Neural DSP Darkglass Plugins

[Rockatansky]

Saw them mentioned in the KVR news section.
Web site link

Anyone bought/tried them yet?
Care to upload some bass-only demo tracks?

I'd be in the market, but the demos on their page, at least those where the bass wasn't drowned in other rubbish, sounded pretty dull and lifeless. No "air", just distortion with everything above 2K~3K cut out. "Turn up the guitars, it'll sound impressive". Curious to know if that's just SoundCloud and YouTube doing their part by mangling the sound, or if that's how the plugins actually sound.

[MogwaiBoy]

Hah, cool - an effects pedal company emulating heir own pedals in plugin format. Strymon, are you listening?

[pekbro]

I like them , too bad I don't have a bass guitar. They sound great imo, cpu is
fairly heavy, and off the charts @ HQ mode. No IR loading as with the
hardware (apparently), but I suppose its not overly necessary.

Also quite expensive I think. I do definitely like the sound.

[Rockatansky]

Hah, cool - an effects pedal company emulating heir own pedals in plugin format. Strymon, are you listening?

Hehe, I would go for a Strymon plugin... or a Wampler. But not all of them turn out worth while... *cough* BBE *cough*

I like them , too bad I don't have a bass guitar. They sound great imo, cpu is fairly heavy, and off the charts @ HQ mode. No IR loading as with the hardware (apparently), but I suppose its not overly necessary.
Also quite expensive I think. I do definitely like the sound.

Yes, I read that they don't have IR loaders, but I actually like that. I prefer simple designs. Makes throwing together specific chains much easier than having to go through each plugin every time to disable this or that redundant processor section.

I'd be OK with just using HQ mode for freezing and rendering, the CPU hit wouldn't bother me much. As long as it's just in HQ mode.

The price... well, you obviously pay extra for the name. Sorry, for the "heritage". And the copy protection. But I assume there will be deals, and at $49 or $75 I guess they would be OK. I'd even be fine with $99 ... IF they are as good as the hardware pedals, and IF they bring something to the table that other distortion plugins don't.

As a coder, I have a natural interest in what's going on inside. But to be quite honest, as a mere customer and user, I really don't care about *how* it's done, I care much more about how it *sounds*. So all that fancy marketing talk on their web site doesn't impress me the least. They could be using the blood of kittens for all I care, if it sounds like any generic tanh + filter distortion box, I'd just rather not get it. That's why I'm so curious about user-created demo sounds.

If you don't use the plugins for bass guitar, what do you use them on? Synth basses?

[pekbro]

Of course synth basses, and even drums. It sounds very good on drums to me actually.
I am not a bass pedal aficionado in the slightest, I'm just playing around with it because
I thought it looked interesting, and it is. Unfortunately, I have no idea as to it's heritage
or anything. I definitely like the sound a lot, cpu hit isn't really bad, certainly a trade
off for emulation accuracy, of course I am unable to judge its degree of success.

Certainly, I think its worth a demo for anyone seeking an affordable alternative to
the hardware. As a guitarist, its got me seriously thinking about picking up a
nice bass (again) for recording and exploring the instrument. Something I've never really done.

-Cheers

[metalifuxx]

Of course synth basses, and even drums. It sounds very good on drums to me actually.
I am not a bass pedal aficionado in the slightest, I'm just playing around with it because
I thought it looked interesting, and it is. Unfortunately, I have no idea as to it's heritage
or anything. I definitely like the sound a lot, cpu hit isn't really bad, certainly a trade
off for emulation accuracy, of course I am unable to judge its degree of success.

Certainly, I think its worth a demo for anyone seeking an affordable alternative to
the hardware. As a guitarist, its got me seriously thinking about picking up a
nice bass (again) for recording and exploring the instrument. Something I've never really done.

-Cheers

Spend the extra $100-$200 on a bass that plays comfortably and stays intonated all around the neck. I have the same intentions with bass, use it mainly for recording, but I have a cheap Squire P Bass Special, and I fight with that thing to play notes in tune and not have them fret out or just "disappear" with no sustain. I recently was asked if I wanted to play bass in this new live jam project, and this bass is such a bitch to play haha (although I can get it to sound and respond decent and cutting running it through my Soldano's clean channel as I have no actual real bass amp).

[xphen0m]

I own a hardware B7K Ultra, and owned the original B7K. I'm about to try these out and compare it what I did yesterday. Not sure if I'll provide audio examples at this point, but probably some point soon.

[Rockatansky]

Not sure if I'll provide audio examples at this point

Please do.

[Ploki]

I own a hardware B7K Ultra, and owned the original B7K. I'm about to try these out and compare it what I did yesterday. Not sure if I'll provide audio examples at this point, but probably some point soon.

Yes please! I’m opting to buy HW but i’d actually prefer a plugin if it comes close enough

[pekbro]

Spend the extra $100-$200 on a bass that plays comfortably and stays intonated all around the neck. I have the same intentions with bass, use it mainly for recording, but I have a cheap Squire P Bass Special, and I fight with that thing to play notes in tune and not have them fret out or just "disappear" with no sustain. I recently was asked if I wanted to play bass in this new live jam project, and this bass is such a bitch to play haha (although I can get it to sound and respond decent and cutting running it through my Soldano's clean channel as I have no actual real bass amp).

Thanks for the advice, I figured as much. I went through quite a few cheap guitars
over the years, before I finally figured out it wasn't worth it to buy cheap guitars.

-cheers

[Ploki]

Thanks for the advice, I figured as much. I went through quite a few cheap guitars
over the years, before I finally figured out it wasn't worth it to buy cheap guitars.

-cheers

Actually I like cheap guitars.
I also try to find beaten up used ones (got MIJ Yamaha TRB 4II for 350€ just recently) and then set them up correctly.
A good setup can do wonders for a guitar and it takes few hours to do (or 50-100€)

[pekbro]

Actually I like cheap guitars.
I also try to find beaten up used ones (got MIJ Yamaha TRB 4II for 350€ just recently) and then set them up correctly.
A good setup can do wonders for a guitar and it takes few hours to do (or 50-100€)

Well I'm sure thats true, I never had the wherewithal for that. When I was young I bought
a lot of them, always finding them inadequate for one reason or another. When I finally
ponied up for a high quality instrument, it was like night and day to me. I never looked back.
The piano also became a huge focus for me, so I guess I cant say I'm very much of a guitar nerd.

I'm kind of regretting losing track of a few of them atm though.

-Cheers