Blue Cat's AcouFiend, the feedback simulation plug-in, is here!

Official support for: bluecataudio.com
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AcouFiend

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Blue Cat's AcouFiend, the new feedback simulation plug-in announced and demoed at NAMM, is now available for purchase!

You get get it at a special introduction price (25% off) until March 31st, or as part of the updated Axe Pack bundle (also in promotion - 249 instead of 299), check it out!

Existing customers will receive an even better deal by email.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... Ca6UVt85nw

Main Features
- Acoustic feedback simulator.
- Total control over the feedback: adjust the rise and fall time, the sensitivity to pitch and amplitude changes, and the generated harmonic.
- Supports chords.
- Limit the range of notes that can produce feedback.
- Transpose the feedback signal to create harmonies.
- No latency.

Enjoy!

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Can’t listen to the demo as I’m at work, but I think I’m going to get this anyway, just from the previous short demo video. (Nice price too!)

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One more video, in the style of Joe Satriani: Here is " Flying in a Blue Cat dream" :-)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ET0oxLhLN48

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demoed it yesterday. a cool effect, and i liked it much better than Softube feedback thingie. and it's more versatile.

two things stood out to me. first is inability to "hold" feedback indefinitely - i understand that it follows pitch of the guitar signal, but it would've been nice to have it keeping last pitch until i decide to play something else (or stop the feedback).

second, limitations of the software approach are still apparent with this thing. having experienced real feedback, it takes a bit of wrapping your head around it to "get" how it works and trigger it comfortably, and since it's not real feedback, some of the things that you can do with real feedback (such as whammy bar tricks) just don't work that well.

i'm still debating with myself on whether i should buy it. on the one hand, it's a useful tool, and not just for guitars. on the other, i have Vibesware Guitar Resonator, which gives me access to The Real Thing without blowing out my ears, and it too can do funny things like triggering guitar feedback using synths or playback, so if i really, really wanted them, i can get them. the convenience of having quasi-feedback available with a press of a pedal is tempting though...
I don't know what to write here that won't be censored, as I can only speak in profanity.

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Can it generate sauvage feedback ? (i mean a "nirvana" live feedback style)

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hivkorn wrote: Fri Mar 06, 2020 3:33 am Can it generate sauvage feedback ? (i mean a "nirvana" live feedback style)
I am not sure (and I don't remember well how it sounds - do you have an example of what you are looking for?). Really noisy and random feedback might be a bit more difficult to achieve, but it's worth trying, maybe with several instances in parallel and lots of distortion.

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Burillo wrote: Fri Mar 06, 2020 3:30 am demoed it yesterday. a cool effect, and i liked it much better than Softube feedback thingie. and it's more versatile.
Gad that you like it!
two things stood out to me. first is inability to "hold" feedback indefinitely - i understand that it follows pitch of the guitar signal, but it would've been nice to have it keeping last pitch until i decide to play something else (or stop the feedback).
It can almost hold feedback indefinitely, if you lower the threshold parameter, and add a compressor in front of it to increase the sustain. Vibrato also helps keeping the note alive (like in the real world).
Completely infinite sustain is pretty hard to achieve, if you want at the same time to be able to control the feedback with your playing on the guitar (the plug-in will typically stop the feedback when you start playing something else) and follow bends etc.
second, limitations of the software approach are still apparent with this thing. having experienced real feedback, it takes a bit of wrapping your head around it to "get" how it works and trigger it comfortably, and since it's not real feedback, some of the things that you can do with real feedback (such as whammy bar tricks) just don't work that well.
Whammy bar acrobatics should work pretty well, if you lower the pitch (and maybe also attack) sensitivity. You can even find the right spot where large dive bombing stops the feedback, but smaller ones still follow, just like with a real amp.
the convenience of having quasi-feedback available with a press of a pedal is tempting though...
That's indeed a lot of fun :-)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWWdWgfZseM

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Check out RealHomeRecording's review: it's a good overview of the plug-in and shows how it works on existing material (after recording):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tg_ZUMHy-84

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Just bought this and well pleased with it. I'm just a little gobsmacked that no other plugin manufacturer, especially those who specialise in amp modelling (IKMM?) haven't created something like this long before now.

Anyway, I have a technical question please. You say in the manual that you can output just the wet feedback signal to a reverb for more realistic effect but you don't mention how that's done. Could you please enlighten me on how you would go about doing this. I'm using Cubase 10 by the way if that help you to be more specific. Thanks in advance.

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Hi all,

Has anybody succeeded to use AcouFiend with Ableton Live 10.1.9 ?
I installed the demo of the VST and VST 3 versionsl launched AL, rescanned plugins and; nothing...

In Reaper I could see and use the VST version but not the VST 3 (I don't care that much about VST 3, buty thought I'd mention it).

So what am I missing to get AcouFiend into Ableton??

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dgc4rter wrote: Sat Mar 07, 2020 7:53 am Just bought this and well pleased with it. I'm just a little gobsmacked that no other plugin manufacturer, especially those who specialise in amp modelling (IKMM?) haven't created something like this long before now.
Glad that you like it! It's a very different type of technology than amp sims, and it requires quite a bit of signal analysis, so that's probably why...
Anyway, I have a technical question please. You say in the manual that you can output just the wet feedback signal to a reverb for more realistic effect but you don't mention how that's done. Could you please enlighten me on how you would go about doing this. I'm using Cubase 10 by the way if that help you to be more specific. Thanks in advance.
If you have something like Axiom or Patchwork, you can simply add the plug-in in a parallel chain and set the dry signal to 0. It also works when placed at the beginning of the signal path in Late Replies.

In a DAW such as Cubase, you can send the signal track to a aux bus where you place the plug-in (100% wet) and the reverb (100% wet) and it should do the trick. You can also use an amp sim between the two to make it more realistic.

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yavadeg wrote: Sat Mar 07, 2020 12:39 pm Hi all,

Has anybody succeeded to use AcouFiend with Ableton Live 10.1.9 ?
I installed the demo of the VST and VST 3 versionsl launched AL, rescanned plugins and; nothing...

In Reaper I could see and use the VST version but not the VST 3 (I don't care that much about VST 3, buty thought I'd mention it).

So what am I missing to get AcouFiend into Ableton??
That's odd. Have you had any error message from Live or Reaper? If not I guess they have not even found the plug-in: have you maybe changed the install paths?

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Here is one more video (shot at NAMM earlier this year). You will hear about AcouFiend, tone maps, amp simulation and more...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Om1I6i5zbPw

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Blue Cat Audio wrote: Sun Mar 08, 2020 2:02 am
That's odd. Have you had any error message from Live or Reaper? If not I guess they have not even found the plug-in: have you maybe changed the install paths?
Ok, found the problem.
I installed the 32 bit versions.
Ableton only supports 64 bit VSTs.
And reaper automatically uses a wrapper.

I did not expect a developer to create 32 bit versions anymore :wink:

Both the VST and VST3 work in Ableton live.
going to play around now :D

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So would this go before a distortion pedal (sim) or between the pedalboard and amp sim? Also, I didn’t really see anything in the videos, but can you modulate the pitch of the feedback with the software or is it strictly dependent on the incoming pitch?

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