TONEX Standard

After some more days of testing, another review here, as I cannot write much more under ToneX Max.

In principle ToneX and Capture works well, if properly adjusted and if you have some experience how to adjust everything properly and if if you use the right cables at the correct places (instrument and audio cables).

I have meanwhile managed to create some exellently sounding models, but most of them not with the first capture.

Nevertheless I am disappointed from most of the results from other users, but also from most of the Premium models.

Meanwhile there are a lot of models available, really good sounding and usable I personally find about 1 to 2 % of them, about 5% of the Premium models, which - in my opinion - are surprisingly few.

Nevertheless ToneX allows to create excellently sounding models, but not without some experience and proper adjustment, which also means, that your favorite live amp settings will not necessarily give you exactly the results, which you expect.

In my opinion one weakpoint of ToneX at the moment is a sometimes strange the bass reproduction.

I have not been so convinced of the cabinet capture first, but after some weeks of use I must admit, that you can get - comparably easy - very good results with little effort.

I have tried some captures with a simple SM57, some results sounded good, others not, especially smaller speakers (8" or 10") may need some post-eq-ing, while 12" speakers seem to sound really good and also more vivid, dimensional and authentically than eg. an analog speaker simulation or some - even really good - IR's via a hardware IR loader.

First I had been very pleased from the results of my speaker emulator, but after I had learned how to capture my favorite 112 cabinet properly, the real cabinet/speaker proved to be a different league sonically.

I also found that I could even improve the final result by using an additional (tube) preamp/eq for the microphone for fine-tuning. Also speaker capturing at room level works and sounds fine.

One still annoying aspect for me is, that meanwhile a lot, if not most of the user models on ToneX are no real, self-made captures, but captures from already existing third-party plugins or models, which are available as different software/hardware solutions like Fractal, Helix, Kemper, UAD and some others. Makes no sense to me, to create a(nother) model from an already existing digital plugin or model and not from real gear. (Quite apart from a lot of copyright and licensing problems, I think.). They also of course do not cover the dynamic range and the quality of a well made capture of a real, well adjusted amp.

ToneX has a lot of potential and I am really happy with some of my own captures / models meanwhile, but still could need some improvements in my opinion.

Still not perfect, but nicely innovative and hopefully - very soon - on the way to even more perfection.

Time will tell....