Softube Acoustic Feedback - short review and clips

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To get it out of the way, yes Softube plugins are iLok authorized. So if you hate iLok, I recommend you not listen to the clips because it'll just frustrate you that Acoustic Feedback isn't an option for your setup :D

My blog post on the topic, with two clips, one with Acoustic Feedback, and the same clip rendered without it. I used Studio Devil's Amp Modeler Pro rather than one of Softube's _______ Amp Room plugins because I wanted to show that it's platform-neutral and works well with anything.

Anyway, have a read, have a listen, and let me know what you think.

I'll add a bit here because I think it's relevant, came out in another discussion thread on the review at GAM:

Please listen to both clips, not just the one where it's active. I included both clips because I wanted to give you the best sense of its effects, and also let you see that when sustain and feedback aren't appropriate, it doesn't muck up the playing; when I'm just noodling, it doesn't randomly go into feedback or anything like that, it stays unobtrusively dormant until feedback would be appropriate. That is a result of adjusting the three controls, and you'll need to do that differently depending on your guitar and your amp model. After all it can't tell the difference between a clean Fender model, a cranked Plexi model, or a Triple Rec model, but you obviously wouldn't want the same level of feedback for each. Not a one-size-fits-all plugin but then you wouldn't expect it to be, and they give you all of the level of control necessary to adjust it to the appropriate style of feedback for whatever you're using.

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Nice (work).
-- Regards MrM --

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Thank you :)

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I'm going to be recording demos for the AcmeBarGig Metal heads coming up, and I spent some time recording a few quick clips of some of the Preampus Classic heads that were released in the last week (plus today); all of these clips will feature Softube Acoustic Feedback, because I really have trouble going back to playing without it. I hate to sound just totally gushing because people don't take you seriously when you gush, but after you spend the time needed to understand how Acoustic Feedback's controls work, it is just incredible in how it makes musical usage of feedback so simple for modelers... I have always loved to use feedback when playing my physical amps but haven't ever been able to get modelers to do it right unless there's too much gain going on, but now it's back on the table and it is just a lot of fun and quite inspirational to my playing.

It's funny because it's sort of a subtle thing to listen for, I guess; most of the time you don't want feedback, so you're not going to hear many clips like the one in the article linked in the first post of this thread where I'm doing a bunch of long sustains just to show that it feeds back. But when you DO want it, when this plugin is dialed in it just *happens*, naturally and very pleasantly to the ear. And it plays like feedback should, which is weird and cool because that's not easy to do with an algorithm. Vibrato, adjacent fret slides, etc. work - it takes some getting used to how it will respond to your technique, and you have to have pretty good technique as far as playing with the feedback goes, because making too much noise will trigger the algorithm to be quiet if you have it configured like I do, but once you've gotten to know the software it is like magic. How it feels to play is just so much better.

I don't usually say this, but this is a piece of software that is for me a must-have. Softube granted me 90-day licenses to review the Amp and Effects bundles, but I probably won't even wait until the 90 days is up, as soon as I've got the bills taken care of this month and I get the all-important thumbs up from my darling wife, I'm buying a license for Acoustic Feedback. The hard part will be reviewing software and NOT using it. :)

Some technical talk about why it works so well for me, but you might be thinking 'uh, Jeff, I get feedback fine with my modeler?' - On the nature of feedback

Feedback in the context of a physical guitar amp is the product of a lot of things. It is a somewhat controllable feedback loop that involves your guitar's body, your guitar's strings, your guitar's pickups and their resonant frequencies and frequency response, your amplifier's gain, frequency response, and power output, your cabinet's ability to move air, and just as importantly the physics of the room you're playing in. The physics of sound are such that there will be spots where you can't get any feedback no matter how cranked your amp is (nodes), and there will be spots where feedback seems very easy and your guitar just screams (anti-nodes). Guitar amp and cab systems are great for making controllable feedback because they're made to operate at high output levels and hence they move a lot of air. It's what they're supposed to do. In fact, modern amp modeling software usually has no problem with feedback if you're running into a power amp and a speaker cabinet! There's nothing lacking in the technology of, for example, Amplitube Metal - if the supporting hardware and the physics are on your side, it'll let you scream and squeal just like the real amps it models. Ditto for others.

So why is a plugin like Acoustic Feedback necessary? After all, if the software can do it, that's all that matters, right? You wouldn't want to put something that makes more feedback in front of a real amp, would you? (well, sure, lots of people would, dirt pedals, compressors, you name it - but that's beside the point :D)

There are a few factors that make musically useful, controllable feedback a tougher prospect for amp modeling setups in the studio. First, there's a world of difference between a guitar amp made to run hot and ready and a speaker cab made to pump out massive volume and take a pounding without giving up the ghost, and a set of studio monitors. Studio monitors are usually capable of relatively high output - my KRK VXT 6, for example, claim that they can reach peaks in excess of 109dB - but they are very uncomfortable when asked to do so. Frankly they tend to sound like garbage when operated near their peak output. Professionals like Bob Katz will tell you that ideal monitoring volume is no higher than the mid 80dBs, both because that is the level at which we can safely and comfortably listen for hours a day without suffering hearing damage, and because our hearing curve is as close as our imperfect ears get to flat at ~83dB. So, there's a real difference in the intent and design of monitors compared to guitar power amps and cabinets that results in a basic discomfort with moving that much air for that long of a time, especially under feedback conditions (which can cause unsafe peaks for monitors).

But let's say you've got a set of Barefoots and as the last son of Krypton the idea of ear strain is something you scoff at. Even if your monitors can take the punishment and put out the sound no problem, you still might have no luck getting musical, controllable feedback. That's because it's entirely possible that the physics of your recording environment are not such that you have a conveniently located anti-node; wail all you like, but if the physics aren't on your side, you'll get nothing more than ordinary sustain.

I monitor at about 83dB, and try as I might only the higher gain amp models in my substantial collection will give me any kind of feedback. It seems that I've got that unfortunate physics problem. However, Softube has solved it for me. The clips in the article linked in the original post are recorded at my usual spot, with that low monitoring volume, and yet there it is, musical sustain that I can control and use. And the same goes for the Preampus Classic Head series clips - the feedback you hear is the result of Softube's Acoustic Feedback plugin.

It is the solution to a problem that not everyone will have - but for those of us who do have it, and who admire the musical use of feedback (artists such as Hendrix, Van Halen, Satriani, Vai, and many more have been fond of playing with feedback as a big part of their sound), this plugin definitely makes a $99 difference and more.

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I keep seeing views but no replies - I apologize for what is now another bump, but I posted a clip over on my blog that I think demonstrates the effect of this plugin in a more musical context (and also gives you a taste of what Vintage Amp Room and Softube's Spring Reverb plugin offer, too).

Link to the blog entry

I have had a ton of visitors to the Softube posts on my blog so I know there are plenty of folks who are interested in the software, but I also know that this forum tends to be quite anti-iLok so I understand if it's just not something that you guys want to hear about. I won't juggle this thread back to the top any further if there's no interest.

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There is no need to apologize for what is now another bump: I truly appreciate the hard work that went into this review and making the clips.

A few days ago I as wondering the same thing; with all those guitar players around here, surely some must be interested in feedback? AFAIK this plugin is rather unique and yet almost no talk about it: strange!

Thanks again for all your efforts.
-- Regards MrM --

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Thanks again for the kind words. I don't take it personally if something I've done isn't of a lot of interest to folks here or somewhere else, I have a good stats tracker for my blog and I can see where interest goes. I've had about three times as many views on the Softube posts as the rest for the last four days, I guess the fact that I've written so much about it might not leave a lot to discuss. The perils of being exhaustively thorough :lol:

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