Okay guys... let's talk a bit about MAR.
This is my own opinion and it's far from beeing objective as I got it with a certain perception in mind - which MAR can only cover partially.
I was extremely curious about MAR, since it came out. The plugin's got only good reviews, it just looked extremely good and there were two names involved that (at least to me) should have rendered it the best plugin in the world (Tue Madsen, who was involved in the making of the cab-sim and Jensen from The Haunted - the whole product-info-text almost read as if it was Jensen's Signature Amp-sim). I also loved the concept of simplicity. Softube stated, it would be most raw and brutal amp-sim on the market.
So - finally - I bought it about 4 weeks ago and I'm far from beeing impressed! Don't get me wrong: MAR sounds good - no question. It sounds very realistic, I love the whole concept behind it and I really want to love the program. Yet the first thing I had to realize was: it needs a TS in front. So now I use Revalver II in front of MAR just for the TS-simulation. It's no big deal, but it's still a bummer.
MAR has a lot of low-end (which you can control via 3 knobs and potis - the low-poti, a "deep"-knob and a deep- or resonance-poti). The problem with all of these controls is - the bass seems always boomy and mismatched and it never sounds REALLY awesome. The next problem is on the other end of the frequency-spectrum - WHERE ARE THE HIGHS AND THE TIGHT MIDS?!? Without further Equalization, MAR sounds kinda dull and I constantly feel compelled to crank the highs- and presence-knob. The mids are extremely strange as well. Turn them down = all the balls are gone ... turn 'em up = welcome to mudland. The best option would be cranking the mids and then scooping the sound again via the "scoop"-knob.
Now, let's get to the cab-sim. Check out the softube-site to learn a bit about the concept (which IS wicked). As I wrote before: Tue Madsen was involved in the cab-module and I hoped for something extremely good sounding. First bummer: the cab on the right side makes the whole sound even more dull - it sounds muffled and wooly. You can get a bit more presence in there by fiddling around with the mic-positions but you'll never ever get a sound that doesn't need further EQ! The cab on the left side (I think it's called the metal-cab) sounds much better - actually I really like it's character. It does need further EQ as well, but not to the extremes of the other cab.
A few days after I bought MAR, Amplitube 3 came out. I didn't like Amplitube 2 and I also didn't like Amplitube Metal, so I downloaded the demo without expecting too much and it kinda blew me away. At least to me, the digital sound that killed the predecessors, was gone and I was able to instantly dial in two or three sounds that were far bigger than MAR, more brutal and raw (even with the included cab-sim!).
I bought MAR, because I was looking for a very simple to setup metal-amp that can cover a few of Tue Madsens guitar-sounds. I got a plugin that can cover "The Haunted's" guitar-sound on "Versus" (which I really like!) but can't even get close to "rEVOLVEr". I got a plugin that needs a TS-sim in front (and I'm on a mac, so no TSS for me) and a lot of EQ afterwards - which kills the simplicity-advantage. And I would never call it the most brutal amp-sim - it's very hard to get an overly tight and big sound out of it.
To get to an end: I started this thread with the idea in mind to get together a few MAR-users to share some tipps and tricks ... now it has evolved to beeing my personal rant about it. That's why I haven't prepared some sound-clips and that (of course) sucks when reading a review. If I can spare 1 or 2 hours I will add some (Rose Of Sharyn-DI's?!?).
One or two sentences to get to an end:
MAR sounds good - but not out of the box and it's not as brutal as one might think after checking out softubes website.
Over and out
This is my own opinion and it's far from beeing objective as I got it with a certain perception in mind - which MAR can only cover partially.
I was extremely curious about MAR, since it came out. The plugin's got only good reviews, it just looked extremely good and there were two names involved that (at least to me) should have rendered it the best plugin in the world (Tue Madsen, who was involved in the making of the cab-sim and Jensen from The Haunted - the whole product-info-text almost read as if it was Jensen's Signature Amp-sim). I also loved the concept of simplicity. Softube stated, it would be most raw and brutal amp-sim on the market.
So - finally - I bought it about 4 weeks ago and I'm far from beeing impressed! Don't get me wrong: MAR sounds good - no question. It sounds very realistic, I love the whole concept behind it and I really want to love the program. Yet the first thing I had to realize was: it needs a TS in front. So now I use Revalver II in front of MAR just for the TS-simulation. It's no big deal, but it's still a bummer.
MAR has a lot of low-end (which you can control via 3 knobs and potis - the low-poti, a "deep"-knob and a deep- or resonance-poti). The problem with all of these controls is - the bass seems always boomy and mismatched and it never sounds REALLY awesome. The next problem is on the other end of the frequency-spectrum - WHERE ARE THE HIGHS AND THE TIGHT MIDS?!? Without further Equalization, MAR sounds kinda dull and I constantly feel compelled to crank the highs- and presence-knob. The mids are extremely strange as well. Turn them down = all the balls are gone ... turn 'em up = welcome to mudland. The best option would be cranking the mids and then scooping the sound again via the "scoop"-knob.
Now, let's get to the cab-sim. Check out the softube-site to learn a bit about the concept (which IS wicked). As I wrote before: Tue Madsen was involved in the cab-module and I hoped for something extremely good sounding. First bummer: the cab on the right side makes the whole sound even more dull - it sounds muffled and wooly. You can get a bit more presence in there by fiddling around with the mic-positions but you'll never ever get a sound that doesn't need further EQ! The cab on the left side (I think it's called the metal-cab) sounds much better - actually I really like it's character. It does need further EQ as well, but not to the extremes of the other cab.
A few days after I bought MAR, Amplitube 3 came out. I didn't like Amplitube 2 and I also didn't like Amplitube Metal, so I downloaded the demo without expecting too much and it kinda blew me away. At least to me, the digital sound that killed the predecessors, was gone and I was able to instantly dial in two or three sounds that were far bigger than MAR, more brutal and raw (even with the included cab-sim!).
I bought MAR, because I was looking for a very simple to setup metal-amp that can cover a few of Tue Madsens guitar-sounds. I got a plugin that can cover "The Haunted's" guitar-sound on "Versus" (which I really like!) but can't even get close to "rEVOLVEr". I got a plugin that needs a TS-sim in front (and I'm on a mac, so no TSS for me) and a lot of EQ afterwards - which kills the simplicity-advantage. And I would never call it the most brutal amp-sim - it's very hard to get an overly tight and big sound out of it.
To get to an end: I started this thread with the idea in mind to get together a few MAR-users to share some tipps and tricks ... now it has evolved to beeing my personal rant about it. That's why I haven't prepared some sound-clips and that (of course) sucks when reading a review. If I can spare 1 or 2 hours I will add some (Rose Of Sharyn-DI's?!?).
One or two sentences to get to an end:
MAR sounds good - but not out of the box and it's not as brutal as one might think after checking out softubes website.
Over and out
