New from IK - X-Gear digital effect pedals

[glokraw]

What I want to know is how is this going to bring the older models of essential gear in AmpliTube up to current standards?

This is the thing that IK doesn’t seem to get. An ampsim with inaccurate models of basic gear like the RAT, TubeScreamer and CE-2 is worthless in The current year.

It might be worthless to a perfectionist cover band, but they will already have what they need. In triple-blind comparison tests, most people with hobbyist budgets and projects won't always be picking the real rat or tube-screamer from a group of 5 solid competitors these days. IK is selling an environment in which to create, as are Native Instruments and Roland etc etc. Professionals, to whom time is money, will be looking for environments that save them the most time, with less emphasis on models that can be dealt with ala-carte when really needed. Providing software to once hardware-only players, and hardware to once mainly virtual players, when both groups have largely maximized their sonic toolchests, as mentioned above, is a pretty sound business strategy. But they'd better nail the whole integration on first release,
or they'll become the massiveX of ampsim-hardware combos.

https://www.sweetwater.com/insync/27-tu ... t-for-you/

[Bombadil]

It would be nice to see IK work on M1 Native versions of existing stuff, but I guess that doesn't generate the income that slickly advertised new stuff that nobody needs does.

Plenty of new musicians born every year, who will grow up wanting and needing pro gear. I prefer slick ads that hold my attention, there is plenty of dross out there, that won't stay in my browser for more than a few seconds.

I did notice that the guitarist's giant black boots didn't touch the pedal buttons. Makes me think there's a reason for that, which wouldn't inspire pre-orders. I have boots like that, not as shiny, to be sure, which I never wear indoors, let alone when making music.

There was a promo question a while back, asking If I own or use any pedals.
At the time I thought it was a really strange question. Makes sense now. Beancounters at play. At the asking price, they'll have to throw in a maxed-out A5 MAX for me to purchase a pedal, if only because I have more tools than time to use them. But someone just starting out, or someone adding software to their guitar gear, will get a very nice setup to grow into.
Cheers

Translation: IK is more focused on attracting new customers and either takes for granted their old or writes them off in their calculations. This is nothing new, other big developers are the same.

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

If they just put "ValhallaDelay" inside that delay pedal enclosure, I'd buy it in a heartbeat.

[jamcat]

What I want to know is how is this going to bring the older models of essential gear in AmpliTube up to current standards?

This is the thing that IK doesn’t seem to get. An ampsim with inaccurate models of basic gear like the RAT, TubeScreamer and CE-2 is worthless in The current year.

It might be worthless to a perfectionist cover band, but they will already have what they need. In triple-blind comparison tests, most people with hobbyist budgets and projects won't always be picking the real rat or tube-screamer from a group of 5 solid competitors these days. IK is selling an environment in which to create, as are Native Instruments and Roland etc etc. Professionals, to whom time is money, will be looking for environments that save them the most time, with less emphasis on models that can be dealt with ala-carte when really needed. Providing software to once hardware-only players, and hardware to once mainly virtual players, when both groups have largely maximized their sonic toolchests, as mentioned above, is a pretty sound business strategy. But they'd better nail the whole integration on first release,
or they'll become the massiveX of ampsim-hardware combos.

https://www.sweetwater.com/insync/27-tu ... t-for-you/

My point here is that with so many highly accurate models of the staple gear from the '70s and '80s available now from IK's competitors, "close enough" isn't going to cut it anymore. Nailing the essential gear is the first thing everyone is looking for. If an ampsim doesn't do that as job one, the rest isn't going to matter much to users.

IK has done a good job of it with AT4 and AT5 gear, but the older AT2 and AT3 era models need to be revisited. It looks like that's what the X-GEAR pedals do, sort of, but that does nothing for the AmpliTube software and its users. It seem to me like IK is adding insult to injury.

[glokraw]

It would be nice to see IK work on M1 Native versions of existing stuff, but I guess that doesn't generate the income that slickly advertised new stuff that nobody needs does.

Plenty of new musicians born every year, who will grow up wanting and needing pro gear. I prefer slick ads that hold my attention, there is plenty of dross out there, that won't stay in my browser for more than a few seconds.

I did notice that the guitarist's giant black boots didn't touch the pedal buttons. Makes me think there's a reason for that, which wouldn't inspire pre-orders. I have boots like that, not as shiny, to be sure, which I never wear indoors, let alone when making music.

There was a promo question a while back, asking If I own or use any pedals.
At the time I thought it was a really strange question. Makes sense now. Beancounters at play. At the asking price, they'll have to throw in a maxed-out A5 MAX for me to purchase a pedal, if only because I have more tools than time to use them. But someone just starting out, or someone adding software to their guitar gear, will get a very nice setup to grow into.
Cheers

Translation: IK is more focused on attracting new customers and either takes for granted their old or writes them off in their calculations. This is nothing new, other big developers are the same.

In what business model is attracting "new customers" a bad thing? I want more people to get off their lard_sses and learn to play and create music, it's fun and healthy and doesn't cost a fortune to get started.

I'm not being written off, I'm being offered new products with new capabilities, that will enhance what I already enjoy. The particular type of hardware/software integration is new enough, and if the hardware and sound quality are high, might appeal to people who think their current setups are maxed out, as well as those just building a system. This appears to be a natural and logical extension of IK's catalog and capabilities.

Someone will be first to release an amp head whose faceplate is basically a tablet screen, so no moving parts to warranty. I'll bet IK has the schematics and dsp well under way, with beancounters
competing to find the best available marketing data.
Cheers

[Peter - IK Multimedia]

A loyalty program that can get you up to 30% off the AmpliTube X-GEAR guitar pedals is taking existing customers for granted? Getting these for around $175 each with the bundle pricing + JamPoints sounds like we took our customer base into consideration but I will note this is how some feel.

[jamcat]

What if you just want updated stompbox models of the TubeScreamer, Uni-Vibe, RAT, etc, and have no need for $1000 hardware units?

Will any of this benefit existing AmpliTube users who just want to use software?

[elxsound]

What if you just want updated stompbox models of the TubeScreamer, Uni-Vibe, RAT, etc, and have no need for $1000 hardware units?

Will any of this benefit existing AmpliTube users who just want to use software?

Wait, you're going to ruin what was a perfect segue into his promo campaign. It was precisely the argument nobody was making.

[Peter - IK Multimedia]

What if you just want updated stompbox models of the TubeScreamer, Uni-Vibe, RAT, etc, and have no need for $1000 hardware units?

Then these don't seem to be a fit for you, I would say. You can put in feature requests for updates to any models you feel should be updated.

Will any of this benefit existing AmpliTube users who just want to use software?

These will have virtual versions that run inside AmpliTube 5 if you own the pedals (the virtual versions inside AmpliTube 5 will also serve as a librarian for the pedals. If you just want to use software, we already offer that and we have multiple methods of contact available for your feature requests and I can relay them to the team too if you'd like.

[Uncle E]

I'm going to be honest: I think the pedals in Amplitube are generally on the bad side. Like, does anyone think IK has the best in class TubeScreamer emulation? Or CE-1? Or Memory-Man? Of course not. Between Strymon, Eventide, Source Audio, Universal Audio, Line6, these just seem to have no place in the market IMO.

The audio examples of the modulation pedal are really good. If someone is interested in the Universal Audio pedals but wants more features, or in the Strymon pedals but wants to pay less, I could see them being interested in the IK delay and modulation pedals.

[Uncle E]

Apparently these are new/updated models. My guess is they'll integrate them properly in Amplitube 6.

Agreed. Or maybe they'll be a separate bundle with a coupon for pedal owners. Either way, I'm hoping this will eventually be a good thing for current AmpliTube users.

[jamcat]

Apparently these are new/updated models. My guess is they'll integrate them properly in Amplitube 6.

Agreed. Or maybe they'll be a separate bundle with a coupon for pedal owners. Either way, I'm hoping this will eventually be a good thing for current AmpliTube users.

The X-GEAR pedals will appear in your AmpliTube 5 software when you register them to your user account, so pedal owners automatically get them.

But this leaves 2 questions for the rest of us:

1) will AT5 users be able to purchase them as software collections in the Custom Shop without buying the hardware?

2) will the unpurchased virtual X-GEAR pedals taunt you in AmpliTube 5 until you buy them?

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

The audio examples of the modulation pedal are really good. If someone is interested in the Universal Audio pedals but wants more features, or in the Strymon pedals but wants to pay less, I could see them being interested in the IK delay and modulation pedals.

If they upped the modeling, then yeah. But the original notes I saw indicated the Reverbs and Delays were new. Made me think we're talking the same AT5 models.

Honestly, every IK release is a million and one questions, which is a bit of a turn off. They always seem to manage to make things overly complicated IMO.

[jamcat]

They’re going to have to change their name to $1K Multimedia after releasing these.

[SLiC]

The blue 'space' one looks like they are trying to compete with Stymon Blue Sky, same colour, same models, same style, they must be taking a lead from Behringer

I look forward to hearing a few A/B comparisons with Stymon Blue Sky and X Gear space as they are in a simpler price bracket and seem 'very' similar in specifications...so it's all about the quality of the algorithm really.