Line 6 TonePort KB37

GEARBOX

The included GearBox software has 18 guitar and five bass amp/cabinet models, 30 effects, and six mic pre models. Think guitar stuff doesn’t apply to you? Plug a hardware synth into the line inputs, turn up the amp drive, and transform a sterile keyboard into a growling weapon of mass distortion. Highly recommended! Ditto for synth bass and drum machines.

The preamp models add very useful vocal variations that may save you the hassle of swapping out mics, or fiddling with EQ, in the heat of creation. And while the effects have a “stompbox” vibe, the chorus and delay processors sound good with anything.

Note that these effects are not traditional plug-ins. Line 6’s ToneDirect low-latency monitoring process depends on inserting the plug-ins at the driver level, so the processed sound is what gets recorded into your DAW software — just as though you ran a guitar or keyboard through a series of effects pedals and pointed a mic at the amp. However, for an extra $199.99, you can do online activation of RTAS or AudioUnit (Mac) and RTAS or VST (PC) functionality.

IN USE

I first went into GearBox’s preferences to set up the controllers, buttons, and transport controls to send the desired MIDI data. The KB37 doesn’t have traditional 5-pin MIDI jacks — it’s all done through USB. You can assign the expression and switch pedal inputs to whatever MIDI controller you want, as well as to GearBox effects parameters; furthermore, if your computer has a traditional MIDI interface, you can route control messages from an external device to GearBox as well, which is great for fans of real time parameter control. Speaking of which, I wasn’t impressed by the feel of the four controller knobs; I’d recommend them more for set-and-forget type parameters than hardcore real-time knob tweaking.

Even the transport buttons aren’t forcibly tied to MIDI Machine Control commands. They can send switch controller information (or continuous controller, if you can settle for on or off), emulate the transport commands from a Mackie Control, or send program change increments and decrements. What’s more, there are presets for Ableton Live, Apple GarageBand, and Propellerhead Reason 3, as well as MIDI and GearBox defaults. All of this is documented mainly in the online help, or you can poke around in the Gearbox preferences menu to find a variety of goodies.

Using ASIO, Cakewalk Sonar 6 worked just fine running 30 hard disk tracks with a 128 sample buffer (the lowest available in GearBox) — impressive. Also note that there’s a separate latency setting for the ToneDirect Monitoring function, where you can trade off speed for CPU usage. At sample rates of 88.2 or 96kHz, it appears that the TonePort actually records audio at 44.1 or 48kHz, then doubles the sample rate for compatibility with your host DAW session.

GearBox made it easy to dial in vocal and other sounds, and monitoring with effects but without latency is indeed cool. Although the KB37’s mic preamps are a little noisier than those found in higher-end interfaces, being careful about compression and high-frequency boosting (coupled with some judicious gating) pretty much made this a non-issue. Being able to add delay and reverb was also flattering to vocals.

But the big story about the KB37 is workflow. Whether I wanted to add a soft synth part played on the keyboard, or a guitar or a vocal overdub, it was easy to switch inputs rapidly and just go for it. The real workflow surprise, though, was the GearBox software. My first thought was that it would be limiting to set up sounds in advance and be committed to recording those sounds, as opposed to recording dry and adding plug-ins during mixdown. In actuality, the reverse was true. It’s easy enough to dial in good sounds that most of the time, I was more than happy with what I had — and this also sped the recording process up tremendously.

This fast workflow was particularly important during the writing phase of working on a project. Generally, I lay down “scratch” parts while writing, then go back and re-cut parts “for real” once the song has taken shape. With the KB37, it took such little effort to get a good vocal, guitar, or bass sound that the “scratch” parts ended up sounding like finished parts in terms of tonal quality, and that in turn made for a much more inspiring compositional environment. Think about it: If you’re going to hear your own voice over and over as you work out other parts, it’s a lot cooler if the voice sounds good! And of course, for laying down those all-important keyboard tracks — again, a crucial part of the writing process, as MIDI makes it so easy to transpose parts to hit an optimum vocal range, as well as to tweak tempo — the keyboard was right there, ready to go. I’d go so far as to say you can’t really appreciate the full worth of the KB37 unless you use specifically for songwriting, with the Gearbox software. There’s really nothing else quite like it.

CONCLUSIONS

The KB37 is quite the all-in-one solution, from MIDI to recording voice and instruments. It’s not the only product to combine a keyboard, audio interface, and assignable controls, but the GearBox software gives it a real advantage — it’s great for getting sounds down fast. If you’d rather be non-committal and postpone your sound decisions until mixdown, you can always record dry and add plug-ins later. In use, the KB37 is actually better than it looks on paper, because it speeds sessions and encourages productivity. It does this to such a degree, in fact, that it unequivocally deserves a Key Buy.