Anyone successfully emulate a double tracked guitar?

Rexgtr

Rexgtr

Experienced
A lot of us record and have used the technique of recording two guitar parts ~exactly panned L / R, anyone come close to that sound on their AxeFxII?
 
Yeah, I double or quad like everybody else. There's no point in trying to emulate a double tracked guitar track. If you copy a guitar track into another channel strip, you get phase cancellation and it sounds identical to the original track. The only way to get a huge sound from having a double tracked guitar tone is to do precisely that. Also, don't pan your guitars hard left and right, it makes them sound thin in the mix.
 
Yes. I use a 7 or 9ms delay on a dual-amp patch on one's I've created one panned hard L, the other hard right. Two differ amp models obviously works best.
There is a John Petrucci rhythm patch I downloaded that also is great.
 
I do the slight delay a lot, but another trick is Eq a smile on one side and add it back to the other side!
 
Pretty much anything you can do to change the L and R signal will help. I generally use the "fake double" trick while tracking my first rhythm guitar track so that it sounds full during that preliminary stage.

I use a 25ms delay in one channel and pan hard L and R. Different amps or cabs on either side will help also.

For something I am going to actually release though I always double track.
 
Lots good suggestions. I'm in agreement that recording a part twice just works better when recording although I'm looking for double tracking emulation preset(s) for playing in general (practice, jams, live gigs) I usually like playing in stereo instead of mono.
 
play it physically, but if u r hellbent on an automated process, use 2 distinctly different sounding tones from complimentary amps and cabs, and I'd also recommend some automated time and pitch variation using modifier controllers. A neat trick is to assign a modifier with envelope as the controller, assigned to pitch, so that when you dig in, the pitch shifts slightly (or noticeably). Simulated double tracking is all about the number of subtle differences you can concoct that impact tone, time, and pitch. Thankfully the Axefx has so much high quality sh!t going on that if any single hardware processor can do a good job of it, the Axefx would be the one.

The one thing you'll never get, though, is anticipation, unless you track by intentionally playing ahead of the beat.
 
Two amps, each panned left and right respectively. 9 -17ms delay on one channel in the last block. Thats what I use to simulate when playing in stereo FRFR
 
Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't it be possible to automate the delay between L/R amps using an LFO somehow to give it a more human feel? Maybe could be done with a filter block in front? I thought I remembered reading a thread a while back that touched on this idea. Maybe I'm crazy.
 
Etudica said:
Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't it be possible to automate the delay between L/R amps using an LFO somehow to give it a more human feel?
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That will make something that sounds sort of like the random delays in a double-tracked tone, but there are artifacts that get in the way. Whenever you change delay time on the fly, you introduce a momentary frequency shift that just doesn't exist when two guitars play together. It'll sound chorusy, because that's how the chorus effect is made.
 
Maybe utilizing the micro pitch shift (random pitch shifter) would be a good subtle effect to add?
 
Rexx said:
A lot of us record and have used the technique of recording two guitar parts ~exactly panned L / R, anyone come close to that sound on their AxeFxII?
Click to expand...

For most of my cover tunes I am essentially doing this. It took a long time, been working them for months, but yeah...... Basically I double up and run 2 amps, and 2 cabs. For example, I did a tone match of "let there be rock," saved it as a cab. Then I make a preset and use a Marshall amp and that TM cab, and woohoo I got my go-to ACDC tone!!! but it's too thin for a live band, as is with most studio tone matches :( so....... I then add a amp2 and cab2 and use different amp (I'm loving the Buttery ATM) and my own cab IR, and tweak and blend until it works live with the band, while still maintaining the basis of that ACDC tone.

We run a stereo PA and FOH so all my presets are stereo and panning depends more on the song, but for most i'm hard panned. It works good, but in a 2 guitar player band, this approach requires less gain on both amps, and you still need to respect and not pig all the frequencies so you can't be stubborn about your tone/sound if you want the whole band to sound good. This is the interesting part, because I've dialed in to our live mix so well, the preset on it's own sounds almost goofy and obnoxious when you first hear it, if you hear it alone, but....when played with the band, it fills in the gaps and blends perfectly, and makes us sound huge.

Another approach I use for solos is a virtual Wet Dry Wet load out. Using again 2 amps and 2 stereo cabs, I'll hardpan one IR from each cab, and then center, blend and mix the other 2 IR's. I then use effects and post process separately each signal, usually keeping the center dry, it works pretty good. You can get pretty crazy with the effects and controllers too if so inclined. I made a really cool one for when we play The Zoo that auto pans and delays while formant filters the low vowels and center has Wah on it.

The real trick is to not over do it, which can happen really quick when you double or triple it up.

BTW.... I also tried the Enhancer, and it just doesn't do it for me after doing dual amps/cabs.
 
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