COVID-19 refugee: what software modeler should I use?

sumitagarwal

sumitagarwal

Inspired
Well, about 2 weeks ago my fiancee, her sister, and I fled NYC to their parents' in the Adirondacks with an initial plan of being away for 1 or 2 weeks (although conscious of the fact that it could be longer), and the Axe-FX II did not make the cut of essentials to stuff into the trunk of my sedan.

Thankfully my 59 reissue LP with a Rocksmith USB guitar cable stuff into the case did make the cut, and so now I need to figure out what Mac software would be the smallest downgrade from my Axe-FX.

I'm in a blues mood, generally prefer amps straight-in without pedals and effects, and value quality of models far more than variety of models or having a specific model. Even though I'm very flexible on what amp I use as long as its top quality, for reference my favorites on the Axe-FX II are: JTM-45, 100W Plexi, high-powered tweed Twin, and JCM800.

What are your recommendations? I've heard the most good things about Neural DSP, Bias, and Helix Native. But there are so many options out there that its really dizzying.
 
deathbyguitar said:
S-Gear is good. It's made by the same guy who designed the Marshall JMP amps. Download the trial and see what you think. I was using that before I bought my first Axe-FX way back when.
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And he's a good guy. When I downloaded the trial version my USB guitar interface cable didn't work. He said he would prolong the trial time until I got an interface (sends and receives) that did, but then I decided I didn't want to play guitar through my computer.
 
I use UAD stuff at home, I think its a next best thing after Fractal. I even considered gigging with it at some point, but the lack of midi implementation would complicate that, so i just use it at home and recording.
 
Tonedeaf said:
And he's a good guy. When I downloaded the trial version my USB guitar interface cable didn't work. He said he would prolong the trial time until I got an interface (sends and receives) that did, but then I decided I didn't want to play guitar through my computer.
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Yeah I think the nice thing about having an outboard modeler is that you don't have to worry about impedance or any other variables. It's all just figured out for you, regardless of what brand of device you're using.
 
pauliusmm said:
I use UAD stuff at home, I think its a next best thing after Fractal. I even considered gigging with it at some point, but the lack of midi implementation would complicate that, so i just use it at home and recording.
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Can you use UAD plugins outside their hardware?
 
Bigtim said:
Can you use UAD plugins outside their hardware?
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Unfortunately not, but if you're into recording, the UAD stuff is second to none. Its like the Axe FX of analog recording consoles, preamps and compressors etc.
It is pricey though, you get some stuff for free when you buy hardware, but the coolest plugins are pricey.
They are also coming up with a Daw that is supposed to have zero latency.
 
pauliusmm said:
I use UAD stuff at home, I think its a next best thing after Fractal. I even considered gigging with it at some point, but the lack of midi implementation would complicate that, so i just use it at home and recording.
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UAD2 plugins will respond to MIDI if you use a host that supports it. I use Reaper, and all of my UA plugins can be controlled by any MIDI foot controller. UA by far has the best software amp sim plug-ins I've ever used.
 
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steadystate said:
UAD2 plugins will respond to MIDI if you use a host that supports it. I use Reaper, and all of my UA plugins can be controlled by any MIDI foot controller. UA by far has the best software amp sim plug-ins I've ever used.
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Thats interresting,
What exactly can you control with midi?
The only problem i see is you cannot really use plugins in unison mode, or at least control them. Unison is the way to go for amps to get best results.
I usually use UAD console to load sounds i want, if you use a daw then you deal with latency and buffer size and it all gets dodgy and it can crash. I wish they added midi to console app that would make it gig ready.
 
I second the S-Gear recommendation. Also, check out the Neural DSP plug-ins. They sound and feel just as good. Each model has a trial version so you’ll be set for well over a month.
 
pauliusmm said:
Unfortunately not, but if you're into recording, the UAD stuff is second to none. Its like the Axe FX of analog recording consoles, preamps and compressors etc.
It is pricey though, you get some stuff for free when you buy hardware, but the coolest plugins are pricey.
They are also coming up with a Daw that is supposed to have zero latency.
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How does that work exactly? What do I need for hardware or other stuff if I want to use UAD plugins? Does it work with a dongle?
 
pauliusmm said:
Thats interresting,
What exactly can you control with midi?
The only problem i see is you cannot really use plugins in unison mode, or at least control them. Unison is the way to go for amps to get best results.
I usually use UAD console to load sounds i want, if you use a daw then you deal with latency and buffer size and it all gets dodgy and it can crash. I wish they added midi to console app that would make it gig ready.
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I can set the buffer to 8 samples in Reaper without a problem using the Axe III as an interface. Latency is not an issue. Intense plugins might require 16 samples. Still great.
 
Bodde said:
How does that work exactly? What do I need for hardware or other stuff if I want to use UAD plugins? Does it work with a dongle?
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You need to use their audio interface, i think the cheapest is Arrow for mac which is around 450 Eur. You get a bunch of free plugins, and you can test all the rest for 1 week. If you buy any plugin the trials reset and you can test all of them for 1 week again.
 
pauliusmm said:
You need to use their audio interface, i think the cheapest is Arrow for mac which is around 450 Eur. You get a bunch of free plugins, and you can test all the rest for 1 week. If you buy any plugin the trials reset and you can test all of them for 1 week again.
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ok thanks. Too bad their interfaces don't have midi. Never understand why they skip midi on these professional sound cards. Now you need to buy a separate midi interface if you want an UAD interface....If it had midi I would have been really interested.
 
Bodde said:
ok thanks. Too bad their interfaces don't have midi. Never understand why they skip midi on these professional sound cards. Now you need to buy a separate midi interface if you want an UAD interface....If it had midi I would have been really interested.
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Agree, midi would make them perfect for live too, it would be the ultimate studio rig on stage.
 
Bodde said:
How does that work exactly? What do I need for hardware or other stuff if I want to use UAD plugins? Does it work with a dongle?
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UAD plugins require a UAD hardware DSP device, kind of an Axe with no UI. Personally, no thank you, but their plugins are widely respected.

S-Gear isn't the cool new kid on the block any more, but it's very good, weaker if you're metal, and not super strong in effects,, but responds really nicely.

Plugin Alliance (they wrote some of the UAD plugins, and have a crap-ton of other stuff besides amp sims) has some I really like a lot. I'm more of an organic guy than high gain, and really like their Chandler Limited GAV19T and ENGL E765 RT, both really good. Less fond of their higher gain ENGL E646 VS, but that's not really my wheelhouse.

Haven't tried them since I'm more doing Axe these days, but Neural DSP and Nembrini are both getting lots of notice lately, and I think the Nembrini stuff is on sale right now.

There's also Helix Native, and Waves PRS SuperModels, both of which are good.

All this stuff has demos you can try yourself and you should.
 
Thanks for the great suggestions! I've been trying a variety of the suggestions out, and the Brainworx stuff really does stand out. Currently can get the Brainworx Diezel Herbert for only $25 and I surprisingly like it!

Unfortunately I'm also realizing my Rocksmith cable is a limitation here since its only 16-bit, which seems to be introducing some nasty aliasing especially at the ends of note fades. Anyone know how to improve that aside from changing hardware? Would any plugins handle that situation better? I'm on a Mac running Logic.
 
Quick update here and thanks everyone for all the help!

I tested out a whole lot of stuff, from the freeware stuff to the bigger suites. S-gear is really nice and has a good warmth to it, but just doesn't have that dynamism that grabs me from the first note.

Helix was kind of a similar experience for me. Very complete program, decent sounds, but after the Axe-FX it just seems compressed, lifeless, and artificial. Perfectly fine for recording or in a mix, but doesn't feel like your guitar is interacting with analog hardware. I was really surprised just how bad the UI was... its functional, and clean, but who the hell wants linear sliders for their amp knobs?! Either way, it would be far out of my budget.

Bias impressed at first due to its crisp clear sound, its variety, and depth of features. But the sound just isn't dynamic, and gainer tones in particular sound synthesized. Good deal though, as you can grab the Standard edition for as low as $40 on sale.

Sknote have some really cool Fender amps, and they're really great folks too! I bought the $29 Deluxe1 (a tweed Tremolux), and while I'm pretty sure it would have been a blast with my Strat, I'm currently just with my LP and it was a total mud fest. They were kind enough to let me exchange it for their TwinR (blackface Twin Reverb), which is a much much better match to the guitar. It sounds great! And they go out of the way to make it operate as much like the real amp as possible, with integrated reverb and trem. They take a unique approach to the cab and its part of the full interactive model. That sounds good, but ultimately you're restricted to the conditions and environment in which they produced their IR's. Which is fine, but just fine.

And that brings me back to the Brainworx Diezel Herbert. Holy hell is this thing good. It just sounds "complete" and very physical in a way that none of the other things I tried does. Clearly the modeling is exceptional, and coming from the Axe-FX I really appreciated the speed and intuitiveness with which I could navigate the UI just as if I had the amp in front of me. I love the Axe, but this is a lot quicker and easier to dial in. But a massive part of their sound I think can be chalked up to their fantastic built-in IR's, which are captured in a great studio into a great signal chain. Although I could be wrong... I didn't come away feeling anywhere near as strongly about their Friedman BE-100, which was developed with the same signal chain. As for the Diezel Herbert itself, I was shocked at how much I liked the clean tones, and how useable the crunch tones are. With the many controls I should be able to cover just about anything. The high-gain tones are of course tight, savage, and varied... but I don't anticipate using them a ton. And I got it for the princely sum of $24. What a time to be alive.

Side note: my 16-bit Rocksmith cable may not be as much of the limitation as I thought it was. Where I'm staying I have access to a Bose L1 Compact which I plugged into, and I now realize that "nasty aliasing" during note fades seems to mostly be related to that, and is not present through headphones. Boo! Bad Bose!
 
where did you find that? I can only find the Brainworx Diezel Herbert in UAD format and the VH4 is $120?
 
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