STL Tonehub

[chagzuki]

I've had it in mind for a while that this could be worth picking up during Black Friday, based on demos I listened to months ago which I forget the exact details of. I'm feeling lazy when it comes to figuring out what's included with the core product, without purchasing extra Artist Packs, of whom I recognise no-one, not being clued in to current trends/scenes. I certainly don't want to be on a treadmill of incrementally picking up further expansion packs.

Does the core product have a decent selection of generic metal amps?

[Burillo]

the core product doesn't have "amps" as such. it's more like a collection of Kemper profiles. you can't really create your own FX chains as far as i can remember.

[chagzuki]

Hmm, I'm not going to have a great deal of time to really absorb myself in the demo... but will have to give it a go.

The website says "the ToneHub plugin comes with 60 core presets, along with the Sky Dreams pack."

[Burillo]

well, yes, but you can't select "an amp" and build your sound around that. rather, you pick one of the presets as a starting point, and tweak it. if you can't make it work - touch luck, try next one. AmpHub is a much more compelling proposition than ToneHub IMO, unless you're after "production-ready presets" rather than building your own sound.

[chagzuki]

AmpHub is a much more compelling proposition than ToneHub IMO, unless you're after "production-ready presets" rather than building your own sound.

Aha, didn't realise this product existed. Do you know if the underlying modelling tech is the same?

[MogwaiBoy]

The Amp/Tonehub/preset ecosystem is a little confusing.

So I can't just buy the Soldano emulation - I have to buy AmpHub first, is that right? But buying AmpHub gives you choice of one amp free?

[andrelafosse]

Tonehub = amp "profiling," similar to the Kemper hardware unit

Amphub = algorithmic modeling, which is the basic approach for most amp DSP, hardware and software

To draw a reverb analogy: profiling (or "tracing," as STL describes their take on it) is roughly comparable to convolution reverb, while modeling is more like algorithmic reverb.

[chagzuki]

Amphub = algorithmic modeling, which is the basic approach for most amp DSP, hardware and software

As of yet I've never been convinced by standard amp sims for high gain sounds, though the demos for Amphub do sound good.

[cprompt]

I quite like Tonehub, but ultimately, you're picking presets that you can tweak a bit rather than an amp and cab simulation that you can adjust to your heart's desire.

Also, bear in mind that when it's not Black Friday and Tonehub is full price, you get a preset pack of your choice for free. However, this does not apply during BF (which is a bit mean of them) so for your $100, you just get the built-in presets - a few from across the packs, plus the Archeon, Peavey, Hughes & Kettner and Sky Dreams packs too. For the money, you get a lot, but I'll be honest, the add-on packs are where the action is and overall, I felt that Tonehub itself out of the box was just a bit unexciting. There's absolutely nothing wrong with it, but I was going through hundreds of presets from quite a few packs (installing packs to demo is a chore) and so many of them were just meh. I ended up trying to convince myself I should buy Tonehub rather than being so blown away I couldn't give them my money fast enough and in the end, decided not to buy it.

Then I trialled Cali and Soldano from Neural and they immediately put a smile on my face.

[cprompt]

So I can't just buy the Soldano emulation - I have to buy AmpHub first, is that right? But buying AmpHub gives you choice of one amp free?

Correct.