What is up with all the amp sims?

[Quitty]

Is there a new WYSIWYG toolkit for amp modeling VSTs? Has SPICE taken a huge technological leap lately that i wasn't aware of? Has it been ported to PHP?

I believe the vast majority of these aren't modeling electronics but rather treating generalized amp components as black-boxes and using IRs and waveshapers, but even that didn't use to be particularly easy to pull off.

They all have the same advertising campaign, to boot. They have a few producers low-key slamming all other solutions and pitching how easy it is to get usable tones with this - and only this - plugin.
I almost miss the good ol' Kemper vs Fractal flame wars. A least we had a difference in approach.

Seriously, if anyone knows anything, i feel like i missed out on the revolution and the engineer in me wants in.

 

[GunpointMetal]

I don't think it's necessarily any easier than before, but it's a hot market, and became even more so with everyone becoming a home engineer last year with no shows. Plus once you have all the components modeled its pretty easy to mix and match until you get something you like.

 

[Sylim]

as far as marketing goes, ignore all of that. it´s almost always full of crap. you can get killer tones with pretty much anything these days. usually you can try the demo of any amp sim and just try it for yourself. that´s always the better option than blindly believing the marketing.

 

[jaco815]

The STL Tones, Neural DSP, ML Sound Lab, and Overloud TH-U Rig Player plugins are generally incredible quality and for many non-gigging people are replacing racks of equipment. A lot of folks say their amps and hardware modelers are now sitting around collecting dust because of the convenience and low noise-level using plugins. Before Neural DSP I had never been happy with tones from plugins like Amplitube or GuitarRig, and I had planned on buying a 5150 mkIII, but then I got the Achetype Plini plugin and was (and still am) in tone heaven. Each company does have their own unique modelling technologies (STL's Tracing Amp vs ML's "VORNA" modeling algorithm, for example) which result in slightly different flavors, and every company has done head-to-head comparisons of their plugins vs the real gear being modeled and they always nail it, so I don't think one technology is really better than the other. Fortunately they all offer good demo periods and will often reset your demo if you ask them to so you can do a proper comparison between newer and older plugins. The marketing does get extremely obnoxious if you are on social media, but it's better to ignore all that crap. At this point, there is probably a plugin out there that does what you need. As far as WYSIWYG all-in-one plugins, I would go with Overloud TH-U Rig Player and the various Rig Profiles that are out there, particularly the Big Hairy Sounds and Choptones packs. For ease of use and quick good tones with no fuss, I prefer Neural DSP. I often can cycle through a few presets and find the tone I need in maybe a minute; make a few quick changes to the tone stack or mic placement and I'm usually there. Granted, I still suck at guitar and am a hobbyist songwriter, but at least now I'm extremely happy with my tones and know that I am the reason my stuff sounds bad - not my gear.

 

[Masoo2]

This may just be my post-purchase rationalization, but the one *big* difference I've noticed in the newer, higher quality amp sim plugins (Helix Native, TH-3/TH-U, ML, Neural) is that I find them to generally require less work to get a usable tone. Not saying it's a perfect tone, of course that requires dedicated tweaking like with anything, but it requires a whole lot less effort for me to make a good sounding chain with Helix or TH-U than it did back in the day with POD Farm. I would scour forums for hours, do all of these in-DAW comparisons, I learned the plugin in-and-out because there were quite a few quirks with POD Farm. These newer plugins don't tend to have the same annoying quirks.

To be fair, I still utilize many of those same POD Farm tricks/signal chains to this day, the American Classic preamp is essential in all of my guitar tones and I've always been a fan of the bass tones that the plugin can make, but for normal stomp + amp + cab I've all but completely abandoned it in favor of Helix Native and TH-3/TH-U. I'm not huge on Neural or STL, I've encountered some decent sounds but as mentioned above they each have their own slightly different flavors.

I still think EZMix 2 sounds and responds great Stupid simple, two knobs per preset, there's some seriously great sounds in the Metal Guitar Gods, Andy Sneap, Colin Richardson, Randy Staub, Dirt, Indie Guitars, Metal Amps, and even stock sound bank. Similarly, Cubase's VST Amp Rack, while having it's own quirks like POD Farm, holds up very well and the Meshuggah presets are among the best Meshuggah tones I've ever encountered (makes since as the plugin was used Koloss).

 

[LostTheTone]

Usability is always going to be a complex question for software amps.

Either they perfectly mirror real amps in terms of the knobs you can twiddle, or they have to stop being like a real amp.

A lot of classic amps have confusing controls (looking at you Engl Powerball) where it's not obvious which knobs even relate to which channel. But that's how they were made, and learning to use the controls is part of getting good tone. So the modelled versions are faithful to that.

Much like @Masoo2 I am very happy with my "comes with my DAW" VST amps - Ampire with S1. It's not the most comprehensive selection of amps and pedals, but it's very quick and easy to put together a brutal tone. And because it's in house developed, you don't have the quirks of compatibility, it just works nicely.

 

[bozoshmee]

As someone newer to recording that is mainly a drummer, new technology with amp sims has completely re inspired me to write/record/practice guitar and just playing music in general.

Before when I wanted to play guitar I had to go down stairs, turn on my shit, plug in my shit, fuck with tones that I didn't like and knew nothing about.(never really got into making big time investments to making tones.) and then I could play some guitar with tones I wasn't into. this resulted in me not playing very often because my perceived "effort barrier" to playing was high

Now, while I'm sitting at my computer in my living room that I already spend half my time at(which has studio monitors and a sub), I can reach over to guitar stand and grab my guitar, open reaper which opens with a track with neural already on the track and active, and bam I'm playing guitar with fairly good tone from just a nolly preset. it's at least 10 times easier for me to play guitar so I'm playing at least 10 times more.

Everything is also now in one place. I've always used guitar pro alot for writing. before my computer and rig were in different rooms. now I can be writing on guitar pro, be unsure about a part, pick up guitar and mess with it, then instantly modify guitar pro. can do opposite as well if I'm learning a gp song i wrote. Certain figering doesn't make sense? I can just instantly go to gp to change it/write the change down.

I also have my electric drum kit 2 feet to my right, opposite to my guitar stand. similarly I have a drum sim(GGD) on a track in reaper that my kit is connected to.

I can do all of this at any volume with the bottom being the volume the drum pads on my elec kit make when struck.

So for me what's up with amp sims and sims in general is that it makes my playing/practicing/writing 1000x easier and accessible.

 

[LostTheTone]

As someone newer to recording that is mainly a drummer, new technology with amp sims has completely re inspired me to write/record/practice guitar and just playing music in general.

Yeah, I had much the same experience. The ability to just plug in and go is a really big help, as is the ability to save all different kinds of tones and use them again without fiddling.

As someone who has always been uncomfortable spending a lot on amps, since I'm not all that good of a guitarist, it just feels good that I can sound good quickly and easily, and indeed sound good through headphones or speakers or whatever else. If I ever were to get good enough to play live then I'd have to sort out a road rig, but all I'm doing is fiddling around and still sounding like a boss.

 

[pipelineaudio]

I believe the vast majority of these aren't modeling electronics but rather treating generalized amp components as black-boxes and using IRs and waveshapers, but even that didn't use to be particularly easy to pull off.

For the most part you are correct, but shhhh please don't tell the people who buy the same overpriced amp each month under a slightly different name even though the same company offers them all in a box for a one time fee

 

[AwakenTheSkies]

With the collection of amp sims and IRs that I have, I would feel like an idiot if I bought another amp sim. The most important thing is to develop your ear and tweak until you know how to dial in a tone that works with the mix. After you learn that, you can make anything work. But it takes time to get there so in that time you buy more and more stuff. I feel like amp sims and IRs are the new thing to market to the kids. They are all "the best most realistic amp simulation made yet" and "our best IR library we've ever released". But I feel like I have all I need. The only real upgrade is the tube amp + cab + mic into a preamp.

 

[LostTheTone]

For the most part you are correct, but shhhh please don't tell the people who buy the same overpriced amp each month under a slightly different name even though the same company offers them all in a box for a one time fee

I definitely think that the "artist" amp models are absolute garbage - There are a very few guys who have legitimately modded their amps, but even tube swaps are relatively uncommon.

Fine, I'll accept there being a "Slash Pack" on Amplitude, because at least Marshall made a physical JCM Slash amp. But most of these are just packs of pre-sets that always sound dreadful.

 

[DrakkarTyrannis]

For the most part you are correct, but shhhh please don't tell the people who buy the same overpriced amp each month under a slightly different name even though the same company offers them all in a box for a one time fee

*slowly looks over to Neural DSP and their pointless overpriced garbage*

 

[Andii]

I started playing around with VST amp sims as soon as they got decent. Remember LePou? Remember the TSE X50?

I have ran the demos of the neural DSP stuff to see how it's coming along.

I have a 6505+ and a 5150III 50w and can compare to these amp sims directly in really controlled conditions. And the simulators absolutely do not come close to the real thing yet in resolution and micro texture of the tube saturation. But they are actually starting to nail the feel and overall tonal balance and response. They've got the big obvious part nailed, but not the "HEAT" of the tube gain and the harmonic complexity of the sound. As far as that goes they're giving you play doh instead of hot desert sand.

That being said, their popularity is warranted. It's so easy to use and the results are so ACCEPTABLY DECENT, in fact the results are better than someone with a real amp that isn't masterful at recording, and that is another factor in why they're so popular.

It's convenient, easy, and inexpensive. I think they're great. So many more people are getting access to great tones. I just think that for the top of the line recordings, they are lacking still and will probably always be. I don't believe that the true chaos of all of those electrons slapping around in the glass can ever be completely programmed. Just like how digital photography can't simulate analog film other than attempting to match the color tones and all of the rest of the magic is not there. Analog things are so complex and chaotic that there is no replacement.

 

[CanserDYI]

*slowly looks over to Neural DSP and their pointless overpriced garbage*

Only 2 I really enjoyed were Abasi and Parallax, and the only one I'd actually put down the 100 bucks for is parallax, that one is awesome for bass. But yeah, really underwhelmed by most of their stuff for the price.

 

[Matt08642]

I got the Granophyre one on a half off sale and use it for basically all my at-home playing now. Super low noise, good high gain tone. The key to making the Neural stuff sound way better (IMO) is to immediately turn off their built in IRs and use your own.

 

[nightlight]

I have tried LePou and the Cubase stuff, but pretty much stayed away from all the plugins from the usual suspects.

Having had a Kemper for a long time, and now an Axe FX, I just don't see the need to invest more money in any more digital amp simulators.

That said, one of the coolest sounds I ever had was my guitar into the Meshuggah preset on VST amp rack into a Fryette Power Station II and then an Emporor 4x12. Sounds super convincing, so I can see the appeal of some of the paid-for ones for sure.

I think the charm of hardware for me is that it handles all the processing required off the computer. That basically means when I am working with multiple tracks, I don't have to have multiple instances of a plugin loaded, which after a while starts to result in noticeable lag.