Axe-FX vs amp sims

[electro]

UAD 8.6 has their first Amp sim. Fender Tweed.

[zerocrossing]

But I did have a weird noise floor thing though. Not sure why it's so incredibly noisy.

OK, I had another go at Therimonic and I solved the noise floor thing. If you ask me, it's a UI issue not to have the input gain trimmer on the first page... actually, I'm not sure why such simple UIs need some sort of pane system at all.

I'm still not that impressed with it. I got some great high gain tones, real buzz saw stuff, but it didn't strike me as some major step forward in native plug in amp emulation and definitely doesn't seem like it's in AxeFX/Kemper territory. To me it sounded like an effect on my guitar's signal where the Kemper sounds like I'm listening to a mic'd amp in a control room. I have to admit I was either using Recabinet or Speakerphone 2 do load up cabinet impulses. I will say that I personally hate the whole idea of loading up separate VSTs for each stage of my setup, and having to load up a new VST just to change amp models? Feh to that. Working in a framework like Amplitube or GuitarRig is much preferable. I also noticed that I was sucking up some serious CPU load while running Therimonic/Recabinet or Speakerphone and I hadn't even put on any reverb or other effects. I can't delegate 30% of my CPU for a guitar track.

Anyway, I won't say it's bad, and if it's your thing then have at it. I feel I have a couple of models in Amplitube that I feel are on par with it, or even Scuffham and they're easier to work with. I've actually been trying to sell S-Gear... no takers. Oh well. I'm still of the mind that the "holy grail" tone is still going to come from a great tube amp running through a Two Tone Torpedo Studio. Maybe when the baby goes off to college and I can move the spare bed out of my studio...

[EvilDragon]

But I did have a weird noise floor thing though. Not sure why it's so incredibly noisy.

Input gain over the top is the main reason. I don't have any noise issues with it (with EMGs, too). I see you've figured it out. It might be cool to read this article, too (especially Emulation Philosophy part): http://kazrog.com/docs/guitar/thermioni ... 3D&mw=MzUw

Shame you don't hear it, it really is a major step in modeling accuracy in the plugin world. Au pair with S-Gear 2, and in a lot of cases much better than it.


Interesting you have it at 30% CPU... I don't get more than 10% at maximum quality over here in large majority of cases (this is with other plugins for noise gate, Tube Screamer, delay, etc.)... and it's an old i5-2380P at 3.2 GHz...

[egbert]

Karzog intends to follow the framework approach from all reports. Hopefully, we'll see how that's going to look soon.

[zerocrossing]

But I did have a weird noise floor thing though. Not sure why it's so incredibly noisy.

Input gain over the top is the main reason. I don't have any noise issues with it (with EMGs, too). I see you've figured it out. It might be cool to read this article, too (especially Emulation Philosophy part): http://kazrog.com/docs/guitar/thermioni ... 3D&mw=MzUw

Shame you don't hear it, it really is a major step in modeling accuracy in the plugin world. Au pair with S-Gear 2, and in a lot of cases much better than it.


Interesting you have it at 30% CPU... I don't get more than 10% at maximum quality over here in large majority of cases (this is with other plugins for noise gate, Tube Screamer, delay, etc.)... and it's an old i5-2380P at 3.2 GHz...

Oh, I don't have it at 30, but that's what I was estimating with effects. Part of that was Speakerphone which is pretty thirsty.

What are people using for cabinet impulses? What's better than Recabinet?

[bharris22]

I have been using Two Notes Wall of Sound and liking it.

[EvilDragon]

WOS is great, NadIR is a cool and simple IR loader, seems pretty efficient too.

[spacekid]

I'm using Recabinet 5 with Redwirez impulses. I wan't a fan of the other recabinets either. I have WOS also, but I like Recab 5 better.

[bmanic]

NadIR is by far the best I've tried so far. Reaper users can of course use ReaVerb (impulse loader). As for actual impulses.. I'm using mostly RedWirez stuff or when I feel lazy I just load S-Gear 2 after Thermionik and only use IR and effects of S-Gear.

[bmanic]

I'm using Recabinet 5 with Redwirez impulses. I wan't a fan of the other recabinets either. I have WOS also, but I like Recab 5 better.

I seriously suggest you get NadIR (it's free) and load your impulses through it instead. Make sure you set it's quality/impulse length to ''extreme''.

In my opinion this yields drastically superior results compared to ReCabinet.

[EvilDragon]

I must say I very much dislike the way IR browsing is done in NadIR, this is better in Recabinet 5. NadIR depends on OS file loading dialog, which doesn't remember the last path used for loading IRs - so if I loaded something else in the meantime (say, an .fxp), it can open the dialog in a totally unrelated location, then I have to browse back to my IR folder again. In Recabinet 5, it doesn't use OS file loading dialog at all, you set the root folder (default IR path) and it starts from there, always. That's how it should be done.

[zerocrossing]

NadIR is by far the best I've tried so far. Reaper users can of course use ReaVerb (impulse loader). As for actual impulses.. I'm using mostly RedWirez stuff or when I feel lazy I just load S-Gear 2 after Thermionik and only use IR and effects of S-Gear.

Thanks for the information. I'll check the free NadIR with the free RedWirez Marshall cabinet. I do also have S-Gear, which I've always thought was good but still in the neighborhood of Amplitube.

Why is there so much anti Amplitube sentiment these days? When I was doing amp modeling ITB they seemed all the rage. I thought they were among the best. I still love those Orange models and use the Ampeg bass amps for bass all the time.

[spacekid]

I'm using Recabinet 5 with Redwirez impulses. I wan't a fan of the other recabinets either. I have WOS also, but I like Recab 5 better.

I seriously suggest you get NadIR (it's free) and load your impulses through it instead. Make sure you set it's quality/impulse length to ''extreme''.

In my opinion this yields drastically superior results compared to ReCabinet.

I use NadIR also. As EvilDragon says, it's more about convenience with Recabinet 5. I switch back and forth between my cab loaders.

[bharris22]

Why is there so much anti Amplitube sentiment these days? When I was doing amp modeling ITB they seemed all the rage. I thought they were among the best. I still love those Orange models and use the Ampeg bass amps for bass all the time.

I love those Orange models, too, and think that they really hit the nail on the head with the new Mesa collection. I have a couple of Mesas, and these models are nearly perfect, IMHO.

[zerocrossing]

Maybe I'm too dumb to figure out the whole impulse thing, but after trying Therimonic Plexi with the free Redwirez 1960a cab in Recabinet and NadIR... I don't get it. I prefer the sound of my Orange Amplitube simulations by a lot, and I still don't think the AxeFX/Kemper users have any reason to ditch their hardware any time soon. Aside from some great ultra high gain stuff that Therimonic seemed to do well, I feel any sort of low-mid gain types of sounds were not up to par.