Amp simulator advice

[paul_5]

OK, following the results of my recent poll I'm looking at getting the Peavey Revalver amp software

http://www.peavey.com/products/revalver/

What swung it for me was the choice of amp/speaker combinations coupled with the low CPU usage.

I've used Amplitube, TH1, but not 2 and Peavey Demos, and the Peavey looks to do all of the sounds I need without maxing out my processor.

Any others I should look at before I pull the trigger?

[Twigman]

NI Guitar Rig?

[Nibody]

I didnt like the bass sounds on Guitar Rig. Amplion? I like my Aplitube SVX

[paul_5]

Ooh, Amplion looks VERY good. Will have a proper play later on tonight...

[Twigman]

Ampeg SVX for bass sims

[lowdown]

Any convolution reverbs [some great freebies out there - google]
And you can use many of the free IR's available.
These will give you some great Cab IR sim's, also loads
of IR Pre-amp sims available.

If you are not familiar with this approach, well worth a google read up.
Nothing to lose, plenty of freebies knocking about.


Garry

Edited April 3, 2013 by lowdown

[Nibody]

Considering it's designed more as a guitar amp sim than bass orientated you can get some nice sounds out of the Amplion Free

[winterfire666]

Check out studio devil. The virtual bass amp is excellent (only$69 too) and although i havent tried the guitar one it has had great reviews.

[paul_5]

Thanks Winter, been playing about with studio devil stuff and it's pretty impressive. Primarily I'm looking for guitar amp sims, as my bass tends to go direct through a VT1EQ DI, and I'm more than happy with that.

I was using some of these today

http://www.plugandmix.com/california-tone-642/

and they seem be pretty good, bit limited on features, but really economical on CPU.

[Skol303]

Plenty of great freeware out there as Garry has mentioned. Not to be sniffed at either...some of it is top notch.

If you want to splash some cash then I'd check out Softube Bass Amp Room:

http://www.softube.com/index.php?id=bar

(There's also a separate product for guitars).

I'm a big fan of Softube plug-ins myself. I think they make some of the best products on the market... on the expensive side, but arguably the best virtual gear you'll get before starting to spend stupid money on top end stuff.

I'm pretty sure they offer demos of all their products so worth a look...

[RockfordStone]

i have a copy of peavey revalver, one of the older ones.

my only issue with it is it does feel a bit metal, it appears to be clean or full throttle.

i use a mixture of that and podfarm usually

[RockfordStone]

also check this out [url="http://lepouplugins.blogspot.co.uk/"]http://lepouplugins.blogspot.co.uk/[/url]

his amps are pretty good

[Skol303]

PS: there's a review of amp sims in this month's issue of Sound on Sound magazine (page 181).

Just a short double page spread but it might prove useful. Easily browsed in WH Smith without raising suspicions

[paul_5]

ah, the WHS Librarium...

Thanks for the heads up fellas I love BC!

Edited April 4, 2013 by paul_5

[Mornats]

If you're looking at the AmpLion stuff a Prime Plugins email just dropped into my inbox with money off Audiffex stuff! [url="http://primeplugins.com/audiffex.html"]http://primeplugins.com/audiffex.html[/url]

[BigRedX]

[quote name='Skol303' timestamp='1365066166' post='2034680']
PS: there's a review of amp sims in this month's issue of Sound on Sound magazine (page 181).

Just a short double page spread but it might prove useful. Easily browsed in WH Smith without raising suspicions
[/quote]

Unlike the modular synth feature, which required me to buy my own copy, and now I have really bad GAS for something full of patch leads...

[Skol303]

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1365272732' post='2037563']Unlike the modular synth feature, which required me to buy my own copy, and now I have really bad GAS for something full of patch leads...[/quote]

Tell me about it! I REALLY want a modular synth now, but some of those units are damned pricey. And I'll bet it's a [i]very[/i] addictive thing to get into... they even say as much in the article. All of which tempts me even more!

[BigRedX]

[quote name='Skol303' timestamp='1365345728' post='2038276']
Tell me about it! I REALLY want a modular synth now, but some of those units are damned pricey. And I'll bet it's a [i]very[/i] addictive thing to get into... they even say as much in the article. All of which tempts me even more!
[/quote]

Actually I was just thinking how cheap everything seemed in comparison with the last time I looked at a full blown modular system (Roland System 700 in the early 80s) when just a very basic collection of modules - enough for it to be worth being modular - would have set you back around £3k including the cabinet and keyboard, and of course £3k was a lot more money in those days.

I used to own a Korg MS20/MS50 combination which was inspirational and frustrating at the same time as the MS20 had plenty of "modules" but the patch options were limited and the MS50 had all the patching you could want but not really enough modules to get any great sounds out of it on it's own, so most of the best sounds required you to use them together which seemed like a poor use of resources at the time when you could always do with another synth voice!

Edited April 7, 2013 by BigRedX

[Skol303]

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1365352505' post='2038395']Actually I was just thinking how cheap everything seemed in comparison with the last time I looked at a full blown modular system (Roland System 700 in the early 80s) when just a very basic collection of modules - enough for it to be worth being modular - would have set you back around £3k including the cabinet and keyboard, and of course £3k was a lot more money in those days.[/quote]

Yeah, good point. I guess some of the modules seem quite expensive to me as I'm comparing them against VST soft synths (my staple format). But of course hardware is a different ball game entirely, and I suppose you could create a fairly beastly modular synth for less than a grand, which is pretty good in comparison to most stage synths these days.

PS: do you still have that Korg MS20? The original models are fairly sought-after and I hear Korg are launching (or have launched) a new replica version. Details here if you're interested:

http://www.musicradar.com/news/tech/namm-2013-video-korg-ms-20-mini-analogue-synth-announced-570028

Paul

[BigRedX]

[quote name='Skol303' timestamp='1365424835' post='2039313']
Yeah, good point. I guess some of the modules seem quite expensive to me as I'm comparing them against VST soft synths (my staple format). But of course hardware is a different ball game entirely, and I suppose you could create a fairly beastly modular synth for less than a grand, which is pretty good in comparison to most stage synths these days.

PS: do you still have that Korg MS20? The original models are fairly sought-after and I hear Korg are launching (or have launched) a new replica version. Details here if you're interested:

[url="http://www.musicradar.com/news/tech/namm-2013-video-korg-ms-20-mini-analogue-synth-announced-570028"]http://www.musicrada...nnounced-570028[/url]

Paul
[/quote]

Compared with VSTs I can see how the modules may seem expensive, but they are most definitely excellent VFM when compared with what you would have paid for them when hardware was the only option.

The Korg synths are long gone (I had the VC10 vocoder as well as the MS20 and 50), about which I have mixed feelings. No doubt these days they would fetch even more than the amount I was able to sell them for back in the 90s, but most of the time ATM I value the ability to be able to recall sounds at the push of a button over vintage chic and a couple of unconventional patch routing options. I still like hardware and I find that my Nord Lead does 95% of what I used the Korgs for simpler, quicker and more consistently.

I was recently sorting through some old photos and found this which is pretty much my complete set up from exactly 20 years ago!

[IMG]http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n249/BigRedX/Everything-1993_zpscbb2ce04.jpg[/IMG]

[Skol303]

^ Wow, that looks like my kind of treasure trove!

Some great gear you had back then. Although as you say, there's a lot of nostalgia around old tech that sometimes gets outweighed by the convenience of modern patch-recall, etc (interestingly the modular synth article in SOS makes a point of saying to record favourite sounds as they're created for exactly that reason).

PS: Nord lead... very nice! I don't own one myself but have played on one (a 2X). Great synth - they look and sound 'the business'.

[BigRedX]

The Nord does pretty much everything I want from from a synthesiser with the convenience of a knob or button for every parameter and being hardware. If I could only have one synth this would be what I would keep.

I was initially excited by the re-introduction of the MS20 by Korg, but on reflection, and remembering why I sold it in the end, I think if I really wanted one again, I'd either get the VST or an iPad and the App version.

I used to use the Korg on stage, and consequently every song had a 60 second long intro to allow me to frantically re-patch it for the next sound. I wasn't always successful and pressing the key for the first time in a song could produce complete silence, or even worse, some high-pitched out of tune warbling. I couldn't wait to get something with patch memories and eventually was able to buy a Casio CZ5000.

I did most of my big buying and selling of musical gear in my synth-playing days and so over the years I've owned what has gone on to be regarded as some fairly tasty pieces of hardware (although most of them were all I could afford at the time and second best for the stuff I really wanted). Also I used to share a house with the keyboards salesman from Carlsbro in the mid 80s who used to bring home any new synth for a week or so in order to be able to get to grips with it before it went on sale, so I can remember getting in some quality time with the Memory Moog, various Roland synths and the massive (but very unreliable) Rhodes Chroma amongst others.

Edited April 8, 2013 by BigRedX

[Skol303]

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1365434691' post='2039564']I used to use the Korg on stage, and consequently every song had a 60 second long intro to allow me to frantically re-patch it for the next sound. I wasn't always successful and pressing the key for the first time in a song could produce complete silence, or even worse, some high-pitched out of tune warbling. [/quote]

Now that's a seat-of-the-pants approach if ever there was one! Nice one.

Sounds like you've owned and played some classic gear. I'm quite jealous. My knowledge of hardware synths is very limited, but I now know who to pester if I ever decide to venture into hardware and need some advice

Cheers mate.

[paul_5]

I've got the Korg MS20 plugin and it's ace! Stable tuning and the ability to sequence and store patches. I think it was only about $40 too. Time was you had to buy the 'Legacy Collection' (Mono/Poly, Poly 6, MS20, Wavestation) that came with a USB MS20 controller, but they've since made the plugins available individually.

Toying with the Poly6 just for the arpeggiator, but I should be less lazy and learn to program the MS20 [i]properly[/i]...

Edited April 9, 2013 by paul_5

[BigRedX]

[quote name='Skol303' timestamp='1365512704' post='2040503']
Sounds like you've owned and played some classic gear. I'm quite jealous. My knowledge of hardware synths is very limited, but I now know who to pester if I ever decide to venture into hardware and need some advice
[/quote]

I bought my first synth - an EDP Wasp in 1981 and that sort of set my on my way. A lot of the so-called "classic" gear I've owned wasn't even remotely considered classic at the time; it was simply all we could afford when what we really wanted was an OSCar, Jupiter 8 and an Oberheim Xpander, but had to settle for a Casio CZ5000 and a Roland SH101 with an MC202 sequencer!

The MS20 was in fact a straight swap in a local music shop for a Yamaha CS15D which had a massively high list price, but in reality was a useless PoS as a synth. I think the shop took one look at the new list price of both synths and though that they were getting the deal of the decade, when in fact they ended up with something no-one wanted and which was still gathering dust and taking up shelf space in the shop many years later...