodically. EASY FIX. I had it, and its the internet connection (mine was a Wireless 802.11b problem). the wireless connection periodically "intrudes" (to check for signal, I suppose, a computer expert could explain it better). Turn off the wireless connection while you're working with it, and NO MORE NOISE. Please don't let this issue stop you from getting a pretty amazing tool.

It's the easiest to use audio interface. It's idiot-proof. You can't go wrong with it. Editing, saving and recalling patches is a breeze, very comfortable. Hum reducer & noise gate are very useful. The manual is written very well. Did find every information I wanted. I use it with Cubase SX and it works fine.

There's a quite new sound quality to it. A new generation of guitar modelling/processing. Have in mind it's digital. It gets close to the real sounds, very close. Don't get dicouraged - I can't think of any other option for a home recorder. It's an all in one - audio interface & amp modelling, can be used as a Hi-Z guitar interface. Dial in the most common sounds of any style in a minute and record your songs quietly in your bedroom. Wanna real guitar sounds? Go to a studio, or buy the real, expensive amp or two, a few microphones and make your bedroom sound great itself acoustic-wise. Oh, yeah, and learn a thing or two about recording. Also, send your neighbours on a holiday, tell your family not to interrupt you while you record at any circumstances ("dinner's ready, dear!" you don't want to hear in your mix somewhere).

LATENCY
Important issue - latency. Line6 drivers will give you 4.85ms latency at best. This isn't bad, but it's not a killer feel as they say. FORTUNATELY you can feel free to use different drivers - try ASIO4ALL v2.8 BETA2 - 1.333ms input latency. That's a feel. Have in mind that using a digital audio interface gives you a delay of approx. 1ms because of the AD/DA converters processing time. Latency computed by your host app does not include this, just the buffers number/lenght & freq. thing.

MODELLING
I find myself Amplitube2 a bit more convincing, though UX is really fine. The effects sounds good.

RECORDING
Great, especially because of the possibility of recording DRY & WET simultaneously. You can process the DRY track with Amplitube2, just to give an example.

AUDIO INTERFACE
Works. My previous was E-MU 0404 PCI - it played music better a little bit to my ears. Not too bad.

You can depend on it. I wouldn't be using the thing live, I think, though it's possible with a notebook.

Never had a problem, no opinion here.

I've been playing for over 10 years now. I play all rock music, including the blues. Metal, jazz, too. I owned V-AMPs, PODs, a few amps, Digitechs. UX is a very unique and usefull device. It simplifies your life, enables you to record easily, as I've said - all-in-one-works-well. I liked the V-AMP PRO - in compare I'd say it's better in way, perhaps to my ears. UX sounds more real, however. IT HELPS MAKING MUSIC, YES.

I decided to write a review after noticing how hit with bad ratings this product got here. This has to be one of the easiest pieces of hardware and software to use for recording out there. I have had my unit from when it first came out and have ZERO regrets. Editing your sounds is a breeze. The menus are layed out well and are very easy to follow as well as your effect being placed right in front of you like a pedal board. You can easily turn things on and off as well as switch stuff around. Online documentation is good, but I never use it. The software has gone through several versions since I've had it and its current release is awesome. I use it all the time for not only recording but late nigh practicing. There is now a metranome that you can set sounds to with your own beat as well as a player for jamming along with tunes. One nice thing about Line 6 is you buy a product and keep getting the newest version w/o having to pay anything extra.

Sounds quality is as good as any of the other Line 6 products. I have to disagree with a lot of the negativity here in these reviews. Of course it is common sense that not ever patch will sound great to everyone and not every patch is going to sound great with every guitar (or mic or bass). There is a lot of great stuff here and as with anything, you still have to do some tweaking so that you can get your personal taste in there. I have never had any problems getting a great sound out of the software for any style of music I was recording. Plus, I usually start with on of their patches that is close. You also have to be aware of what type/style of guitar you are using as well as pickup type. Don't think that everything in the software is suppose to sound good with everyone setup. That is just foolish. What you do get here is an entire studio of amps and effects and if you cannot tweak to your liking, then shame on you and not Line 6!

You can rely on this unit, however, the one issue I have is that I do notice the USB looses connection every now and then. This doesn't happen when I am using it, only when starting it up. Sometimes I have to un-plug and re-plug the cable in or reboot. I don't feel this is a Line 6 issue because I find myself doing the same with my iPod as well.

I never had to deal with Line 6 customer support.

I'm giving this a full score over all. To sum up, easy to use with very simple hardware, sounds great and more than enough models and effects. Anyone knocking this unit could possible not be spending enough time with it, not paying attention to how different guitars (or mic or bass) sound with it, do not have a good enough computer, or good recording software for that matter. To note, I don't like the software it comes with and use Cakewalks Guitar Tracks Pro 3.

There of course are things out there that are probably better than a Tone Port, but for a little over $100, you cannot go wrong with this unit. HUGE BANG FOR YOUR BUCK!!

Software is clunky to use. It's hard to recall amp models quickly. The menu system is poorly designed. A hassle to quickly move from model to model. A 'history'-type system that would allow you to quickly return to the last patch would make a lot more sense.

Might as well have thrown Ben Franklins out the window. And, since there is software involved, you will be hassled by your local retailer when you try to return it.


Ease of Use:
Terrible! I have a two year old PC with what was the state-of-the-art Intel chipset. Line 6 does not support it. They say it's a problem with the Intel design. In my opinion, if your product does not work with Intel, you've made a HUGE mistake along the line.

Nice guitar tones. Mic models are just okay.

BUT!!!!!!! This thing is a disaster. I TRY to use this product as a USB input for Cubase. On a regular basis, it sends this horrible screachy/static sound at VERY HIGH VOLUMES into your monitors or headphones. I have pretty much stopped using it. My ears have been BLASTED too many times. Do not buy this. Awful... awful and dangerous to your ears.

Junk. I'm telling you. Don't waste your money.

All on-line. No humans involved here. VERY frustrating.

Worthless.