Blue Cat Audio Axiom V2 Released: Redefining Amp Simulation?

[Blue Cat Audio]

We are very excited to finally unleash the highly-anticipated Blue Cat's Axiom V2!

Full details are already available in the effects section (ink below), but we'd be glad to discuss the topic in the guitar (& bass) zone!



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txKtWx_x2kw
[original topic in Effects section]

[abstractdolphin]

No idea why nobody is talking about this. I've been trying the demo for days and it's insanely good. The tonemap, onboard vsts, and reguitar options are impressive enough - but the actual amps themselves are the closest to real amps in terms of responsiveness I've ever felt. It's even better than GR7 and Neural DSP. I thought Blue Cat were a small indie company? How many people worked on this?

[Blue Cat Audio]

No idea why nobody is talking about this. I've been trying the demo for days and it's insanely good. The tonemap, onboard vsts, and reguitar options are impressive enough - but the actual amps themselves are the closest to real amps in terms of responsiveness I've ever felt. It's even better than GR7 and Neural DSP. I thought Blue Cat were a small indie company? How many people worked on this?

Thanks! Blue cat Audio is actually not a small but tiny company: it's mainly myself, so definitely indie .

Glad that you like the amps responsiveness, that's the part that was really tricky and which took me a very long time to build. All presets have been carefully tweaked one by one, guitar (or bass) in hand.

Feel free to spread the word if you like it!

[Gavincoolguy]

Looks really cool, outside of my budget so I won't demo it because I'm bad with the impulse control. Really look forward to a deep dive, a more all in one solution that sounds good would be so awesome. Thanks and def on my list.

[Blue Cat Audio]

Looks really cool, outside of my budget so I won't demo it because I'm bad with the impulse control. Really look forward to a deep dive, a more all in one solution that sounds good would be so awesome. Thanks and def on my list.

Thanks!

[Blue Cat Audio]

Just one guitar, one factory preset... Watch our latest video featuring Axiom V2 and a great 1977 Fender Stratocaster!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MM2IHPnIGt0

[lunardigs]

We are very excited to finally unleash the highly-anticipated Blue Cat's Axiom V2! ...

Any plans to release for Linux?
I'd be a customer for sure.

[Blue Cat Audio]

Any plans to release for Linux?
I'd be a customer for sure.

Not yet, but it should run fine with WINE, as far as I know.

[lunardigs]

Any plans to release for Linux?
I'd be a customer for sure.

Not yet, but it should run fine with WINE, as far as I know.

Okay, thank you for the reply!
I personally don't use WINE, system wide, for a variety of reasons. Although, should I get a chance, I might demo it that way on another machine.
In any event, I'll keep an eye on Axiom.
Thanks again.

[ShawnG]

maybe I'm misunderstanding, but you can only install one version? i.e if I install it as a plugin, I can't then install the standalone (as the installer says it overwrites the plugin version)? hopefully I'm misunderstanding, I usually use plugins, but particularly with guitar amp sims, sometimes I just like to play, and not open a daw

[zerocrossing]

No idea why nobody is talking about this. I've been trying the demo for days and it's insanely good. The tonemap, onboard vsts, and reguitar options are impressive enough - but the actual amps themselves are the closest to real amps in terms of responsiveness I've ever felt. It's even better than GR7 and Neural DSP. I thought Blue Cat were a small indie company? How many people worked on this?

Thanks! Blue cat Audio is actually not a small but tiny company: it's mainly myself, so definitely indie .

Glad that you like the amps responsiveness, that's the part that was really tricky and which took me a very long time to build. All presets have been carefully tweaked one by one, guitar (or bass) in hand.

Feel free to spread the word if you like it!

I’ve yet to have a chance to demo it (just finding out about it now) but I’ll check it out and start a thread on Gearspace. There are some obnoxious luddites there, but a fair amount of of people who like using software as well.

[zerocrossing]

I took it for a spin. There's a lot to like about it. It can sound great and the ability to host a plugin is awesome, but it's like the modeling is off. More like "inspired by" than anything else, and the controls seem to be totally arbitrary and not anything like what you'd expect from the actual amp itself. Almost every high gain preset seems to be made by someone who's got serious high frequency hearing loss. The treble amounts are painful. They can be tamed by the Tone parameter, but to me the sweet spot on that control is tiny. I found myself having to use the EQ module to get better control, so it's there, just not like one might expect from using an actual guitar amp. So while all the amp models sounded good, I never felt like, "oh yeah, there's the AC30!"

There are some weird UI choices too. Like I couldn't find a way to just switch the amp type. Maybe I'm dumb, but I could only figure out how to select a new preset amp setup. Amps seem to be made up of three things, but I was unclear as to what the middle bit was. Destruction? What is it? I'm used to having an AxeFX with a hundred things I can adjust, but somehow I felt like I wasn't quite sure where I am, where with the AxeFX I always had a handle on what everything was and what it did.

The real star, IMO, are the effects and how you can get creative with them. Not only can you host VSTs (which every guitar amp plugin should have) but you can run Late Replies which hosts VSTs as well and you can get some crazy stuff going.

I'll definitely pick it up at some point, just for the creative possibilities, but for day to day "let me pluck into a plexi and crank it" type sounds, I don't feel the modeling is at the level of a Helix or Amplitube. It's more like a good alternative to Guitar Rig.

[Blue Cat Audio]

maybe I'm misunderstanding, but you can only install one version? i.e if I install it as a plugin, I can't then install the standalone (as the installer says it overwrites the plugin version)? hopefully I'm misunderstanding, I usually use plugins, but particularly with guitar amp sims, sometimes I just like to play, and not open a daw

You should be able to install as many plug-in types and the standalone application all together. Maybe you got the message because you already had V1 installed?

The standalone app is definitely worth installing to avoid launching a DAW, as it now lets your record yourself quickly.

[Blue Cat Audio]

I took it for a spin. There's a lot to like about it. It can sound great and the ability to host a plugin is awesome, but it's like the modeling is off. More like "inspired by" than anything else, and the controls seem to be totally arbitrary and not anything like what you'd expect from the actual amp itself. Almost every high gain preset seems to be made by someone who's got serious high frequency hearing loss. The treble amounts are painful. They can be tamed by the Tone parameter, but to me the sweet spot on that control is tiny. I found myself having to use the EQ module to get better control, so it's there, just not like one might expect from using an actual guitar amp. So while all the amp models sounded good, I never felt like, "oh yeah, there's the AC30!"

As mentioned earlier, we're taking a unique approach to amp simulation here – it's not about faithfully reproducing a specific amp model with a particular microphone setup by choosing these components. The tone control for most types of amps has indeed a sweet spot around 0.3, but it may vary depending on your taste and the type of "cab" loaded. If you use impulse responses (see the presets with "(IR)"), you can usually values above .5 unless you definitely want to get rid of all high end .

Like I couldn't find a way to just switch the amp type. Maybe I'm dumb, but I could only figure out how to select a new preset amp setup.

If you click on the "amp" preset name you can open any amp model from the list. There are many other ways to go thru amps and build you own easily (such as tone maps), as explained here:

Navigating presets in Axiom

Amps seem to be made up of three things, but I was unclear as to what the middle bit was. Destruction? What is it? I'm used to having an AxeFX with a hundred things I can adjust, but somehow I felt like I wasn't quite sure where I am, where with the AxeFX I always had a handle on what everything was and what it did.

That's indeed quite different from other amp simulations, on purpose. Have you checked the Destructor manual built into the plug-in (click on the "?" icon in the amp editor)? It gives many details about how it is built and what each module does.

The real star, IMO, are the effects and how you can get creative with them. Not only can you host VSTs (which every guitar amp plugin should have) but you can run Late Replies which hosts VSTs as well and you can get some crazy stuff going.

I'll definitely pick it up at some point, just for the creative possibilities, but for day to day "let me pluck into a plexi and crank it" type sounds, I don't feel the modeling is at the level of a Helix or Amplitube. It's more like a good alternative to Guitar Rig.

Glad that you like the extra effects! You might find that the amp simulation grows on you as well if you view it as a distinct tool for shaping your unique tone, and check the extra dynamic capabilities that are often missing in simulations compared to what you may experience with real amps.

[zerocrossing]

I took it for a spin. There's a lot to like about it. It can sound great and the ability to host a plugin is awesome, but it's like the modeling is off. More like "inspired by" than anything else, and the controls seem to be totally arbitrary and not anything like what you'd expect from the actual amp itself. Almost every high gain preset seems to be made by someone who's got serious high frequency hearing loss. The treble amounts are painful. They can be tamed by the Tone parameter, but to me the sweet spot on that control is tiny. I found myself having to use the EQ module to get better control, so it's there, just not like one might expect from using an actual guitar amp. So while all the amp models sounded good, I never felt like, "oh yeah, there's the AC30!"

As mentioned earlier, we're taking a unique approach to amp simulation here – it's not about faithfully reproducing a specific amp model with a particular microphone setup by choosing these components. The tone control for most types of amps has indeed a sweet spot around 0.3, but it may vary depending on your taste and the type of "cab" loaded. If you use impulse responses (see the presets with "(IR)"), you can usually values above .5 unless you definitely want to get rid of all high end .

I wonder if a slope control would help in this regard. It seemed to me like the slope was really drastic, and if I could nudge it down and change the slope it would be better. Effectively I was doing that using the EQ, but that’s more of a rigamarole than I’m used to when there’s a tone knob there.

Like I couldn't find a way to just switch the amp type. Maybe I'm dumb, but I could only figure out how to select a new preset amp setup.

If you click on the "amp" preset name you can open any amp model from the list. There are many other ways to go thru amps and build you own easily (such as tone maps), as explained here:

Navigating presets in Axiom

Amps seem to be made up of three things, but I was unclear as to what the middle bit was. Destruction? What is it? I'm used to having an AxeFX with a hundred things I can adjust, but somehow I felt like I wasn't quite sure where I am, where with the AxeFX I always had a handle on what everything was and what it did.

That's indeed quite different from other amp simulations, on purpose. Have you checked the Destructor manual built into the plug-in (click on the "?" icon in the amp editor)? It gives many details about how it is built and what each module does.[/quote]

Manual? Pfft! I like to approach any software without a manual at first to see how intuitive it is. I’ve been using music software since the early 90s, so I feel like if something like a guitar amp simulation software isn’t intuitive, something’s gone awry. Most of Axiom is actually easy to understand. That part just seemed sort of confusing, but I guess I just need to RTFM.

The real star, IMO, are the effects and how you can get creative with them. Not only can you host VSTs (which every guitar amp plugin should have) but you can run Late Replies which hosts VSTs as well and you can get some crazy stuff going.

I'll definitely pick it up at some point, just for the creative possibilities, but for day to day "let me pluck into a plexi and crank it" type sounds, I don't feel the modeling is at the level of a Helix or Amplitube. It's more like a good alternative to Guitar Rig.

Glad that you like the extra effects! You might find that the amp simulation grows on you as well if you view it as a distinct tool for shaping your unique tone, and check the extra dynamic capabilities that are often missing in simulations compared to what you may experience with real amps.

I have mixed feelings about digging in to stuff like that. I did it on my AxeFX, but I like how a lot of modelers just get it right without having to dig into settings. My current favorite is Amplitube’s newer stuff. It just seems to sound and feel totally right to me. I wasn’t totally getting that from Axiom, but it could just be personal taste. I think when you use an amp look and name it sort of sets up some expectation. I tried one of your competitor’s products last week and I had a hard time getting their “Blackface” to sound clean, and I was all, “WTF?” If they just named it something else I might not have been so confused as to why it didn’t sound like a vintage Fender. I think Native Instruments does this right when they name things “Fire Breather.” I get a sense of what that amp might sound like but not expect it to mimic anything specific.