Line6 TonePort UX2 USB Computer Recording Interface
Stereo mic in. Digital I/O.
Overall User Ratings (based on 153 ratings)
Submitted January 16, 2013 by Melcon Wagner in Hollywood, CA
"Not for Professional use"
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I've played around with the TonePort UX2 for a few years now and never fully understood until now why I was never able to resolve a very infrequent but consistent clicking sound that this would make every single time I used it.
I've read many articles on this and always thought it had something to do with my PC speed, RAM amounts, or some other hardware considerations.
Well, I now have the ultimate in PC systems that has absolutely zero issues concerning audio recording, and have sadly discovered that this is simply a flaw in the manufacture of the TonePort. Perhaps mine was defective, but it hardly ever had an issue except after a few seconds of playing or recording there would be a strange click.
I'm sure this wouldn't be much of a problem if the user wasn't intending on using this for an actual professionally recorded album. But for me, and I've recorded and performed with a good number of very highly decorated artists with platinum and Grammy awards, so I couldn't recommend this to anyone with serious intent on recording something professional.
I suppose as long as the user doesn't mind having an intermittent click occur then this little device would be a nice addition to a home studio. But I am very disappointed in the amount of time I've wasted with mine.
Musical Background:
Record producer, guitarist and vocalist
Musical Style:
Rock and many varieties of other pop styles, even a very little country.
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Submitted July 12, 2006 by a customer from gldd.com
"Excellent features, overpriced for lack of ruggedness"
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I'm torn on this rating. I really like the product, but highly disappointed it failed after a few months of carting it around. Never dropped it. Never kicked it. Treated it gingerly, but did expose it to "non-air-conditioned" enviroments and carried it around in a laptop bag for months. Love the variety of features and software. Works with Sonar 4 & 5. At $150 with it's one-year warranty, it wouldn't even be an issue. The features would be overwhelmingly positive for the money for home recording use.
Sound
The sound is fine. 24-bit, 48khz recording, using dynamic or condensor mics or guitar or bass. The effects are numerous and good quality for home recording. It's really like buying a mic preamp and guitar amplifier with effects and a direct-in to your recording rig. It also has midi ins and outs. I've recorded some amazing things with this box, that really make me happy, sound quality-wise.
Features
Love the dual XLR-Z inputs (combo inputs, whatever) and analog meters and knobs. The included software and effects are generous. For a home recording situation it is very versatile. You can hook up 2 mics and record stereo, or 1 mic and 1 guitar (or bass), etc and record simultaneously.
Ease of Use
Easy to use. Install the drivers, plug in the USB. Plug in your mic or guitar, open Gearbox then open your recording software. Easy to change effects patches.
Quality
Here's the deal. It's made of plastic. It's very light. I'm using it in a mobile recording situation with a laptop. It worked superbly for 5 months then started having all kinds of problems. I'm sending it back for repair...
If you are going to put it next to your computer at home and not move it around every day, you'll probably be fine. I love the features of the UX2 and what I've done with it, but as a mobile box it has not passed the test.
I'm thinking the next generation (if there is one) of this product is going to be much better. Looking forward to the UX3 and UX4 with better quality control and IN A METAL HOUSING instead of plastic. For $200 this thing should not be so fragile.
Value
I would say they need to drop the price tag on this box by about $50 and stop billing it as a mobile recording solution. I don't think it's rugged enough or stable enough to warrant $200. Sad, because it really has more features and better software than most of the USB boxes under $200. I would buy the UX1 and see if it pleases you for $100 before I shell out $200 on a UX2.
Manufacturer Support
They honor under warranty repairs. No issue there. Got a hold of a friendly tech, no problem.
Musical Background:
Active Musician, Songwriter, Recording Artist
Musical Style:
Rock, Soul, Alternative
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Submitted July 7, 2006 by a customer from msn.com
"Not to happy with product."
I don't think to long, I would like to replace it with one that I can use and not have to buy additional products.
If this item was lost or stolen I would buy a different one.
Sound
This is ok but I really can't get the popping sound out of the system. I called support and they said to get a pc card to help this I check in to this and it would cost me an addtional 60.00 dollars to buy the card. I think that if you pay this much money for a product that it should work like it should and not have to buy addtional equipment just to get it to work right. By the time that you spend all that on it, you could get a better system, and program.
Features
Features were great, I was impressed with the program. Had some cool sounds comming out of the program.
Ease of Use
If you dont know computers this would be a hard program to follow, The one that I bought didn't come with a manual, you had to down load it from the web site. a Manual would be nice to take with you to read if you need to.
Quality
The product is made well. But I don't think that I would take this on the road. I had to take the first one I bought back to the store because the meter window was tilted. I'm not sure if this was droped, and that was what caused the window to tilt.
Value
The selling price is to high. especialy if you have to buy additional product just to make the darn thing work right.
Manufacturer Support
It was pretty easy to call the company up. the only problem that I have is the person that I talked to gave me some wrong info. he said that the item that I needed to fix my problem was 10.00 dollars and it wasn't it was 60.00 dollars.
The Wow Factor
This was a very comfortable feeling product. I liked the looks.
Musical Background:
Active Musician
Musical Style:
Jazz,blues, and country
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Submitted February 6, 2006 by a customer from timesdispatch.com
"Limited product with a ton of hidden costs."
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The Toneport works well enough, my big complaint would be that after spending $200 on this...
You probably need to spend $100 more to get the PodXT pack. Plus another $50 to get the "FX Junxie" pack. It comes with a "Wah", but no pedal. No way to hook up a pedal aside from buying an External Midi Controller and routing that through your PC. (Pedal plug ins on toneport are momentary only.)
By the time you've done all that, you're up into the $500 range, and could've gotten Guitar Rig II. Which is a much better product. Only real benefit to this is the Vocal pre's, but that's the weakest part of the package.
Sound
The sound is very average on this product. Popping and click on even the best of setups.
Features
For the $199 price tag, you get the basic hardware. Another $99 to upgrade to PodXT level, etc... You need to hook up an external expression pedal to get the Wah to work.
Musical Background:
Gigging Musician
Musical Style:
Nutt-Megg
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Submitted April 1, 2008
"The best audio/recording interface for homerecording!!!"
Definately i think that Toneport is killer and a must for homerecording and its also affordable if you want to go pro too, believe me.
You have the power of the pro's in a little and inexpensive box.
Sound
Being an music engineer and guitarist and a 10year recording experience, i've heard an used lots of interfaces, effects and sounds, and believe me that UX2 being mainly for home recording purposes i can achieve sounds that are side to side with some pro interfaces and effects.
But here i need to differentiate two things HARDWARE and SOFTWARE...
In terms of hardware:
UX2 really sports very high quality AD/DA converters also the circuitry is extremely good reducing pops and static problems.
In terms of software
The clean tones you get with UX2 w/Gearbox are just fantastic. distortions are more tricky but with some tweaking you can achieve really good distortions...
But my real secret for distortions is using Guitar Rig 3, the best you can get for distortions in a PC environment and using through Toneport is just amazing what you can get.
As for using this with a mic, you get really clean and crystal clear sounds... try to not max out the gain because it can become buzzy but if you keep a correct distance then there wouldnt be a problem...
You can be amazed of what you can do with a Shure SM58 (my battle mic) .
Features
You get alot features for a low price.
- ZERO latency monitoring... (ToneDirect, and drivers are just an excellent work from line6)
- Instrument(guitar/bass) preamp
- Mic pream w/ phantom
- Multifx
- Good quantity of inputs and outputs (remeber that this is for homerecording.. you dont need 2387562 Inputs and outputs)
Ease of Use
It's just matter of installing drivers/software, connecting it to the PC and plug your instrument or mic and you are ready to go...
The only think that i dislike is the inclusion of Ableton... i just dont like it...
Quality
It's made of plastic..., but looks and feels sturdy for me.
Value
For the features you get... i think theres no competition in this price range. For the price you cant go wrong
Manufacturer Support
I've only used the discussion board... and i've got quick answers to my doubts. No problem at all.
The Wow Factor
Well, that red and black scheme of colours looks very sexy in my studio.
Musical Background:
Recording Engineer/Guitarist
Musical Style:
Progressive Rock, Metal, Jazz, Blues...
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Submitted November 20, 2007
Line 6 TonePort UX2 Customer Review
Sound
A wide variety of sounds, however definitely for HOME recording... not the "proffessional tone" that they speak of... especially when dealing with distortion - which are definitely weak. the cleaner sounds, and acoustic sonds are great however!
Quality
made of plastic?! but never had a problem with it
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Submitted November 5, 2006
"Great product for the price - good sound(s) and easy to get going."
So far I'm very happy with the product. If it holds up and doesn't give me any major problems then I'd definitely give it a 9. Compared to other products I've used in home-recording this one has impressed me.
Sound
I've only had the UX2 for a few days, but so far I'm very happy with the sound quality in general. I mainly use it for recording 'clean' from a mic'ed acoustic so I can add effects later - So far so good, except the mic preamp seems a little noisy when maxed out. Also, make sure your mic is up to scratch or you'll be dissapointed.
Features
For me there are adequate inputs, and the analog level-guages are great. I would've liked to see a power-switch, but no biggie. The drivers and Gearbox do the job well, but like I mentioned I generally don't use the effects while recording. As far as I can tell the Abbleton Live program for recording and sequencing is very good and intuitive, but only a demo version is included (doesn't allow saving). Tried the 'Line 6 upgrade' to no avail :(
Ease of Use
It does a good job of a relatively simple task. I had no problems with drivers etc, and everything works fine with other programs (Cubase, Acid etc) with the ASIO drivers. Gearbox makes it a snap to dial up sounds, whether you're using a leccy or acoustic. All in all, it's easy if you've got a bit of experience with computers.
Quality
It's not titanium, but it feels pretty solid. I haven't had the inclination to take it out yet but I'd say if you treat it well it should last. There are occasional issues with 'white-noise' (read:You may almost be deafened by a sudden, unexplained burst of static). From what I've gathered, this is an issue with some Intel USB chips that for most people can be resolved by getting a PCMCIA USB card. I just ordered one for my laptop that was about 12 pounds. (Or 350 Australian dollars). I have had one issue where it turned itself off (flashing 'clip' lights), but it fixed itself after a reboot.
Value
I can't really compare to other products in the price-range, but I'm pretty happy with it. I've spent money on other similar devices (not USB) and been less impressed with the sound (V-Amp2) - So far the UX2 rates well.
Manufacturer Support
rating n/a here - haven't needed them yet. It comes with a decent warranty which is nice.
The Wow Factor
It's a saucy little number - no denying it.
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Submitted June 5, 2006
Line 6 TonePort UX2 Customer Review
Sound
the clean tone if decent but the distortion is not so good. It works very well with sonar but the sound quality could be better.
Features
quick nice for the price
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Submitted December 10, 2005
"Good product, abysmal support"
Manufacturer Support
I really wish this product would have worked for me, b/c many of its features are great - great software interface and great tones, easy to set up. However, I couldn't get it to work on my computer b/c of some crazy static feedback that would occasionally engulf my speakers and break my eardrums. Support, rather than being helpful, was abysmal, missing my emails and then cutting me off mid-exchange b/c they believed (erroneously) that I had not responded in time to their emails. I can't believe they would have a rule like that to begin with, let alone miss my response and then cut me off. They apparently are trying to lose customers and they did indeed lose this one b/c of this outrageous behavior.
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