FreeAmp version 3 What do you want?

[nickkbh]

Yeah, FreeAmp for Mac.that would be something.

[koolkeys]

Unfortunately, there won't be a Mac version any time soon, unless SynthEdit decides to support Macs.

[juha_p]

Same two wishes as w/ prev version;
- RAT effect
- standalone version with ability to load 'external' VSTs

Juha

[chrishurley]

One of the newer Boss effect processors has some mode where you have two presets loaded- one that it uses when you're level is below a threshold and one when it is above a threshold. I haven't tried it (and have a hard time thinking it would work well) but its an interesting idea.

[cheul]

- Feedback simulation
- Gate with step sequencer in the synth module. That would allow for some crazy sounds, coupled with wah-wah, delay...

[FrettedSynth]

Would it be too difficult to add a "level dependant distortion" as mentioned above? That is the biggest issue that I have with sims as of now. Sometimes I like to play lightly for a few bars and get a lightly overdriven sound and then start going at it playing real heavy for that full over the edge overdrive.

Worked that one out in my head last night Now lets see if I can make it reality ? Should not be too hard with all the work on tracking I have done for the synths???

@chrishurley - Now that sounds like a interesting idea! wonder if I could make it morph\or crossfade between two as the veocity changes? Will look into it. To Guitarzan I will see if I can also make it so two amp-sims can be ran parallel, this one all depends on CPU use?

@cheul - I think if I get the harmonics right I can make it feedback like a real amp? had some old amp-sims I was working on that gave great feedback, but I was real un-happy with the tone! so I will look back to them to see why they screamed so much with feedback? And yep! step-sequencer is added to the list Almost forgot about that one.

@asseca - Amp bypass added to the list, then people could use the Synth with any input. Thanks

And sorry For right now a Mac version is impossable for me to do with SE.

Thanks all, What a great morning this is turning out to be
Fretted Synth

[SRF]

Produce an engine for playing rhythm guitar using clean e-guitar samples, with lots of preset rhythms, and link it to Freeamp. Musiclab are threatening to do something very like this but not for a long, long time...

[CapnLockheed]

"level dependant distortion"

This is a roundabout way of asking for the ONE
BIG THING missing from ALL ampsims...TRUE tube
emulation. Ever since the first solid state amp
rolled out, manufacturers and developers have been
claiming to have done it. As far as I'm concerned,
it aint happened yet!! Perhaps the answer lies
in some combination of physical modeling and dynamic
convolution??

Cheers.....CL

I dont' usually use the volume knob very actively while playing, but I do like it when the amp is right on the edge of breakup. I've had some pretty good results approximating this by using two amp sims in parallel, one clean and one distorted. With everything tweaked just right, light picking is cleaner and heavy piking is more distorted and the overlap is smooth because the more distorted tone just overtakes the clean tone at a certain point rather than an abrupt transition. It might be possible to really refine this with compression (sidechaining, or maybe another use for something like Amplitude Imposer?) etc. It wouldn't really need to be two seperate amp sims, just a way to mix back some "tubey" sounding clean with the higher gain signal, like the Voodoo Lab Sparkle Drive. It could all be done internally and be totally transparent to the user. Just a thought.

EDIT: Oh, and it wouldn't always have to be clean/distorted. For higher gain sounds it would probably be better to have a lower gain/ higher gain pairing, etc. The main thing is that one of the parallel tones is set for the tone you want with light picking and the other is set for the tone you want with heavy picking.

That does sound like a good workaround, I'll have to give it
a try. (Mnn...Voodoo Lab!) Still though, I'd like to see developers continue to try to more accurately emulate the
physical characteristics of tubes. BTW...I can tell you
that another ampsim designer I work closely with is pursuing
this goal as I type!!

Cheers......CL

[Milt]

[quote="chrishurley"]If you intend to keep giving it away and you don't already have a way set up to take donations- get one.


I agree, you should be rewarded for this fine work. I love FreeAmp 2!!!

[egarrard]

@chrishurley - Now that sounds like a interesting idea! wonder if I could make it morph\or crossfade between two as the veocity changes? Will look into it. To Guitarzan I will see if I can also make it so two amp-sims can be ran parallel, this one all depends on CPU use?

Don't use velocity. Use level, like a compressor. Set the transition point with a threshold control. Also have a knee control to affect the smoothness of the transition.

I just downloaded FA2 and the thing I'd like to see is a routing matrix so as to change the order of effects if needed.

As to the sound, when the distortion kicks in, it's as if the signal hit a high-pass filter. The bass disappears and the treble gets boosted. That might be great in some genres, but not in most. Beefy distortion is what is needed.

[jarite]

Just tried freeamp 2 for the first time, amazingly good vst. This saved me a lot of money, since it does everything I want from an amp/effect sim. The money I was saving for Guitar Rig/Amplitube etc. now goes to a new sound card.

Thank You Fretted Synth!

j

[Ivan_C]

The money I was saving for Guitar Rig/Amplitube etc. now goes to a new sound card.

Thanks God and FrettedSynth so ! Fortunately, he's buying a soundcard instead ! I can't understand why people is wasting money for pieces of shit like Guitar Rig and Amplitube, they are expensive, locked with boring protections for the buyers, and they are sounding worse than plug-ins from "unknown" people working in their garages for free

I'm waiting for the next version impatiently I hope you will find ways to make FreeAmp3 sound better again ! I have tried to develop a VST amp simulation, but that is sounding like crap, so I know well how it is hard to get something interesting...

[FrettedSynth]

Don't use velocity. Use level, like a compressor. Set the transition point with a threshold control. Also have a knee control to affect the smoothness of the transition.

I just downloaded FA2 and the thing I'd like to see is a routing matrix so as to change the order of effects if needed.

As to the sound, when the distortion kicks in, it's as if the signal hit a high-pass filter. The bass disappears and the treble gets boosted. That might be great in some genres, but not in most. Beefy distortion is what is needed.

Will look at a few ways to track the inputs level and convert to a crossfade of two amps, have some aready in my synths that I will try first, will see how CPU use is using two amps (could get high ) but if I can work it out that would mean you could also instead of crossfading run two seperate amps parallel
Yep! am finding all kinds of things that will be done different in the next version! parts of FreeAmp's structure go back a couple years, have learned a lot since then! Thats why the new version is starting with all the amps gutted

Thanks all
Fretted Synth

[Jason Brian Merrill]

just please dont lose the response of the old version. I may not like the overall sound of freeamp but there is a real "Feel" to it...

[guitarzan]

Will look at a few ways to track the inputs level and convert to a crossfade of two amps, have some aready in my synths that I will try first, will see how CPU use is using two amps (could get high ) but if I can work it out that would mean you could also instead of crossfading run two seperate amps parallel
Yep! am finding all kinds of things that will be done different in the next version! parts of FreeAmp's structure go back a couple years, have learned a lot since then! Thats why the new version is starting with all the amps gutted

Thanks all
Fretted Synth

Isn't your Overdrive pedal basically like a lite amp sim? You could probably do the same thing running two Overdrive pedals in parallel into the main amp sim. You wouldn't even need to see both of them - everything could be optimised during design to operate internally and just appear as one O.D. pedal. Or alternately - an O.D. pedal running in parallel with the main amp sim. Might save CPU cycles I'm only suggesting this as an alternative if two complete amp sims is too CPU intensive. If you can use two complete amps sims then you can probably get a little speaker/cab dynamics out of the deal, too!!

Another thing that works for me is using multiple compression stages - like if every gain stage could also have it's own dynamic structure, as tubes do. Having multiple unlinked compression stages gets a gooey, push/pull thing going that really starts to remind me of a fine overheated amp! To get it going with the two compressors already included in FreeAmp2 is hard because Attack and Release need to be set differently for each stage, as does Ratio (fairly lite) and Threshold (just going for the peaks). It would be best if your internal gain stages just each had their own unlinked dynamic qualities, just like every individual tube in an amp. Since I'm a guitar player, I just do everything by turning knobs and listening, so in order to explain better I'd have to look at some of my saved setups and see what I finally settled on. I'll take a look later and see if I can figure out exactly whats going on in terms I can explain.