Swanky Amp (release 1.4.0)

[jbraner]

EDIT: migrating old presets won't work in 0.7.3. I'll have another patch out soon to address that.

I just did this:
-load both resonant and swanky
-used my Reaper presets in resonant
-manually set up new Reaper presets in Swanky - with the same settings

You can now re-order the presets directly from the UI. In the name box, you can type in the preset "slot" you want before the name. E.g. if you add a new preset called "sweet tone", you can type in "1: sweet tone" and it will be saved at the top of the list. You can also re-order afterwards, so if you wanted to set it to the middle of the list you could just rename it to "5: sweet tone" (don't forget to save after re-ordering)

This works - but when you reload the amp, the presets are back down at the bottom of the list :-\

Fixed the issue with preset saving not working.

They're still not saving input and output levels as part of the preset. Is this intentional?
I would say you'd want these to be part of the preset - especially when sag might introduce different volume levels. it's all about having the same volume level across your presets.

Otherwise - it's good now

I'm realizing a system fully using directory structure and order might be nice, so I'll probably do this eventually.

That's really the way to go
Until then, I'd just use reaper presets, or just edit the presetMaster.xml file.

I realise that you're probably more interested in the sound of the amp - so this is not a big deal

[garrinm]

Version 0.8.0 is out. As usual you can find the downloads and the change log at

http://www.resonantdsp.com/swankyamp/
https://www.github.com/resonantdsp/swankyamp/

There is a model change in this update: the pre amp has been tweaked so that the individual tubes have slightly different parameters as would be the case in a real amp. In my testing I find it has a pleasant audible result, but I'll look forward to getting feedback on that.

I've made more changes to preset management:

• preset order is now determined purely form the file names in the preset directory (you're welcome John)

• added a button to the UI to open the preset directory

• changing the preset order in the UI (by renaming with the prefix X: where X is the order position) no longer requires saving to take effect

• the program will append numeric prefixes to preset files to keep them sorted in the directory in the same order as in the UI

• the program will now correctly discover new presets added to the preset directory on startup

Garrin

[garrinm]

You can now re-order the presets directly from the UI. In the name box, you can type in the preset "slot" you want before the name. E.g. if you add a new preset called "sweet tone", you can type in "1: sweet tone" and it will be saved at the top of the list. You can also re-order afterwards, so if you wanted to set it to the middle of the list you could just rename it to "5: sweet tone" (don't forget to save after re-ordering)

This works - but when you reload the amp, the presets are back down at the bottom of the list :-\

That's been fixed!

They're still not saving input and output levels as part of the preset. Is this intentional?
I would say you'd want these to be part of the preset - especially when sag might introduce different volume levels. it's all about having the same volume level across your presets.

That is by design. In my mind I'd like to set the input level for a particular guitar at the start of a session, and the output level depending on my signal chain. But I'm quickly seeing that you might want to tie these things to a preset. I think I'll bring the levels into the presets in the next update.

[jbraner]

There is a model change in this update:

OK - let's start with the sound - I *think* I hear it as a little bit fuller now. I've had to turn "slope" down a little (for my taste) on my presets. Does that sound right? Or am I just losing my mind?
Anyway - it still sounds great.

The presets are good now too. Sorry to be annoying about this - but I think normal users will thank you for decent preset management

added a button to the UI to open the preset directory

This is a great addition!
It's so much better than having to remember where the hell the presets are.

changing the preset order in the UI (by renaming with the prefix X: where X is the order position) no longer requires saving to take effect

this works great now. It's pretty weird, and I've never seen anything like it - but it works, and it's easy to arrange presets with this.
Here's why you'd want to use it:
my presets are:
clean 01
crunch 01
hi gain 01
Now I load clean 01 and tweak it and save as clean 02. I don't want this at the bottom of the list - I want it after clean 01.

preset order is now determined purely form the file names in the preset directory (you're welcome John)
the program will append numeric prefixes to preset files to keep them sorted in the directory in the same order as in the UI
the program will now correctly discover new presets added to the preset directory on startup

So, we can manually rename the files but:
- don't put two with the same number (one will get deleted)
- if you keep all the numbers unique and in order - it works great
don't skip any numbers either
- adding a new file without a number is no good either - it will be deleted.

So, we really don't want to mess with the files manually too much. It's something I do, but I guess it's not "normal"
(I like to save the settings I've used in a song - out to a folder, so I can get them back if I ever have to. This is a little extreme though - as the plugin should always have it's current settings when you load up an old song)

I'm sure most users should be happy just working from within the plugin - and this is working pretty well now

So, the plugin is really shaping up!!


PS

I think I'll bring the levels into the presets in the next update.

I think that's a good idea. If not - we need some way (another "level" control) to keep preset volume levels similar. There's nothing worse that trying to compare presets, for a starting point, with volume levels all over the place.

[garrinm]

There is a model change in this update:

OK - let's start with the sound - I *think* I hear it as a little bit fuller now. I've had to turn "slope" down a little (for my taste) on my presets. Does that sound right? Or am I just losing my mind?
Anyway - it still sounds great.

The slope setting will have more impact now and should be able to get you a bit more variety. I do think in general the different gain stages will add a bit more harmonic content, so that might sound fuller. I noticed the EQ was a bit different, but also some really rough dynamics got a bit washed out which is what I was going for.

Here's why you'd want to use it:
my presets are:
clean 01
crunch 01
hi gain 01
Now I load clean 01 and tweak it and save as clean 02. I don't want this at the bottom of the list - I want it after clean 01.

Good idea! That shouldn't be too hard to do. If you start a new preset from another one, it will save under the original. I might get that into the next patch.

So, we can manually rename the files but:
- don't put two with the same number (one will get deleted)
- if you keep all the numbers unique and in order - it works great
don't skip any numbers either
- adding a new file without a number is no good either - it will be deleted.

So, we really don't want to mess with the files manually too much. It's something I do, but I guess it's not "normal"
(I like to save the settings I've used in a song - out to a folder, so I can get them back if I ever have to. This is a little extreme though - as the plugin should always have it's current settings when you load up an old song)

This bit a tricky and not complete yet. My vision for the full system will be to allow you to organize presets into directories and reflect that in the selection menu.

Right now the preset files get *renamed* to keep synchronized with the UI. So you can drop a file with any name, and add some weird prefix to get it sorted to some position (you could even use the same number as another one). And what *should* happen is the program will pick that up, keep it in that position, and rename all the files with numeric prefixes to keep that order.

But do note that the file names are based on the preset name (which is defined inside the file). So if you have two files that have the same preset name inside the file, one will be overwritten by the other. I'm thinking of having it pickup file names as well to avoid this situation, but there isn't an obvious thing to do there that will satisfy all use cases.

[garrinm]

Version 0.8.1 is out. This update brings *experimental* mac support.

http://www.resonantdsp.com/swankyamp
https://www.github.com/resonantdsp/swankyamp

For the current (Windows) users this update won't impact you, so you can skip it. But if someone who's been using this on Windows also has a Mac, I'd love to hear from you as to whether or not it is working on Mac. I've not had much ability to test it out on Mac other than to know it compiles and launches in a VST host.

Garrin

[jbraner]

Now I load clean 01 and tweak it and save as clean 02. I don't want this at the bottom of the list - I want it after clean 01.

Good idea! That shouldn't be too hard to do. If you start a new preset from another one, it will save under the original. I might get that into the next patch.

It doesn't have to be anything special - if it was sorting by file name, it happens automatically because it's named clean 02. Otherwise saving it as 2: clean 02 should work - but if you want to come up with something fancier - go for it!
(I do things like this with synths a lot - save "good sound" as "good sound-2")

So you can drop a file with any name, and add some weird prefix to get it sorted to some position (you could even use the same number as another one). And what *should* happen is the program will pick that up, keep it in that position, and rename all the files with numeric prefixes to keep that order.

That doesn't seem to be happening here. I can't have two things with the same number like:
02 clean
02 saggy
One of them gets deleted.
Also, I can't just save a preset file without any number - it gets deleted. Also if I have presets files numbered say, 1-12 - I can't save a file with number 15 (it gets deleted).

Of course, I'm not paying attention to what's in the presetnames file - so doing things like this is probably best avoided anyway

[jbraner]

Version 0.8.1 is out. This update brings *experimental* mac support.

sorry - no Mac here

[Bug Music]

I just installed the mac version, and both the AU and VST seem to be working so far !
I'm running a 12 core 2010 MacPro w/ Mojave ver. 10.14.6 (if that matters).

I haven't given them a good workout yet, but they seem to be working so far in Logic 10.5(AU), GarageBand 10.3(AU), and Cubase 10.5(VST).

Sounds great so far, thanks !
Not sure if it's been mentioned yet, but one little thing I did notice is a typo in the tool tips if you hover over the cabinet on/off switch ("enumation").

Other than that, I plan on playing around a bit more, and will report back if I find any problems.
Thanks again !

- Jay

[garrinm]

That doesn't seem to be happening here. I can't have two things with the same number like:
02 clean
02 saggy
One of them gets deleted.
Also, I can't just save a preset file without any number - it gets deleted. Also if I have presets files numbered say, 1-12 - I can't save a file with number 15 (it gets deleted).

Of course, I'm not paying attention to what's in the presetnames file - so doing things like this is probably best avoided anyway

It's possible the files had the same preset name (e.g. if you copy pasted them). I'm sure you won't be the last to do that so I think I'll have to address it somehow. Probably the file name needs to be taken as the preset name to avoid that confusion. Thanks for putting it through its paces!

[garrinm]

I just installed the mac version, and both the AU and VST seem to be working so far !
I'm running a 12 core 2010 MacPro w/ Mojave ver. 10.14.6 (if that matters).

I haven't given them a good workout yet, but they seem to be working so far in Logic 10.5(AU), GarageBand 10.3(AU), and Cubase 10.5(VST).

Sounds great so far, thanks !
Not sure if it's been mentioned yet, but one little thing I did notice is a typo in the tool tips if you hover over the cabinet on/off switch ("enumation").

Other than that, I plan on playing around a bit more, and will report back if I find any problems.
Thanks again !

- Jay

Thanks for trying it out and dropping a line in here. I will get that typo fixed ASAP (those are the easy things to fix), good catch. Hope you get some good use out of it.

Garrin

[garrinm]

It occurs to me there might be some new people here with the recent addition of mac support. The software is still in beta, so I appreciate any feedback: bugs, suggestions, complaints... doesn't matter it's all useful.

I am also running a very quick survey you can optionally fill out:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIp ... sp=sf_link

The next planned feature is to try to add some dynamic response to the cabinet emulation.

I plan to start work on a pro version, as a parallel effort, which will include some guitar pedals, more post processing, and probably a UI refresh as well as quality of life improvements.

Thanks,
Garrin

[jbraner]

Probably the file name needs to be taken as the preset name to avoid that confusion.

Oh, I thought that's what it was doing. Yeah - I was just copy & pasting, then changing the name of the new file. I was just seeing what works and what doesn't work - I have no idea what you'd do in real life
Maybe just copy in a couple of new presets that someone else made?

[guitarzan]

Just got a chance to check out Swanky Amp v 0.8.1 and it does seem like the added harmonics or whatever did a good job putting the final touch on turning the "rattle" into spit and growl, especially thru cab IRs.

I'm barely following what's going on with the presets since I don't have much of an established opinion on the subject , but I did make and save a new Test preset, exit the plugin, and when I open it again there is still no preset name displayed in the Preset field (so no way to know what preset is selected as far as I can tell). Maybe I just misremember how this is supposed to work.

Oh, just a heads up — on my system I had to go into the VST3 folder and delete the last version of Resonant Amp before Swanky Amp 0.8.1 would load — even though the name changed to Swanky Amp in the fx rack of my testing project, it was still loading Resonant Amp 0.7.x

[vom]

Hi Garrin,

Really enjoying the progress of this amp. I've already submitted a response to the survey and am liking the sound of this amp a great deal. Just wanted to give a quick bit of feedback about something slightly odd that I've experienced today. I set up a preset that was a tweaked version of the default clean one and used it on a couple of guitar tracks in Reaper. Everything sounded good but after working on the track for a while I noticed I couldn't hear my guitar any more, and somehow the volume had dropped considerably - reselecting my preset got things back to where they should be, but none of the controls seemed to have changed. I ended up swapping out the amp on that project, but now I'm messing with another one and I've just had the same thing happen again.

This is in the latest version 0.8.1. I don't recall this behaviour on any of the previous versions but this is the first time I've used the amp beyond testing purposes so can't confirm that for sure.

Sorry I know this is a very vague bug report - but it's the one bad thing I've run into so far, everything else is working great.