The Line 6 POD Studio UX2 is a highly targeted USB audio interface for PC and Mac aimed at guitarists and singers.
The Line 6 POD Studio UX2 is a stylish device. The matt black finish and silver knobs seem designed to fit in with guitar gear rather than your PC or Mac. Twin volume meters on the front panel look like nothing more than old-fashioned radio gauges. However, at 260x160mm, it’s a large unit.
The back panel boasts seven 6.3mm jacks for line in, foot switching, monitor and line through audio. The front panel has two 6.3mm mono inputs labelled Normal and Pad. On the front panel you’ll also find two XLR mic inputs, fed by phantom power driven by your Mac.
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Once you load up the drivers and POD Farm 2 software (the application that enables you to model amps and effects), you’ll see plenty of presets for vocals alongside the plethora of ready configured guitar setups. The range and quality of sounds is truly terrific.
As for latency, it sounds almost instant to our ears – from UX2 to Mac and back through the phones. Sampling is at 24-bit and up to 96KHz, with the sample rate chosen in software rather than on the unit.
A final plus for the UX2 is that it comes with a most comprehensive software bundle. Professional standard DAW Ableton Live is here in a 16-track Lite version. There’s a cut-down version of Propellerhead’s Reason too, alongside Line 6’s own POD Farm 2 and Line 6 Monkey software.
The UX2 takes a while to set up. You’ll need to install Line 6 Monkey and create an online account to activate the device and its add-ons, then download updates to get going.
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