A lot of people will disagree with my hardware modeler ranking

I've been headhunted before, but one, maybe two situations felt (tough to know for sure) as if the goal was less about gaining my super weird skill set and more about hurting YGG. F that noise.

Was this close to going to Universal Audio a few years back. Good thing I didn't because that particular remote office isn't around any longer.

At this point I actively ignore LinkedIn's inbox. Anyone who really wants to get a hold of me knows how.
 
OrganicZed said:
I'm not 100% sure (I don't read minds), but my guess is NDSP and Kemper. Here's some suggested reading if you want to dig into the vague details.

forum.fractalaudio.com

Ooooh... Charts and Graphs

Since the days of the original Axe-Fx I've been obsessed with the aliasing performance of modelers as I think this is one of the things that separates the good from the not-so-good. I believe that a target goal for a "high-gain" amp should be a minimum of 60 dB of what I call...
forum.fractalaudio.com forum.fractalaudio.com
forum.fractalaudio.com

Ooooh... Charts and Graphs Redux

Latest measurements. Purple is Axe-Fx III. Blue is a new thing. Aliasing is especially poor in the high frequencies. Usually the aliasing spectrum is sort of flat (like the Axe-Fx). With this product the aliasing increases with frequency which is odd. Model used was JCM800. All controls...
forum.fractalaudio.com forum.fractalaudio.com
Click to expand...

Man, reading through that old thread and I saw Todd Bishop posting and got sad. I thought of him a couple weeks ago when I saw Zakk Wylde and how cool he was sending the care package when Todd was sick.
 
OrganicZed said:
I'm not 100% sure (I don't read minds), but my guess is NDSP and Kemper.
Click to expand...

DI and Cliff are too much of a gentleman to call it out but, yes, "compressed, never sounds anything like the real amp" fits NDSP to a tee. Not that their products sound bad (very far from it!) but i always found them to have this exaggerated compressed loudness and heavy bass, which can't seem to fully be dialed out.
 
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timbuck3 said:
isnt it just a bunch of guys opinions? So what sue me for my opinion now?
Click to expand...
I can’t speak for Eric, but if I was in his line of work, I would only offer full respect to my competitors. The MI industry is shockingly small compared to others. Everyone knows everyone. I know that I cringe when I hear other manufacturers talk shit on other’s products. Especially when it comes from the owner of the company.

Save the soapbox for the people that really matter in the end: the ones opening their wallets.
 
Digital Igloo said:
Won't claim this has never been true, but if it were true today, it'd be measurable and repeatable. Too many 3rd-party shootouts have proven this false, even after accounting for YouTube compression.

However, when we perform double-blind listening tests, 100% of us can reliably call out two particular competitors; one because of its squirrels and other artifacts, and the other because it never sounds anything like the real amp—multiple EQ (and perhaps multi-band compression?) stages seem to be baked in in order to, I dunno—approximate what they believe their customers think the amp should sound like? It doesn't sound objectively bad per sé (especially if you love gacked-out producers going ham on a djent mix), but it sucks that you can't dial it out.

Cliff knows who I'm talking about; he's alluded to something similar.

Yeah, I think some of these naysayers must only go to dad-friendly metal shows, where yes, Fractal is very common. Kemper still appears to be king in mainland Europe, and QC is appearing in more places, but Helix/HX is everywhere. It was all over Lollapalooza, which is decidedly non-friendly to dad-friendly metal, although Deftones played, who happened to be on Helix.

One particular company has seeded (given away) hundreds of their modeler to artists and influencers in the hopes of gaining traction. Not sure what the user contract said, but I'm guessing we'll see a bunch of those hundreds show up on Reverb once the no-resell date is up.



And this is purely anecdotal, but 5 of my top 10 favorite bands in the world are on Helix/HX (and I've heard rumors a 6th just switched over, but they're not touring this year).
Click to expand...

I’m afraid to ask, but just what would one classify as “dad-friendly metal?”

D
 
dk_ace said:
I’m afraid to ask, but just what would one classify as “dad-friendly metal?”

D
Click to expand...

1724710522377.jpeg
 
Lysander said:
DI and Cliff are too much of a gentleman to call it out but, yes, "compressed, never sounds anything like the real amp" fits NDSP to a tee. Not that their products sound bad (very far from it!) but i always found them to have this exaggerated compressed loudness and heavy bass, which can't seem to fully be dialed out.
Click to expand...
I would say the record mix ready with low cuts and studio eq ing could be the NDSP , I remember Igor putting a Vitriol up against the Gojira amp, and he did some low cut , and eq to match it

the artifacts and Aliasing I would say that is Headrush
 
texhex said:
You should try it. Run the Kemper amp/cab with the AXE time based effects :chef
Click to expand...

I’ve considered a 4CM type thing with the KPA in the Fractal loop. Bonus: It’s a power rack, and I do have a Kemper Kab. I’m just afraid that I’ll fall in love with it and wind up having to haul the whole mess to rehearsals every week….
 
norminal said:
I can’t speak for Eric, but if I was in his line of work, I would only offer full respect to my competitors.
Click to expand...
No, I get it.

My threshold for offering full respect has always been very low and very clear. Above the line is the 99% of MI companies that strive to operate and market in good faith. We all just want to make a living designing and developing gear that people use and love. If I don't happen to like a particular product, I won't disparage it (unless of course it's one of ours... and it's long discontinued). However, I LOVE a ton of gear other companies make.

Below the line you'll find the remaining 1%, who predictably and consistently pull shady $#¡‡, sometimes customer-facing but often behind the scenes: Refusing to pay vendors, refusing to pay licensees, lying to customers, lying to dealers, bullying mom and pop dealers into dedicating XX% of wall space to their brand(s), price fixing, patent trolling, trolling others' NAMM booths, actively sniping associates for damage purposes, fostering a toxic work environment, bullying forum administrators into giving up members' information, then suing said forum members for disparaging comments, violating NDAs, pressuring new hires into violating NDAs from their previous employer, blatant IP theft, blatant trade dress infringement, code theft, never picking up their dog's poop, talking or texting in a movie theater, blasting terrible music from bluetooth speakers on hiking trails, never using their turn signal, or unironically rooting for Gordon Gecko, Patrick Bateman, or Tyler Durden.

Y'know, douchebags.
 
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