Magix Vandal amp sim = Winner in terms of sound quality so far

[Silenceborn]

Hey Hibidy.

Well I do not think you should be a smoker to be able to use Vandal, also I do not think those cables and fancy stuff on Amplitube interface are necessary as well tbh. BTW one of the most important aspects of the amp sims is the CPU use, and I can assure you that Vandal is using almost less than half the CPU Amplitube is using at any time, download the demo and try it yourself,

By the way, I somehow like that ashtray to be there, well I'm a smoker

Cheers

[hibidy]

It was a joking comment. Though I have to wonder if it wouldn't be too distracting

[redshift factor]

AmpliTube 3 delivers a level of realism and selection of specific sought after gear that no other ampsim, Vandal least of all, can parallel.

What do we care if some ampsim uses half the CPU as AmpliTube?
What exactly are we investing in CPU power for, if not to be able to use plugins like AmpliTube 3 for the best possible sound for our music?

[hibidy]

Speaking of cpu, I'm thoroughly confused about it with these things anyways.

Wasn't TH1 supposed to be less? It was allot more than atfender, a bit more than GR4 and about equal with AT3 (though the two new mesa models are REALLY high CPU in AT3.

Are we saying that vandal is less? It's not x64 so that rules it out. I already have AT3 which is x86.

I'm sure it sounds great though, in no way am I trying to rain on someones parade. Maybe I'll demo it tomorrow just for the hell of it

[redshift factor]

I wasn't impressed with the sound.
I thought it was in pretty mediocre amongst current ampsims, somewhere between Nomad Factory Rock Amp Legends and TH1.

Keep pushing IKMM to go x64 with AmpliTube 3, though.
The era of 64-bit-end-to-end is starting now, and they don't want to miss the boat.

[hibidy]

Keep pushing IKMM to go x64 with AmpliTube 3, though.
The era of 64-bit-end-to-end is starting now, and they don't want to miss the boat.

[poonna]

I've tried Vandal, and I think the cabinet simulation is interesting. At least it feels a quite bit like I was in front of a cabinet. But the overall sound, I think still lag behind.

AmpliTube 3 cabinets feel less alive to me, but overall sound is great. I think Softube Vintage Amp Room feels the best and sounds great. It's really tempting, but 3 amps for that price is really hard to swallow.

[Silenceborn]

AmpliTube 3 delivers a level of realism and selection of specific sought after gear that no other ampsim, Vandal least of all, can parallel.

What do we care if some ampsim uses half the CPU as AmpliTube?
What exactly are we investing in CPU power for, if not to be able to use plugins like AmpliTube 3 for the best possible sound for our music?

Well I never said Vandal is good because it uses less CPU power, as you can read in my first post I was and still the customer and user of AT and was using it for more than 5 years for almost all my projects, and I do also believe that AT sounds very good and for sure it is one of the best Amp sims around with many features and possibilities that very few may be able to compete with. And also I do not care much myself as well howmuch CPU power an amp sim is using because the sound quality is the most important fact for me. AND IT JUST HAPPENED that this Vandal is also very CPU FRIENDLY beside its great sound quality.

Well I do not prejudice like you too fast that this or that Amp sim is good or bad or parallel with others or not, I always try to run a very long test drive before I bring my opinion to public even if this is my own opinion and tru to my ears only.

Secondly you said : "delivers a level of realism and selection of specific sought after gear that no other ampsim, Vandal least of all, can parallel."

Whats the benefit of delivering too many different looks and different interfaces while not many people can use all those features ? for instance I'm using like only 3 or 4 Amps in AT2 and AT3 in these 5 years only plus some like 6 or 7 effects. Also logically Amp sounds and characteristics can be recreated by using different settings and factors, so having an amp sim which is able to give us a wide range of options to tweak the sounds we want is cool and somehow more professional and also much easier, for instance try that Voicing part a.k.a Curve/Freq and also try to change the sag and too many other factors plus you can always choose your own favorite cab sim or IR and then you may hear the difference I heard, the sound was more upfront, less artificial, less compressed and processed, less glassy/boxy and also more gluey and punchy.

And I repeat it again that while I believe this Vandal sounds better in terms of sound quality to my ears, it also has too many bugs which need to taken care of, and also beside Vandal I'm still using AT3 for its broad range of ready to use sounds and also because I got used to its interface

Anyway, at the end of the day beside the core facts/logics of amp simulation software which should be there, it is our ears and our taste which makes an amp sim good or bad for us.

Btw sorry for my bad English, I should probably put this in my Signature



Cheers

[redshift factor]

Whats the benefit of delivering too many different looks and different interfaces while not many people can use all those features ? for instance I'm using like only 3 or 4 Amps in AT2 and AT3 in these 5 years only plus some like 6 or 7 effects.

I don't think the point is to use all of the amps and pedals in AmpliTube 3, or even a majority of them. I think the point is that the ones you do want to use are almost certainly in there. These are going to be authentic recreations of specific real world hardware that can take the place of hardware in a totally ITB mix.

Also logically Amp sounds and characteristics can be recreated by using different settings and factors, so having an amp sim which is able to give us a wide range of options to tweak the sounds we want is cool and somehow more professional and also much easier, for instance try that Voicing part a.k.a Curve/Freq and also try to change the sag and too many other factors

I think it would be very difficult, to say the least, to actually recreate the tone of specific amps authentically doing it that way. That would take a lot of time and tone comparison, and is beyond the abilities of most, I think.

And Vandal does not provide the sort of environmental manipulation that AmpliTube 3 does. There's a big stylistic difference conveyed depending on what mics you use, their distance and where you place them, how much room you have mixed in, etc. These are the things that for me puts AmpliTube 3 on an unparalleled level of realism in emulating a real live studio session.

[shogger]

Vandal heads into an interesting direcion. But it's not there yet to me. What I'm looking for is mostly not the recreation of certain amps or devices. Instead I'm looking for certain characteristics. I think that drives all of us when we check out a new amp or guitar or other things.
So it would be cool to change those characteristics in the easiest possible way to get what you want. This would make an amp sim outstanding. Not all this blah how it can recreate certain rare or famous devices which would cost me $50.000 to get that sound. What if it doesn't have enough growl, it's too spongy, too stiff, too dynamic, too woofey, doesn't have enough sustain, etc.? These are the things that should be editable in an amp sim.
If I can get the results that are important to me I could care less about the possible original looks of worn Tolex or similar. Nothing against a nice GUI though...

Shogger

[Liero]

I can't shake the feeling that there is some hidden agenda behind the OP because I've tried both AT3 and Vandal head-to-head and for me AT3 is lightyears ahead in pure sound quality (forgetting about GUI, CPU usage and everything else). Of course everything is a matter of taste but at least to me the difference is huge.

[Silenceborn]

Well shake harder then oh by the way the conspiracy theories these days are everywhere, you probably can make a new one, just kiddin m8, well let me tell you that there is no hidden agenda here hehe, the thing is I do not see a HUGE difference as I said before between AT3 and Vandal in terms of sound quality as you probably see, the only thing I can recognize is that Vandal sound quality is better to my ears, and If you read my posts you will realize I AM still the AT2 and AT3 user. It just happened that after 5 years of using AT, suddenly Vandal discovered and it's sound is BETTER to my ears, that's all bro.

Cheers

[zerocrossing]

To each their own, I guess, but I was totally unimpressed by Vandal. Save your money as IMO the LePuc sims are better, though I'll still stand by good ol' AmpliTube 3 as the best by a comfortable lead. (pun intended)

[strangedogs]

My mainstay is AMPLITUBE 3 and coming in right behind is Studio Devil Pro for the high-gain stuff. I use my Boss GS-10's presets a lot too as they're amazing rich and PHAT.

[redshift factor]

I've never understood those people who claim AmpliTube can't do high gain.
I think they must be using it wrong. I get incredible high gain tones out of the Rectifiers and the Marshall JMP, and several others, complete with feedback. One thing that helps to really bring these amps alive is to use one of the many distortion pedals in front, and don't turn the amp volume or gain all the way up, just like a real amp. Treat these models like you would their real-world counterparts, and they will behave accordingly.