digital or analog?

[stars_jy]

hi guys...

help me decide?? u think i shld spend 600 on a podxt live.. or shld i go buy analog pedals?? i haf a podxt bean version before.. sold it not long ago.. i liked it.. its versatile and easy to record with.. i juz got hold of a ds1.. plannnin to mod it.. but wil haf budget man..dunno wanna buy podxt live anot?? wad will u guys reccommend??

thks alot peeps

 

[soft]

there's some kind of offer for the live + controller at city music currently. you saw the deal?

 

[audio]

for your case, u have to settle for either one first..
but after u got more money, try getting the other one..
try both digital and analog coz as a guitarist, WE SHOULD!!!...

 

[brundisium]

imho, digital or analog doesn't matter a bit as long as you know what you want out of the effect, what the effect can do for you in term of music writing and playing....

analog and digital are simply overated when one can't hear the differences

Those who say analog is the way to go often are still in the stage of just having tried out limited selection of pedals(let's not even go to the "boutique" pedals level). A thinking musician should know that digital or analog are both tools to help in music writing...

So the point is, what would you be looking in getting the pod xtlive and what are the factors you be looking at if going the analog way.

Oh, and single stompboxes doesn't mean it's analog.......

just my 0.0002 cent, imho...

 

[Vaiyen]

but don't you agree that analogue generally sounds better?
I'm pretty much a noob at pedals, so i'm seeking some opinions.

 

[brundisium]

analog doesn't sound better all the time.

A lot has got to do with the player having to know which pedal is digital and analog and thus already have that mindset, analog is better even without hearing it....

Digital stuff which are coming out nowadays can be designed to emulate analog really well and sometime analog is indeed better sounding, sometime don't

In term of the digital vs analog thing in this forum, mostly is still around the effect of distortion and overdrive. Imho, this is making all the analog vs digital thing too simple..

If we can move away from just distortion and look at other form of effect(delay, phaser, flanger, chorus, tremolo, vibrato, ring modulator, envelope filter and so on), whether in single stompbox or those line 6 effect modellers or multieffect, if you can have a chance to try out those in depth, one might realise that certain "digital"ness" actually works in a band context and not just playing in the bedroom.

Some of the "warmth"/"dark"/"sweet"/"smooth" what ever sounded good in a bedroom with a "analog" pedal, will simply get lost among the bass, drum and another guitar in a band..

my point is, analog and digital, there is no better, it's just choices which the musicians will be making, to assist them in playing the music..

imho...

oh, and lets not even go into the subject of how different brand of effect react with certain brand of amp.(analog effect and digital effect and tube amp and solid state amp...)

It's all too big and deep a topic to go into how tone is. Not to mention that each and everyone of us lilsten to things differently.

Analog or digital?? Forget bout it, if it's doesnt create any music, it is just all talk and nothing else..

 

[Vaiyen]

ok point taken, but so far my experiences with analogue pedals have indeed been better than with digital ones.

 

[Guest]

It looks to me like it's more of a multieffect or pedals kind of delimma and not tone since you don't have an issue with the POD's digital modelling.

Basically with the POD unit you get probably every effect and amp model you could ever realistically need in one unit but it's going to be pricey. With pedals for the same kind of budget, you can build your own setup with individual pedals with specific sounds you like. It'll save you money in the sense that you can go slow and build up your rig over time if you know that you'd only be wanting to use a limited number of effects. But bear in mind with pedals you'll get to a point where you're going have to get a pedalboard going once the number of pedals you use goes beyond a certain number (just to keep your sanity when you set up), and that's when extra expenses like getting a right pedalboard and power supply comes in.

Put it this way, you were quite happy with the sound of your previous POD, but with the DS-1 you're thinking of modding it (which might say you don't like the default sound), so IMO, I would say stick with the POD.

As for which ones to get first if you're intending to get both, POD if you depend on gigging or something and need all the sounds, pedals if you have time to take it easy and look at (the many) pedal options.

 

[ShredCow]

Hmm... I can hear the difference between analog and digital. And yes, its mainly in the case of overdrive and distortion. The other efx, delay, chorus, flanger, all can be reproduced pretty well digitally but with overdrive/distortion, the analog pedals always beats digital stuff. Can't stand the coldness of digital overdrive/distortion.

I would say, go let your ears decide because yes, there is extremely good digital modelling but to my ears, there is always something missing.

And. digital modelling is much more tweakable than analog modelling, at the cost of warmth and responsiveness.

Ever tried putting a TS9 infront of a Line 6 Flextone III amp? And realise it just don't work the way it does in front of a tube amp despite using a Tube Amp model?

 

[ChanMin]

the audible difference between digital and analog is not exactly an obvious one.
but given a blind a/b test im very sure i could make out the difference.

analog stomp boxes sound warmer and less hi-fi. this gets more and more obvious the louder you play.
tried playing thru a ds-1 into a loud twin reverb?? its definitely better then a pod xt into a twin reverb.

with analog stomp boxes you will more or less need to know your needs as a guitarist ...

so if you liked the pod xt... you will most probably love the xt live. just that adjusting the parametres on the floor really kills your neck and back.

$600 will roughly get you 3 - 5 pedals and a tuner with a packet of cheapo patch cables ...

 

[hullabalooeeks]

Whether Analog or Digital really depends. I'm strongly against digital overdrives and distortion. The sound just cannot make it.

Get analog distortion and overdrives. Wahs too.

But if ur talking bout modulations, like delay and chorus, phaser... The digital could well do the trick.

And now there are digital delays which emulate analog delays too.

If u were to ask me, i'll go for stompboxes. Higher resale value too as compared to a multieffect.

But i wld say the PodXTlive is very versatile.

 

[audio]

wow..u guys are great..can differentiate between digital and analog OD/Dist..
if u guys have been listening to my post or anybody's post in the open mic, do u know which ones are analog and which ones are digital?

the thing is..even if the guitarist use analog in the studio, in the end we get to hear the unnatural sound in his album...if u know wat i mean..
so do u realli know whether the guitarist use digital or analog OD/Distortion when u listen his CDs?

digital effects nowadays mostly produce 44100 samples/sec, 16 bit resolution..dats CD quality standard. do u tink its suitable for live..do u tink audience can accept this? to me its good enough but i might as well use analog for live. for recording i dont realli care whether its analog or digital. in the end u got 44.1Khz, 16 bit sound..

for live situation, i'll definitely use analog to deliver the natural continuous sound that my fans cant get to hear in my album..as if i got fans and album

for sure digital effects manufacturers will upgrade the specs to 192Khz, 32bit or higher..making it more suitable to play live and then we'll see if u guys know the difference.

 

[spikes]

try both, get both kinds... for digital, you could try a boss gt8 or a korg ax1500... for analog, just get overdrive, wah, delay, tremelo, phaser, thats just about the kinda effects you'll need? i think so, dont flame me...

 

[thor666]

hmm.

i think the question shouldn't be about digital or analog, it should be about the effects that you want. So far you only have a DS1 to work with. Is a distortion all you need? What other applications are you looking at? Gigging? etc?

fyi the pod xt live isn't that easy to work with, but it has a lot of effects. (personally not that i like them, the guy demoed for my friend and i and we were left unimpressed.)

on the other hand a DS1 would probably be insufficient for your needs lest you are dhalif with his squier (it's an 80s squier right? no wonder it sounds wonderful... ) You'll have to get 1 or 2 more pedals to complete ur setup.

think about what u actually need before making a decision, not just based on digital or analog alone.

 

[moggie_54]

Hmm.. Can I know whether digital sounds can be adjust alike like analog sounds?? I was just wondering..

 

[Vaiyen]

for live situation, i'll definitely use analog to deliver the natural continuous sound that my fans cant get to hear in my album..as if i got fans and album .

you nailed it. For live purposes, nothing beats an analogue OD/Dist.

As a sidenote, does anybody have any good delay pedals within the $200 range to recommend?

 

[brundisium]

the most common delay which can be found locally at around $200+ a bit more, first hand or 2nd hand, include boss delay(dd-3/5/6 etc), digitech digidelay, ibanez de-7 or maybe a arion sad-3.

All these are fine delay pedal actually...

 

[Vaiyen]

thanks man, and thanks, James for editing

 

[hullabalooeeks]

wad i've experience for live playing is that u need alot of tweeking for digital OD/Dist. The sound will sometime have too much highs, or too muddy. Though in ur bedroom it sounds fine with the amp at low volume.

So yea, analog OD/DIST!

 

[stars_jy]

wow.. thks alot guys...

as the podxt live is a foot controller too.. means i cld use for jammin too.. much convienient den my bean podxt.. ya.. i agree it needs lots of tweakin..but for recording and practices i guess its gd enuff for me i think.. headache man.. but i think its reali gd for recordin man.. www.geocities.com/acoustic_freestyle .. this is some of my recordin using the podxt.. i haven realli tried analog.. i think i will keep the ds 1.. and buy podxt live.. when i get more money... den i can slowly buy more pedals or wad... anyone noes how much is the switch blade mod for the ds-1 by randolf?? im interested man.. i think ill mod the ds1 fes... who noes.. after moddin.. i might prefer analog den podxtlive.. cuz i've tried podxt b4... onli think is recordin... headache!!...
lol.. thks guys.