Amplitube 4 to 5 Migration

[adamg67]

This is pretty specific but I can't think of a better place to post it, so just dropping it here. For any Amplitube 4 users (I use it for, ahem, another stringed electric instrument a bit like a small fiddly bass), if you are confused about upgrading to Amplitube 5, and lots of people are because IK have made it confusing, it's actually pretty simple. If you own Amplitube 4, you get Amplitube 5 SE free, *and* you get upgraded versions of all the gear you already own and they all work with SE. SE is basically slightly knobbled to have the features of Amplitube 4, and if you just want to move to 5 to have the latest version of everything, that is free. Just install IK Product Manager and you will see 5 SE in there ready to activate and install. Once installed you should have all your normal gear.

Presets can be copied across, you just have to find the Amplitube 4 presets folder where they live now and copy them to the new Amplitube 5 folder. For me that meant copying from Documents\IK Multimedia\AmpliTube 4\Presets to  Documents\IK Multimedia\AmpliTube 5\Presets

There are a few new features in Amplitube 5 that don't work, but the equiavalents of all the things that 4 did will work in 5.

The only reason to buy any of the Amplitube 5 versions beyond the one you get free as a 4 user is to make extra features work (tri-amping, who knows what else, I havn't come across anything I need that doesn't work) or to get the extra bundled gear that they now have.

None of that was obvious to me from the IK site.

[Dad3353]

I did this 'upgrade', and have now lost my 'go-to' presets which I've had since Amplitube 3..! I've still to do a thorough search of my back-up files on another disk, but it's a bit annoying. It's done, now, but I'm not sure what the version 5 has added that I really want/need. Serves me right for being greedy, maybe. 

[adamg67]

1 hour ago, Dad3353 said:

I did this 'upgrade', and have now lost my 'go-to' presets which I've had since Amplitube 3..! I've still to do a thorough search of my back-up files on another disk, but it's a bit annoying. It's done, now, but I'm not sure what the version 5 has added that I really want/need. Serves me right for being greedy, maybe. 

Are the presets still there in Amplitube 4?

Edited March 10, 2021 by adamg67

[Dad3353]

32 minutes ago, adamg67 said:

Are the presets still there in Amplitube 4?

I've found the preset (HiAmp_Dad_Clean...) in the Amplitube 3 presets, and copied it over to the A5 presets folder. It's not recognised, and the HiAmp amp is 'locked' in A5 Custom Shop folder. It's a pity, as I paid for that in A3, but it seems that I'd have to pay again to 'unlock' it in the A5 Custom Shop. I'll continue to use A4, where it all works as it should. Who was it said 'Less Is More'..? For me, A5 has brought nothing I didn't already have. Some new stuff, certainly, but at the expense of losing my 'old' stuff. Sod 'em, I say; sod 'em. 

[thodrik]

I might do this but I have essentially migrated to Bias for my go to ‘laptop’ guitar sounds.

[adamg67]

23 minutes ago, Dad3353 said:

I've found the preset (HiAmp_Dad_Clean...) in the Amplitube 3 presets, and copied it over to the A5 presets folder. It's not recognised, and the HiAmp amp is 'locked' in A5 Custom Shop folder. It's a pity, as I paid for that in A3, but it seems that I'd have to pay again to 'unlock' it in the A5 Custom Shop. I'll continue to use A4, where it all works as it should. Who was it said 'Less Is More'..? For me, A5 has brought nothing I didn't already have. Some new stuff, certainly, but at the expense of losing my 'old' stuff. Sod 'em, I say; sod 'em. 

Yeah, I did wonder when I was doing this if I'd get to do it again, or if it would be one version of backwards compatibility at a time. Sounds like that's the case.

[adamg67]

18 minutes ago, thodrik said:

I might do this but I have essentially migrated to Bias for my go to ‘laptop’ guitar sounds.

I like the Bias stuff, but had to pick one and already had some presets done for amplitube. 

[SH73]

I queried IK Multimedia why the upgrade  cost for Amp.5 for existing Amplitube 4 customers isn't lower etc. Also there seem to be issues with migration of presets as mentioned above. IK Multimedia reps were going round circles....I don't think 5 will make my performance any better.  I mean, Tri amping? Bit excessive, one amp is hard work. If it ain't broke why fix it. I'm not losing the presets  , years of work of iconic guitar sounds I managed to tweak in.

[adamg67]

4 minutes ago, SH73 said:

I queried IK Multimedia why the upgrade  cost for Amp.5 for existing Amplitube 4 customers isn't lower etc. Also there seem to be issues with migration of presets as mentioned above. IK Multimedia reps were going round circles....I don't think 5 will make my performance any better.  I mean, Tri amping? Bit excessive, one amp is hard work. If it ain't broke why fix it. I'm not losing the presets  , years of work of iconic guitar sounds I managed to tweak in.

Amplitube 5 SE is free if you own Amplitube 4, and Amplitube 4 presets will work with Amplitube 5 (it's presets from 3 that aren't working for Dad). I just moved to 5 for free and all my gear works, and all the presets I've tried work, I just had to copy one folder across.

Whether there's any difference is a different question  

Amplitube 5 standard should have a lower upgrade price from Amplitube 4 though. Same with 4 Max -> 5 Max.

 

[adamg67]

1 hour ago, Dad3353 said:

I've found the preset (HiAmp_Dad_Clean...) in the Amplitube 3 presets, and copied it over to the A5 presets folder. It's not recognised, and the HiAmp amp is 'locked' in A5 Custom Shop folder. It's a pity, as I paid for that in A3, but it seems that I'd have to pay again to 'unlock' it in the A5 Custom Shop. I'll continue to use A4, where it all works as it should. Who was it said 'Less Is More'..? For me, A5 has brought nothing I didn't already have. Some new stuff, certainly, but at the expense of losing my 'old' stuff. Sod 'em, I say; sod 'em. 

You wouldn't want to do it for lots of presets, but have you tried loading a preset in 4, making a small tweak and saving it under a new name? That should give you an amplitube 4 preset which will work in 5.

Alternatively, don't worry about it, use 4 and spend the time doing something enjoyable instead

[SH73]

14 hours ago, adamg67 said:

Amplitube 5 SE is free if you own Amplitube 4, and Amplitube 4 presets will work with Amplitube 5 (it's presets from 3 that aren't working for Dad). I just moved to 5 for free and all my gear works, and all the presets I've tried work, I just had to copy one folder across.

Whether there's any difference is a different question  

Amplitube 5 standard should have a lower upgrade price from Amplitube 4 though. Same with 4 Max -> 5 Max.

 

I'm worried about copying, whether it would sound the same, or work at all!

[adamg67]

32 minutes ago, SH73 said:

I'm worried about copying, whether it would sound the same, or work at all!

For what it's worth, all the ones I've copied over have sounded good, there might be small differences though as you're using updated models. But, I very nearly just stayed on 4 because I'm not getting any new functionality out of 5, so I wouldn't say there's any big advantage to migrating, except that as I create new presets and update them they will work with 5 so more chance of working with 6 someday.

They really have made a bad job of documenting the migration path and whether you need to buy 5 full etc, and also the pricing is stupid at the moment - you pay the same to upgrade from 4 full to 5 full as someone buying 5 from scratch. Lots of people complaining about how confusing it all is.

[SH73]

10 minutes ago, adamg67 said:

 

They really have made a bad job of documenting the migration path and whether you need to buy 5 full etc, and also the pricing is stupid at the moment - you pay the same to upgrade from 4 full to 5 full as someone buying 5 from scratch. Lots of people complaining about how confusing it all is.

This, I raised this , mainly the price, but IK does not give direct answer.

[Dad3353]

I had another look at A3, A4 and A5, and have decided to stay with the A3 which I bought many years ago now. There is far too much in the A4 and A5 that need buying (again...) elements, just to get the 'free' presets to sound as they should. Poisoned chalices, I say. A Satriani preset needing more dollars to work doesn't cut it, for me (not that I can play Satriani-style, but that's beside the point...). I'm not happy with the IK Multimedia-way; I'm sure they'll do well without my patronage. I'm out. 

[SH73]

42 minutes ago, Dad3353 said:

Poisoned chalices, I say. A Satriani preset needing more dollars to work doesn't cut it, for me (not that I can play Satriani-style, but that's beside the point...). I'm not happy with the IK Multimedia-way; I'm sure they'll do well without my patronage. I'm out. 

Yep, and by listening to Satriani sound, Darren Dimbag sound , not a big deal. They do the similar thing with T Racks 5 plugins, you buy the bundle but find some parts only work in demo mode.

[Killed_by_Death]

 

I just updated version 4 & also installed 5, & they're both awful now.

The only reason I used 4 in the past was for Crunch & now I can't get crunch on either of them w/o paying for an amp model or summat.

My USB interface sounds great, but I can only get Clean w/o some sort of software modeling.

 

[StickyDBRmf]

I stir a little tin foil in a Pyrex jar with a little bleach and vinegar drop a few pennies in get the same results as a VoxAC 30 so yeah upgrades great.

Doesn't seem to work for the 18" sim tho.

.

[Moos3h]

I had SVX for v4 but it wants me to re-buy for v5? Am I doing something wrong or is that expected behaviour?

[SH73]

After few reviews and appaling  response from IK Multimedia I am as likely to upgrade to Amplitube 5 as I'm likely to become an OASIS fan!

[Dad3353]

I had stuff from Amplitube 3 which disappeared after 'upgrade' to (free...) A5; there's no roll-back possibility. Unsympathetic response from IK. I've since chosen, unwillingly, to buy (again...) the elements I want/need for A5, but I'm not enchanted with the reaction I got from IK. I'll be investing in other sources in future. 

[Elfrasho]

I moved up to 5 and the svt pack I had in 4 was directly available on 5. Sounds great but I do think there's a noticeable delay in opening it up, which is annoying. But once it's up its very nice! 

[JoeH]

It's not totally correct that all your AT4 gear will work in AT5. If you used Stomp B in AT4 or had more than 2 racks in Rack B then you can't use them in AT5 CS, you'll get a warning along the lines of 'haha gotcha we removed that ability, you need to give us more money to use 'Full Chain' " (I'm paraphrasing). Also since the forced upgrade to Custom shop 2 you can't buy or trial any more gear in AT4, so if your preset doesn't work in AT5 CS and you want to add some new gear to it you are stuffed. 

 

Regarding copying presets to AT5 some are just not recognised, I spent a pleasant hour copying and pasting sections of an AT4 preset into an AT5 preset and eventually found a single Cab entry that stopped AT5 recognising it as a preset, I have no idea why because when I managed to get it to load in AT5 I could select the same cabinet as in AT4.

 

I don't find the sounds very similar so far, particularly the flanger sounds horrific in AT5 compared to AT4 with the same settings.

 

I used to be mad keen on AT4 evangelising about it to friends, but no more.

Edited January 1, 2022 by JoeH

[SH73]

Has anyone noticed any improvements in Amplitube 5? I still haven't upgraded to 5 from 4 as I'm concerned loosing presets.