Would you Recommend Line 6 Toneport or Lexicon Omega??

caesura

Hi Guys,

A while ago I put a post up looking for advice on cheap starter audio interface to get and someone recommended the line 6 toneport which at the moment is available at a fairly good price from Music Maker but while I was talking to the guy I mentioned I wanted to use a condenser mic which apparently isn’t possible with the line 6 unless I get the AFK 1000S – he also suggested I consider the Lexicon Omega. He majority of what he was talking about went right over my head but the end result was the below.

So I’ve got a choice from Music Maker of purchasing either of the below options:

Music maker:

1. Line 6 tone port €99 (can’t handle condenser mics but can get a kind of condenser mic for €165 AFK 1000 S bringing total to €264

2. Lexicon Omega €200 more functions and can work with condenser mics cheapest of which is €115 bringing total to €315 comes with cubase

Option

Just looking to plug in and go for now etc actually one of the things about the Line 6 for me is the fact that other than the above AFK 1000s Mic it cant accommodate condenser mics whereas the Lexicon Omega can also i was told in Music Maker that I could only record 4 tracks with the line6 toneport but far more with the Lexicon which comes with Cubase LE. (though I’ve no idea if this makes any difference as I’ve downloaded Reaper which I’m assuming means I can record as many tracks with the lin6 toneport as I want…I’m told both will be compatable with Reaper (but is Cubase LE better than Reaper in which case I’d uninstall Reaper and just use that if I got the Lexicon.

I want the simplest (in terms of ease of use/idiot friendly) no frills set up I can get for now as all I need to do is lay down some guitars (primarily acoustic) and vocals…I might mess around with my drum machine and bass as well but it’s really not vital at the moment.

As mentioned in an earlier thread on this forum i'm an absolute beginner so any advice is hugely appreciated.
Cheers
C.

(ps. already wrote this post but it didn't come up when i saved it for some reason so apologies if it comes up twice)

i57dwun4yb1pt8

** dont get the omega !!! **

trust me - its a pain in the arsesage .

i just sent one back to thomann - the ASIO drivers are basic crap - and the usb spped appears to be 1.1 not usb 2 .

the interface is good , but it cant cope with more than two tracks of recording and playback over usb without crackling and dropouts

it could not playback a drum track , bass track two guitars and a synth track - which is crap.

( this was in to an older p4 laptop with external fast disk )

its a pity cos it did sound good and had a lot of features , but you are better off getting a decent two channell with good drivers.

i use my line 6 pod xt instead and it works alot better.

( note i use these for basic scratch tracks and composing outside my main home studio )



if you are using condensers - then get a small mixer with phatom power and plug this into the interface you get - or get a usb mixer as an interface- but you are better of getting a firwire solution - or an RME interface ( which has its own type of firwire )


the tc konnekt range are good , as is the RME cards and the firepod ranges.


note that if you get into this lark you will want to add more and more tracks , and USB will not do it for you .

caesura

Cool stuff - i'll avoid the Lexicon for now in that case. Been looking online and i reckon i might see if i can find somewhere in Ireland that sells the other Line 6 tone port (the UX2) as that seems to come with phantom power and looks cool enough...otherwise i'll go for the Line 6 toneport UX1 and go for the AKG 1000S microphone which according to the guy in Music Maker is a cndenser which will work with the UX1 because it has it's own battery or something!

Anyone know how much the UX2 costs and if Music Maker don't stock it is there anywhere else IN IRELAND that i can ger it???
Cheers again!

smog

try http://www.xmusic.ie/

DamagedTrax

if you already have a condensor you can pick up a phantom power box for about €25/30

i57dwun4yb1pt8

sorry , i didnt realise you were getting an AKG c 1000 - that is a pretty crap mic - so dont get it !

its thin and dull sounding -


if you want to get a quality mic for all purpose - get either an oktava mk12
or am sm58 / or audix i5

caesura

DamagedTrax wrote: »

if you already have a condensor you can pick up a phantom power box for about €25/30

Brilliant...do you know if i can get a phantom power box anywhere in the city centre (gonna check Waltons and Music Maker) but just incase they don't have them?

and Smog just checked xmusic the guy reckons they might have the UX2 in stock gonna check with him again tomorrow

Thanks guys
C.

DamagedTrax

caesura wrote: »

Brilliant...do you know if i can get a phantom power box anywhere in the city centre (gonna check Waltons and Music Maker) but just incase they don't have them?

dunno.. i would say they probably have them.. they're only little things that look a little like a DI box. i'd say one of the shops must have them?

cue brute

caesura wrote: »

Hi Guys,

A while ago I put a post up looking for advice on cheap starter audio interface to get and someone recommended the line 6 toneport which at the moment is available at a fairly good price from Music Maker but while I was talking to the guy I mentioned I wanted to use a condenser mic which apparently isn’t possible with the line 6 unless I get the AFK 1000S – he also suggested I consider the Lexicon Omega. He majority of what he was talking about went right over my head but the end result was the below.

So I’ve got a choice from Music Maker of purchasing either of the below options:

Music maker:

1. Line 6 tone port €99 (can’t handle condenser mics but can get a kind of condenser mic for €165 AFK 1000 S bringing total to €264

2. Lexicon Omega €200 more functions and can work with condenser mics cheapest of which is €115 bringing total to €315 comes with cubase

Option

Just looking to plug in and go for now etc actually one of the things about the Line 6 for me is the fact that other than the above AFK 1000s Mic it cant accommodate condenser mics whereas the Lexicon Omega can also i was told in Music Maker that I could only record 4 tracks with the line6 toneport but far more with the Lexicon which comes with Cubase LE. (though I’ve no idea if this makes any difference as I’ve downloaded Reaper which I’m assuming means I can record as many tracks with the lin6 toneport as I want…I’m told both will be compatable with Reaper (but is Cubase LE better than Reaper in which case I’d uninstall Reaper and just use that if I got the Lexicon.

I want the simplest (in terms of ease of use/idiot friendly) no frills set up I can get for now as all I need to do is lay down some guitars (primarily acoustic) and vocals…I might mess around with my drum machine and bass as well but it’s really not vital at the moment.

the toneport series can all take condenser mikes, i have the ux2 which has two channels for recording - i use akg1000s and a rode nt1a and i'm very happy with the results (www.rapscallion.ie)


the ux1 can only record one channel as far as im aware, after that there is an eight channel one - you can add to your recorded tracks as many tracks as your computer can handle using reaper or similar

caesura

Well folks thanks for the info one and all!!!

Went in to get the line 6 toneport ux2 yesterday but was also shown the Alesis 10/2 (which is cheaper and seems to do all the things the Ux2 can do) so said i'd have an auld google and see what i find - not sure now what to do because one of the posters on a review site said the Alesis 10/2 was terrible with his Windows XP which is what i have on this pc.

Anyone have any experience on this?

Gotta say i'm leaning towards the UX2 even though its more expensive.

cerebis

have the UX-2 and it's great....some skipping issues with it when i use it with Mixcraft...other than that its the bees knees...