Just Another Annoying Question About IRs

jesussaddle

jesussaddle

Power User
Okay, its probably been said before, but are there any pro grade totally eclectic cab IR packs out there?

By this I mean including a range of quality IR's that extend the range of what's in the AXE II. Including cabs that might generally be thought of as good in maybe the most diverse genres of sound?

I have to decrease the time looking at the computer screen in my off time, as I do it professionally. For reasons best glossed over, I am unable to use my eyes that way. So I probably haven't surfed to the sites or even read the relevant guitar player-type mags; I did try looking at some of the major Guitar Impulse Response commercial players. I would certainly be in the market to have such a package if it were priced at an affordable intro-rate.

I should also state that years ago, prior to the hi-res updates, I purchased large Redwire and Ownhammer libraries, which I found to be completely distinct from one another even with the same cabs. Some were/are certainly useful, but I'm overwhelmed. I would like to crack open some styles I haven't managed to crack open, and believe that the right IR's would help if I knew what they were.

So purchasing a large number of mic angles and microphone brands and mixing them in cab lab or something is not my goal, since this will eat up a lot of time. I'm hoping to find a more introductory route here, like kind of a paid Sampler Pack covering a gamut of genres. I also notice that Fractal has some their cabs listed with more or less esoteric flavors of certain cabs. As I'm not very informed on this, it reads like a foreign language. Also, some of the better IR sites in fact ARE written in a foreign language.

So is there a sort of bundle of all bundles, that would be helpful in the way that, say just as an example, Fremen's preset banks would be achievable (which require numerous cab pack sources) with a single cab pack? That might be included in media included in the soon to be released Guitar IR For Dummies book, available on Amazon.com no time very soon?

Too annoying? Okay, got it.
 
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jesussaddle said:
Okay, its probably been said before, but are there any pro grade totally eclectic cab IR packs out there?

By this I mean including a range of quality IR's that extend the range of what's in the AXE II. Including cabs that might generally be thought of as good in maybe the most diverse genres of sound?

I have to decrease the time looking at the computer screen in my off time, as I do it professionally. For reasons best glossed over, I am unable to use my eyes that way. So I probably haven't surfed to the sites or even read the relevant guitar player-type mags; I did try looking at some of the major Guitar Impulse Response commercial players. I would certainly be in the market to have such a package if it were priced at an affordable intro-rate.

I should also state that years ago, prior to the hi-res updates, I purchased large Redwire and Ownhammer libraries, which I found to be completely distinct from one another even with the same cabs. Some were/are certainly useful, but I'm overwhelmed. I would like to crack open some styles I haven't managed to crack open, and believe that the right IR's would help if I knew what they were.

So purchasing a large number of mic angles and microphone brands and mixing them in cab lab or something is not my goal, since this will eat up a lot of time. I'm hoping to find a more introductory route here, like kind of a paid Sampler Pack covering a gamut of genres. I also notice that Fractal has some their cabs listed with more or less esoteric flavors of certain cabs. As I'm not very informed on this, it reads like a foreign language. Also, some of the better IR sites in fact ARE written in a foreign language.

So is there a sort of bundle of all bundles, that would be helpful in the way that, say just as an example, Fremen's preset banks would be achievable (which require numerous cab pack sources) with a single cab pack? That might be included in media included in the soon to be released Guitar IR For Dummies book, available on Amazon.com no time very soon?

Too annoying? Okay, got it.
Click to expand...

Have you tried our free teaser package, when it was available until the end of last week? Send me a pm, if not.
 
Silver & Black Volume 1 on the Fractal site has the Acoustic 2X15 cab and Hartke 1415 aluminum1X15 cab ir's in one pack.

Very cool stuff for a different flavor of rock or fusion guitar than you can get with any of the standard ir's in the AF2.

As a bonus, it comes with ir mixes using pressure zone mics attached to the cabs, so you can get the feel of the cab rumble without the phasing issues of using a mic placed at the back of the cab and mixing it in.

Josh Homme of QOTSA and Eric Clapton in his Derek & the Dominos era both have used 15 inch speakers with guitar. It's a big, balanced sound.
 
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dr bonkers said:
Silver & Black Volume 1 on the Fractal site has the Acoustic 2X15 cab and Hartke 1415 aluminum1X15 cab ir's in one pack.

Very cool stuff for a different flavor of rock or fusion guitar than you can get with any of the standard ir's in the AF2.

As a bonus, it comes with ir mixes using pressure zone mics attached to the cabs, so you can get the feel of the cab rumble without the phasing issues of using a mic placed at the back of the cab and mixing it in.

Josh Homme of QOTSA and Eric Clapton in his Derek & the Dominos era both have used 15 inch speakers with guitar. It's a big, balanced sound.
Click to expand...
Bell Bottom Blues, great moment for Clapton.

Thank you. I'm looking into this and the other two leads. I found it interesting that in the Ownhammer pack referenced above, the manual says:

"SOUNDING LIKE A GUITAR TUBE AMP
With the files contained in this library there is a very quick, simple step that can be taken to simulate the sound of
a guitar tube power amp with the Presence and Depth set to 0, similar what is
offered in legacy OwnHammer speaker cabinet impulse response libraries.
To replicate this sound, following the cabinet IR loader add an EQ with a parametric bell curve set to
-
3 dB at 400
Hz. Adjust the Q/bandwidth to roughly where the edges of the curve
start to make the initial cut around 100 Hz on
the low side and 2 kHz on the high side. If necessary, adjust the Q/bandwidth to taste from here to best suit your
sound source and tonal preference."

At first I was, like, what is a the cabinet IR loader???

I guess at some point I'm going to have to become more knowledgeable about all this, if the stars permit.

Have a great day!
 
Just to clarify, in the older manuals the verbiage from that section could have been misinterpreted. I've updated it in newer libraries to be worded a little better, as it is in reference to the type of amp used to drive the stimulus into the system, less some form of "general tone advice". In years past, I offered files driven by neutral amps as well as non-neutral guitar tube amps, the latter of which I have stopped using. There were a few lingering sentiments about obtaining that sound with the new libraries, so that piece of info is in reference to that scenario, and the new wording is as follows:

---| CUT |---

Sounding Like Guitar Tube Amp Driven IR’s

As aforementioned, the IR’s in this library were driven with tonally neutral tube based power amplification. There is a very quick, simple step that can be applied to replicate the sound of IR’s that were instead driven by a guitar tube power amp with the Presence and Depth set to 0, which results in a mid scoop.

To simulate this sound, following the cabinet IR loader add an EQ with a parametric bell curve set to -3 dB at 400 Hz. Adjust the Q/bandwidth to roughly where the edges of the curve start to make the initial cut around 100 Hz on the low side and 2 kHz on the high side. If necessary, adjust the Q/bandwidth to taste from here to best suit your sound source and tonal preference.

---| END CUT |---

At some point when things slow down a bit and I have a little breathing room, I'll go back and update all those.

Hope that helps!
 
Do you own all of the more exotic packs in the Fractal store? The Wellspring, Mad Oak, Attic, and U.N.S packs may be worth a closer look.
 
@jesussaddle I can definitely relate to your problem. It's an unsatisfying feeling to start playing guitar and after a few hours you'll realize that you've just been searching for the right IR most of the time rather than playing the instrument. I definitely do aim for quick use case scenarios with my latest Cab Packs. That would include the Zilla pack and the newest ML Brit Collection II. Both of those packs come with folders with very few IR's to choose from that cover most of the available versatility. In addition to that you also have Preset-Cab Bundles that are good raw base tones to start out with.

Here's an example of me just loading up the Brit 800 preset and switching the IR to those quick mix options available in the ML Brit Collection II Cab Pack:



So these are the types of tones you can get fast and easy with the new structure of the packs. It certainly makes it quicker for me and the main reason I came up with this is that I have quite a selection of IR's to choose from so I know how hard it is to commit to using a specific IR.
 
Admin M@ said:
Do you own all of the more exotic packs in the Fractal store? The Wellspring, Mad Oak, Attic, and U.N.S packs may be worth a closer look.
Click to expand...
I purchased the complete Redwire and a bunch of Ownhammer before Hi Res was a thing. This will be my first foray into Hi-Res non-stock and paid IRs. I'm looking forward to it.

But I spend far too much time, being a synth programmer and struggling to learn mixing and all that. I'm needing to figure out how to optimize my learning and balance it with practice, and composing. I haven't figured out the balance.

I hope to eventually see a Sampler Pack in the fractal store, that incorporates stuff that is a wide assortment of genres. But for marketing reasons I think I understand why this may not be a good move. Or might it? I would love one, for say $50 or $100, laid out for the novice to explore - beyond the stock cab world... including instructions on which amps to pair with which, maybe a step by step cab learning program. The real problem is clearly I have difficulty not mixing up different technical subjects unless I'm following a well laid out tutorial series. I'm still struggling with basic mixing terminologies and how they relate to stock trading (WTF are downward expansion release values - are they inversely proportional when shorting in an overall long term equitiy trade strategy?).

Sorry. Not funny. But as you can see I need more focus.

Anyway, I know that the stock cabs barely scratch the surface, but I'm just really bad at getting sidechained, uhm, no sidetracked from writing and recording.

Thank you for all your help; its definitely appreciated.
 
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