I have tried, as samicide mentions, to duplicate guitar sounds between two different Amp Simulators . . .
And I find it difficult. The basic sound of a particular plug combined with the individual EQ algorithms, effects and such make it tough. No “better” or “worse”. Just different. And subjective as to “quality”.
Conversely, it is usually much easier to duplicate EQ settings between two different “Studio” EQ plugs. Even to the satisfaction of frequency and phase analysis of the result.
There is just a whole lot more “garbage” going on in Amp Simulator plugs - whacky distortion.
Thus they tend to have more of a “sound”.
My point? Try two or three different Amp sims if you have the opportunity. No one size will fit all, IMHO.
I sort of agree … I agree with the “there is no best”, but I do think some are better at behaving like amps than others.
I can probably match any rock or metal guitar sound that I’ve ever heard with just what’s included in C5…
totally throw down the gauntlet on that. Maybe Metal and Hard Rock, but no way can you do blues or blues rock guitars with C5 amp sims. There are even particular voicings of Rock guitars that I’d love to see you try. Maybe like a Brian May lead tone from Brighton Rock days. You’ll get close to the sound, but it will be crispy on top, where his is clean and smooth. And, it will be obvious because it isn’t quintuple tracked and buried in verb and other instruments.
you’re probably right, but then again if it’s crispy on top then just trim it on top with some strategic eq, and by the time people hear a 192 mp3 the difference isn’t noticeable to anyone other than the ones who know which amp sim was used. (most people only ever hear a 192 mp3 of my stuff so that’s why I have certain opinions I guess)
Musical style and personal taste are crucial in choosing of virtual amps -
no one has the right to denounce amps or has the right to do homage amps, because it is not universal!
No amp sim is as good as an amp. Even real amps aren’t equal or unbuggy. I would expect that they would never make the majority of guitarists happy. A clever songwriter / arranger might make good use of one with some imagination.
If there’s distortion at full volume then it does fit the behavior pattern of many real amps.
Good to see a response and fix though. So I guess it was worth bringing the subject up.
Most, perhaps.
But in fact I have spent time in Studios doing exactly that.
Had a guitar player who swore nothin’ could match his Marshall . .
So we miced him up in his usual fashion - and, in this case, set up a POD v2 going direct (old technology).
With everyone in the control room we tweaked it to the point where correctly guessing which was being heard was a 50-50 split.
It was fairly distorted and I think that’s probably easier to emulate than some of the more subtle sounds . .
But . . . I also believe a lot of the “nothin’ beats my (fill in the blank) amp” is due to the usual monitoring levels of a live amp through a cabinet verses a sim in the control room monitors. Equalize that and it’s a bit different.
Well, if you really think the basic AmpSim that comes with C5 is superior to Amplitube 3, or NI Guitar Rig (or actually any version of Amplitube) then I can only assume you have never tried them. The built in AmpSim in C5 is a “cute” toy so to speak and certainly better than nothing, but doesn’t match up to a lot of the third party amp sims that are out there. So what kind of monitors do you have by the way?
Correct. It’s constantly surprising to me at least. They just seem to adapt whatever noise is produced to their own skills. I guess positive thinking has a lot to do with it and the fun to be had getting gold out of a rats bum of an amp.
Speaking as a ‘keyboardist’, seeking to emulate electric guitar leads… I’d have to say that the VST Amp Rack in C6, is BY FAR, the nicest I’ve heard.
I learned a long time ago, that it is near-impossible to replicate the “real thing”. But in the world of synths and digital music, making an emulation believable is akin to performing a magic trick. Most everyone in the audience KNOWS that what happens isn’t “real”… but they enjoy the ‘illusion’ before them.
I am very picky, when it comes to expression overall. I have a couple of the guitar effect emulator programs (TH2 and Guitar Rig 4); to my ears, the C6 plugin is a substantial improvement over those. The others make it hard to overcome the BUZZ and FUZZ they tend to produce; they sound almost “solid-state” in comparison to the more “tube-like” sound of VST Amp Rack.
I used one CLEAN guitar sound from my Christ Hein Guitars… and never got bored trying out patches and simulated guitar licks.
The VST Amp Rack may not be perfect (nothing is), but I’ve never been able to just pull up a patch on an amp simulator, run sampled guitars through it, and be THAT impressed with the expressiveness of the sound for so long. Usually, I just switch back to synth leads after playing a few minutes of ‘fake’ guitar.
This particular C6 plugin is a very serious and musical tool; I’m sure Steinberg knows it.
May I complete?
No grand piano sim is as good as a real grand piano
No orchestra sim is as good as a 40-70 man orchestra
No guitar sim is as good as a real good guitar player
No drum sim is as good as a real good drummer
No flight sim is as good as a real aircraft flight
No (please insert) sim is as good as (please insert)
and so on and so on…
But…who of the consumer can hear the difference at the end…
However, as an audiophile audio engineer I agree with you.
I own a few of them and tried most of them. The basic C5 amp sim in conjunction with a few other C5 effects in the chain sounds just as good as most of the current offerings on the market today in the context of a rock or metal mix. as a matter of fact Amplitube was one of the worst ones I tried, it’s noisy and couldn’t even get the amount of distortion that I could get from C5 or other freeware amp sims.
do you have any of your mixes on line? send a link and I’ll have a listen and let you know what I think about your guitar tone. when it comes to rock or Metal, both Amplitube and Guitar Rig are weaker than a lot of freeware/shareware/donationware. for example, this one here called ‘Revolution Z’ destroys Amplitube and Guitar Rig 4 when it comes to high gain sounds, if you disagree then I suggest you buy some new monitors as my monitors are good enough to let me know that Amplitube is one of the most over rated and over priced pieces of software I have ever tried in my life.
ya sims versus the real thing was never being debated so I don’t know why others took the convo there.
although, unless you’re good at recording, amp sims will give most people a much better sound in a mix. most (non pros) who record a real amp usually have worse sound on a song then people who use sims, but I guess there’s some pride in saying they used a real amp even if the end result usually doesn’t sound as good as a freeware amp sim.
Maybe Metal and Hard Rock, but no way can you do blues or blues rock guitars with C5 amp sims. There are even particular voicings of Rock guitars that I’d love to see you try. Maybe like a Brian May lead tone from Brighton Rock days. You’ll get close to the sound, but it will be crispy on top, where his is clean and smooth. And, it will be obvious because it isn’t quintuple tracked and buried in verb and other instruments.
