The real strong point of Line 6 audio interfaces, including the UX8, is the accompanying amp modeling software: Gearbox. Line 6 has already proven itself in the amp modeling sector and the POD’s success story just goes to show that this manufacturer is the leader in the arena. With Gearbox, Line 6 has offered us a kind of virtual POD that's in both stand alone and a plugin format that’s compatible with most sequencers

Guitarists will no doubt feel at ease with the interface: the amp looks like an amp, and the pedal board is visible on the main page. At first glance, it seems less complex than other amp software such as Native Instrument's Guitar Rig or IK Multimedia's Amplitube. You can access the pedal controls by clicking on the pedal (stomp box) in question, and you can also quickly activate it or deactivate it,... in a nutshell, it's quite user-friendly, especially for POD owners. So what's the advantage over a POD? The answer is: re-amping.

With re-amping you can plug your guitar into an amp (or a modeled amp) "after" you’ve recorded it. Once the stress of recording is finished, you can tweak your sound, change the amp...the sky is the limit. To do the same thing with a real amp you'd have to buy a re-amping box which would adapt the level that comes out of your sound card or console to the level of your amp input. With Gearbox, no cables are needed: just run the plugin in your favorite sequencer and insert it into the track. Your audio interface records the direct (untreated) signal from your guitar and then sends it through the amp modeler. The only problem: this takes up CPU resources during the mixing of your piece, since it need to treat the sound. If you apply Gearbox directly to the recording, you won't be able to change the sound once it's recorded. But you do have the choice, and that's the main thing. As for choices, there’s quite a bit of choosing to do with the its 18 available amps, 24 cabinets, 5 bass amp models, 29 Pedals (stomp boxes) and 6 mic preamps.

Using Gearbox in plugin mode allows you to have multiple instances at the same time. You can therefore record two guitars (or a guitar and a bass) simultaneously, each with their own sound. If the singer wants to use an amp simulation on her voice, just run another instance on another track. The only limit is your computer.

OK, but how does it sound?