Does anyone have a Line6 Toneport? Speed needed!

[schmendict]

Im seriously considering buying this, but i need to know how good the virtual drummer is or if there is one. Ive read the review in TG but it doesnt make it clear, nor does the website. I could opt for the Rifftracker but the Toneport is cheaper, which pleases my dad a great deal.  :lol:
Many thanks,
Alex.

[Elliot]

Don't bother with the Line 6 drum thing - its way limited and not programmable.  Its great for a jam along but its not programmable.

[carlaz]

Agreed. The Toneport looks good as a combination amp modeller/audio interface (it includes guitar and bass amp models, which is cool) but I think the extras that come it are, well, dodgy freebies :)

If you want to have decent drum machine action, you can probably find a solid shareware drum machine application that won't cost much (on my Mac, I use Doggiebox, which is about USD 40, and there must be similar apps for Windows machines) and the free ns_kit samples from naturalstudio.co.uk. Google or hit versiontracker.com to search for drum machine apps. A bit of a learning curve involved in doing your own drum programming, but worth it -- you'll get much better drums than you would with the Line6 thingy.

[schmendict]

Thanks for the help, guys, but im assuming this is going to involve a lot of effort and research to find the right sounds and put them together? All im really looking for is to select the style, set the tempo, select the part of the song for the drums and then start recording. Im getting very close to ordering the RiffTracker for the sheer simplicity of using it. Ive used a friends version, and its quite cool.  :lol:
I think i might go with the Rifftracker, but ill delve into this subject some more...

[Elliot]

I have rifftracker - the Drums on Demand system is not bad, but it uses REX files so you cant program it (although there are lots of REX files of drums available).  I seem to have a bug on my system that doesn't allow me to download Line 6's add on DonD drums, so thats a bummer.


I have to say that I find that the Guitarport/Toneport works best direct into a PC multitrack mixer like Mixcraft or Audacity rather than through Rifftracker (in fact as well as all its amp and fx models its an excellent direct in box).  Rifftracker has a strange system where you put in the number of bars and the bpm and then you record.  I find the system slightly limiting and prefer the to build up the sound via a multitracker and drum machine.

[carlaz]

I should admit that despite my support for the idea of getting a drum machine app and investing some time in learning to program drums (unless, of course, you've got a handy drummer! :)), I've been doing a lot of fast and dirty recording just using free drum loops in GarageBand.  It's kinda fun seeing how far you can get with just loops, and you can always replace them with your own reprogrammed stuff later :)

(GarageBand's amp sims are pretty rough, though, and I'm having a tough time getting as good a sound out of my Sansamp box as with the old COSM models built into my VS-1680.  Think I gotta get one of those PODs or Gearbox things eventually. :P  Bizarrely, I managed to tweak up a bass amp model with GarageBand that doesn't disgust me -- at least not in the mix as a whole! :))

[schmendict]

Thanks again for all the help, but i already scrambled the money for the RiffTracker. Ill tell you guys what its like and maybe post some links to free-upload sites, for my creations.