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

[Silenceborn]

Thank you peter for your hard work and time here in this thread, now please with your permission, let us continue our discussion about the pros and cons of amps sims here. Here I put an end to the funny subject and will continue to share my ideas and learn more from people here about amp sims, especially vandal and also Studio Devil which I like em both as I like Amplitube 3.

By the way Anyone knows how to delete the small presets inside a main preset file in Vandal? because as I see here every preset file can have 4 different presets, how can I delete one of them? any Idea ? I hope you understand what I mean.

Thanks

[eduardo_b]

Well, thank you Peter but as a free man in a free country I can express my feelings though they may be wrong or even non-sense for others. that is my right to say what I think even if it may lack knowledge.

Completely true...but there are many ways to say the same thing. Some result in interesting discussions, others result in anger and unnecessary personal attacks. With freedom, as they say, comes responsibility.

[Silenceborn]

That is completely true eduardo_b my friend

Now any idea about my problem ?

[Peter - IK Multimedia]

Thank you peter for your hard work and time here in this thread, now please with your permission, let us continue our discussion about the pros and cons of amps sims here. Here I put an end to the funny subject and will continue to share my ideas and learn more from people here about amp sims, especially vandal and also Studio Devil which I like em both as I like Amplitube 3.

By the way Anyone knows how to delete the small presets inside a main preset file in Vandal? because as I see here every preset file can have 4 different presets, how can I delete one of them? any Idea ? I hope you understand what I mean.

Thanks

Sure, now that I've corrected potentially defamatory information - carry on.

[eduardo_b]

That is completely true eduardo_b my friend

Now any idea about my problem ?

No, sorry, only have minimal experience with Vandal...for now.

[Hink]

Thank you peter for your hard work and time here in this thread, now please with your permission, let us continue our discussion about the pros and cons of amps sims here. Here I put an end to the funny subject and will continue to share my ideas and learn more from people here about amp sims, especially vandal and also Studio Devil which I like em both as I like Amplitube 3.

By the way Anyone knows how to delete the small presets inside a main preset file in Vandal? because as I see here every preset file can have 4 different presets, how can I delete one of them? any Idea ? I hope you understand what I mean.

Thanks

I think you would do better asking on Magix forum, as I recall you are waiting on your upgrade to samp 11 pro correct? If you can't access the main forums for some reason the newcomer forum seems to get quick answers. Probably the easiest way is to remove the files from the system folder...I'm not at my DAW right now, so I can't check

[dgkenney]

interesting tip, can you explain what exact control it gives you? I'm a big fan of Radial, so what is z control you speak of?

Edit: just looked it up, seems to be a bit of a no braner at 50 bux. Though it seems more geared to passive guitars.

Hi Hink,

Well, as I said it is subtle but definetly useful. Some of a sounds charcteristice are dependent upon the impedence and capacitance matching of the pups, input and the sim that this gives some control. My guess is that it is just a variable resistor to load the impedence.

It's sort of a poorman's way of emulating the "True-Z" input staging found in the Eleven Rack. True-Z goes a lot further with Capacitance matching as well as impedence loading. Chris Townsend, the father (or at least one : ) ) of the Eleven Rack talks more technical here: http://community.avid.com/blogs/avid/ar ... rue-z.aspx

Unfortunately, it doesn't help if you don't have this particular $900 piece of hardware. The $50 Dragster approximates one of the elements - impedence.

Anyway, don't expect amazing results but it is somewhat helpful.

Dan

[Silenceborn]

That is right Hink, well I will try to post my problem on Magix forum but yesterday I could not go to that page, my Firefox was just killing itself but the page did not open, though I had some broadband internet issues as well. Anyway I will try tomorrow again, thanks for the tip as well.


Cheers

[Hink]

interesting tip, can you explain what exact control it gives you? I'm a big fan of Radial, so what is z control you speak of?

Edit: just looked it up, seems to be a bit of a no braner at 50 bux. Though it seems more geared to passive guitars.

Hi Hink,

Well, as I said it is subtle but definetly useful. Some of a sounds charcteristice are dependent upon the impedence and capacitance matching of the pups, input and the sim that this gives some control. My guess is that it is just a variable resistor to load the impedence.

It's sort of a poorman's way of emulating the "True-Z" input staging found in the Eleven Rack. True-Z goes a lot further with Capacitance matching as well as impedence loading. Chris Townsend, the father (or at least one : ) ) of the Eleven Rack talks more technical here: http://community.avid.com/blogs/avid/ar ... rue-z.aspx

Unfortunately, it doesn't help if you don't have this particular $900 piece of hardware. The $50 Dragster approximates one of the elements - impedence.

Anyway, don't expect amazing results but it is somewhat helpful.

Dan

it does seem it's intended for passive pick ups which of course are Hi-Z, so I may not be trying it. I have one passive guitar and that's my Jackson Kelly with the skull mural (I call it my little red sports car because I bought it in the middle of my whole mid life thing, though it feels like an aircraft carrier)

Not all my pick ups are active, in fact I'm only using active pick ups on one guitar now. But I do use two different on board pre amps and I use one active tone control on different guitars.

[sightlessness]

After reading lightly through all this thread, I gotta say that the OP didn't MEAN (even if he say BS) the advertisement was BS as in lying, but as BS, frack all the advertisement (even if true) but that trusting your ears, above ALL.

I think Vandal sounds very good, and you can also use, as with many amp sims, your own pedals before it (like using let's say EZ-Driver by Mokafix).

Personally I don't think AT3 is that great, AT Fender sounded good or very good to a certain degree, but maybe they are that great, maybe they are just not for me. I always feel I have to do lots more of work to having them sound great indeed.

And I think it depends a LOT of what you WANT-NEED to get that great tone (great to you only). (Hello Mr. Obvious )

AT3 doesn't even work (or any AT sim) as it should on my quad core machine with the lowest buffering, it always cracks at low bufferings, and AT Fender as well. Using Reaper. Too bad, as it would be nice to have them as additional tools, yet I don't suffer at all by not having them.


I manage to get better results (for me) using Mokafix pedals, Vandal (maybe sometimes just the pedals, sometimes just the amp, sometimes the room, or whatever) and using speakerphone guitar cabinets and its compressor, hell, even their distortion sounds great on some settings! Or using Cabinet too.

Softube stuff like the Metal Amp Room is nice. The VAR sometimes. (tone varies a lot even each day, sometimes I feel-think something sounds great or bad, and the next day or week is the opposite!)

Hell, I even found myself that using certain Speakerphone guitar cabs and BBE Guitar Fuzz give me a very Rock Crunch-OD rythm sound, which I love and haven't found anything like that yet (AT3 doesn't come close to that sound I found elsewhere, maybe no other amp sim, haven't test it all, it's a lot of testing). But maybe that very same sound that I love if I posted it would make you even puke, coz first of all, that sound ISN'T what you are looking for, but wait till you hear that very same sound withing context, and MAYBE you would feel different.

With all these amps I think NONE is greater than any other. If you love AT3, GR4, Vandal, or whatever and you make it sound great to your ears and others fall for it, then awesome, more power to you.

Another thought: Guitar Rig 4 claims many professional artists use it and even quote them. So fracking what?!?! When you try the demo and you don't like it, what the frack does it matter if other "pros" use it?

My point is, guitar tone is more about YOU than anything.
(I.e. I loathe Vai's tone or Satch lead tone's usually, yet they keep rocking the world, winning grammy's and stuff. Then again, I personally can't stand them. At the other side, I usually love Petrucci's tone, but I don't go and buy a Mesa Boogie... coz I can't ... to have his tone, coz simply for my escence and tastes and type of music I wouldn't use it that much).

So, if you like an amp (even LePou's or Shred) good for you (I think I use only a lead Lepou plug, and that's sparingly). If you use Vandal, AT3, whatever, and you are happy, good for you!

[Steviebone]

Steviebone, I brought up questions concerning your thoughts on remote operation on the Samp forum a while back. I spent a lot of time trying to automate the wah and was disapointed because I couldn't and that's using Samplitude. As I recall sascha said he was already on that

Thank you for that bit of info... it's what I wanted to hear... wouldn't mind hearing an update from sascha tho

As for the rest of the amp sim warriors in this thread, I spoke carefully with zero intent on challenging any specific sim on purpose. No-one but the developers themselves know how they develop a product. There is, as someone else pointed out, a lot of commercial slants imposed. That being said, I like IK's stuff. To my ears, tho, Vandal produces some very good results with far less footprint than IK and others. And I don't care how much processor the 'pros' have, I'm doing a lot more in a big mix than just guitar work. CPU consumption will always be an important part of my assessment.

BTW, I use 5 multi-core computers slaved together in my system. Don't know if that makes me as professional as the MacDaddy or not? Frankly, I don't give a damn. The tone on these boards is as usual, somewhat juvenile.

I don't speak for IK, or Vandal, or any other amp sim maker or distributor. I'm just a musician that's lucky enough to get to play with stuff every day! You can take my comments with as much salt as you wish.

Now, I ask one more time for someone from Vandal to speak up on the MIDI issue. It's a real bummer for me. If I thought the solution for this issue was imminent it might significantly alter my purchasing decisions.


Special thanks to those developers that ARE willing to participate in these forums and pony up to the discussions even in the face of juvenile behavior.

[strangedogs]

AT 3 is my new GO-TO but Studio Devil Amp Pro has the best PUNCH with it's Rectifier I've heard yet (except the ones from my GS-10). Vandal is kewl but it's not in the league of the two aforementioned IMO.

[Hink]

AT 3 is my new GO-TO but Studio Devil Amp Pro has the best PUNCH with it's Rectifier I've heard yet (except the ones from my GS-10). Vandal is kewl but it's not in the league of the two aforementioned IMO.

I'm not trying to be difficult, nor am I arguing (I really like AT3) but could you expand on why you don't feel it's in the same league of the others? There is no right or wrong answe but it might help those deciding and sascha (the man behind Vandal) does listen.

[Hink]

btw, I take your sig as a compliment

[strangedogs]

just don't feel the PUNCH I get from the other 2 on the High-Gain Presets. Amp Modeler Pro's RECTIFIED METAL and some of AT 3's High-Gain stuff brings me outta my chair and I wanna RAWK - hell I'm 58 so anything that does that is "worthy"... I also like the RAW feel TH1 gives me too.

BUT - I'll try it again - DIMI makes it sound PHAT!