Beginner here (AME & AMH)...where to start?

[warwickbassist25]

Hi everyone! I just recently purchased both AME and AMH, but have NO CLUE what most of the switches, knobs and whatnot do, since the manual does not really go into any detail for anything. For example, when i select a preset and then tweak something like the "grainy" and "random grainy" knobs, I can hear a difference, but what exactly do they "do"? What about the sliders for "release noise gain", "fx gain", and "fret release sound gain"? What about the "fret sound toggle"? I don't know if I am the only person that feels like the manual needs to be re-written to explain IN DETAIL what everything does, but it may be worth Ample Sound to take another look. These are just a few quick questions that I have (and if I get any responses, there will be more). What settings do all of you use to get the most realistic sound out of these plugins? The demos online sound great, but I just don't know where to start on my own projects. Thank you so much in advance everyone; take care!

[Ample Sound]

Thanks for your inquiry.

>>grainy
The gain of pick (attack) sound - the moment of the pick touches string.

>>random grainy
Random the gain of pick sound.

>>release noise gain
the sound of right hand release strings.

>>fret release sound gain
Some actions of right hand on the neck. e.g. moving hand, touch fingering board etc.

>>fret sound toggle
Open or Close Fret release sound.

>>FX
Some strange sounds from guitar, e.g. friction on the strings.

[fretman]

Wherever you see the words "right hand" above please substitute "left hand", assuming this is for a right-handed person. They're all related to neck/fret noises.

[warwickbassist25]

Thank you so much for the quick responses. I think seeing screenshots of the different settings people use would help the most. What is really confusing is the "scale" of these settings. For example, "random grainy" goes from 0.0 to 2.0, yet grainy goes from 1.0 to 3.0; what exactly are these ranges supposed to represent? Same goes for the sliders for the fret noise. If someone provided a screenshot and kind of explained why they use those specific settings, it'd really help me (and I think most beginning users) a whole lot. Thank you again everybody!

[fretman]

• RES.TIME = very low because I dislike the buildup I can get with all the sympathetic vibrations causing too much muddiness. But setting it to 0 made it too stark and clinically clean.
• REL = very low because it sounded better to me. As a guitar player I've been trained to minimize noises like this, so why should I add it back in? But 0 seemed too perfect.
• FX = default, but I've individually turned off all FX except EQ which I left at default. I add reverb in the total mix. My playing is consistent enough that I don't need compression on this track. But my whole mix has compression.
• RES = default because I like "some" sympathetic vibrations. As mentioned previously, I turned down RES.TIME so they die out quickly.
• FSA = bigger because fingernail noise is very much a part of the sound. It also adds a "snap" to the attack to help note definition.
• FSR = low for the same reason as REL above.​​​​​

Much of this is just "adjust while you listen until you find what you like". It takes a while for your ear to tune into what is changing, so use headphones and be patient.

Oh, wait. This probably doesn't apply to the guitars you're using. Sorry...

[Ample Sound]

Thanks fretman, the FX slider on the main panel controls some noise samples e.g. stroking, slapping etc etc, it doesn't control the EQ, reverb etc.

[fretman]

Oh, I didn't know that! Something else to experiment with.....

[warwickbassist25]

What are the differences between the regular di and stereo di? It doesn't really sound like there's a big difference.