Swanky Amp (release 1.4.0)

[BlitBit]

Thanks to garrinm's hard work and the static linking it now also works on my machine.

I get some very nice sounds out of the plugin and recorded a snippet:
https://soundcloud.com/blitbit/resonantamp-demo

All guitars are driven by Mercuriall's TSC (Tube Screamer) pedal. The rhythm guitars use custom impulse responses whereas the solo guitar uses the built in cabinet simulation. Drums are EZdrummer.

[jbraner]

Yep, it's working fine here too - thanks for the input meter!

[garrinm]

Live Rust is a possibility!

Great, I like the enthusiasm, but let's keep expectations in check . I don't yet know the limits of the model I developed, so we'll have to see how far I can push this.

I have to be honest though that part of what got me going on this was this particular guitar tone:



It's... probably not what I'd go for in my playing, but it's got personality that's for sure.

[garrinm]

I couldn't get a really good crunchy tone out of it, maybe because it has too many controls and I didn't take the time to learn them properly.

Hi Rafel,

If you come across this at some point, is there any chance you could send some kind of reference for the sort of crunch sound you have in mind? It's not really my forte, but if I can hear a reference I'd like to explore the model a bit and see if it can extend to that sort of sound.

Thanks,
Garrin

[garrinm]

I get some very nice sounds out of the plugin and recorded a snippet:
https://soundcloud.com/blitbit/resonantamp-demo

Really enjoyed hearing that, it's nice to hear the amp in the wild. Thanks again for taking the time to try it out. DaveClark gets the dubious honor of being the first to record something with it though XD. He sent me an interesting demo putting the amp through its paces.

Yep, it's working fine here too - thanks for the input meter!

No problem, I also wanted one so it was a pretty obvious feature to prioritize .

I don't know what the problem was with my particular system, but it's working fine now.

Glad it's working now, hopefully you enjoy it. And if not please drop a line so I can improve it.

[garrinm]

Version 0.0.2 is released. The main feature is the re-work of the power amplification stage, more details below.

You can get the installer here:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1aOKUJ ... sQv2_noSLS

Or the VST3 directly here if you prefer:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1BrrAs ... jl1CVIRMka

More information can be found here:
https://github.com/resonantdsp/ResonantAmp

Change log:

• The power amplifier model is re-written and is a better representation of the simulation.

• The perceived volume of the plugin is more invariant to changes in the drive parameters.

• All model fits have been improved, default parameters should better resemble the simulated circuits.

• Parameter ranges have been refined to give better control over the distortion sound.

• The cabinet mix has been made into a toggle for clarity.

The power amplification model is re-worked. The aim was to get more of the tube amplifier bloom out of the model. I am confident the new model is more accurate than the last, and I did make an addition the the model which captures the effect of the drift observed on the screen grid. To my ear this causes some compression, but I'm not sure it goes far enough to really capture the sought-after bloom. It'd be great to get some feedback on it.

Thanks,
Garrin

[prodigal_sounds]

Hi Garrin. The VST worked fine in Cakewalk by Bandlab.

I like the UI but, as others have mentioned and as I'm sure you're aware, some visual hint about what parts of the Amp architecture are affected by each of the parameters would be a nice addition. Some kind of schematic with callout lines linking the "knob" to the "hardware". You probably have some ideas.

Initially I was getting quite a bit of "fizz" in the output sound, kind of like "amp hiss" but varying in level depending on the input. After some adjustments I found a couple of configurations that were really pleasing. One with pre-amp gain and no power amp gain which was great for clean jazzy licks and delay drenched loopy stuff. I also found a bridge pickup "crunch" involving more power amp gain but no pre-amp gain. I guess this is normal see-saw kind of thing to suit the input and playing style?

I can really see the potential here.

I can't comment on the "bloom" thing because *blush* I've never really used a real guitar amp before.

I'll be honest and say that in order to fully enjoy playing around I had to add a nice reverb post-amp (I used BREVERB). Dry it felt a bit, um, revealing. I think the reverb disguises some of that fizz I was talking about.

Bottom Line: This was a lot of fun. I could easily use it in existing projects, as-is, despite the careful tweaking required. I like the goal of making the model infinitely tweakable and exposed parameters rather than a "one sound in a box" kind of thing.

I hope that helps,
- Colin

[prodigal_sounds]

Something like this:
http://www.spacefold.com/colin/ps/temp/ ... Mockup.png

[garrinm]

Hi Colin,

Thanks for trying it out, and for dropping some feedback. Glad you seem to have gotten some enjoyment out of it.

Initially I was getting quite a bit of "fizz" in the output sound, kind of like "amp hiss" but varying in level depending on the input

I noticed this as well trying out the new version. I think I've addressed it in 0.0.3 which I just uploaded (the links above will still work). If you get a chance to try out the new version maybe you can let me know if that issue is alleviated for you.

Thanks for the mock up, great to see some fresh ideas on that. My plans for the UI are indeed in that direction so hopefully I'll have something you'll be satisfied with. Seeing as no one seems to urgently need preset saving, I might prioritize the UI over that.

Thanks,
Garrin

[prodigal_sounds]

It's hard to say but subjectively I think it is better, thanks.
The pre-amp sounds exquisite. I've had a lot of success just balancing Pre-Dyn, Input, and Pre-Drive, and keeping the Power-Drive turned down.

I don't have a separate Cabinet VST in my toolbox so I've been using the built-in one exclusively. I wouldn't try to use the amp without it.

[guitarzan]

I got a chance to check out Resonant Amp a little last night — it's pretty cool! The overdrive seems very touch and volume knob sensitive for an amp sim, more so than I remember of other amp sims. It can get a mean power amp "growl" that I really like.

The sag thing still isn't really happening for me yet, but that is common for most if not all amp sims, and I really need to check out the interaction of all those parameters much better.

Somewhere I read the effect of sag described as something like slowing the onset of clipping and sustaining the "hang time" in that gained out overdrive sweet spot — kind of like super squishy compression, but with clipping rather than gain reduction.

There are several pedals that do a pretty good approximation of small tweed sag, but the one that I think demonstrates it best in a single pedal is the Mid-Fi Electronics Magick "i" pedal:

The Magick "i" is a totally new idea, an overdrive with it's clipping element under optical envelope control.

So this pedal works like an optical compressor, but some of the other pedals do it based on capacitor discharge, which is what influences real amp sag according to that thread I linked to in an earlier post.

I'm not sure if it is possible to get that kind of squish digitally, but it seems like a modern computer should be able to model the behavior of a fifty cent part. Maybe I'm the only one who really misses that in amp sims?

Anyway, thanks for putting this out there and I will keep using it and try it with other effects added and I'll keep checking for updates. I hope you decide to keep developing this and other plugins!

[jbraner]

I haven't really used this in depth yet - but it is sounding really good.

I'm not having too much luck dialing in Hi-gain sounds - but I wouldn't be doing that anyway

I agree that the preamp is sounding very nice, and I'm leaving the power amp at halfway or less - this is giving some nice cleat to "crunch" sounds.
Also - I'm using my own speaker sim.

Also - I'm just dialling in the bottom row blindly - till I find a combination that sounds good. This is easier to do with a guitar part that's already recorded in to Reaper - so I'm really testing the "sound" rather than the "playability" - if that makes sense

[garrinm]

Hey guitarzan,

Thanks for the feedback!

Somewhere I read the effect of sag described as something like slowing the onset of clipping and sustaining the "hang time" in that gained out overdrive sweet spot — kind of like super squishy compression, but with clipping rather than gain reduction.

The model actually factors in a variety of effects which cause the grid and plate voltages to change (and even the cathode to some extent). Part of those effects is in fact to slowly bring down the clipping as the signal increases, but I also know that's something the model hasn't gotten 100% right, so I'll look at that more closely for the next model update. Thanks for the tip. It's also a good insight about the capacitive discharging. That's actually how I started these models, with emulations of capacitors. There's more to it now, in order to capture more nuances, but at it's core that where most of the drift comes from.

There is one source of sag which isn't modeled right now: the dual rectifier sag. So that might be part of what you're expecting to hear but not quite getting. That said, if you crank the "Dyn." knobs up, it will (for the most part) exaggerate the other sources of sag, and you should hear more pumping compression. It's a bit extreme at times, so use judiciously .

Garrin

[garrinm]

I've released version 0.0.5. The main feature is a new tone stack which behaves in a more fender-like manner, so it should be more familiar (especially in its treatment of the mids). You can find the links and the change log at the github page:

https://github.com/resonantdsp/ResonantAmp

[guitarzan]

The model actually factors in a variety of effects which cause the grid and plate voltages to change (and even the cathode to some extent). Part of those effects is in fact to slowly bring down the clipping as the signal increases, but I also know that's something the model hasn't gotten 100% right, so I'll look at that more closely for the next model update.

I may just need to experiment more with the controls, but it seems like the transition into clipping and back out is still too fast, it needs to sustain more in that gainy sweet spot between hard clipping and cleanup/release. More hang time man!

Remember, those 60hz half cycles are struggling to charge the capactors back up the whole time too, while continued playing keeps the sag going where it doesn't recover between every picked note. That pedal builder's video demonstrates the effect perfectly I think, how the recovery is slow and sag can build.