Guitar Rig, Amplitube, TH2...

I think they're all great to have around. Guitar Rig for the effects chains (especially if you have all the Komplete effects as well), Amplitube has a clean crunch which just loves my Tele, and TH2 I think is the best overall for guitar sound. 

Dapper


It seems that Cakewalk keeps changing the amp sims it includes with Sonar. I got Amplitube with Sonar awhile back. Apparently Guitar Rig also used to be included. Now TH2 is included instead. Is each change an improvement over what came before, or just the current agreement between software companies? I'm just wondering if I should invest any more in Amplitube or go with one of the others. How do they compare?

I think the changes are either based on the agreements within the companies, or Sonar decides they want something different. To be honest, I'm really impressed with GR 5. It's a little noisey with higher gain sounds, but it's very realistic. Amplitube that came with Sonar was good for the times....but nothing like the version you can get today which is also really good. As for TH2, I think it is also another great guitar tool. I only have the one that comes with X2, but I think it was a nice change.
 
Guitar sims are like owning a few different pre-amps or amps. It's nice to have a few because they have different strengths and weaknesses. They all compare quite well, but it becomes a personal preference thing really. One guy will tell you Guitar Rig is the best out there, another will tell you "the free version of TH2 that we get with Sonar isn't even a good representation of what the pay version can do!" And then you'll get someone that will come on like me...and tell you to go check out Acme Bar Gig's "Head Case" because I work for the company and helped to build/develope it. LOL! :)
 
But seriously, all the stuff you mentioned is good...it just depends what one you personally prefer that will compliment your style. If you liked GR 3 and 4, you'll love GR 5. If you liked that old version of Amplitube years ago, you'll absolutely love their latest stuff. If you like the free version of TH2, I've been told the pay version really is awesome...though I haven't bought it yet. Unfortunately, it's just something you'll need to try for yourself or do a little research on to see what sounds may be floating around using those sims. Try Youtube to see who may have posted sound clips or something. This way you'll have a better representation on what may work for your particular needs. This sort of thing is always going to be subjective though and in the ears of the beholder. So be careful who you listen to on this stuff.
 
-Danny

Scuffman S-Gear is pretty solid too.

Having the right gear is good, but what I really think is great is the capability of changing the selected "gear" over what you just played. We can test many different options super quick. I really like that during recording /processing. 

another vote for Scuffman S-Gear - its reasonably priced and centres around quality rather than quantity.

The fact that Sonar provides us with these really powerful/quality guitar effects kind of blows the theory that Cakewalk is pandering to the bedroom hip hopper out the door. As someone who's main instrument has been guitar for 23 years I find Sonar a great recording tool for all my chunkety chugs and tweedledy dee dees. The lite version of GR that came with X1 was a little lacking for what I like as far as sounds but having that upgrade path to GR5 saved me a good chunk of money and although I've moved on to mostly using TH2 I still use it for my bass tracks. It's also crammed with a lot more options than TH2s full version so I'm sure I'll definitely be using it again in certain situations. I even like using it on other instruments/tracks such as putting some hair on aggressive vocals. TH2 however is just great IMO. Much more realistic and truer to my old live sounds. I upgraded to the full version and at first I was exactly impressed with the extra stuff. It seemed that it wasn't like the GR upgrade where the lite version was next to unusable (for my needs) and the upgrade brought it to life. The TH2 upgrade just seemed to be the same level of quality but MORE of it. But now that I've played around with it more and started building my own effects/amp chains I'm not just trying dial in my old live sound as best I can... I'm creating NEW tones that are above and beyond what I used to squeeze out of my amps. I particularly like the Overloud Custom and Brunetti heads and the Tube 9 pedal has now become my preferred distortion sim over my long time favorite the Metal Zone. The Metal Zone sim and hardware versions both have a tendency to be a little "mosquito-y" if not dial in right but it's one of the few effects that gave me the level of distortion I want without turning into pukey/noisy mess. The Tube 9 is giving me the sauce I want without that thin squashy sound the MZ does. Now that I have hooked up my Line 6 head to my interface via the XLR outs to shape the input signal I'm getting very very nice and realistic tones with minimal fiddling. I couldn't be happier with that addition to Sonar.

Sadly I missed out on the Amplitude stuff. I would have like to hear how that stands up but I doubt I'd use it as I'm guessing it wouldn't hold up well to the Overloud modeling. Maybe I'm mistaken on that.

Anyway, it's just nice to have that extra stuff in there. It took a lot of extra worry and expense out of my software purchases.

As far as continuing to invest in Amplitude... well that's just a matter of what you like. If it's working out for you then why not take advantage of upgrade prices? The more tools the better. Like I said the included version of TH2 is pretty usable on its own so unlike other stuff an upgrade isn't really necessary... however there are indeed LOTS of cool sounds in the full version. You can get lost forever poking around at it. Before X2 I would NEVER sit and play through my DAW just for practice/pleasure. It just wasn't as fun because the sound wasn't as good. With GR the guitar tones didn't come through until tweaking during the mixing phase. With TH2 I get sweet fun tones pretty much right after plugging in. 

JMO

The main reason I HATE AmpliTube(that I've stated ad-nauseum) is because you pay for a lite program and they nail you with add-ons... and it doesn't sound as good, IMO, as GR5/TH2/Scuffham.

When I'm up late, I like to toggle through all the sounds and see what I can create. Not go on the web, browse for sounds that I don't even know what specifically they may be, then download and try so I can give IK more money?

SCREW THAT!

You can always download the new Amplitube Custom shop for free. It comes with 5 amps, 6 pedals and 2 rack effects.

Huh... just taking a look at that now. Interesting. Cheers, Clint. Hope you've been well.

I'm a big fan of Guitar Rig 5.  I like the amp sims, but the effects that come with it are great, too.  I love the Psychedelay. 
 
You can make all sorts of fantastic tones.  I have a rhythm guitar track on a song I'm working on that wasn't sitting well.  After flicking through a few presets, and then a bit of tweaking, it has turned it into what sounds like a killer rhythmic synth part.
 
I have started to use TH2 a bit, too.
 
I also use Amplitube 3 free, with a few extra bits from the custom shop.  You can try out different amps etc. before you buy them.. I HIGHLY recommend the American Clean III and Lead III - they're sims of a Mesa Boogie Mark III and they're lovely.  The clean channel is one of the best I've heard.  You don't have to take my word, try it for free.
 
I also like using all three in a project to give me a variety of sounds.

Shambler, I beleive if you already have X1 installed with GR4, you should be able to use it in XE, that is how it works on my machine, however I upgraded to GR5 (why, don't know, newer is better? probly not, oh well...), so I have both GR4 from X1 and then GR5 from the upgrade. Plus TH2 which came with X2.

Danny Danzi

Guitar sims are like owning a few different pre-amps or amps. It's nice to have a few because they have different strengths and weaknesses. They all compare quite well, but it becomes a personal preference thing really. One guy will tell you Guitar Rig is the best out there, another will tell you "the free version of TH2 that we get with Sonar isn't even a good representation of what the pay version can do!" And then you'll get someone that will come on like me...and tell you to go check out Acme Bar Gig's "Head Case" because I work for the company and helped to build/develope it. LOL! :)
 
But seriously, all the stuff you mentioned is good...it just depends what one you personally prefer that will compliment your style. If you liked GR 3 and 4, you'll love GR 5. If you liked that old version of Amplitube years ago, you'll absolutely love their latest stuff. If you like the free version of TH2, I've been told the pay version really is awesome...though I haven't bought it yet. Unfortunately, it's just something you'll need to try for yourself or do a little research on to see what sounds may be floating around using those sims. Try Youtube to see who may have posted sound clips or something. This way you'll have a better representation on what may work for your particular needs. This sort of thing is always going to be subjective though and in the ears of the beholder. So be careful who you listen to on this stuff.
 
-Danny

Guitar sims are objective. I agree in that I think the whole thing is a matter of personal preference. I did get the full version of TH2 and it is pretty good.


I did not know that you were involved with the development of Acme Bar Gig's Head Case. They sound pretty good.


I think it is worth mentioning the free amp sims out there. 


1. The free version of guitar rig 5
http://www.native-instrum...ar-rig-5-player/ 


2 The free version of Amplitude.
http://www.ikmultimedia.com/products/amplitubecs/


3. Even better then these are the free things available at Acme Bar Gig. Like Shred and the other free amp packages. These sound very good


http://acmebargig.com/product/shred/ 


Click on the other things in the link and get all the free stuff. I think it all sounds good and the price is right.


I really like the amps from Aura Plug too. Check out the free amp below. Llisten to the tones that it produces. Lots of samples to hear. There are more free things to download from Arua. I think the california sun is my favorite amp from these guys.


http://www.auraplug.com/s...olume-v-california-sun


There are a lot of good sounding free amp sims out there for those operating on limited income.

I hate amp sims. They don't sound right. They are good for giving a real amp a bit more transient response. I use Pod Farm 2. The reason I use PF2 is you can use JUST the amp and cab sim. You don't have to have all the other useless stuff in the amp sim. Not that it's useless but I don't like the effects inside with the amp sim. I prefer using a bus for chorus, delay etc.

I know you can add subtract with others but I found that PF2 seems to hit the cpu less. Plus, that's what I bought into long ago. TBH, none of them sound any better than the other to me.

Do any of these products come with decent acoustic sounds?

Hey Beepster! I'm good. Do ya have your studio back up and running? Anyway, the cool thing about that free Amplitube custom shop is you can click on custom shop and try anything they have for 72 hours. This is what led me to buying the Amplitube Fender package (it was $99). They also have T-racks custom shop that comes with the classic eq and the metering plugins. Click on custom shop and you can try anything for t-racks for 72 hours. This led me into buying T-racks Deluxe from a guy on this site. Ik multimedia allows license transfers. I got it for $69 (usually $199). As we all have seen, it's worth waiting for the big sales for most of this stuff.

Since the licenses are transferable, would anyone like to purchase my AmpliTube3 at a discount? 

Guitarpima

Marcus Curtis

Guitarpima


I hate amp sims. They don't sound right. They are good for giving a real amp a bit more transient response. I use Pod Farm 2. The reason I use PF2 is you can use JUST the amp and cab sim. You don't have to have all the other useless stuff in the amp sim. Not that it's useless but I don't like the effects inside with the amp sim. I prefer using a bus for chorus, delay etc.

I know you can add subtract with others but I found that PF2 seems to hit the cpu less. Plus, that's what I bought into long ago. TBH, none of them sound any better than the other to me.

This is what I mean about amp sims being subjective and a matter of opinion. You either like them or you don't. I don't think there is any wrong answer here. It is just a matter of what sounds good to you. I also use Pod farm 2.5 whatever on occasion. It came with my Pod 3 pro.


In Pod Farm 2, you don't need to use the full plugin. You can break it apart and just put in the individual piece you want. kind of like Ozone Advanced. You can do that with amps from the Acme bar gig series too. There are some great metal amps from those guys as well. I think the metal amps sound pretty good. You may not agree and you may not like them at all.


Your idea on blending is intriguing. Do you send the recorded guitar amp track to a bus and blend using the send? To be honest I never thought of that until I read your post. That is a great idea. Thanks for the tip.

I record the amp as well as the clean guitar signall at the same time. Each has it's own track and all sent to one bus. Sometimes I clone the dry track and use two different tones to add to the amped. I also pan them 70r, 80r, and 90r with the brightest one at 90r and the lowest sounding at 70r. The panning is always subject to change depending on what's going on with the project. Usually I record each side with it's own guitar as well.

I don't know why something this basic has never occurred to me. Once again I say thanks for the tip. I am going to try this.