[Update 10/08/2014] Ignite Amps Emissary support

[arkmabat]

Is there no distortion? I was hoping for such...

[Wild Hades]

Since Emissary only had one preset I tried to make more of my own but it seems it won't let me save a preset bank or FXB file containing more than one preset.

I'll look into that!

Is it not better that VST developers, busy as they are, make as much presets for their product because who knows more what each knob does than the developer? And especially when there are so many knobs. Oooh the permutations can get ultrasupermega daunting, kind of like the cockpit of an airplane.

Presets for guitar amplifiers / overdrive / distortion are completely useless, since the settings depends strictly on the cabinet used.
Frequency wise, the cabinet is the element that impacts the tone the most. If you dial the settings carefully using a certain cab and then switch to another, you'll need to retweak the amp settings in 99% of the times.
If there was a cabinet simulation, I would have added presets for sure, but since I don't know what cab the guitarist will put after the Emissary, there is no point on doing that.
IMHO, of course!

Is there no distortion? I was hoping for such...

Is this a joke or...?
The Emissary has 2 channels, Clean and Lead, switchable using the "Channel" toggle switch (the one between the two little leds, right under the second tube on the left ). The Lead channel has TONS of distortion
Check the manual

[Kontrast13]

Wow this is a pretty versatile amp. Being able to swap the tubes in the poweramp is a big plus.

[Dominus]

Odd question - I get an error trying to open the x64 version in Reaper. x86 version works fine. When scanning I get an error message and it refuses to load. If I uncheck "Get VST names" on scanning it will come through but then crash Reaper immediately.

Weird! I've been unable to replicate the issue on my system so far (Windows 8.1 with Reaper x64)

The latest NadIR that I just downloaded and one of the other DC2014 plugins works just fine, so it doesn't seem to be a folder permissions/Windows issue.

If it was related to permissions, it would affect x86 version too...
Just to be sure, did you try to run Reaper as administrator explicitly?

I'm wondering if there's a newer compiler for VSTs that you might have used on Emissary that has an issue with Reaper or the new Intel Z97 chipset / i7-4790k CPU.

This is highly unlikely, the compiler settings are the same for NadIR and Emissary.
The main difference with NadIR is the GUI library that I've updated, but I don't think that Reaper tries to open the GUI during the plug-in scan (although the GUI gets created)...

Did you try other hosts too? What Reaper version are you on?

Thanks for the report

Haven't tried other hosts yet, I tried the latest Reaper release and the current beta. Ran normally and as Administrator, no difference. Here's more people having the exact same problem (with other plugins) :

http://forum.cockos.com/showthread.php?t=141826

http://forum.cockos.com/showthread.php?t=143410


Older plugins were working fine for each of us, it just seemed to be people having issues with the latest versions, which made me think it was possibly a compiler/chipset issue if two of us had *just* upgraded our computers.

[Wild Hades]

Haven't tried other hosts yet, I tried the latest Reaper release and the current beta. Ran normally and as Administrator, no difference. Here's more people having the exact same problem (with other plugins) :

http://forum.cockos.com/showthread.php?t=141826

http://forum.cockos.com/showthread.php?t=143410


Older plugins were working fine for each of us, it just seemed to be people having issues with the latest versions, which made me think it was possibly a compiler/chipset issue if two of us had *just* upgraded our computers.

Wow... well, at least I'm in good company

I'll continue to investigate the issue, it's going to be hard to nail it down if I'm not able to replicate the problem...
A complete shot in the dark here, but the fact that this seems to show up on "fresh" OS installs, could it be related to the Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable Packages somehow? It shouldn't happen, since I've statically linked these libraries when compiling the plug-in, but it may be worth a try.
Do you have the x64 version installed on your system (sometimes you don't even need to install them explicitly, as other software may install them for you)?

http://www.microsoft.com/it-it/download ... x?id=40784

[harryupbabble]

Emissary does let you save to a FXB file. It's just that it will load only one preset from that saved FXB file.

Reaper can save more than one Emissary preset but Reaper's presets only loads in Reaper and nowhere else.

Okay, I learned something new by asking the wrong question and as a result found out that amp sims needed cabinets to function properly.

I've always thought that cabinets are just reverb units and the amp sims I've used did have their own reverb control. Thanks for the education (not being sarcastic), happy to be educated.

Going to now test Emissary with a cabinet plugin. Thanks again.

[Wild Hades]

Emissary does let you save to a FXB file. It's just that it will load only one preset from that saved FXB file.

Thanks, this will be helpful to track down the issue!

I've always thought that cabinets are just reverb units and the amp sims I've used did have their own reverb control. Thanks for the education (not being sarcastic), happy to be educated.

Going to now test Emissary with a cabinet plugin. Thanks again.

Cabinets are essential, expecially when the amplifier distorts.
The difference is night and day.

Shameless self promotion here, but you can try NadIR for cabinet simulation:
http://www.kvraudio.com/product/nadir-by-ignite-amps

Just load some cabinet IRs into it, like these ones:
http://bedroomproducersblog.com/2010/10 ... responses/

Cheers

[Dominus]

Haven't tried other hosts yet, I tried the latest Reaper release and the current beta. Ran normally and as Administrator, no difference. Here's more people having the exact same problem (with other plugins) :

http://forum.cockos.com/showthread.php?t=141826

http://forum.cockos.com/showthread.php?t=143410


Older plugins were working fine for each of us, it just seemed to be people having issues with the latest versions, which made me think it was possibly a compiler/chipset issue if two of us had *just* upgraded our computers.

Wow... well, at least I'm in good company

I'll continue to investigate the issue, it's going to be hard to nail it down if I'm not able to replicate the problem...
A complete shot in the dark here, but the fact that this seems to show up on "fresh" OS installs, could it be related to the Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable Packages somehow? It shouldn't happen, since I've statically linked these libraries when compiling the plug-in, but it may be worth a try.
Do you have the x64 version installed on your system (sometimes you don't even need to install them explicitly, as other software may install them for you)?

http://www.microsoft.com/it-it/download ... x?id=40784

Installed C++ and rebooted, no change. Installed VSTHost, same thing. NadIR loads, Emissary doesn't. This isn't a new install of Windows though, I just swapped the mainboard and CPU and then loaded all the new drivers. Everything else works, just a couple of plugins don't. Since it's not Reaper or permissions, it's gotta be something that these plugins have in common. I just dragged and dropped a bunch of plugins into VSTHost and it loaded all of the ones that were working fine in Reaper, but didn't load the ones that were having problems with Reaper. That's why I was thinking compiler/chipset issues.

[Wild Hades]

Emissary does let you save to a FXB file. It's just that it will load only one preset from that saved FXB file.

I'm looking into this and I'm definitely not a Reaper expert, but it seems like you can't add FXP presets to a bank in Reaper, am I wrong?
When I save a preset, it's being saved under the "User presets (.rpl)" list on the drop down menu, so there is no way to save it as an FXP entry explicitly (I mean under the "VST Patches (.fxp)" label). I see you can edit FXP entries and export them, but since Emissary was built with just 1 preset (the default one), exporting/importing an FXB file will always just save/update that single preset. So it doesn't seem to be a "bug", just a limitation caused by the size of the programs I set during the VST initialization. I can change that to something like 10 presets, though...
Am I missing something here?

Installed C++ and rebooted, no change. Installed VSTHost, same thing. NadIR loads, Emissary doesn't. This isn't a new install of Windows though, I just swapped the mainboard and CPU and then loaded all the new drivers. Everything else works, just a couple of plugins don't. Since it's not Reaper or permissions, it's gotta be something that these plugins have in common. I just dragged and dropped a bunch of plugins into VSTHost and it loaded all of the ones that were working fine in Reaper, but didn't load the ones that were having problems with Reaper. That's why I was thinking compiler/chipset issues.

Still looking into this and still unable to replicate it, I'll keep you posted.

EDIT: since you say that unchecking the "Get VST names/types..." makes the Emissary pass the validation and crash upon loading on a track, can you also try to check "Default VST to generic UI..." and see if it still crashes?

[Totolitoto]

Sorry I'm a total ignorant when it comes to guitars, do I place cabinets before or after the amp?

[Burillo]

Sorry I'm a total ignorant when it comes to guitars, do I place cabinets before or after the amp?

whichever sounds best to you

seriously though, after. just like in real world.

[arkmabat]

Since Emissary only had one preset I tried to make more of my own but it seems it won't let me save a preset bank or FXB file containing more than one preset.

I'll look into that!

Is it not better that VST developers, busy as they are, make as much presets for their product because who knows more what each knob does than the developer? And especially when there are so many knobs. Oooh the permutations can get ultrasupermega daunting, kind of like the cockpit of an airplane.

Presets for guitar amplifiers / overdrive / distortion are completely useless, since the settings depends strictly on the cabinet used.
Frequency wise, the cabinet is the element that impacts the tone the most. If you dial the settings carefully using a certain cab and then switch to another, you'll need to retweak the amp settings in 99% of the times.
If there was a cabinet simulation, I would have added presets for sure, but since I don't know what cab the guitarist will put after the Emissary, there is no point on doing that.
IMHO, of course!

Is there no distortion? I was hoping for such...

Is this a joke or...?
The Emissary has 2 channels, Clean and Lead, switchable using the "Channel" toggle switch (the one between the two little leds, right under the second tube on the left ). The Lead channel has TONS of distortion
Check the manual

I'll try that out. What a shock when I thought it just turned out to be a preamp or something haha.

[harryupbabble]

I'm looking into this and I'm definitely not a Reaper expert, but it seems like you can't add FXP presets to a bank in Reaper, am I wrong?
When I save a preset, it's being saved under the "User presets (.rpl)" list on the drop down menu, so there is no way to save it as an FXP entry explicitly (I mean under the "VST Patches (.fxp)" label). I see you can edit FXP entries and export them, but since Emissary was built with just 1 preset (the default one), exporting/importing an FXB file will always just save/update that single preset. So it doesn't seem to be a "bug", just a limitation caused by the size of the programs I set during the VST initialization. I can change that to something like 10 presets, though...
Am I missing something here?

I tried it with another plug-in, in this case EpiCentre (which has 128 preset slots), and Reaper does let you modify a preset and export it as a FXP file and then import that exported FXP into the current bank and export that bank as a FXB file and the modified FXP preset will be included in that FXB file.

I think Emissary would also be able to do all that if preset slots are increased to 128 from 1.
I don't know if 128 slots is the maximum allowable but it seems to be the standard.

I've downloaded tons of impulse response files from all over and did some testing and you are definitely right about cabinets being really crucial to the sound. At the moment I have been using only one Emissary preset to test the tons of IR files that are loadable in the nadIR plugin.

Does Ignite Amps have future plans to build amp sims that has an impulse response loader built in? That way, all the modifications to the cabinet settings as well as the modifications to the amp sim settings can be saved in one preset.

Also, now that I've fiddled around with Emissary a little bit more, the controls doesn't seem like an airplane cockpit's anymore. It's actually pretty simple to use. I guess I have been too reliant on built-in presets in the past. Okay, thanks again. Hope Emissary does well in DC'14.

[harryupbabble]

10-minute video of one Emissary preset, going through maybe 100 impulse response files in the NadIR plug-in. Excuse my nonexistent preset-making skill.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eq2-CeCJ_xA

[klaggu]

I've also been having the same issue in Reaper. I believe the issue is something to do with the VST bridge thing that Reaper uses.