OwnHammer Speaker Cabinets Public Beta (free stuff inside)

I'm going to second Scott's statement: Kevin has also used me as a guinea pig during his travels through this process, and you would not believe some of the email time stamps I've gotten from him with "Okay, I think this is getting closer..." messages embedded. ;-) As Scott says, nobody works harder or is more passionate about getting this right.

I think the new direction is the right one: rather than trying to supply a vast array of different versions of each speaker, Kevin is focusing on getting the core sound out of key microphones, and giving us control over the EQ. I think this simplifies things from his perspective AND ours, and should be viewed as a really strong update. The fact that he's also providing some EQ filters like low-cut filters which I've wanted for some time...very nice! The fact that he'll be able to do more different speakers faster? Excellent!

He has a family, too. And a job. He works very hard, and what he is doing for cabinet IRs is going to be one of the last major pieces of the puzzle for getting really superbly convincing amp emulations. Between him and Cliff, there is some real genius going on right now in that realm. If anyone deserves a lot of financial success for their hard work, it's these guys! The proof is in the pudding, and I bet you'll be really pleased when you try these out. For you Jump Start investors who jumped in a few months ago, what a bargain that was! I don't know about the rest of you, but by the time I factor in my own time searching and tweaking, buying a good mic like a Royer, and so forth...just one speaker that I can get to that makes me sit back and go "Mmmmmm" and just play because it sounds and feels right...that is worth many, many times the price he got.

Congratulations, Kevin. Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and may 2013 bring you the ROI you truly deserve. Now, get some sleep for cryin' out loud.

Fanboy mode off.
 
Thanks for the kind words and understanding, guys. :)

On a quick note, I had the wrong case in one word in the file name for the demo which broke the link; that is now fixed and the link on the page to it is now functional. Sorry I didn't catch that last night/earlier this morning.

katsumura78 said:
I have a question. Not a compliant of any kind just wondering. The studio pro files, will they be X amount of dollars extra for the people who got in on the wav. jump starter ? I don't want to miss out on those and I'm really glad to hear these libraries will be coming out a lot faster. Really looking forward to that mesa cab !
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Just $6 per library. When I was planning on releasing it as standalone last week, the minimum I was gonna do was $9 for it, so $6 to get that plus Nebula files for the entire library is a pretty good deal, me thinks. :)

FWIW, on a general note trying to think of the worst possible way all of this could be interpreted by somebody - there's no bait and switch going on here, I'm just flying by the seat of my pants as cool new things happen. The Jump Starter happened in early October, this collaboration happened early December. Pushing into new territory is always something that sees many, many changes and improvements along the way. Most times I just do all this behind closed doors and wait until it is finalized to make it publicly visible, this time around I involved everybody else on a surface level. Hope it has been enjoyable to all and not as exhausting as it has been for me. :p
 
For me, your new consolidated approach is easier understand.

I followed along with all the different packages and so on, but did find that confusing.

I think leveraging your new found collaboration and your ever increasing knowledge in a straightforward way that allows you continue a revenue stream and move things along just makes great sense.

These IR's are such a game changer. For me, they really bridge the gap in that last 10% of sounding like a guitar amplifier. Righteous stuff!

Richard
 
not sure if I like a "tweaked" version of Balanced if I understand that correctly (and less positions). I'd rather have this in addition to how the mic and cab "really" sound. been so swamped with work lately, that I kinda feel a bit negative about this whole development, however, this could simply be down to me being overly tired and burned out from too much recording. guess I gotta read Kevin's post again. so...my jumpstarter investment is still valid ?
 
VegaBaby said:
not sure if I like a "tweaked" version of Balanced if I understand that correctly (and less positions). I'd rather have this in addition to how the mic and cab "really" sound.
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The changes to that voicing are very small, but an improvement in the "realness" of the cab compared to the last iteration. Unless you were using position 1 and position 2, you can try shifting a couple up from before (so if you used Balanced 7, try Balanced 5 and wiggle to one side or another if needed) and I'm sure will be satisfied if not glad for the change. I'm not the only one that feels this way, FWIW, every person I passed the files to privately in beta over the last couple of weeks gave a resounding vote of approval. The only thing that is less is the Fat and Warm IR's are removed, and I have detailed how to identically reproduce them with much more personalization than my static presentations of them. :)

VegaBaby said:
so...my jumpstarter investment is still valid ?
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100% The only thing that's different is I'm not throwing in the Studio Pro and Nebula files without an extremely nominal additional fee. When charging 10's of dollars for this instead of 1000's per library, I can no longer afford to keep giving away my hard work for free or I'm going to lose my house, literally, and soon. :(
 
ownhammer said:
Just $6 per library. When I was planning on releasing it as standalone last week, the minimum I was gonna do was $9 for it, so $6 to get that plus Nebula files for the entire library is a pretty good deal, me thinks. :)
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I think you're sleep-deprived, mate! That's a ridiculously good deal. Anybody who passes on that must be nuts.
 
Kevin,
Lots of info to digest there. To put my thoughts in a nutshell: I trust you and appreciate the work you're putting into this project. Scott's endorsement solidifies that trust that much more.

I haven't made any selections yet (after my purchase) because I want to wait until you get everything straightened out. I can't wait to hear what you've got going now.

Thanks for the update and don't burn yourself out!
 
I see where you're coming from Kevin. The new approach works for me personally, and it puts you in a more sustainable business model. When you succeed we all succeed.

I've found that balanced works best for me, and I had not been using any of the fat / warm combos. Having access to more libraries sooner is a very positive trade-off from my point of view. Being able to access the nebula versions for a reasonable uplift will make me seriously consider exploring that tool. I'm planning to put some focus on recording this year.

Terry.
 
RE Nebula, if you check out the files in the free demo for this library it has one file crypted for use with Nebula Free. Nebula Free is a very restrictive version of the software, you can only really just load the programs and that's pretty much it (no slider control, IIRC), but you can A/B compare for sound quality to see if you want to invest in the full Nebula 3 Pro plugin. The difference in the dynamic response of the cab through captured and represented harmonic saturation is crystal clear, especially with any moderately gained guitar sound. On the extreme end of this, for metal, palm mutes just hit you in the chest where the convolution reverb IR's flatly pass the note through. It's a pretty dramatic difference, in my opinion. Even in clean tones, the increase in quality is relevant in a less stifled and more open sound. Highly recommended for more demanding recordings where nit picking minute details are a factor.
 
I'll, "ditto" the fact that your hard work is greatly appreciated and you need to make some money for your labored fruit. Don't burn yourself out brother. Your family needs you functional, (fully). You won't be doing yourself any favors either. It's a tough balancing act I realize. Get some well deserved rest and enjoy your Christmas... for crying out loud!:razz

Merry Christmas to you and your family Kevin,
 
ownhammer said:
RE Nebula, if you check out the files in the free demo for this library it has one file crypted for use with Nebula Free. Nebula Free is a very restrictive version of the software, you can only really just load the programs and that's pretty much it (no slider control, IIRC), but you can A/B compare for sound quality to see if you want to invest in the full Nebula 3 Pro plugin. The difference in the dynamic response of the cab through captured and represented harmonic saturation is crystal clear, especially with any moderately gained guitar sound. On the extreme end of this, for metal, palm mutes just hit you in the chest where the convolution reverb IR's flatly pass the note through. It's a pretty dramatic difference, in my opinion. Even in clean tones, the increase in quality is relevant in a less stifled and more open sound. Highly recommended for more demanding recordings where nit picking minute details are a factor.
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If the difference is this dramatic, I wonder if future AxeFX hardware or firmware might benefit more than they thought from using IR formats with higher resolutions than .syx files can do?
 
Thanks swass, Merry Christmas to you and yours as well! :)

I think that the speaker drive function is aimed at something similar, though it is an additive feature rather than an extrapolatory one. I don't have any way of pitting them against each other, nor do I have the interest. Cliff knows what he's doing, I'm sure the speaker drive does a great job and also offers extended characteristics I don't push the speakers to in order to represent (as in past the point of mechanical instability, or "farting out" as it were). The file size of the kind of things Nebula does would not be conducive for use with the Axe. 3 MB per IR vs 11 KB is a storage and latency nightmare, especially when there are so many other cool things it can do that can eat up available processor overhead.
 
Kevin,

The new direction you're taking makes perfect sense to me, for your and our sakes.

I completely trust your judgement and trust that you'll hit it out of the ballpark with your new IR's.

Now for Pete's sake, relax and enjoy Christmas with your family, sounds like you need it and you definitely deserve it. You can get back to working (hard) on these IR's after Christmas.

RB
 
Can't wait to try this new 12M out! Sounds like a great direction and one that is more realistic than your original plan. The previous 12M update that you released was already kicking my ass.
 
Thanks, and the very same to you!

I had a lot going on today but I was able to get the MA200 done (bouncing and all that good stuff later tonight). From a test file (which if you compare these in your daw and try to blend them they'll be out of phase, I didn't MPT the test file here), this is a comparison, as close as one can be made all things considered, between what V2 was in the first week of October when I made the files for the Jump Starter Tier 3 pack and then the newest revision made just a few days ago.

October:
http://www.ownhammer.com/temp/OwnHammer_V2_October.wav

December:
http://www.ownhammer.com/temp/OwnHammer_V2_December.wav

I'm sure you can imagine the translation in a full mix for you recording folks. :)
 
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