Amp simulation software

zenx

eat glass
What are your experiences with these software, most of all how do they compare? I've never really used Amp Farm, is it very close to the pods? The other main question is how does Amp Farm compare to the other native plugins.

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Amp Farm - Line 6
http://www.digidesign.com/products/details.cfm?product_id=1001

Amplitube - IK Multimedia
http://www.amplitube.com/Main.html?ATInfo

Guitar Rig - Native Instruments
http://www.nativeinstruments.de/index.php?guitarrig_us

Rock Amp Legends - Nomad Factory
http://www.nomadfactory.com/products/rockamp/

How do these compare to PODs? Any other worth mentioning?
 
I have both Guitar Rig and Amplitube, and lately I've been using Amplitube more for everything. Before then I was using Guitar Rig a lot, but to me now, Amplitube has a more "warm" sound. The Rock Legends amp thingy was good if you wanted to do some hard rock/blues/what ever...or maybe I didn't mess with it long enough. I did want to try out Amp Farm, but I dont' use Pro Tools. But for PC/VST/DX I'd go with Guitar Rig or Amplitube. Also, if any user on here have Guitar Rig/Amplitube, ya should post some of your presets/techniques on getting the most out of them.
 
In my experience, they all suck. I own both Amplitube and Guitar Rig and I can't get a half-decent tone out of either. This may be due to not having a DI preamp, but if you dish out for software like this, you'd expect it to work well from the get-go, otherwise you may aswell just by yourself a PODxt or something. On the last note, Guitar Rig is almost hopeless when it comes to getting high-gain sounds. I've been frequenting the official forums for the past month and there is no end to the bitching about it sucking for metal applications.
 
Moonlapse said:
In my experience, they all suck.

I have amplitube, I agree.. It sucks for metal. I have never used it to lay down a track because it's just horrible. Not sure about the other software. I do however use a PODxt, and with careful adjustment, you can have a nice metal tone.
 
Well, I use a Rocktron Pro G.A.P as my "D.I. box" for Amplitube and Guitar Rig thru an M-Audio Delta sound card. So far with Amplitube I can get a sort of Morbid Angel guitar tone, and with Guitar Rig it varied on Marshall-ish, to solid state, which ain't really bad once you get to overdubbing guitars. Of couse I could just mic up my Peavey Transtube 212 EFX, but all I got is a Shure 58. Plus I like the challenge of this amp software stuff. Albeit some times the tones do sound a bit "distant". Oh well.
 
johnzorn said:
Well, I use a Rocktron Pro G.A.P as my "D.I. box" for Amplitube and Guitar Rig thru an M-Audio Delta sound card. So far with Amplitube I can get a sort of Morbid Angel guitar tone, and with Guitar Rig it varied on Marshall-ish, to solid state, which ain't really bad once you get to overdubbing guitars. Of couse I could just mic up my Peavey Transtube 212 EFX, but all I got is a Shure 58. Plus I like the challenge of this amp software stuff. Albeit some times the tones do sound a bit "distant". Oh well.


Post a sample, I'd like to see what you got out of it as I have had no luck getting a decent tone from amplitube...
 
DIOBOLIC5150 said:
Post a sample, I'd like to see what you got out of it as I have had no luck getting a decent tone from amplitube...

Will do. I'll start a Soundclick account and put a sample up in a within a day or two.
 
I've heard some songs with Steinberg Warp and Amplitube that were pretty decent sounding. Like the songs "Clarity in Chaos" (both guitars and bass through Amplitube) and "Spirals" (guitar through Warp, bass through Amplitube) done by a guy called Paul Antonio Ortiz a.k.a. Chimpspanner.
You can find both songs on his site: http://chimpspanner.heavenlymediaservices.com/music.htm

I hope he doesn't mind me using his work as an example here.

Granted, the songs may not be very 'metal' to some, but there are some pretty heavy guitars involved so I figured they'd do as an example.
If you think this sounds like shit, I guess you'd better stay away from these plugins for metal 'cause these are the best results I've heard so far.
 
I've started playing around with Amplitube again, and with some decent EQ work, you can get some useable tones on it. I shouldn't have been so quick to judge... however, I still think Guitar Rig can't get very good high-gain sounds.

Btw this Chimpspanner guy sounds like a very big Meshuggah fan :)
 
Hammer Bart said:
If you think this sounds like shit, I guess you'd better stay away from these plugins for metal 'cause these are the best results I've heard so far.


I think the guitar sound on that song sounds pretty nice, but the bass sounds terrible. Maybe I'll have to mess with amplitube a little...
Anyone want to post a good setting? :err:
 
I was just day dreaming today and just have this thought on all these software and hardware emulators.

I figured, the correct kinda tools are really needed to really explore these "versatile' softwares. Tools like kinda guitar pickups that you use, string gauges and heck, maybe the kind of wood the body possesses.

A bad example would be like trying to get the massive heavy gains with a single coil? Or similarly, no two guitarists can get the same tone with the exact same setup.

Heh.. I dont have any proof on my statements but thats what I think..
 
Wadi said:
I was just day dreaming today and just have this thought on all these software and hardware emulators.

I figured, the correct kinda tools are really needed to really explore these "versatile' softwares. Tools like kinda guitar pickups that you use, string gauges and heck, maybe the kind of wood the body possesses.

A bad example would be like trying to get the massive heavy gains with a single coil? Or similarly, no two guitarists can get the same tone with the exact same setup.

That be true. You gotta mess with the programs for awhile and listen. We all want that instant gratification, and if those programs/hardware offered that, there wouldn't be so many people asking questions about them. And I agree with Moonlapse thought too, I really can't get much out of Guitar Rig anymore. Anywho, ya gotta mess with it and add some EQ, compress it maybe, add a wee bit of this and that. No software/hardware will ever come close to the real thing, you just gotta thing if it where, what would I "add" to it.
 
i dont like amplitube anymore, i used to praise it but the tone you get from it sounds too distant, Guitar Rig is good theres a lot of features to choose from but i havent messed around with it to actually find a decent tone, the one i like the most is the JCM900 simulator contained in the Guitar Suite pack.
 
So I checked out Amplitube, Guitar Rig, Nomad Rock Amp, Warp, JCM 900... I don't know, maybe it's just me but after fiddling around with them for quite a while I couldn't get anything satisfying out of them :-(. A lot of people say Amplitube is the best, but it seemed too 'fake' or solid-state-like to me. The JCM 900 on the other is pretty cool, actually something like the real thing (Notice how the EQ's just merely can change the tone, just like on the real one :))) ) -> but I was totally looking for a different sound. Same with Warp and Nomad...

Guitar Rig seemed to be the one that could provide the best results, but I currently am nowhere near that :(
Do you think it would help if I checked out some of you guys' settings? If so please post your rig presets somewhere or mail me or PM or something...

Another thing: with all plugins I have tremendous amount of fffffffffffffffizzzzzzz noise when nothing is being played (and of course it's present when I'm playing too). Do you all have this? I don't like the idea of using the noise gate cause it's pretty unnatural sounding, and also, a lot of noise is present during play too.
I actually recorded through my practice amp to strengthen the signal a bit, but it is not at all noisy. Indeed I will try plugging straight in.

The meshuggah-like stuff is pretty decent sounding, I'd love to get at least tones like that, maybe I should ask for his presets?

Post your settings and presets! :worship:
 
I can't get a good tone out of GR, no matter how hard I try. The more distortion is added, the more noise comes through, coupled with the monitor and the noise on the back of the computer... well it's not at all favourable unless you like cranking the Noise Gate's threshhold to max. I might give this JCM 900 simulator a try.
 
zenx said:
The meshuggah-like stuff is pretty decent sounding, I'd love to get at least tones like that, maybe I should ask for his presets?

Post your settings and presets! :worship:


I came across the songs on the DFH forum and he actually listed his settings there too:
taken from http://www.toontrack.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?board=demos;action=display;num=1081189963
For the song called Spirals:
"Mode: Warp

Gain: 12
Master: 5
Bass: 2.6
Mid: 4.1
Treble: 4.3
Presence: 7.4

The major problem with this plugin is that on the high gain setting, the attack portion becomes overly bassy, so instead of a clear and precise rhythm sound, you end up with a muddy "thump". I placed the Waves Q2 Parametric pre-Warp and just rolled off some of the extreme lows; seemed to do the trick!"

I mailed him about his Amplitube settings for guitar on Clarity in Chaos and this is what he replied:
".... with regards to Amplitube settings, my studio laptop is currently in a bag so I can't call the settings up right now. I can give you a rough explanation though.

On the songs I have up at soundclick, I used the Solid State lead pre amp, set to around 4-o-clock, as it's a good deal less "noisy" than modern high gain (of course that was cos I used to work in front of a CRT monitor. With my laptop, I can use the Modern High Gain no probs). To counteract the sterile tone of the solid state circuitry, I use the 100W Tube Power amp, and crank the volume all the way up, so you're adding like...tube distortion to solid state pre-amp drive - just makes it a bit rounder/smoother. Then obviously just turn the master volume of the plugin down to make up for all that volume added by the gain on the power amp. The American Tube EQ model is nice for playing on your own - nice scooped Metal sound, but in a mix, it just sounds thin. I usually stick to the Brit Class A EQ as it has more body and warmth, and then whack the high/presence up to take away that "under a blanket" sorta sound. Cab wise...can't go wrong with the Brit 2x12. It's pretty much all I use. That, or the Vintage Open Back 4x12, as that has a naturally airy sound. Just use the post amp FX section to put some bass back into it and your set. Or, if using the thinner souding cab presets, just switch mic placement to off axis, mic type to dynamic, and smack the high and presence up to full.
I'll be out much of today, but see how you get on with the sort of setup described above. If you'd like, I can send you a couple of Amplitube presets?"

I never asked him to actually send his presets, the walkthrough did the trick for me, but he's is a friendly guy (I didn't know him at all, not even thru forums, but he was very helpfull and elaborate).