With the Fender, Vox, Marshall and other emulations alongside Line 6´s own creations it is possible to dial in just about any guitar tone that you want either for recording or practice. There´s loads of functionality here, with plenty of options for recording various signals with direct no-latency monitoring of the affected sound.Īs far as that sound goes, anyone familiar with POD will instantly recognise the collection of amp models and effects here. When you fire up Gearbox you'll be given plenty of help, with a dialogue box popping up to ask whether you want help setting it up, and taking you to a well laid-out electronic manual. Installing the software and getting going with TonePort is a simple operation that takes a matter of minutes. Communication between TonePort and computer is via USB, but the hardware can also output the GearBox sounds through a pair of analogue outputs to a mixing desk or hardware recorder.
You play through GearBox and the sounds are recorded on your sequencer, rather like the insert effects used in a portable hardware studio. GearBox can stand alone as a source of sounds for practising but can also be used in recording as the ‘front end´ for any sequencer. While TonePort is indeed an audio interface and will happily play back audio from your computer, it will only put audio into the computer if the included GearBox software is active. It is a well-equipped USB audio interface coupled with a set of amp and effect models in the form of the GearBox software.
TonePort may be Line 6´s most comprehensive integration of guitar and computer to date.
And with the GuitarPort and the USB connections on some of the POD range, they have been making the interfacing between guitar and computer more convenient.