I think the line6 variax workbench software allows you to tweak the tunings ... but there is no way round hearing the sound from the standard tuned strings except by playing loud enough ... or perhaps wearing headphones for recording. I have recently bought a variax 300 and am very happy with it - the models are good as long as you use an AB switch and direct the acoustic models through an acoustic amp or PA and the electic models though an electric guitar amp.