Ik Multimedia - never again !!!

[jens]

There are so many topics about warning for ikm and people still buy .... i guess vecause of their freebies

Did it ever cross your mind that we perhaps simply might have a completely different opinion regarding IKMM?


this thread...

[MogwaiBoy]

Tonex is revolutionary.

I adore my AXE I/O too.

Yesterday I was testing the SSL T-Racks Bus Comp against certain compo whom I regard highly (Sonimus/Overloud) and it surprised me.

For these things, I'm willing to forgive IKM for their transgressions

[chk071]

There are so many topics about warning for ikm and people still buy .... i guess vecause of their freebies.

Or maybe it's because most people out there don't consider KVR Audio (or any other internet forum) as the authority in terms of what they should do and what they shouldn't. Thankfully.

[Mind Riot]

I'm checking things out on IK's site and this is all somewhat confusing. I can look at amps from various makers but they're all behind paywalls. Where's the average Joe's stuff?

[EDIT] Wait, I made an account (which used the same username and password as my IK account so it's pointless) and now I can access user created stuff. Boy, I could see this eating up a bunch of time that could be better spent elsewhere. Too much time spent trying out every preset of your favorite amp, hoping somebody will have gotten that perfect sound out of it.

[donkey tugger]

Tonex really is good, and you can easily get by with just the ones that come with the custom shop version, plus a few more which take your fancy (got a couple of Fender ones, VOX AX-30s, a n Ampeg bass amp, and a rather marvellous capture of a Boss HM-2 into a Marshall... ), and not pay a penny for top grade geetar gear. Excellent time to be an, err, axe warrior.

[jamcat]

I'm using standalone pedal models from Audiority, Fazertone, Brainworx, TC Electronic, Fuse Audio Labs, Nembrini, and a few others in front of TONEX. The results are outstanding. When I was using AmpliTube as an all-in-one solution I thought it was pretty good, but my new regime is next level.

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

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).

Agreed, are you posting your stuff on tone.net or just for personal use only? If you're posting it, what's your tone.net handle?

[guitarzan]

I’m using the free iOS ToneX version on my iPhone and it is the best headphone guitar tone ever by far!

I’m also using some free or ridiculousy cheap Nembrini stuff I picked up between Black Friday and Cyber Monday (IR loader, tuner, rack reverb, tremolo, rack delay…).

I’m exclusively using the included Pushed Oldie (tweed Deluxe) with the cab off and one of Jay Mitchell’s famous (or possibly infamous to some) far field IRs and it is an absolute joy!! The profile capture is set just at the clean side of breakup and I’m using the built in analog overdrive on my Apogee JAM+ interface which also happens to be right at the clean side of breakup with my weak single coil pickups with lighter picking. Dig in for perfect sag and overdrive!

I find myself just lying back with headphones on and strumming chords or notes and just listening to them ring out and fade so satisfyingly like I used to when I first started playing when I had my first old very beat up (now vintage) tube amps… chime, loads of harmonics… so dynamic that every infection is reflected in the overdrive and harmonics. All the simple stuff sounds great again, like rock and roll should. Physical modeled amp sims blow, NO comparison.

I am building a nano pedalboard with mini pedals to compliment that setup.

I still hate IK, and I’ll gladly switch to NAM when it’s available for iOS or has a dedicated hardware host. I’ll profile ToneX if I don’t find a NAM replacement.

[Agreed]

Agreed, are you posting your stuff on tone.net or just for personal use only? If you're posting it, what's your tone.net handle?

I haven't uploaded anything to Tone.net yet. I have uploaded a few captures here and there when people were curious or to demonstrate something, nothing structured or organized yet but I've been thinking about doing some posts on my blog covering pedals or amps that I like, talking about why it is I like 'em, and uploading some captures for ToneX users to enjoy. Might do NAM too since it's free but ToneX is my preferred method at this time and as long as it's robust and well supported and competitive, I expect it will continue to be.

[jancivil]

I have not investigated Neural DSP, I have something on disk but I'm not very interested.
I quit buying IKMM after, for the second time, they changed the internal ID of their tRacks line, or what I have of it anyway.
It may well not be an issue as a plugin in say Cubase, but in VE Pro (which I've used since its very beginning) all uses of that line were borked. So revisiting any project meant reconsidering that, reinstantiating all of it. I don't just load a preset or it wouldn't be much of a thing. So, all of my templates for overdriven guitar tone are out the window. And it took so long to bake it, and I'll never have that...

The first time there was no support coming back at all, and I mentioned the issue here in my pique and their representative actually deflected blame onto VSL: "They aren't doing it right." The fact is someone changed the data. And there was no help coming for it, I had to eat it. This juncture was when they had released a 64-bit plugin for Mac OSX. Then a couple or three years ago some other change in technology came about and they did it again. Seems like I didn't even bother with their support now that I think about it.
I'd bet money they never reached out to VSL or even gave it any consideration, the deflection was good enough for the one rep with no reaching out to me at all. I had only bought some mics for Amplitube in the interim. That's the last time. There are other issues I'm not into typing about, they did eventually, after my raising hell, address.

Personally I'm not swayed by other users' opinions, afaic Amplitube Jimi Hendrix is not just adequate, if you drive it good and hard it can rattle and behave like a real amp in ways that shocked me. Not modeled, nothing very cute, I don't know how that happens. But any 'amp sim' needs enough signal for tone, and it's not automatic you can achieve that. It's a shame how the company does things past the making of the things.

[Raksha]

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.

Not any more, the latest plugin and the latest trainer handles any samplerate. The latest trainer was released yesterday.

[Fannon]

Having NAM is really great. But besides of the sample rate issues (which the post above mentions are now adressed), the main issue I have is how disorganized it is.

With Tonex 1.5 you have a browser where you can select and narrow down very well what you need.

[jens]

I quit buying IKMM after, for the second time, they changed the internal ID of their tRacks line, or what I have of it anyway.
It may well not be an issue as a plugin in say Cubase, but in VE Pro (which I've used since its very beginning) all uses of that line were borked. So revisiting any project meant reconsidering that, reinstantiating all of it. I don't just load a preset or it wouldn't be much of a thing. So, all of my templates for overdriven guitar tone are out the window. And it took so long to bake it, and I'll never have that...

The first time there was no support coming back at all, and I mentioned the issue here in my pique and their representative actually deflected blame onto VSL: "They aren't doing it right." The fact is someone changed the data. And there was no help coming for it, I had to eat it. T

They do not only change the IDs, they alsdo change the names, which is what e.g. Reaper uses to identify plugins. In the past I used to manually re-name the newer versions, but that's a pita and a half. IKMM suggest to simply keep/download and re-install the older-versions in addition to the newer ones. Yeah, because these files are so small, right? They really seem adamant to clog their customers drives and come up with new ways to do so all the time.

They also changed the data-path for Modo Drums 1.5, so all of a sudden all kits except one (iIrc)
were missing and I would have had to either manually tinker with the path somehow (or move the files?) or pay ten bucks or so to re-download the kits (yeah, I know they recently changed that). I ended up re-installing V1 instead.

Some of the IKMM-folks certainly make truly bizarre decisions. I really can't come up with any sort ofsane explanation what the cause for this might be. It's almost like they hate their users. Poor Peter who has to defend them all the time.

All that aside I'm still a fan though.

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

They'll do it again soon when T-Racks 6 comes out. Just keep the old versions installed.

[Andrew189]

I have almost all Ik Multimedia plugins.
I really like it, the prices are good.
They work well and the GUI is large and readable.
They listened to our criticisms: they removed the paid download (before you had to save everything on the hard disk).
There are often admirable discounts.
In my opinion it is an excellent alternative to Waves plugins.