5 stars (Guitarport is not perfect, but great for what it is) - Reading some of these reviews reveals to me how uneducated some folks are when writing reviews.
I've had Guitarport for almost 2 years and it's the best bang for my buck purchase I've ever made on musical equipment! I am a novice-to-intermediate player (learning on and off for 10 years). This thing is not for advanced gigging musicians. If you are that advanced, then you won't like the sounds as much. They are a simulation of the real thing, not the real thing. But it's close enough for me.
Anyone who is a beginner and want's to learn, this is a fabulous piece of equipment. It's way cheaper than buying amp(s), effects, and microphones. It's great for people like me who aren't experts at tweaking and tuning and amp for a particular sound. Load it up or set one and save it. You can get a wide variety of sounds from it and you can experiment with different effects without spending the cash. I like the headphone use too.
For recording - it's not really designed for it, but you can do it with other software/equipment.
It's flexible and upgradeable. I like the tuner, metronome, noise gate and the ability to save sound settings to use again later. You can add a midi controller pedal and control the wah and volume effects, as well as, trigger changes in amps, effects, etc. Add software and you can record music. Riffworks is supposed to be an easy to use guitar-centered recording software package. It's for laying down ideas, not putting out masterpieces.
And it's $99 for crying out loud! How many guitar effects do you see out there for less that does so much?!?
Guitarport Online - I think it's great for the beginner/intermediate player who want to learn more. You can play along with some classic songs with a backing band! I can play the role of Jimmy Page in a Zeppelin song. That's cool! There are lots of lessons available as well. Way cheaper than personal guitar lessons. Regarding access to songs without/after ending a subscription, it's not about greed. If you have read anything about the RIAA and digital music, you should know how paranoid they are about people freely copying and distributing music. When you subscribe, you are not BUYING the songs (that would cost much more), you are RENTING them. That's the only way most of these studio would allow this content to be available. If you really need to record it, get the software or use Audacity or hook up a tape recorder or something!
Bottom Line - this is an outstanding value for the beginner/intermediate player. It's fun. It's a lot of power in a small package. For the experienced player, if you like the sounds or are not too picky about them, it's great for you too (or look at POD XT, it works with the guitarport software too). It's not the end all, be all piece of equipment, but it's great for what it is.
4 stars (Definitely worth the money) - This is one very nice piece of device for your computer, especially if you are only looking for something to record instrumental guitar tracks in your computer. Given that you have the necessary software to record and create backing tracks in your computer, this is definitely a great substitute to buying a whole expensive rig and looking for tolerant neighbors and family members at home.
This may not sound like the real amplifiers and effects it emulates, like everybody is complaining about, but you could definitely get great tones from it. You choose from a variety of amplifier head and cabinet combinations, plus a pretty wide variety of stomp boxes and effects. All of these in front of your monitor and can be manipulated by clicking and dragging.
It is also educational for those with little or no experience in tweaking amps and effects parameters as well as mic choice and placement.
I did not sign up for Guitar Port Online, because of the bad reviews it had, but that is not what I paid this gadget for.
Overall, a very awesome piece of equipment, I just wish there was a way to plug a floorboard with this thing, to control the volume, wah as well as other effects.
3 stars (Ok for the money) - I'm very fussy about tone so if you're not as picky, this review will not help, check out the others.
I'm using this for practice and recording with Cakewalk Guitar Pro Tracks 3. I've a decent computer and excellent speakers.
There are many distortion settings in the form of amp types, cabinet types and pedals. However, if you've been playing a good guitar through a good amp then you wont be satisfied. Line 6 seem to think vintage equals less sound quality. The more modern amp sims lack satisfactory definition and warmth.
None of the distortion settings even partially capture and reproduce the sound of my Les Paul, especially with rhythm playing which is my main area. The clean tones however, are not bad.
Some of the effects are good, in paticular the delays. The chorus is a bit tinny but does the job, as with the phaser. The flanger however, is crap. A couple of the reverb effects are good.
I don't use the online facility as I never subsribe to something I can't cancel later. This aspect of Line 6 seems to be a bit of a scam and they should sort it out.
This is one of the cheapest interfaces on the market worth looking at. It's great for beginners, as a play around toy for a more serious guitarist or as a relatively cheap introduction to the world of digital recording, which is what it is to me.
If you're looking for a serious bit of quality recording equipment though, have a good look around and be prepared to spend more money. |
