Favorite amp sim and why

[arakula]

+1 for Savihost here. I'm using it too for quick access at home (so don't take it as an official Magix proposal). Works fine, although it's already got too many buttons and too much functionality for my taste.

Did you know that you can turn off all tool bars, the status bar, the keyboard bar, and even the menu bar (menu entries are accessible on the system menu in this case) from the "View" menu...?

[Hink]

Well, I guess it'll be no surprise to people here that I'm basically using only AT3 at this point. I just think it sounds gorgeous. Recently I thought I might get a little low watt tube amp... but that's on the back burner. I just don't feel that much of an urge to have hardware as I do with analog synths. I wish IK Multimedia would take what they know about modeling and bring it to the VA software world.

while I agree with you (but I like all my sims) I have one problem that I'm curious about how you get around it, latency. I can play a sim in stand alone or a very small project without an issue but if the project gets large I have to increase my buffers. That's why I might find a tone I like playing live through a sim I still only use it for re-amping and for recording tracks I use my PODs so I can take advantage of direct monitor.

While it's true I'm likely to find better sounds in sims than from my outdated PODs I still can find tones that are fine for a reference amp, and let's face it...AT3 can be a cpu hog (and I have a robust machine).

So how do you get around the latency?

It's never been a problem with me. I think I keep my buffer size around 128 and it's fine. I guess if I started getting pops and clicks I'd render tracks before I messed with my buffer size. The only time I find latency to be an issue is when using a plug like Vintage Warmer which adds to the buffer, but Amplitube doesn't add any latency to my system.

I tend to work kind of weird though where I'm constantly "rendering" tracks using an audio looper. You should check it out, it's a super fun way to work.

I don't have to check that out, but thank you. Samplitude has the best freeze in the market imo, it really is a bounce in place. In fact because of the way it works and what it allows makes it the only way I render tracks because you can edit the midi at any time you choose, but the frozen track can be treated just like any audio track. You can also freeze objects if you like.

I dont have a huge issue with latency, there's just this little "feel" thing that irks me.

[Resonator63]

I've started messing around with Image Line Hardcore.It's not the best amp sim but it does have it's own character.Which is a good thing.Tweaking some of the presets and getting some nice sounds.

[sightlessness]

I can't say enough that using these with Cabinet or the Speakers from Speakerphone (20 amp cabinets or so with mic variations) sound the best to me. No other IRs sound better to me.

Wait, are you saying you're using Speakerphone for your cabs? I've always considered getting this but I couldn't get past the no demo and I never got a clear idea of if it added latency. I'd only want it it didn't add any latency. I liked Cabinet, though I thought the IRs sounded a little too bright. I'd love to hear your opinion about using Speakerphone post amp sim.

There's a "demo" online. You could always check it out, if you are 100% convinced and ULTRA happy then, buy it (Speakerphone 2 has more cabinets, although it seems to me that they just added the Cabinet cabs and a little more variations).

And yes, Cabinet may sound bright, but, BUT is more important what you feed into them (now I don't find it bright, depends a lot on LOTS of variables. I think Vintage Amp Room is bright, a LOT, but also you can manage to make it less brighty, but still, that one half the time is still harsh for me. So sometimes I find it kinda great, sometimes a TOTAL let down).

I have played till tireness combinations of: eqs, compressors, and whatnot with my guitar bridge pick up and neck pick up, along with Vandal (not so much as it's newer) Shred, Lepou's, AT3, GR4, GR3, AT Fender, AT2, AT-whatever, Mokafix, Softube's stuff, Simple VSTS (am I forgetting any, yeah, the simulanalog stuff, I love SARO amp with GUI) with LeCab, OurCabSimulator, Cabinet, Speakerphone, that now I am officially crazy.

Only you know what is best, what you are looking for. Right now I am more into the Fuzz or Green pedal from BBE or wherever they are from with full gain through speakerphone for rock rythm. Add the room from speakerphone and they sound super awesome. Although sometimes you have to ditch the room, coz of the mix.

And find Mokafix for lead great through Speakerphone too. Sometimes I kinda get a very Petrucci lead (don't take my word for it). So, Mokafix for lead is FTW

But also it's been said that also the guitar you use is very important. ALL the factors are very important. I wish I had a LP reissue and be done with it.

[Mister Natural]

I'd say that I'm pretty happy with the free tones from my strat into the TLR A150 > Poulin leCab > Fredman cab impulses

= nice, ever so slightly-crunchy cleans

[sightlessness]

Did a bunch of us, as a result of reading this thread, run over to the Simple VSTs webblog and start downloading his stuff off of Mediafire, to the point where media fire revolted:

edit: It looks like the download is working; at least for Tumult.

Hey, if you tested it and liked it or kinda like it, the guy appreciates big time a comment or 2!

ABOUT LATENCY: Get Reaper already and stop complaining about it
Really, it's the BEST scaling DAW (the more you have, the better it manages multiple cores, it performs better in that regard than SONAR or CUBENDO, for real, but hey, you don't have to believe me, there's a 30 day trial, really, I gain NOTHING by telling you this and "wasting" my time, so since I care I bother to let you know this).
I have a cheap MBOX original, have like 30 tracks open, a quad core, 70-100 plugins on, and the buffering set to the lowest, and I get no latency guys!!! Yes, not even when recording! On windows 7.

[zerocrossing]

I can't say enough that using these with Cabinet or the Speakers from Speakerphone (20 amp cabinets or so with mic variations) sound the best to me. No other IRs sound better to me.

Wait, are you saying you're using Speakerphone for your cabs? I've always considered getting this but I couldn't get past the no demo and I never got a clear idea of if it added latency.

There's a "demo" online. You could always check it out, if you are 100% convinced and ULTRA happy then, buy it (Speakerphone 2 has more cabinets, although it seems to me that they just added the Cabinet cabs and a little more variations).

At this moment there's no demo for Speakerphone, please check this page for audio and video demos.

There's no demo of any kind. There are audio examples, and they sound good, but they won't help me answer my question. I was just asking if Speakerphone added latency.

[zerocrossing]

Well, I guess it'll be no surprise to people here that I'm basically using only AT3 at this point. I just think it sounds gorgeous. Recently I thought I might get a little low watt tube amp... but that's on the back burner. I just don't feel that much of an urge to have hardware as I do with analog synths. I wish IK Multimedia would take what they know about modeling and bring it to the VA software world.

while I agree with you (but I like all my sims) I have one problem that I'm curious about how you get around it, latency. I can play a sim in stand alone or a very small project without an issue but if the project gets large I have to increase my buffers. That's why I might find a tone I like playing live through a sim I still only use it for re-amping and for recording tracks I use my PODs so I can take advantage of direct monitor.

While it's true I'm likely to find better sounds in sims than from my outdated PODs I still can find tones that are fine for a reference amp, and let's face it...AT3 can be a cpu hog (and I have a robust machine).

So how do you get around the latency?

It's never been a problem with me. I think I keep my buffer size around 128 and it's fine. I guess if I started getting pops and clicks I'd render tracks before I messed with my buffer size. The only time I find latency to be an issue is when using a plug like Vintage Warmer which adds to the buffer, but Amplitube doesn't add any latency to my system.

I tend to work kind of weird though where I'm constantly "rendering" tracks using an audio looper. You should check it out, it's a super fun way to work.

I don't have to check that out, but thank you. Samplitude has the best freeze in the market imo, it really is a bounce in place. In fact because of the way it works and what it allows makes it the only way I render tracks because you can edit the midi at any time you choose, but the frozen track can be treated just like any audio track. You can also freeze objects if you like.

I dont have a huge issue with latency, there's just this little "feel" thing that irks me.

No, you don't have to do anything. I was just suggesting a cool tool for live improvised music that's light on CPU.

As for latency, the latency I get is about the equivalent of what I'd get if my amp was several feet behind me on stage. I can adapt, I guess. I don't even notice it at all.

[hibidy]

AT3

edit: I forgot the why.

because it sounds great, satisfies my guitar sound needs.

[Hink]

Well, I guess it'll be no surprise to people here that I'm basically using only AT3 at this point. I just think it sounds gorgeous. Recently I thought I might get a little low watt tube amp... but that's on the back burner. I just don't feel that much of an urge to have hardware as I do with analog synths. I wish IK Multimedia would take what they know about modeling and bring it to the VA software world.

while I agree with you (but I like all my sims) I have one problem that I'm curious about how you get around it, latency. I can play a sim in stand alone or a very small project without an issue but if the project gets large I have to increase my buffers. That's why I might find a tone I like playing live through a sim I still only use it for re-amping and for recording tracks I use my PODs so I can take advantage of direct monitor.

While it's true I'm likely to find better sounds in sims than from my outdated PODs I still can find tones that are fine for a reference amp, and let's face it...AT3 can be a cpu hog (and I have a robust machine).

So how do you get around the latency?

It's never been a problem with me. I think I keep my buffer size around 128 and it's fine. I guess if I started getting pops and clicks I'd render tracks before I messed with my buffer size. The only time I find latency to be an issue is when using a plug like Vintage Warmer which adds to the buffer, but Amplitube doesn't add any latency to my system.

I tend to work kind of weird though where I'm constantly "rendering" tracks using an audio looper. You should check it out, it's a super fun way to work.

I don't have to check that out, but thank you. Samplitude has the best freeze in the market imo, it really is a bounce in place. In fact because of the way it works and what it allows makes it the only way I render tracks because you can edit the midi at any time you choose, but the frozen track can be treated just like any audio track. You can also freeze objects if you like.

I dont have a huge issue with latency, there's just this little "feel" thing that irks me.

No, you don't have to do anything. I was just suggesting a cool tool for live improvised music that's light on CPU.

As for latency, the latency I get is about the equivalent of what I'd get if my amp was several feet behind me on stage. I can adapt, I guess. I don't even notice it at all.

I wont deny that it's probably all in my head, but it doesn't matter. By using the method I use I eliminate one concern, one less thing to think about. For me "think" is to creativity as drummers are to musicians

BTW I'm sure a lot of people will benefit to you suggestion, I just happen to be fortunate enough to use Samp. Before I had Samp I used FL then rendered all my midi tracks and recorded my audio in AA. So I'm very use to all audio tracks when I'm recording my guitar, samp gives me one button to do the same thing

[PurpleCatfishBettie]

I'll have to give Tumult a try then. At the moment, i've been hanging out in TSE X-30/ACME Bar Gig Preampus land.

My main concern is low CPU, and the X-30 in particular really delivers here. The Preampus brains are decent in this regard. Either way, I like the sounds.

Sometimes i'll use just a Mokafix pedal with the Simulanalog Rednef Twin.

The Mokafix pedals, with their oversampling choices, allow the user to dial in to the amount of CPU available at the moment.

In any event, there are myriad freeware or low-cost solutions available; but i've pretty much settled in with Poulin/ACME/TSE X-30/Simulanalog, with Mokafix Pedals; and maybe keFIR or Ronald Passion's latest 'DI' 'cab.' One of the most interesting and perhaps unorthodox combos i've employed is TSE X30 with the Simulanalog Rednef Twin.

As for latency, i've arrived at the point where i'll play without hearing myself, or more or less remove one heaphone speaker and listen to the unamplified guitar through one ear, as the mix goes through the other ear.

Then, when working with the resulting audio file, i'll just 'beatslice' the guitar track in an attempt at getting it into sync. Sometimes, it's just a little 10 millisecond nudge (subtraction) at the beginning of the entire track. Other times, 'major surgery' is required; it just depends on the situation.

Anyway, it's all about trying to get at least somewhat 'buttery' (lol) tones with less CPU.

...i'll have to load up Tumult and see what happens.

[Agreed]

May I ask why you take that approach to recording? I find that if I can't hear myself, I can't do my thing. I mean, I CAN, but it's not right, the feel's all wrong, it doesn't gel like it's supposed to. I've gotta hear it to play it. Granted I am running a very powerful computer and using very low latency settings, so my total combined latency is low enough that I can't hear or feel any delay when I'm playing (according to my calculations - oh, what a pretentious phrase that is, haha - my total combined latency plus the time it takes for my nearfields to deliver the sound to my ears compares pretty well to standing in the same room as a physical amp). REAPER's high-quality latency correction takes care of whatever latency there really is.

I am interested in a little more info on your method, because it's totally different than mine and maybe I could learn something.

[PurpleCatfishBettie]

Well, i was recording in Cubase with roughly 10ms delay for months on end, and would often 'chop' 10ms off of the start of the recorded track in order to better 'sync up' with the other parts. Otherwise, i didn't think much about it.

At some point, i recorded with one headphone off, and the 'monitor mix' turned way down in the headphones, so i was going only by the sounds from the unamplified giutar through one ear. On playback, it was then that i realized that the 10ms delay had been noticeably affecting my playing. The track was tighter by using the new method.

Then at another point, i began experimenting with not hearing myself at all, and that worked great, except for during the string bends, when the pitches were all random. So, i went back to listening with one ear, so i could get the string bends 'right.'

It seems like recording in Renoise is a completely different fish to fry. Usually, at least a bit more 'surgery' on the track is required; but the method of recording with one headphone off is one i continue to use in any event. With Renoise, the guitar is silent during record time because of my choice of output devices (sound card instead of USB ASIO device). This is actually not a bad thing, as the latency in Renoise as it's currently configured is something like 250ms.

In both Cubase and Renoise, i'd swear that; during certain takes the latency is changing during the recording of it. The weird thing is that it only seems to happen at random. Most of the time, each host has a consistent latency throughout a given take.

Anyway, these are the general ways in which audio (guitar) latency is dealt with on this particular machine.

[Agreed]

I apologize for my ignorance, does Cubase not have good built-in latency compensation? My total system latency is comparable to that which you found lacking, but I've been recording stuff for some time now and even occasionally get paid for it and haven't had issues like that. Now, I have HEARD that REAPER has especially good Latency Compensation, but I don't know how it stacks up against all other DAWs as my experience is rather limited (started with Live, which never clicked, and then REAPER saved me). Sorry for thread-jacking but you seem willing to explain so if you'll enlighten me I'd be glad to listen.

[hibidy]

If you are talking about PDC, cubase is one of the best. Of course reaper is great too. Sonar? Eh, it's not as good as the other two imo...but not bad.

I've heard of people getting ridiculously low latencies, but I find it not a problem for quite some time. With either my (now sold) motu traveler or my profire 610....or either the old core2duo or this new i7 the latency is exactly 9.2 ms roundtrip at a buffer setting of 128. It's comfortable for me. I could go lower (64 buffer) on either system if I needed to though.