AmpliTube Metal - Released THIS month!!!

[redshift factor]

Which wah pedal was modeled for AT Metal?

Also still no answer on how extensively individual components from the various Amplitube products can be combined in X-GEAR...

[beergeek]

I'm no expert and I certainly don't know but from the images supplied I gather that you load them much as you do in AT2...Amp, Stomps, Cabs and Racks are what you are actually loading...so an amp from one, a Stomp board from another, a rack from another and a cab from another....in other words, it looks like whatever "module," you load the whole module. It might look cumbersome but from what I've gleaned, it only counts as 1 instance.

Of course, I'm so often wrong anymore I don't know why I bother saying anything

[redshift factor]

Yeah, that's sort of what it looks like to me too, which is what I'm really afraid of, and why I've been trying to get some answers about it, to no avail.

And if this is indeed the case then it is totally unacceptable.
That isn't at all what was expected by users based on what we were told. Everyone was expecting full seamless integration of any combination of pedals from any of the installed Amplitube powered plugins together like they were all in the same plugin, and the ability to mix and match all available amp components. This whole system is a major rip-off if it doesn't do that.

[beergeek]

Why would that be unacceptable? While I agree that it's visually clumsy, it does in fact do what they said you could do.

Make your chain as follows:

Amp - AT2
Stomp Board with Chorus from AT2
Stomp Board with Fuzz and Univibe from ATJHE
AMP ATJHE
Rack effects from AT2
Rack Effects from ATMetal
AMP from Metal
Cab from AT2
Cab from ATJHE

And it's all like one instance of AT2...granted the above is going to screw with your cpu anyway but...

It's not like you open ATJHE and can put the stomps from AT2 in the same board with ATJHE but it works out to be the same thing...doesn't it? You just wind up with empty slots in a module...

Isn't that functionally what you expected or am I missing something I should be pissed about

[redshift factor]

Well I understood it to be that you choose which product you want each page from, but still have the 5 fixed pages of TUNER -> STOMPS -> AMP -> CAB -> EFFECTS.

Anyways, it is totally unacceptable if it is indeed that way. It's beyond clumsy for a product with a starting price tag of over $500. For the kind of money multiple AT products costs, users should certainly get more than that. Why should you have to have three separate stomps pages open and jump around from one to another just because you want to stick the UniVibe in between the Chorus-1 and the Memory Man?

The fact is you can already open multiple instances of it and bypass modules and it will only use the CPU necessary to run the enabled components. If this indeed is all X-GEAR does then it is totally useless. Cubase 4 provides more convenience than that because at least you can drag and drop the order of inserts.

Anyways, we were told you will be able to access ATJH components inside of AT2. That was the original promise. X-GEAR as you are speculating would only allow you to open up ATJH along side AT2. That is something totally different.

X-GEAR should instead simply make every component available from the drop down menus as if it was one plugin containing everything. That is what everyone was lead to believe would happen, and for the premium pricetag of Amplitube powered products, customers should expect nothing less.

[beergeek]

Well I understood it to be that you choose which product you want each page from, but still have the 5 fixed pages of TUNER -> STOMPS -> AMP -> CAB -> EFFECTS.

Anyways, it is totally unacceptable if it is indeed that way.

Only addressing this part as I'm freakin tired...

Nope, if you look at the images they show stomp, amp, stomp, amp, stomp...so as far as I can tell, you can put shit in any order you like and as much as your cpu can handle

Again, I agree that visually, it's clumsy but the end result is what was promised.

Oh, one other thing, I don't think that multiple instances are less intensive than this would be. As far as I can tell the engine grabs extra cycles no matter what.

But as I have often said, I'm old and slow

[redshift factor]

But also the screenshot in question displays one image from each of the 5 supported Amplitube powered products. This may be what matters, rather than that they alternate between stomps and amps. Perhaps that is just for aesthetic reasons. It doesn't make much sense why anyone would create a rig with perfectly alternating stomps and amps but no rack effects and not even a cab.

So for all we know, these could just be arbitrary icons used to identify which plugins are installed and available through X-GEAR, and have nothing to do with which module pages are selected. Perhaps all X-GEAR does is lets you select which plugin to load from that screen, and you can only use one at a time.

It would be really great if someone knowledgeable could tell us what's going on with this thing. Because the more I look at the pictures provided on the website with absolutely no accompanying explanation of what they are, the more it looks like it sucks to me. This is why some informed feedback is so needed.

[Squids]

Which wah pedal was modeled for AT Metal?

Also still no answer on how extensively individual components from the various Amplitube products can be combined in X-GEAR...

Not sure which wah, maybe the cry baby or possibly the Morley but I don't think so.

AS far as how individual components can be combined, it's as easy as having them all in the same list under each section! So, in your stomp effects you would be able to scroll through ALL of the stomps from the various powered by AT plugs you have. You'd have both the AT2 fuzzface and the Hendrix Fuzzface model which ARE different because two different units were modeled.

By the way, I got clearance to fly out to Italy to do a video on the GEAR itself (also going to retrieve some of my pedals that were lent for modeling and are sitting in the IK gear museum). But I wanted to offer my expertise in this area to really show everyone what is being modeled from hardware and talk about why it is so cool. It's interesting stuff. We'll also be putting all of these little video episodes on our you tube and eventually on sonicreality.tv it's just a video journal of things I do from demonstrations to backstage at concerts to studio stuff...

I can't answer all the individual posts as much as I'd like because of time (slammed at the moment like crazy and traveling) so forgive me if I miss a question. But I am skimming through the posts and I understand some frustration for those that can't afford it so easily. If it helps we're going to have it for pre-order on www.esoundz.com this week for $899. and it will come with your choice of a FREE R.A.W. Universal Groove Kit from us or $100. in epointz (in addition to your free AT Metal from IK). This is just something for the pre-order to spice it up (it's shipping before the end of November).

As far as flexibility goes beyond added value bonuses such as that you may get from both the manufacturer and reseller like the case above (esoundz being a reseller that often adds sounds into the deal to make it sweeter), there isn't much else that can be done. The price is what it is for a reason. Not only did it take years to develop and cost a ton of money to develop a dedicated hardware/software control system such as this but the physical product build itself (ie. manufacturing costs) are extremely high! It's hand made in a factory in Italy. It's high quality manufacturing in low quantity (relative to ordering thousands of units from China). When you mass produce something in China it can be cheaper but there is often a sacrifice in build quality or components.

This is why you can get a cheap M-Audio keyboard made in China that is great bang for the buck but then there's keyboards like the Nord Stage or the Kurzweil K2600 which are thousands of dollars but the build quality, the keybed, metal frame, knobs and pots are fantastic! More durability too. Again, you get what you pay for. Maybe some day Stomp IO's will be mass produced in China and the price can go down a bit. But, I'd still pay more for the handmade ones done in Italy personally. This thing is solid! The engineers who designed it were audio perfectionists and didn't skimp on components.

I am sure money could have been saved left and right by compromising audio quality, features and other things. But IK went to the extreme with this one and it costs more because of it. I DO think that a less expensive version of it would be nice though because some people simply can't afford it. However, guitar gear is typically expensive and people DO buy Les Pauls, Marshalls, Voxes, vintage pedals so it isn't TOO off the mark for what most guitarists can afford... that is when they REALLY want something. With this being like the ultimate "Bradshaw Rig" I think it's worth it.

My main point was to say that the price isn't arbitrary so saying "they can charge whatever they want but..." is not really the case. There are formulas based on cost averaging your development to recoup and also the margins for dealers to make the profit they require to be able to invest in it... there are a lot of things that go into it so it isn't just "I think we'll charge THIS!". It could have cost more actually with no extra software given. I think the best effort was taken to make it the best price and a fair deal for AT2 users. It's not as easy to do with hardware as it is with just software though and crossgrades.

[redshift factor]

Thanks for the reply Squids. That really sets my mind at ease. The only question left about mixing and matching components is if you can mix and match amplifier preamps, EQs, and poweramps across the various Amplitube powered plugins, like the Hendrix Marshall preamp with the AT2 Vox AC-30, and the Metal 5150 poweramp. I assume the AmpegSVX components wouldn't be swappable, since they're presented as solid units.

My guess would be that the wahwah is the Morley, since the Crybaby was definitely already modeled for Amplitube 2. I compared the AT2 wah to my own Crybaby and it was pretty spot on. Plus Morley is the wah of choice for metal, and the graphics seem to emulate Morley's elevated platform and sharp corners.

BTW, what is that Wharmonator thing?

[hibidy]

deleted since it's just too much stuff by me! But you can easily read the above posts if nes...

@wah

http://www.ibanez.com/electronics/spec.aspx?m=WD7 would make sense......

@Italy/checking out............

Oh...........tough life..........

@esoundz (yeah, let's hear it for getting it right "crowd roars")

This is the place to get things! They had the kill deal on at2, and I got my points used.........however, still waiting for my tee-shirt.......



@stomp i/o..........

I am only really complaining about two things really.

a. I'd have coughed up 3000 usd for something with DSP built in (not that you could/would have done anything......just rapping here........)

b. Not having the expression pedals.........not even one! This complaint being 6 slots (If I see correctly) and none included (which there "seems" to be a 99 buck charge for.........)

ok then, carry on.........felt like typing.........loving my IK stuff.........etc........

[Squids]

Thanks for the reply Squids. That really sets my mind at ease. The only question left about mixing and matching components is if you can mix and match amplifier preamps, EQs, and poweramps across the various Amplitube powered plugins, like the Hendrix Marshall preamp with the AT2 Vox AC-30, and the Metal 5150 poweramp. I assume the AmpegSVX components wouldn't be swappable, since they're presented as solid units.

My guess would be that the wahwah is the Morley, since the Crybaby was definitely already modeled for Amplitube 2. I compared the AT2 wah to my own Crybaby and it was pretty spot on. Plus Morley is the wah of choice for metal, and the graphics seem to emulate Morley's signature elevated platform.

BTW, what is that Wharmonator thing?

Yes, the components are swappable!!!! So the amount of guitar combinations goes up exponentially to almost infinity. That's why I sit here in awe of it all (being a gearhead in fantasyland having asked for this for YEARS and it is finally happening).

To me X-Gear is possibly one of the coolest systems for any effect plug EVER! It's like a plug-in within a plug-in kind of system and I just LOVE it because you can customize your virtual set up and save PATCHES that call it all up just how YOU like it.

It's the way to go man. The gear you'd have if you had all of them? AT2, Ampeg, Hendrix and Metal is a DREAM set up! What a collection of virtual gear... no maintenance, no battery acid leaks, no smell (haha... we forgot that gear also sometimes smells... but sometimes that's also good)... no lugging all that stuff around.

I used to have a studio FILLLLLLED with gear. I still do but not like the museum I used to have. But moving was absurd and maintenance was rough on the wallet too. So, you can understand my excitement about both my and other people's ability to have a virtual museum of gear in sofware with something like this X-Gear system.

[Squids]

I would like to have seen a pedal included too but the costs and margins on this thing are tight. It's like sometimes keyboards don't include a sustain pedal for the same reason. Accessories aren't always included.

It's kind of a catch 22 in a way. The only way costs can go down is if something is in MASS production. Since this is a new type of product who knows how many will be in demand? So you get the craftsmanship for lower quantity custom manufacturing. It's actually nice to have that! When/if it does become immensely popular I would imagine manufacturing probably would be done in China like most audio interfaces and controllers these days and the price would go down or pedals would be included. But it is still a trade off (that you usually don't even have the option on anyway, so it is nice to get the solid metal handmade version while it lasts this way).

So, in this case, it's a high end specialty product. As it is there will be limited supply too which is why I wanted to put it on pre-order. I have to RESERVE copies because the manufacturing time is much bigger for a second run and it could be difficult to get as a dealer (especially since large stores order more and get priority). But, I can reserve as many PRE-ORDERS as we get on www.esoundz.com (and they'll be some of the first to get it plus have the free extras like RAW Universal Groove Kit or the epointz).

[redshift factor]

That's pretty awesome. But one more question...
Can X-GEAR rearrange stompboxes on the fly with drag and drop?

That's the one thing that Amplitube products are sorely missing which all the other major ampsims have (Waves Stomp, Guitar Rig, ReValver). Even Steinberg has finally introduced insert drag and drop with Cubase 4.

And what about getting the MXR Phase 90 (Eddie Van Halen's signature effect) into AT Metal? IKMM already modeled it for Amplitube 2 as shown in early beta screenshots, but then never included it.

[Sascha Franck]

Fwiw, I don't necessarily thing the Stomp I/O is overpriced. I'd buy it instantly if the concept was right. But I'd guess it isn't. Most likely that's mainly got to do with Amplitude, though.

[hibidy]

I would like to have seen a pedal included too but the costs and margins on this thing are tight. It's like sometimes keyboards don't include a sustain pedal for the same reason. Accessories aren't always included.

It's kind of a catch 22 in a way. The only way costs can go down is if something is in MASS production. Since this is a new type of product who knows how many will be in demand? So you get the craftsmanship for lower quantity custom manufacturing. It's actually nice to have that! When/if it does become immensely popular I would imagine manufacturing probably would be done in China like most audio interfaces and controllers these days and the price would go down or pedals would be included. But it is still a trade off (that you usually don't even have the option on anyway, so it is nice to get the solid metal handmade version while it lasts this way).

So, in this case, it's a high end specialty product. As it is there will be limited supply too which is why I wanted to put it on pre-order. I have to RESERVE copies because the manufacturing time is much bigger for a second run and it could be difficult to get as a dealer (especially since large stores order more and get priority). But, I can reserve as many PRE-ORDERS as we get on www.esoundz.com (and they'll be some of the first to get it plus have the free extras like RAW Universal Groove Kit or the epointz).

No, I hear that............but I would believe (oh, somewhere in the 100% realm) that you get what we are saying too! It just gets kinda hard with the costs and all........