KVR Audio

zerocrossing · Post by **zerocrossing** » Thu May 03, 2012 3:17 am

Thanks for the nice free update, but I have a criticism. In 2012 (We've not even a year left of existence!) we can't have a delay and modulation lfo synced to the incoming tempo?

That said, IK could learn a lot from you guys about what a Marshall sounds like.

Sounds fantastic!

hibidy · Post by **hibidy** » Thu May 03, 2012 4:05 am

I've wanted three things since I got this (very early on). Was told they were high on the priority list.

tuner
overdrive
tempo sync

I know, I'd bitch if they hung me with a gold rope but this should have been a 1.1 or 1.2 update, not a 2.0 update. I'm not a huge modulation guy with guitar.

MickGael · Post by **MickGael** » Thu May 03, 2012 4:18 am

egbert wrote:The promise of reverb and drive units in free updates is also very encouraging

Integratron · Post by **Integratron** » Thu May 03, 2012 4:39 am

Downed and installed version 2.0 but when I went to run it, I got a message that said that the demo had expired. I guess I had the previous version installed and it had expired? So I don't get to demo 2.0. That's no fun!

egbert · Post by **egbert** » Thu May 03, 2012 5:06 am

hibidy wrote:I've wanted three things since I got this (very early on). Was told they were high on the priority list.

tuner
overdrive
tempo sync

I know, I'd bitch if they hung me with a gold rope but this should have been a 1.1 or 1.2 update, not a 2.0 update. I'm not a huge modulation guy with guitar.

I gather there was some significant re-writing involved in creating the movable rack elements stuff. So A) presets for the old version and the new version might have been incompatible - hence a new version number so you can use them in parallel and B) now that the stucture is there for add-on modules, I expect we will see more modules coming soon.

I would love i and iii in your list also and would definitely check out the coming overdrive module. One of the things I like about S-Gear is that the sound is not all about overdriven pre-amps. The amp drive actually drives the power-amp harder which I think contributes to the realism of the amp sound and also the retention of a more realistic "tube amp" pick response. I have fooled around a little with using different hardware and software overdrives ahead of the input - plenty of great freeware tubescreamer clones these days (anyone who hasn't availed themselves of these just check out guitarampmodelling).

hibidy · Post by **hibidy** » Thu May 03, 2012 5:13 am

No, I understand. But I remember specifically asking about those features and being told they were a "high priority". This was quite some time ago.

It's fine the way it is, it's worth 75 bucks and it does sound good. AND it's not like they charging for the update.......but......they said "high priority" some time ago

Burillo · Post by **Burillo** » Thu May 03, 2012 7:41 am

obviously refactoring and laying foundation for bigger updates is of higher priority

as a programmer i can fully relate to that - first you prepare the foundation and then you build on it. I for one welcome our... oh, sorry, wrong website

AndrewSimon · Post by **AndrewSimon** » Thu May 03, 2012 9:06 am

As far as I understand now that the "foundation" has been changed
adding new features will be faster but I don't think we will see
super fast pace because Mike is concentrating on quality not quantity.

Part of his "quality secrect" is that he is designing all this in the hardware world, he actually builds these things before he starts coding.

AndrewSimon · Post by **AndrewSimon** » Thu May 03, 2012 9:07 am

Short clip... just for fun.
All S-Gear2 including the Bass.
http://www.andras-shimon.com/S-Gear/S-Gear2.mp3

Pädy · Post by **Pädy** » Thu May 03, 2012 11:58 am

AndrewSimon wrote: Part of his "quality secrect" is that he is designing all this in the hardware world, he actually builds these things before he starts coding

Amazing!

Itron · Post by **Itron** » Thu May 03, 2012 2:04 pm

Downed and installed version 2.0 but when I went to run it, I got a message that said that the demo had expired. I guess I had the previous version installed and it had expired? So I don't get to demo 2.0. That's no fun! Sad

Yup had the same experience. Contacted Scuffham, and they have now posted the following -

http://www.scuffhamamps.com/forum/3-new ... ded-trials

standalone · Post by **standalone** » Thu May 03, 2012 2:30 pm

hibidy wrote:I've wanted three things since I got this (very early on). Was told they were high on the priority list.

tuner
overdrive ...

... Bachman?

zerocrossing · Post by **zerocrossing** » Thu May 03, 2012 2:56 pm

Here's my little mini-review of v2...

First and foremost, the amp tone is fantastic. I like the idea of only 3 basic amps that have lots of flexibility and control. Amplitube is awesome with it's giant complement of amp sims, but it can be daunting and I find myself using the same handful of amp models most of the time. Something Scuffham's done that others seem to have missed it that the high gain high frequency content always seems to come though very clear and smooth. Again, comparing it to Amplitube, there are some models, like the S100, that I have to put in a stomp EQ before the amp to dial out some of my EMG's high frequency output so I don't get a harsh crackley fizz. It works, but it seems odd I have to do it. Other IK models like the Orange amps don't have this issue.

The effects are also very good and the new modulation rack is great, but both effects suffer from lack of tempo sync. Not so bad for the modulation, but it makes the delay mostly unusable to me. Also, it feels odd to me that the first new effect is a chorus/flange when this package is still missing a basic reverb. I know, this only set me back $75, but I'd pay more for a few extras that made S-Gear a more "one-stop-shredding" experience.

That said, where are the stomps? Again, we don't need a million, but a Tube Screamer, Guv'nor and Big Muff would round this software out nicely.

The UI is fair to bad. Basic amp and effect controls are fine, but it honestly seems like things just got put in where they fit during the development cycle and no time was talken to make a cohesive logica UI. It took me far too long to figure out how to add an effect module. Stuff like that should be very intuitive. Also the move/delete/disable buttons on the racks conflict with the "rack screws." Unnecessary eye candy should never conflict with functionality. The cab section looks like it should come with freeware, but it's fairly clear. The fact that the UI constantly resizes depending on what's in a preset is distracting. Too much space is wasted on amp cover fabric.

I find my self scratching my head as to why anyone would care about banks of patches in software. A preset browser is enough. This feels like some leftover of how things worked in the 80s that no longer really makes sense in modern software. I'd cut that feature loose.

So, to wrap up, it's clearly in league with the best amp modeling software out there when it comes to pure amp tone, and it's price is sure right. It does seem to need a face lift and a few modern features to bring it up to where it's competitors are, but when that happens it's going to be a hard package to beat.

kbaccki · Post by **kbaccki** » Thu May 03, 2012 2:59 pm

hibidy wrote:No, I understand. But I remember specifically asking about those features and being told they were a "high priority". This was quite some time ago.

AT has some serviceable overdrive stomps. Just turn off the amp, cab, and rack modules and insert prior to s-gear in the FX bin...

Seriously, I have a "stomps only" preset just for the purpose.

zerocrossing · Post by **zerocrossing** » Thu May 03, 2012 6:43 pm

kbaccki wrote:
hibidy wrote:No, I understand. But I remember specifically asking about those features and being told they were a "high priority". This was quite some time ago.
AT has some serviceable overdrive stomps. Just turn off the amp, cab, and rack modules and insert prior to s-gear in the FX bin...

Seriously, I have a "stomps only" preset just for the purpose.

That's a good idea. I've been doing this but never thought to make a dedicated pedal board preset.

Scuffham Amps S-Gear (developed with former Marshall product designer)