Software has NEVER ACHIEVED Decent Guitar Distortion. Nope.

[Killvehicle]

AHh but the dirt is where its at!! BUt be sure thats the best I can do with sims, albeit I am rather pleased, on my next promo cd, I have already pre-produced some tracks(mic'ed of course) and I got the guitars sounding like Satan... OH I cant wait.. NO SIMS THOUGH!!! NEVER!!!!!!! I got me some new mics, new speakers and new gear.. BUt thanks for at least a 'good tone',, I honestly dont expect anyone to like the saturated HI gain I am offering. But Empty Uranus was a Mesa if I am not mistaken, and that just proves my point that the real deal Holyfield is always better than sims.. Man I need to go to bed, and IM drtunk and I checked out your Zelda theme!!, Now that one was cool..!!

[Lunch Money]

"always"? "never"? Weird.

[Sascha Franck]

Killvehicle, especially the "classic" driven thing sounds pretty damn good to me.
But of course you know how to play as well - quite some important thing in a guitar sound.

[Lunch Money]

But of course you know how to play as well - quite some important thing in a guitar sound.

Ultimately more important than the whole real/sim thing... no?

[tomg]

First... my excuses ...I'm still working on the tone, my guitar playing is rusty, I'm still new to GR2/eXT and my finger nails are too long... but I whipped out GR2 and did a little old time metal anyway.

I may not be that good at getting a great tone out of GR2 yet but give me another 2-3 months. I can hear it starting to gel, despite the flub or two.... Well ok.. maybe three or four.

http://www.ele4music.com/efmvst/dist-1.mp3

No compression, no master plug, no nothin' and no whammy Hi-E broke on my strat so I used the paul.

eXT, 2 guitars, a bass and some drums. No offence to the makers of the JCM900 but it sounds like software to me.

[GrooveE]

(post removed)

[Killvehicle]

I have tried Guitar Rig, Line 6 Vox, Boss, just about everything I know of, and I have never found a single distortion vst even that comes close to a $29 Digitech stomp from Guitar Center.

Not even close.

I'd even pay serious money for one if I could find it. So far, I think Helian free amp sounds best.

Please prove me wrong.

I probably agree that no VST yet sounds as good as a bunch of amps miked properly, but Ampfarm sure does sound great. It's not a VST, i know. But i mean, there's nothing in the technology of a stomp box that in any way makes it complicated to emulate. But do you know what a stomp box sounds like if you just line it right in?? It sounds horrible. That's why no one emulates it.

The only thing not yet emulated well by any software based solution is the warmness and dynamics of a tube preamp. Everything else has been done; Pod sounds better than most miked amps.


/G

Uh not quite, the reason a stomp box sounds like shite going direct is cause there are no speakers, if you go direct in with your stopm and THEN apply a cab impulse I think you will see your favorite stomp sounds just like it would in your set-up, provided you get a decent cab impulse. Ever hear a line out from a preamp that doesnt have speaker modelling? SOunds like ass, but put some cab impulses after that and it sounds good. ANd there are quite a few emulations of stomp boxes.. ANd Pod is essentially software as well, but while the POD doesnt amaze me either, it is a better solution becasue of the fact it has a dedicated input, like any amp would. ANd also has cab modeling. Software sims on the other hand is at the mercy of whatver soundcard or input that the user has, and this can really make the signal going in suffer, which will make the software suffer, and not to mention latency with computers.

[Killvehicle]

Thanks Sascha for giving a thumbs up, on my albeit not very 'classic' tone, Im looking for saturation, thats my key to sound I like, and this is by far the closest I have come, and FINALLY I found a real good use for the ANtares Tube, I tried using Cubases DAtube to also get my sound and while it is usable the ANtares Tube really sounds authentic when used in this context, and took what I thought was one of the best softsims JCM900 and took it to a new level now. On the HI GAIN modern tone I used a modified Boss BLues Driver, this mod was done to increase Tube saturation (emulation obvioulsy) but it does really sound like tubes and this was my little secret to the Death metal tone. and it added quite a bit of compression and some mids which really tightened and thickened up that tone, and as you should be able to hear, at ridiculously hi gain there was still nice string seperation, which is also something I really look for

[Jason Brian Merrill]

all of you should try freeamp2 and see what you think of it.

[Jason Brian Merrill]

wonder if any would have any thoughts on this thread to spice it up a bit

No thanks. I skimmed some of your posts in it and they were all crap. I mean, don't take that the wrong way or anything, it's just that I don't like crap. I'm only telling you that to be constructive. Like, try to make your future posts have less crap... because currently they're just mostly crap.

Crap.

Crappity crap crap crap.

Crapalicious craptacular crap.

But don't take offense, please. Although if you do it's probably you and not me. It probably means you're like, "on the rag", or something.

ummm, what exactly does it mean? How are my posts crap? Constructive criticizm usually has some logic behind it. Yours is just indicitive of trolling.

[Jason Brian Merrill]

wonder if any would have any thoughts on this thread to spice it up a bit

http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic ... sc&start=0

Nah not really, If you look back WAY back on that Free amp beta released thread(edit: Actually it was the freeAmp1.5 what do you want thread) you will see I said exactly what you say about it, but I realized its limitations and didnt push the envolope. Its not made for what I want or you either apperantly, and you can say you are being constructive and making it better , but it won't happen. Its the nature of things, ou have to find your own way. Thats the only reason I tried my ass off to try and find decent sim sounds, I have access to great amps good mics and a rehearsal room where noise is never an issue anytime and I wouldnt ever record with sims, but a part of me wants to find a way just to prove I can do it, And for me I did, Im not out asking people to "figure" out a sound for me when the program simply can't do it. I really dont see why you are pushing that FreeAmp thread like you are, but apparently you have a bunch of people trying to appease your desires and that must be somewhat substantial, if not humiliating for the folks trying to find that sound for you./

It was just a little challenge in the beginning, because i complained about the sound quality, and someone took it upon themselves to start a "contest" and then others followed. I didnt ask anyone to "Appease" me.....

[warren]

ummm, what exactly does it mean? How are my posts crap?

Well, there was the parts where you repeatedly called the amp sim "crap", and then couldn't figure out why so many people took offense to it. "Wow! You people are so sensitive! I'm just saying it's crap! That's all! I'm being constructive! I swear!"

Constructive criticizm usually has some logic behind it. Yours is just indicitive of trolling.

Hahahahahaha! Now THAT'S "golden irony".

Oh, I also liked how you proclaimed everyone in THIS thread to be "idiots".

Wow. I wish I was as smart as you. No really. I do. I swears.

[Jason Brian Merrill]

ummm, what exactly does it mean? How are my posts crap?

Well, there was the parts where you repeatedly called the amp sim "crap", and then couldn't figure out why so many people took offense to it. "Wow! You people are so sensitive! I'm just saying it's crap! That's all! I'm being constructive! I swear!"

Constructive criticizm usually has some logic behind it. Yours is just indicitive of trolling.

Hahahahahaha! Now THAT'S "golden irony".

Oh, I also liked how you proclaimed everyone in THIS thread to be "idiots".

Wow. I wish I was as smart as you. No really. I do. I swears.

I knew this is what you were getting at. Glad you took the bait.

hehe, actually, i said the sounds I was getting from it were crap. I had actually attributed this to my lack of knowledge of the sim initially. And when no one else was able to get a clear tone out of the thing, i attributed it to some flaw in the way things were modeled. It was indeed constructive, i went to a far length to describe the problem with the sound.

I also used word such as "undefined" "muddy" not "open" -- not just "crap"....

the WERE sensitive, yelling at me for criticizing a "Free gift" free or not, i dont care, if i like the sound or dont, im gonna say so. And you seem to have similar sensitivity...

your argument holds no water.

as far as calling everyone in this thread "idiots" well, yes by reading this thread i was a bit frustrated at some of the discussion here -- but i assure you, It was in hyperbole. But in a thread that starts off

"I have tried Guitar Rig, Line 6 Vox, Boss, just about everything I know of, and I have never found a single distortion vst even that comes close to a $29 Digitech stomp from Guitar Center. "



what else could i say?

bunch o idiots who feel this way --no offense that is

but perhaps it was a bit out of line...

[Lunch Money]

Uh not quite, the reason a stomp box sounds like shite going direct is cause there are no speakers, if you go direct in with your stopm and THEN apply a cab impulse I think you will see your favorite stomp sounds just like it would in your set-up

Ah. So without sims, you're just putting a stomp-box through an cab? No. There's still the entire AMP to be factored in. A stomp box into a pristine clean channel of a solid-state amp or into a P.A. channel pretty much sounds like crap, too, which is exactly the sound you'd get by putting on a cab impulse into a D.I. stompbox. Units like the TS808, Guv'nor, or good ol' OD-1 are meant to go in front of an amp, more often than not on an already dirty channel.

Pod is essentially software as well, but while the POD doesnt amaze me either, it is a better solution becasue of the fact it has a dedicated input, like any amp would.

Such a weird justification. Anyone who knows anything about using an AMP sim will have an impedance-matched input. Whether it's proprietary like the units by Amplitube, Guitar Rig, TonePort, or GTR (what do you call THOSE, if not dedicated inputs?); or whether it's a simple D.I. running into the soundcard (again, you don't get much more dedicated than impedance-matching), at the end of the day it's just an input. Those are exactly the same as the one on the POD, so I don't know how "the fact it has a dedicated inpu, like any amp" somehow puts it ahead of any other sims. No, what sets the POD apart is the fact that it has good modelling, not a dedicated input. Bizarre.

ANd also has cab modeling. Software sims on the other hand is at the mercy of whatver soundcard or input that the user has, and this can really make the signal going in suffer, which will make the software suffer, and not to mention latency with computers.

"At the mercy of" makes it seem like you don't have the choice. As mentioned already, most of the top-tier software HAS a line of dedicated inputs; but that aside, all it takes is a Hi-Z to line-level conversion... which many people already have, or can easily add. As for latency with computers, unless you've been in the dark ages you'll find that 3ms is a common latency these days. 3ms is undetectable. But, for the sake of argument let's say that you DO notice. There's still the TonePort with its "ToneDirect" system, interacting with Gearbox, which is software. It's not software that's the issue there, either. If, for example, Guitar Rig + ASIO is incapable of the kinds of low latencies that you want, it's still obviously not an impossibility. I seriously doubt that AAllll the guitarists in the world who have done just fine with 2.9 ms latency are ALL wrong about how responsive it is. I personally get get by with anything 6ms or less, though I admit to preferring the "ToneDirect."

Greg

[guitarzan]

Hey all, I'm reposting this info because it was pretty much wasted where I originally posted it. I know Warp and FreeAmp have already been considered and rejected by most of you, but you might want to check them out together. Or at least Warp+something else. No shit, I was never a fan of Warp either - but with the Warp model selected and the Greenback cab, the cab simulation is outstanding, I think. If you have these plugs (the Parameteric EQ is that new free one, IIEQ) give it a try. I'm not going to do an audio clip - I have a Danelectro and a Strat with me right now, plus the "heavier" I try to play the goofier I feel:


I don't really know anything about metal and all, but it seems to me you would have everything you need for the heaviest of tones by using the Warp with the Greenback cab (killer low end cab/speaker distortion and sag) in parallel with FreeAmp2 on a clean or crunch setting ("Drive" settings seem to blend into mud when mixed with Warp). Probably need to turn reverb off in FreeAmp, and turn delay down or off. Adding light chorus on FreeAmp actually sounds cool - it's like the thunderous bass is centered with the high end filtering in around the sides. Then use a parametric eq afterward to get rid of everything that doesn't sound like the magic chug tone you seek.