Guitar Rig

I have GR5 and I use to used to use it alot. A year or so ago I came across Scuffham S-Gear which I really really like. GR5 and S-Gear really are not comparable because GR5 has no much more depth although I find myself using S-Gear more of late (last six months).
 
Recently I came across a video that showed GR5 racked out with a buch of 'Containers'. This made me think I might like to get back to GR5 and see what that was about...basically it looked like each 'container' had macro knobs for whichever components were inside...similar to Effects Chains in Sonar (I think).
 
Not sure what the upgade price for GR5 is..if it's reasonable, and you can afford it, I say why not? I seem to recall that when I did the upgrade my impression was that there was a lot more stuff in 5.
 
Regards,
 
 
 

When I upgraded a little over a year ago from the GR4 Sonar it was $99. If you had the NI release GR4 full version it was $79. This caused some confusion because I thought I did indeed have GR4 "full".
 
I can't remember if they were running a special.

Yeah... the demo is full function for a half hour... well aside from the usual stuff like you can't save presets and I think does something weird if you try to record with it. I forget.

Well I hate to say it but although GR5 is indeed capable of getting much closer to that true tube distortion sound than my experiences with GR4 (Sonar version) it was a real pain to get it to that point. Like lots of trial and error/tweaking/using Scott Garrigus' guide on using amp sims (check out his article on SOS if you have not already). I mostly use TH2 now (upgraded to the full version) because it really does sound a lot more realistic in this regard. They haven't really managed to get sims to the point where they can emulate feedback. I'm not sure why because they can get so much accuracy in other areas of guitar/amp tones.
 
Normally I'd say just use TH2 if that's what you are looking for but people that like GR really like GR and version 5 is a stellar program with tons of options (more than TH2 actually) so I try not to dissuade people from it (it has gotten me in poop before).
 
I personally use it for bass now because I like the GR bass modelling better than TH2s which is limited and not to my tastes but I hope to correct that by getting Overloud MarkII if I can ever afford it. But I can still see plenty of use for GR5 because it has some sounds and capabilities that TH2 doesn't. I just don't see much need to fire it up if I'm trying to get a more traditional amp sound for blues, rock, metal, etc. More novelty setting really.
 
I posted a thread a while back about how I figured an ultra easy set up for an SRV type tone in TH2. I think it can be achieved with TH2 producer. I'll see if I can dig it up.

I upgraded from GR4->GR5 and I think it was worth it overall.
 
I've recently got into using TH2 Producer more, but I still use GR5 a lot for its effects and clean(er) sounds.  I also use HeadCase which I bought into very early on in its development as a backer, it's a phenomenal piece of software.
 
Also of note are LePou's plugins; they're free and if you get the God's Cab IR pack to plug into LeCab2 (well worth getting for any IR based cabinet software), you can put together an amazing guitar signal chain for exactly £0.00.  I have found the amp models to be unstable with Sonar 3 however :-(
 
I'm going to install X3b this evening and see whether it's more compatible with them.

Yanno... Danny recommended HeadCase to me and even helpfully provided me with a link to the prototype he was helping them with but like a jerk I've been so scattered I haven't even tried any of it out. It was all 32 bit though which was kind of making me hesitant and IIRC there was mention of needing JBridge which I don't have... but I think that was just for the prototype. Now that things have settled down I need to start looking at all that again. Thanks for the reminder.
 
Cheers.

The Control Room Pro makes a huge difference.  I definitely prefer it vs the standard algorithmic cab simulation in most cases.
 
The other new feature I really like is the new Vintage Reverb.  It has 8 models, 4 plate and 4 springs, and sounds great.

I have GR 5 with Rig Kontrol, Pod Farm with an XT Live and Amplitube 3 with a Stealth Pedal and a home made Graph Tec fitted out MIDI guitar. Did I mention I'm into guitar a bit.

Out of all that the Pod XT and Pod Farm gets me closest to the best sounds if I could only use one. BUT, GR5 is well worth it and NI use it as a host for there various audio processing plugins.

Hey, Jonathan.  Glad you like the new profile pic!  Thanks.
 
I love EZDrummer and have bought many expansions as you predicted.  If they come out with new ones, I will buy them, too!  (I mainly gravitate towards acoustic sets.  I don't do much urban stuff.)
 
Update:  I listened to the Pod Farm Demo.  I think the "glassy" sound is the one I was looking for for tube feedback without grittiness.  I know a session player got that sound from my hardware Pod 2.0 but unfortunately, I don't know what settings he used.

Konrad,
 
From your signature, you already have enough invested in NI stuff to just buy Komplete. I think you would be glad you did.
 
Regards,
Dan
 

harmony gardens
thanks beepster.
 
I hope you guys keep talking guitar shop here, I'm interested in what you guys are saying.

I'll be doing a lot more tracking and mixing now that I'm set back up and most of what I do is guitar oriented. I try to post stuff as I figure things out.
 
One cool thing I just learned today as I was reviewing the Crag Anderton X1 Advanced vids is using the Sonitus or VC 64 Multi Band Compressors and cloning to separate the frequencies of a single guitar track to widen the stereo field while giving access to specific frequencies for EQ and compression (as well as other effects) manipulation.
 
Record your guitar track and set up your sim how you like. This will be the foundation of your guitar sound and you want to get it right because your will be cloning it. Having to change settings of an effect across tracks is a pain... so yeah, get it sounding as good as possible.
 
Insert your multi band EQ to the track and set it so there is NO compression or any other effect noticeable. Totally dry. Just the guitar track and the sim.
 
Clone the guitar track 4 or 5 times (depending on how many compressor bands you want to use but he uses 4).
 
Then use the compressor's solo buttons to isolate a specific frequency range for each track (low, low mid, hi mid, hi) and rename the tracks to reflect which frequency you've isolated.
 
Already you can now use the individual track's pan knobs to widen the mono track across the stereo field (low to 8-9 o'clock, mid-low to 10-11 oclock, etc) which makes things sound much nicer.
 
He does some specific compressor and EQ stuff but to me it was very minimal. To me I would use each track's EQ, sim settings, compressor and whatever else to bring out the best of each frequency's sound.
 
I'm actually really stoked about this trick.
 
You could also do the same thing but instead of using cloned tracks you'd use a single track and employ 4 sends and busses then put your sim and compressor in the bus effects bin.
 
Cool stuff. I'm going to even try mixing and matching compressors and EQ's because I can never get enough parameters to polish my guit sound. It's an obsession with me.
 
Cheers.

Oh and I mentioned the SOS article about dealing with amp sims. Here it is...
 
http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/jul11/articles/sonar-tech-0711.htm
 
He shows this procedure in the X1 Advanced vids as well (the bulk of it in the first vid and then the Desser part in the Next Level vid).
 
To me the best part about the Gibson takeover is having Craig's input into the program. He is a passionate and knowledgeable Sonar user and if they let him do his thing I'm sure Cakewalk will become a force to reckon with.