looking for available amp/effect plugins
Hello-
I’m new to the forum. Didn’t see any info on this subject in the archives.
Are there any decent or even adequate n-track-compatible plugins out there for guitar recording? I typically use a Line6 POD to do my recording, though it would be nice to be able to post process all the guitar effects instead of pre.
Thanks for the info!
Hi,
If you do a search on something like “guitar AND vst”, I bet you’ll get quite a list of hits.
Many different opinions too.
That said, I don’t think it’s all that easy to post-produce all guitar effects AND get the same sound as playing the effects live.
But that is just my personal opinion of course…
KVR Audio has a huge effects database, and you can search for only freebies if that’s of interest to you. I personally like to push the ‘free’ envelope as far as I can before I spend money on equipment.
I haven’t experimented too much with guitar effects, and try to get the sound right before it goes into n-track. I’d be interested in finding out what you learn if you do some post-production on the guitar.
See this thread and follow the link (in my post) to the KVR audio site.
hth,
mrtoad
Thanks for the info. I found a few of the plugins mentioned on the KVR site, and am going to play around with them. I’m pretty happy with the Line6, but the idea of being able to really change the sound after recording the track is somewhat appealing. Eventually, I might start trying to mic my amps, but for rough demos it doesn’t seem worth the fuss.
I actually find that the POD does pretty good models of “edge of breakup” tube tone, using things like the Brit Blues or even Tweed models, with the correct cabinet model.
What kind of effects are you wanting? Delay? Verb? Chorus? Distortion? Tube effects like you were describing? Amp modeling? flang? phaser?
One thing I recommend (everyone) getting is Classic series pugins. The presets are great, and they sound very good and authentic, especially for freebies.
fish
rsilverst:
In addition to the ones mentioned above, you owe it to yourself to grab the SimuAnalog Guitar Suite – it’s freeware, and I have been using it (in addition to the Classic series plugins) exactly the way you are describing. I record the guitar clean, then use the plugins to shape the sound.
Here’s a link: http://www.simulanalog.org/guitarsuite.htm
And some description from their site (they claim the stomp boxes simulate every piece of the circuitry from the originals – they certainly sound that way-- and the two amp simulators are great, too):
What is SimulAnalog Guitar suite?
It is a suite of vst plugin with amplifiers and analog processors for guitarists, actually containing the simulation* of:
- Boss DS-1 (Distortion stompbox)
- Boss SD-1 (Super Overdrive stompbox)
- Tube Screamer (Overdrive stompbox)
- Oberheim PS-1 (Phaser stompbox)
- Univox Univibe (Modulations stompbox)
- Fender Twin 1969 (Guitar amplifier)
- Marshall JCM900 Dual Reverb (Guitar amplifier)
Good luck!
PR
Well, this needs to be added to the wiki/faq/readme/manual.
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| Well, this needs to be added to the wiki/faq/readme/manual. |
Great idea. Are you volunteering?
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| In addition to the ones mentioned above, you owe it to yourself to grav the SimuAnalog Guitar Suite |
Another vote for the Guitar Suite.
Don’t be put off by the bland GUI.
It rocks.
"I’m pretty happy with the Line6, but the idea of being able to really change the sound after recording the track is somewhat appealing. Eventually, I might start trying to mic my amps, but for rough demos it doesn’t seem worth the fuss.
I actually find that the POD does pretty good models of “edge of breakup” tube tone, using things like the Brit Blues or even Tweed models, with the correct cabinet model."
Well it sounds like you really like the Line 6 and it fits your needs. I have a feeling you will not be happy with most plugins in this category. At least I know I’m not and I have tried a few of the top ones like Amplitube, Bluetubes, Antares Tube, Nomad Factory Rock Amp Legends, Alien Connections Revalver.
The question I have for you is that if you like the Pod and you want to do the processing post recording then why don’t you? I do it all the time. You know what you need to do that? Just a small external hardware mixer, which I feel no project studio should be without. Basically you record your guitar direct in with no processing. Then route your guitar out to your mixing board and insert the POD into the channel on the mixer. To me this makes the perfect sense for what you are trying to do, you get to mix the way you prefer and you add a lot of flexibilty by adding an external mixer to your studio. This is the way I mix with my DAW. My sound card has 16 outs which gets fed directly to 16 inputs on my Yamaha 03D. In my DAW software I will do sub mixes to the 16 outputs. If I need a Lexicon reverb or some analog tube distortion then I route that track out and plugin my Lexicon reverb or tube distortion. I don’t F*** around with plugins that are “trying” to sound like a Lexicon Reverb or tube distortion, I reach for the real thing if I have it available. The digital mix out of my external mixer is then connected to an input on my DAW and when I playback the final mix I record it directly back into my DAW. Instead of wasting money on an amp sim plugin, I would look into purchasing a small digital mixer like a Yamaha 01V or something similar.
After you go on that endless hunt for that not so gratifying tube distortion plugin, then think about this option of working.
Speaking of the POD, I almost bought one for exactly this scenario, but instead I bought “the Demonizer”. These and the “womanizer” are awesome external hardware Guitar amp FX’s. Check these out I haven’t received mine yet but I’m pretty impressed with the sound clips and their demo video as well as a lot of people who have recently got them all say they love it.
www.damagecontrolusa.com
I guess the real question is if you are wanting distortion/tube or other types of effects. as far as distortion goes, I agree with Rednroll, though the guitar suite is about as good as any stomp box distortion (other than some high end like BOSS or your POD). It does mess up your stereo signal quite a bit though. Be warned. As far as other effects, though, I find that there are plenty free/cheap effects that work as well/better than the types of effect boxes most people have around anyways. I guess I figure that if you had a POD delay or some other such thing, you’d already be planning on using it. 