Amplitube5 - Release Date 15-16/12/2020

[dblock]

What happened to the noise gate?

There's a noise gate pedal, that's it.

Thanks!

I recommend the Dimebag noise gate, followed by the Slash and Brian May gates personally, if you have those in your gear collection.

Thanks for the rec Peter.I'll definitely check them out.

[DaveClark]

Hi all,

Just a heads up for now, maybe a ticket later:

In attempting to update to 5.0.1 via IK Multimedia Product Manager, I got a security violation noted by Norton. I don't run anything with admin privileges unless I have to, so haven't tried that yet. (If it's necessary, I'd like to know that it is indeed necessary.) It's trying to replace a PDF file that's under Program Files. This is sort of a silly thing to get called out on. What is it doing under Program Files?

From Norton:

Security History - Advanced Details
Severity: High
Activity: Data Protector blocked a suspicious action by Install AmpliTube 5 (Ver.5.0.1).exe
Action Observed: Suspicious process attempted deleting a file protected by Data Protector
Target: C:\Program Files\IK Multimedia\Amplitube 5\AmpliTube 5 Custom Shop Gear Models.pdf

Regards,
Dave Clark

Update: "Run as Administrator" resulted in the same problem.

The risk about making the install/update process an exception is that once the process is exempted from further monitoring and control, some other files could be installed that are malicious, kind of like a criminal sneaking in behind a resident who gets the entrance door to a building temporarily unlocked.

[jamcat]

Using the Slash SmartGate set to Hiss as your first stomp, followed by the Dimebag Hush with the filter open all the way does a really good job of killing the noise but not your tone.

That’s a pretty standard way of using the real hardware together from back in the day.

[The Noodlist]

All good here with Comodo.

[dblock]

Using the Slash SmartGate set to Hiss as your first stomp, followed by the Dimebag Hush with the filter open all the way does a really good job of killing the noise but not your tone.

That’s a pretty standard way of using the real hardware together from back in the day.

Useful suggestion for sure. Thanks jamcat

[Barriott]

The update solved the resolution crash for me. Really enjoying at5 so far. Anyone have any decent ambient guitar tips?

[Burillo]

so, Amplitube 5 still doesn't work properly with non-admin accounts, because it still can only authorize users that have admin rights, so i have to try gear in custom shop while running as admin, and then copy registry entries when i'm purchasing stuff. I've reported this problem to IK on numerous occasions, yet they seem to just not give a fsck about it. EDIT: this was Custom Shop installer bug, the new version does indeed allow using it with admin rights. the rest of the post still stands.

to top it off, they've reorganized the website so i can't even find where to submit a fscking support ticket for this issue. the obvious path is main website -> Contact support -> Software -> ... - nothing, just a bunch of FAQs and a link to knowledge base. no links to any kind of ticketing system. whoever designed the website should be fired immediately.

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

A lot of companies try to make it as difficult as possible to contact support via email to try to force users to use a forum, or other self-service avenues first. Might be that the folks who designed the websites were following instructions.

That said, took all of 20 seconds to find:

https://www.ikmultimedia.com/contact-support/sw/

You had to go to Support -> Contact Support -> Software -> then enter your issue to search the knowledge base. If no match, then scroll down and boom: support link.

[Burillo]

A lot of companies try to make it as difficult as possible to contact support via email to try to force users to use a forum, or other self-service avenues first. Might be that the folks who designed the websites were following instructions.

That said, took all of 20 seconds to find:

https://www.ikmultimedia.com/contact-support/sw/

You had to go to Support -> Contact Support -> Software -> then enter your issue to search the knowledge base. If no match, then scroll down and boom: support link.

well that's just great usability

[DarkStar]

^^^
Or, click on the [Search FAQ] button and there is a link to the Tech Support form at the top.

[JO512]

For those who have pulled the trigger on AT5, how do you feel about the new cabinet IRs compared to AT4? I have never been happy with the cabinets in AT4 and have been using some Ownhammer (r)Evolution IRs instead, which sound far better. The AT4 cabinets tend to have those hissy, peaky resonances in the highs. How do the cabinets in AT5 compare? If I'll still end up using the Ownhammer IRs, I really see little point in upgrading to AT5.

Also, I am using an older machine for now, with a Core i5 2500 and 16GB RAM. Does AT5 seem to use a lot more CPU? I am guessing it must.

Thanks for any help on these questions!

[Burillo]

LOL, the new Custom Shop installer has a bug where it won't install in a non-default location. i guess IK forced their software QA to work on the website instead

[donkey tugger]

Also, I am using an older machine for now, with a Core i5 2500 and 16GB RAM. Does AT5 seem to use a lot more CPU? I am guessing it must.

It's about the same on my PCs - both a bit older - 3rd gen i7 laptop and 4th gen i7 desktop. GUI is a little bit laggy on both, but this has improved a lot with the bugfix update.

[Peter - IK Multimedia]

Since FAQs were resolving a large portion of the issues reported, the workflow was intentional and works quite well for both the user and IK since users are happier faster and those with issues that aren't simply covered in the FAQ get attention faster. So thank you for the compliment on the workflow, @Burillo.

Custom Shop will not offer a new location if you already have Custom Shop installed. If you don't, you are presented with an option to install it somewhere else. Feel free to uninstall and reinstall if moving that tiny program is important to you and apologies for ruining your amusement at what you thought was a huge bug or similar.

Edit - both fortunately and unfortunately, though, the previous Custom Shop and the new one have to coexist (mainly for available "maintenance" level tasks via the previous version) so there will still be improvements made as we move toward exclusively using the new improved version. I know there are a few things that can happen on the road to fully using the new version, and in general there will be improvements both under the hood and in the interface/etc coming.

[Burillo]

Since FAQs were resolving a large portion of the issues reported, the workflow was intentional and works quite well for both the user and IK since users are happier faster and those with issues that aren't simply covered in the FAQ get attention faster. So thank you for the compliment on the workflow, @Burillo.

that's the thing though - there is no obvious way to get from FAQ to ticketing system if you already know your issue isn't covered by FAQ. so, even though you seem to be very giddy about hiding the "support" function, this is a suboptimal workflow that relies on assumptions that don't hold. when the button says "Contact support", i expect it to either take me to a contact form, or provide a link to said contact form. what i don't expect is not being able to get to said contact form unless i do something non-obvious (like searching the knowledge base).

Custom Shop will not offer a new location if you already have Custom Shop installed. If you don't, you are presented with an option to install it somewhere else. Feel free to uninstall and reinstall if moving that tiny program is important to you and apologies for ruining your amusement at what you thought was a huge bug or similar.

well, it was a bug, but it was a bug in the installer, as it was trying to unpack itself in the default directory, not the new one - hence the new Custom Shop wasn't installed and i still had the old one. i've reported the installer issue to support (using the link provided by very helpful Funkybot!), hopefully this will get fixed eventually. in the meantime i just manually unpacked the installer where i wanted, and things work fine.

the new Custom Shop fixed the admin rights issue, so apologies for my rant. i guess i should be happy that after five years since i first reported it, it's finally fixed

coming back to Amplitube 5, this is a pleasant surprise. things i like:

• cabinets! it finally doesn't take me an hour to get rid of the fizzy or thin sound, a quick move/change of mic is usually enough.
• routing! it finally allows me to put the stomp/rack FX anywhere without any limitations, this is massive. i can finally e.g. use a distortion pedal into FX loop
• a button to hide un-owned gear! YES!
• it seems that most of the old amps do sound better, even though there's still a clear difference between newer and older models EDIT: nope, the difference is due to cabinets. the old stuff still sounds almost exactly the same, there's a slight difference but not much, and only for pre-Amplitube 4 gear it seems - Amplitube 4+ amps null completely
• resizable GUI is great to have!
• the new Custom Shop UI is muuuuch better, way less clicking and faster!
• nice to see MixBox FX in there, finally proper FX in Amplitube!

things i dislike:

• not completely sold on the new GUI. feels very iOS'ish and touch friendly, lots more mousing involved.
• it seems that compared to Amplitube 4, the 5 CS version is a functionality downgrade: i can't have more than two rack FX for example, whereas in Amplitube 4 even in the free version, i'd have 8
• where is the cabinet match on/off button? i wanted to try out different amps with the same cab, but it seems that there's no such option any more?

so, overall, i think Amplitube 5 is (finally) a worthwhile upgrade. sadly, i don't have the funds now, but this has me seriously considering getting the MAX version, now that i know that the "old crap" actually sounds decent with new cabinets...