PodFarm, Amplitube, Guitar Rig, AHHHHH

[Incandenza]

I was hoping to get a few informed opinions about which amp sim to plunk down my moneys for.

I purchased a UX1 and was loving on Pod Farm for a while. But then I read about Meshuggah and Cubase. So I downloaded the demo and was loving on that for a while. Then, while reading this forum, I learned about Guitar Rig and Amplitube and at that point my head started to kind of explode.

I'm looking for distortion and djent and heaviness. Effects and clean tones and low-gain amps are nice, but I really just want to play loud metal.

Would any kind and considerate SS denizens help me out as to which of these programs I should purchase?

Thanks!

[EtherealEntity]

Firstly - I'm going to assume that all modellers will be used with an external cab impulse rather than included impulses/sims for comparison reasons - plus the fact that the built in cabs usually suck. So I am comparing the amp heads ONLY.

Guitar Rig - sucks for metal. Everyone seems to agree haha. It's a great program for other things though.
Amplitube - not tried extensively, haven't heard great things.
PodFarm - Better than the two above.
Revalver - Seems to be a favourite better than PodFarm. I'm going to try it very soon - I'm hoping it's a keeper as it's 64 bit
Free amp sims like Nick Crow, Poulin, TSE - Incredible for the fact they are free. Easily the best sounding leaving Revalver out of this - but Revalver seems to match up pretty well. None are 64 bit sadly which is why I am considering the move. This may or may not be an issue for you.

Revalver comes with all the other works too and is incredibly tweakable.

I'd also give a mention to Scuffham - I'd always been using Guitar Rig for cleans and free amp sims for gain until now - but Scuffham cleans blow GR out of the water. I did some reading and it seems everyone agrees that Scuffham beats everything for clean and low gain stuff, if you are interested in that. (Also 64 bit)

If you are new to impulses give the sticky thread a read. I highly recommend Redwirez BigBox collection including their MixIR2 loader! (Also 64 bit)

I believe all are 64 bit apart from the free ones actually.

[KingAenarion]

Originally Posted by Incandenza

I was hoping to get a few informed opinions about which amp sim to plunk down my moneys for.

I purchased a UX1 and was loving on Pod Farm for a while. But then I read about Meshuggah and Cubase. So I downloaded the demo and was loving on that for a while. Then, while reading this forum, I learned about Guitar Rig and Amplitube and at that point my head started to kind of explode.

I'm looking for distortion and djent and heaviness. Effects and clean tones and low-gain amps are nice, but I really just want to play loud metal.

Would any kind and considerate SS denizens help me out as to which of these programs I should purchase?

Thanks!

https://sites.google.com/site/nickcrowlab/

LePou Plugins

TheSerinaExperiment.net • View forum - TSE Plugins


For good examples of the LePou stuff check out Sithu Aye and Halcyon (who are both regulars here)

Halcyon

https://www.facebook.com/SithuAyeMusic



Both of those guys use Guitar Rig in conjunction with those plugins and impulses, and get really sweet tones out of it. Heck even the free version of Guitar Rig is probably enough for most of your effects needs. You can also use the effects in your DAW.

[JPhoenix19]

Guitar Rig 5 doesn't suck for metal.

The battle of the modelers is ongoing. I've used the main three: Revalver, Amplitube, and Guitar Rig. I've also used the most popular free amp Sims (which have already been linked to). The free amp sims are a mandatory download in my oppinon. The TSE X50 is simply awesome, and is one of the best simulations of a 5150 that I've come across.

Here's a breakdown of my experiences with the modelers:

Amplitube 3: Not bad.The cab micing system is pretty cool, but you can still do better with external IR's. It also has a good selection of bass amps.

Revalver III.V: If your only use is in the studio, then this is hard to beat. The level of customization for the amp Sims is unmatched- and gets right down to electrical component values. You can theoretically create your own amp model! An IR loader is built in and has great features, like being able to simulate speaker distortion. My gripes about it are the lesser selection of effects, and that it seems to use up a lot of my computer's resources.

Guitar Rig 5: Really got a bad rap. Previous versions had good amp Sims, but terrible cabs. This version adds a few new amps (more metal-oriented), and a couple crazy effects. Overall, GR is the best bang for your buck. It's lighter on the CPU, cheaper, offers a wider selection if effects, and offers some tweakability of the amp models. If there's a chance you'll play live with a PC rig, Guitar Rig wins hands down.

My recommendation is to download the demos of all these programs and give them all extensive tests.

[EtherealEntity]

^ Guitar Rig is brilliant indeed for the patch switching if playing live, flexibility, the automation routing is OUTSTANDING, great effects and flexible possibilities with the splitters and crossovers and such.
But quite simply put - you really think the amp heads cut it? I've tried Rammfire, Gratifier, and the Ultrasonic extensively against a variety of the free amp heads and I thought they performed really badly.

[chrisharbin]

More HEAD EXPLODEDNESS.....

Recabinet - Speaker Simulation for VST, AU, and RTAS

I liked my ampsims before trying this, my head keeps exploding in an endless loop after.

I know, it's getting to be too much. Endless strings of things but I just have all my track templates (reaper) set up with the GR/AT cabs off and recabinet on.

[EtherealEntity]

^ I'd give impulses a try too! The cabs in GR/AT are pretty bad.
Not sure how Recabinet stacks up against impulses, never looked into it.

[chrisharbin]

Originally Posted by EtherealEntity

^ I'd give impulses a try too! The cabs in GR/AT are pretty bad.
Not sure how Recabinet stacks up against impulses, never looked into it.

The "redwirez" ir's in GR are not bad (control room pro) but recabinet is still less fizzy and feels more natural. Having the L/HP per cab is great too since it works at the cab level (not just simply L/HP'ing the overall signal)

[USMarine75]

Don't know about the others but I love Amplitube 3/Metal/Hendrix. Easy to use and great sound quality with no latency. The good news is they just released v3.7 which uses 30% (?) less RAM... I used to have issues running Garageband with Amplitube and SD2.0 and too many tracks/effects... but not now. The Hendrix patches are absolutely top notch and it handles metal quite well too. I'll post a quick clip if anyones interested...

[chrisharbin]

I'm interested

One thing though is in reaper, AT 3.7.1 reports some minor latency (I think like 3 samples) I know, it's picky but 3.7 shows no samples here and my computer can handle the load.

[Incandenza]

Wow! Came home from work to see a bevy of excellent answers.

BEST FORUM EVER. Lots to digest. Will get to downloadin some demos and report back! Thanks so much all!

[Incandenza]

OK. ReValver downloaded. Recabinet installs but won't seem to pop up on my mac. (Mental note: Perhaps a restart? Hmm). Also downloaded some of the LePou stuff. Now, if the first message didn't do a good enough job labeling me as audio knowledge deficient, this next question certainly will:

How do I use the le pou .vst stuff? What do I open it in? "USE YOUR FAVORITE DAW" But I thought a DAW was the physical device that went between yer guitar and the computer! AHHHH HELP PLEAAAASE

[RGA8]

I recorded a Meshuggah Cover recently. I use Pod Farm. I'll drop the link so you can hear what I did with Pod Farm.

** SHAMELESS PLUG **

Meshuggah - Demiurge Guitar Cover (1080p Head Stock Cam)

** SHAMELESS PLUG **

The guitar track in the video is raw, straight into Cubase from Pod Farm. All I did was bring down the EQ at around 400hz with a simi wide Q to give room for the Meshuggah track.

I think you can probably get a good tone from just about any of those plugins. It seems to me that it depends on which user interface you like/want to use. Once you learn how to use what you got you'll be set.

[EtherealEntity]

DAW = Recording software
The thing you plug your guitar into is an audio interface

Note:Mac. Not all plugins will work. The commercial ones probably have a Mac version. Lepou don't for all their plugins I know that. The ones that do are indicated on the website.
VST is a plugin format. I don't know if it works on Mac. If you are using Logic (DAW) you need AU (audio unit) plugins not VSTs.

Maybe you don't have a DAW and have been running Podfarm in standalone mode?
You need some recording software to hold the plugins if you want to use Lepou etc. Otherwise you're going to be just using the commercial standalones

Hey - just checked the OP again. Cubase is a DAW. I didn't know that could run on Mac.

[chrisharbin]

The thing is cubey doesn't use AU like logic/DP it uses MAC versions of vst (not too surprising considering steiny invented vst )

But you have to have a MAC vst. To the best of my knowledge, LePou only runs on windows.

Recabinet runs vst on mac so you should be kosher there.

[JPhoenix19]

Originally Posted by EtherealEntity

But quite simply put - you really think the amp heads cut it?

Yes. It could just be that we have different tastes, or numerous other factors that would cause our experiences with GR different, but I think the amps are just fine (with the exception of their Recto model- I got much better tones with the Rammfier). I'll agree that they are not the best out there, though- ReValver, TSE, and LePou are better IMO.

Edit: It's also worth mentioning that I use my modelers more for live and home practicing applications, and less for recording. I've not taken the time to develop my recording mix.

[KingAenarion]

Originally Posted by EtherealEntity

Hey - just checked the OP again. Cubase is a DAW. I didn't know that could run on Mac.

You learn something new every day.

[Incandenza]

Ahhhh! Learning so much! Thank you!

So, that makes sense then:

Let's say Cubase is the DAW. That's why it has options for amplitude, Pod Farm, etc. WITHIN it, because those are the vst sims that run inside the DAW.

Did I get that right?

Thanks again everyone! This is great!

[KingAenarion]

Originally Posted by Incandenza

Ahhhh! Learning so much! Thank you!

So, that makes sense then:

Let's say Cubase is the DAW. That's why it has options for amplitude, Pod Farm, etc. WITHIN it, because those are the vst sims that run inside the DAW.

Did I get that right?

Thanks again everyone! This is great!

Yes you did.

They are just like programs with an operating system. They each do something different but are hosted within something else

[FearComplex]

Guitar Rig's 5150, SLO and Rammfire (vintage mode) are good, the rest are horrible for metal. Amplitube's 5150, Dual Recto and Jet City 100w are good. Pod Farm is ok. Revalver's Dual Recto is great, it's other models decent. Free amp sims like Lecto, x30 & x50, Legion and SoloC are excellent.

[The Uncreator]

Revalver's Diezel (Demon), 6505+ and 6505, JSX, and Fox (for nice dirty cleans) will give you a superb tone right there. Dialing in a metal tone is so much quicker than other programs, and the stock IR's (to me) are as good as any free one, and as good as redwirez.

Guitar Rig, hands down, has some amazing effects, and its worth it for that alone. I have both Revlaver and guitar rig and I regularly use GR for delays, reverbs, synthesizers, its amazing for that. It produces beautiful leads tones and nice chill ambient ones.

Either way you get a good product between those two.