I don't know who needs to hear this, but Scuffham S-Gear still is awesome

paisleywookiee

paisleywookiee

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Scuffham S-Gear is up to 3.1, which gives support for Apple Silicon, adds a OD and compressor, and just generally sounds amazing. This is a cheap plugin (and standalone) that should be mentioned often. Mike does great work, and this is WELL worth the $91 Black Friday price. It's sparse compared to Helix Native, but IMO this definitely still hangs with the big boys.

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It's a nice plugin, it's a shame the developer kinda dropped the ball on it and didn't push it much further over all these years.
 
Tried the new version today. Remembered why it’s probably my favorite plugin to jam with on edge of breakup tones.
Smooth.
Sliding Los Angeles Dodgers GIF by Tomi Ferraro, Sportz
 
S-Gear is amazing. It just has this real feeling to it, the way it responds to touch, it feels like I'm playing through a tube amp, the notes jump out of the speakers, its so expressive and dynamic. I have had it for a long time but stopped using it when I got an HX Stomp. After playing through my stomp and Helix Native for months and definitely being satisfied with my tone, I load up S-Gear and it's like remembering what it's like to plug into a tube amp. I will spend days and weeks tweaking my Helix presets to get close to what S-Gear does, and I can almost get there, but it still falls short. S-Gear feels alive. Mike didn't drop the ball, he created a work of art. But I wish there were some way to get S-Gear into hardware, into an HX Stomp.
 
Sascha Franck said:
I'm quite aware of that (and interested, too), but so far I wouldn't even let this to get close to my pedalboard. Besides, they're saying "Ultra Low Latency". Which is fine. But there's zero numbers anywhere.
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What do you need to know? I'm the one developing this. Some more info:

  1. Yes, it is a brand new product coming out in early December (we were at NAMM 2024 and Guitar Summit 2024 btw). Guitar Summit 2024
  2. Our Windows 11 image is modified to run as smooth as possible regarding audio (uninstalled services, widgets, DPC latency tweaks, BIOS tweaks, update blockers, etc.) and that image will be periodically monitored and updated by us.
  3. I’m uploading the tech specs in case you want to have a look (still incomplete, so disregard any links that don’t work in it). Bear with us while we update our website. We have a million things to take care before the 1st batch arrives in December. Tech Specs
  4. We don’t want to spoil the surprise, but yes, we have many software collaborators that we are really proud of having on our side (Overloud and Deskew to name a few). Both will have their free ‘Octave’ version software pre-installed on our device (limited version of their full software).
  5. Regarding what can be run on our device, there is no issue of running the latest VST software of the market (although it wasn’t designed to load 10 instances of NAM profiles all at once. That is why we have Rackspaces in Gig Performer, to switch from one instance to the next). Gig Performer and Overloud TH-U
  6. Ours is an EU product with CE and FCC certifications.
  7. RTL @ 48kHz. 32 buffer= 2ms, 64 buffer= 4ms, 128 buffer= 8ms (+ the added AD/DA conversion which I believe is no more than 1-2ms).
  8. If you have any more questions feel free to ask.
  9. We’ll see you in NAMM 2025! Booth 1736!
 
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sophocha said:
Ours is an EU product with CE and FCC certifications.
Click to expand...

That's fine, but from the looks (and ergonomics, too), I still wouldn't let this even near my pedalboard. But I'd have to see and touch it in person for a final decision.
Thing is, the touchscreen is pretty huge for a floor device. Let a mic stand hit it accidentally and it's game over.
Moisture would be another issue. No idea how this would stand a beer shower (don't get me wrong, very little devices stand that test, but plenty of them only require being switched off and getting cleaned/dried).

sophocha said:
RTL @ 48kHz. 32 buffer= 2ms, 64 buffer= 4ms, 128 buffer= 8ms (+ the added AD/DA conversion which I believe is no more than 1-2ms).
Click to expand...

That's pretty decent values. I'd like to know the details incl. AD/DA conversion, though. But don't worry, so far it's good enough to keep me interested.

It'd possibly be interesting to see it in a little performance comparison. Such as running a certain NAM profile in the free NAM player and duplicating tracks until it craps out. I'd be interested to see how it does at lowest buffer sizes.
 
Sascha Franck said:
That's fine, but from the looks (and ergonomics, too), I still wouldn't let this even near my pedalboard. But I'd have to see and touch it in person for a final decision.
Thing is, the touchscreen is pretty huge for a floor device. Let a mic stand hit it accidentally and it's game over.
Moisture would be another issue. No idea how this would stand a beer shower (don't get me wrong, very little devices stand that test, but plenty of them only require being switched off and getting cleaned/dried).



That's pretty decent values. I'd like to know the details incl. AD/DA conversion, though. But don't worry, so far it's good enough to keep me interested.

It'd possibly be interesting to see it in a little performance comparison. Such as running a certain NAM profile in the free NAM player and duplicating tracks until it craps out. I'd be interested to see how it does at lowest buffer sizes.
Click to expand...
This is not meant to be on the floor (that is why we have a standard mic stand thread at the back of the device). Also, this is not an exclusive guitar product 'per se'. It can be transformed into a VST piano by loading kontakt libraries or a VST drum library for an electric drum set (lots of market potential here).

The audio interface is from a reputable German company with perfect track record on audio driver support (which was one of the major components for choosing the right company to collaborate).

Usually, @ 64 buffer it can load two standard instances of NAM (with IRs) under Gig Performer (and 4+ under Reaper, probably due to multicore support). Helix Native is around 15% CPU per instance, Genome around 30-50%, etc. The concept is that you have the bluetooth footswitch to switch from one preset to the next and we made sure no audio artefacts are happening while doing it (even at reaching 99% of CPU load).

20241116_105712.jpg
 
sophocha said:
This is not meant to be on the floor (that is why we have a standard mic stand thread at the back of the device).
Click to expand...

Ok, that's what I thought it'd be like. In that case, it's not for me.

sophocha said:
The audio interface is from a reputable German company with perfect track record on audio driver support (which was one of the major components for choosing the right company to collaborate).
Click to expand...

That's a good thing (I think I know which company it is).

sophocha said:
Usually, @ 64 buffer it can load two standard instances of NAM (with IRs) under Gig Performer (and 4+ under Reaper, probably due to multicore support).
Click to expand...

Hm, that's not all that much.

sophocha said:
Helix Native is around 15% CPU per instance,
Click to expand...

That's a weird statement. What kinda Helix instances are we talking about? Fully stuffed, empty or inbetween? It really depends on what you have loaded.
 
Played through my Mac and headphones yesterday, but took a break from NAM to try my old plugins. S-Gear killed everything else when paired up with Valhalla plugins.

NDSP plugins still sound great and mix / song ready, but they don’t feel to me as satisfying to play through as S-Gear.YMMV, yada yada…
 
Los-D said:
Played through my Mac and headphones yesterday, but took a break from NAM to try my old plugins. S-Gear killed everything else when paired up with Valhalla plugins.

NDSP plugins still sound great and mix / song ready, but they don’t feel to me as satisfying to play through as S-Gear.YMMV, yada yada…
Click to expand...
I do not disagree. Which is a double negative to show you how much I like S-Gear.
 
Los-D said:
Played through my Mac and headphones yesterday, but took a break from NAM to try my old plugins. S-Gear killed everything else when paired up with Valhalla plugins.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I recently went through a second demo period with S-Gear (first time was on another computer) - all I can say is that there's still no others with that much of an instant gratification factor. Which is quite amazing given the core amps are comparatively old tech.
So far I could still never justify purchasing it as I'm stuffed with guitar amp plugins, but I guess I'll bite on their next sale.
 
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