Ik Multimedia - never again !!!

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

I'm not using Amplitube at all these days. TONEX is my amp sim of choice. The profiling technology is incredible when paired with the right captures. And I love capturing my own gear. Is NAM better? I guess a teeny tiny bit better when it comes to DI profiles where you plug in your own IR. But does NAM do high quality full captures with a mic'd up cabinet? Spoiler: TONEX definitely wins there. I'm not the world's biggest IK fanboy, I was just criticizing them pretty hard over the latest TONEX update that really screwed the pooch with Custom IR loading (which I do sometimes), but these are the best ITB amp sounds.

TONEX does full captures, and has the better overall ecosystem, including a hardware pedal. NAM? It's a far less slick user experience, doesn't do full captures, but it's free and open - which is cool. I've got no problem with it or anyone who would prefer it even if I'd rather pay for the more premium experience that TONEX offers. Different strokes for different folks.

Amplitube? I honestly don't see much of a place for it in the market any longer. The amps, cabs, and effects are anywhere between pretty ok (the newer amps) to bad (all the legacy amps) IMO. Nothing stands out to me as great in Amplitube. And maybe it's their cab technology, but the amps sound off to me. When it comes to modelers, I think Neural DSP and Mixwave are miles ahead. Line6 Helix has the same problem as AT5 when it comes to legacy algorithms mixed in with the new stuff, but their latest amps, cabs, and effects (once you figure out how to separate the wheat from the chaff) are quite good IMO.

[Agreed]

I use Amplitube 5 as a platform to load ToneX captures and use the effects and routing, but I too am relying on ToneX captures (mainly of my own gear, for that matter) in recording and it's a blast. Instant recall with Reaper's FX chains and track templates. I agree that Neural DSP seems like it was far out ahead of a lot of these things, but kept it pretty proprietary and in a pricier walled-garden than ToneX brings by far. I still use and love NDSP plugins, some of the only bespoke amp models that seem totally worth it to me as the sound quality and accuracy is similar to captures (and, I expect, rather similarly derived, but with a more sophisticated process that they must hand-tune along the way also to capture such an authentic range of amp behaviors). I think machine learning has powered a lot of modeling behind the scenes for years, actually, in a quieter, "well we need to be doing this now or we can't really compete" kind of way. The big players have all invested to some degree.

It's an era of substantial change, and fast. Whole industry is shuffling and it's unclear who will land on their feet at the end of the day. IKMM has positioned themselves extremely well here to leverage NAM-esque tech for the masses and support it in a robust way commercially. It's hard to sell me personally bespoke amp models or "collections" of things these days. There's too much on the low shelves that are totally in reach and free to share. A guy with an nVidia graphics card can put out a dozen models a day easy if he wants to and has the gear. I've got dozens and dozens of captures I've made and I can A/B them with the real thing for a damn near imperceptible A/B. It's ridiculously good. And we're still first gen! It starts this good, imagine where it goes from here.

[DCrown]

Yep. Weeks of back and forth, every reply including literally no more than 1 question every time, such as "have you tried this... (insert obvious question here)?". Even sending an email to ask me to register the license in the Product Manager... the license for the product that I told them I had registered and working in my DAW and was having technical issues with, which is why I contacted them in the first place. Now, they've just stopped replying.

I do have the same experience. If a problem with an IK product is more complex than simple noob issues they totally loose it. Delaying tactics, ignoring mails, deliberate misunderstandings. A nightmare. I guess it’s because they do not really understand English.

IK has in my opinion the worst support in the industry.

Just write in Italian language and you might get a reply even within a week!

[Bombadil]

I've stopped using Amplitube for pretty much everything except the Leslie amp/rotary plugin.
My Amplitube patches in my template have been changed to Tonex. For reverb, I bought an external real spring reverb, and for other efx I've made other choices, like Valhalla Übermod, Delay, Vintage 'verb, Soundtoys Tremolator, and set up my preferred tone with Tonex as the base.
I find Amplitube ok. I find the efx less than inspiring, for the most part. Tonex...I'd defy any non-guitarist doing a cold listen of a track to tell me it wasn't a real amp. I'd make the same bet for Amplitube. Or any of the other platforms.
Since I don't do hi-gain diddly-diddly-diddly, I am thoroughly pleased with Tonex.

[Bombadil]

As for their support, I've experienced the same bullshit with Sampletank having all kinds of weird paths that went nowhere. It took about a month, and a tech to come into my computer to straighten it all out.

But I resent the stupid questions, or suggestions they often offer, it's gaslighting then ghosting, that is true. Maybe they can replace these people with AI?

[Bombadil]

But I still enjoy their products, for the most part. I am re-discovering Sampletank, and having fun with that (before my new Kontrol keyboard came, anyway). It would be nice if they were NKS compatible.

[zerocrossing]

I used Amplitube 5 Max and i am more than disappointed, with the quality and also how the company handles customer requests with licensing problems.

Unfortunately quantity over quality is the motto here. In general there are much better and also cheaper alternatives on the market. Moreover, the fact that you always have to install the complete package wastes disk space when it's completely not necessary. The CPU load is pretty intense, about the double of other plugins with the same or even better quality.
Apart from that, their licensing policy is pretty puzzling. And if problems occur the customer service, especially when dealing with problems of licenses, acts more than ignorant.
So, all in all please stay away from Amplitube and other IK Multimedia products.

I’ve been playing guitar since the late 70s, and I find Amplitube 5 to be one of the best amp simulators available in hardware or software. So good, when I put it up against my AxeFX 3, I decided there was no real reason to keep the Fractal around. The CPU load is modest, though I do have a fast modern computer. The variety and flexibility is very good. Not Guitar Rig 7 good, but there are more high quality amp types in Amplitube, so that makes it my go-to for traditional guitar amp sounds. I’ll go for Guitar Rig when I’m looking for more experimental stuff.

I also find that IK Support to be good, though I’ve never had licensing issues. I bought Amplitube 5 Max from another KVR member and the transfer was smooth. They even have a representative here, Peter, who’s really good at helping with any problems. I’m not saying you don’t have a problem, but I’d be surprised if they don’t get it sorted for you.

Lastly, I read a bunch of hype about the Neural DSP plugins, so during their sale, I figured I’d try a bunch and maybe get one. They sound amazing, but when I started looking at each preset and mirroring what they were doing in Amplitube, I was able to easily get similarly good results. I ended up not buying anything, because each time I was able to find models inside of Amplitube that were giving me a similar character at an equal quality. What’s much better about Amplitube is that the routing and variety are vastly better than what comes with a Neural DSP plugin.

My only actual criticisms are, not all the models are up to snuff with the quality of their more recent emulations. This is especially noticeable on some of the old cabinets. It’s easy to add your own IRs or switch to a different cabinet, but I think IK should do some work to bring all their cabinets up to par with their newer stuff.

My other issue is that I don’t like that they removed the global noise gate. I thought it was fine for most things, and it’s sort of a bother to have to drag a pedal into your chain. Keep those pedals for when you need something better, but I wish there was a basic global one too.

Other than that, I’m super happy with Amplitube 5. I’ve tried what seems like every other plugin available and I keep coming to the conclusion that none of them actually sound better than what I can get in Amplitube. I still will go for Guitar Rig 7 when I want some ultra effects driven stuff, and I’ll go for Helix Native when I want some stuff in there that’s unique, but most of the time I’m with IK and happy.

[zerocrossing]

I still use and love NDSP plugins, some of the only bespoke amp models that seem totally worth it to me as the sound quality and accuracy is similar to captures (and, I expect, rather similarly derived, but with a more sophisticated process that they must hand-tune along the way also to capture such an authentic range of amp behaviors). I think machine learning has powered a lot of modeling behind the scenes for years, actually, in a quieter, "well we need to be doing this now or we can't really compete" kind of way. The big players have all invested to some degree.

Which Neural DSP models do you think are worth buying if you have Amplitube 5 Max? I didn’t do a super comprehensive analysis, as some of my demo time had been used up previously, but what I found was that I could generally get similar results, or even better. Often the key was just to slip in the right IR. I tend to like the sound of Ownhammer stuff, though Amplitube’s room simulation is second to none, at least inside an amp sim plugin.

I also like a lot of the ToneX captures, but I do often find that when I get right down to it, they’re not really that much better than the models, if at all. I use them mainly for unique amps that have no emulation, especially combined with boutique stomp boxes. This is where ToneX really shines.

[seangm]

Yeah I agree that their support/licensing/ecosystem is pretty much crap. But I like most of their products including Tonex so I'm hoping they will get their sh*t together with the rest of it. I am holding off on getting anything else from them or upgrading though because I don't want to deal with the potential issues from licensing/installation/support that I might run into with a new purchase or upgrade.

[onerob]

I'm using the free version of Amplitube 5 in standalone mode as my guitar amp for practising. Although you can't store many amp captures in this edition it has let me install Tone Junkies' excellent free AC30 Tonex captures, which I can then use in combination with a few of its pedals, reverb and eq. The ability to use a standalone version is important to me as I can keep latency lower than if I load it up in my DAW. NAM has a standalone but you don't get any extras. Amplitube works for me and it's free.

[VOODOO U]

Lol, NAM.

LOL? What's to laugh at?

That it requires one to record in 48kHz sample rate? What's up with that I have no idea.

[AGIGA]

I use lots of Ik Multimedia plugins (including TonexMax and Amplitube5Max) for years now and I'm happy with their products. Since the new Product Manager is out, installation is not a problem anymore. So for me I would say: Ik Multimedia? Anytime!

[Bombadil]

I would also add that, re support, I've had fast and correct solutions provided as well as the bullshit. As mentioned above, PM their resident rep, Peter, if you're having trouble with support.
Another, independent amp sim maker I'd absolutely recommend is S-Gear Scuffham amps. Quality over quantity, low cpu load on my M1 Mini.

Anyway, bottom line: I'd have no trouble doing biz with IK again. And, I'll remind ya'll why I joined KVR 10+ years ago; I was royally pissed that Sampletank 2 hadn't gone 64 bit after I bought it and a bunch of add-ons in a group sale just prior (2013 was also the year of Logic Pro X, 64 bit only) and joined up here to rain bloody 'ell down on IK. They haven't done anything lately to damage my confidence in them. They've listened to us re the fee for accessing our samples after 6 months. Their products are excellent. Sampletron 2, B3X, MODO Bass and Drums…all work very well on my M1 Mini.

[plexuss]

I've been using IK for about a decade. No real problems. I have most of their stuff. All good here.

[Agreed]

Which Neural DSP models do you think are worth buying if you have Amplitube 5 Max? I didn’t do a super comprehensive analysis, as some of my demo time had been used up previously, but what I found was that I could generally get similar results, or even better. Often the key was just to slip in the right IR. I tend to like the sound of Ownhammer stuff, though Amplitube’s room simulation is second to none, at least inside an amp sim plugin.

I also like a lot of the ToneX captures, but I do often find that when I get right down to it, they’re not really that much better than the models, if at all. I use them mainly for unique amps that have no emulation, especially combined with boutique stomp boxes. This is where ToneX really shines.

I'm a huge fan of the NDSP SLO-100 suite, though there are good SLO captures both in IKMM's own collection for ToneX Max (not sure if it's in the lower ones, I got Max in the BF sale, didn't try the others) and on ToneNet. But the SLO-100 in NDSP's is so realistic, IMO, it's as close as you can get to having a SLO-100 mic'd up and ready to go and you can get great results with it really fast. I also use the Fortin Cali suite for its edgy & hot tone; I use Archetype Rabea for its unique capabilities, and while I do like IKMM's most recent Mesa pack, the NDSP Mesa MkIIC/C+ suite is outstandingly realistic and likewise extremely easy to work with.

That said, I have not bought any new amp modeling products since getting ToneX in BF sales. It's astounding that I can just make my own captures of my gear, which I can confirm beyond a shadow of a doubt sound and behave realistically, digitize it all for instant recall and easy manipulation. I have a lot of real gear, and the hardest part of making use of the collection is physically working with it and getting everything set up and dialed in. It can model individual components and stacking them together digitally sounds right. It can also model a whole signal path's sound, with pedals and amps together. And it works, it does not fail at doing so, the sound is great and realistic and the feel is really delivering on the promise of the "old days" when we were just starting with PC-based amp modeling. If IKMM stewards ToneX well, I expect I will only come to rely on it even more in time (but not to any intentional exclusion of other things - if NDSP keeps making incredible quality models with the full range of behavior, I'll be glad to use their tools too, same for others - this machine learning based modeling is pretty industry wide behind the scenes now as I understand it, though we're seeing faster and slower competitors there, always possible for things to shift when there's a lot of flux and a big sea change underway).