IK Multimedia TONEX

[DrewJD82]

As one of the few advocates for IK multimedia, they have deals all the time. Right now they have their Total Studio max 5 deal going.
It includes all the previously released tonex signature models. I'm hoping a year from now it will include the 3 Brown sound packs and I'll pick it up then.
I already picked up Total Studio Max 4 last year for $70. Crazy.

I'm going to be scooping up their T-Racks stuff for sure. I didn't realize until this past week how much recording stuff they get into, I've only paid attention to the guitar-based stuff. Particularly because it seems to be mainly mixing/mastering-based plugins, I'm swimming in guitar tone stuff already and it's time I start dipping into the final part of the mixing/mastering area.

 

[Chocol8]

As one of the few advocates for IK multimedia, they have deals all the time. Right now

Since I posted that, I saw they are selling limited color Tonex One's that each come with 2 of the three EVH packs. I was thinking about selling my OG Pedal and getting a second One. Between the pre-order sale and jam points, I can pick up a One, and two of the EVH packs for $200, and I should be able to get $200-$250 for the OG Pedal. Hmmm.

 

[dean701]

I'm going to be scooping up their T-Racks stuff for sure. I didn't realize until this past week how much recording stuff they get into, I've only paid attention to the guitar-based stuff. Particularly because it seems to be mainly mixing/mastering-based plugins, I'm swimming in guitar tone stuff already and it's time I start dipping into the final part of the mixing/mastering area.

Their Total Studio bundle is a great value as it includes pretty much every package including T-Racks.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not here to sell their stuff for them. I think their MODO stuff is awful. T-racks 6 is very good. I know nothing of Pianoverse as I have way too many Kontakt offerings. Their Hammond is still top shelf and I like Sampletank.
BUT... for the whole thing at it's current sale price, it's worth it IMO.

 

[MirrorProfiles]

I have an AX I/O One and was considering retrying it as a ToneX cap device using a buffer on the output to boost levels, would this work do you think? @@EOengineer and/or @@MirrorProfiles ?

Yeah, as long as you can get a suitable amount of level and noise doesn’t become an issue. Accuracy is always better on machine learned models when noise is as low as possible. I’m sure it’ll work pretty well though if you’re just making use of what’s at hand.

 

[MirrorProfiles]

I'm going to be scooping up their T-Racks stuff for sure. I didn't realize until this past week how much recording stuff they get into, I've only paid attention to the guitar-based stuff. Particularly because it seems to be mainly mixing/mastering-based plugins, I'm swimming in guitar tone stuff already and it's time I start dipping into the final part of the mixing/mastering area.

There’s some good T Racks stuff, a lot of it is very underrated and you can get it all for a decent price these days.

There’s some typical IK bullshit though - the upgrade pricing will never be fair or enticing, there are long standing bugs that are unlikely to ever get fixed, and tbh, most of their library was copying the product line of UAD and offering it native. Now that UA has native plugins, and competitive pricing, I’d just go straight to UA. As far as mixing and mastering plugins go, UA are the equivalent of Fractal - they’re the benchmark everyone else compares against. When the pricing is similar, I’d go UA all the way as it’s where you’ll probably end up eventually anyway.

 

[EOengineer]

There’s some good T Racks stuff, a lot of it is very underrated and you can get it all for a decent price these days.

There’s some typical IK bullshit though - the upgrade pricing will never be fair or enticing, there are long standing bugs that are unlikely to ever get fixed, and tbh, most of their library was copying the product line of UAD and offering it native. Now that UA has native plugins, and competitive pricing, I’d just go straight to UA. As far as mixing and mastering plugins go, UA are the equivalent of Fractal - they’re the benchmark everyone else compares against. When the pricing is similar, I’d go UA all the way as it’s where you’ll probably end up eventually anyway.

Spot on - was going to encourage but with warnings.

Some of the IK stuff sounds really good. I like their bus compressor and 1176 quite a bit for punch and character. You have to work for stuff though. No automatic volume leveling features or mix knobs on most of the compressors so maintaining unity and parallel compression are more work. You end up having your plugin list polluted with their entire suite, even the stuff you don’t own.

I’ve been much happier with the UAD stuff, I think even over a lot of the brainworx stuff, which had been my bread and butter up until recently.

 

[ChordInversion]

If you're more willing to work on your sound than IK is willing to work on their software, the cheap price of Total Studio Max may indeed be for you. I think I can upgrade for $85, though I haven't used their stuff in months.

 

[MirrorProfiles]

Some of the IK stuff sounds really good. I like their bus compressor and 1176 quite a bit for punch and character. You have to work for stuff though. No automatic volume leveling features or mix knobs on most of the compressors so maintaining unity and parallel compression are more work. You end up having your plugin list polluted with their entire suite, even the stuff you don’t own.

I’ve been much happier with the UAD stuff, I think even over a lot of the brainworx stuff, which had been my bread and butter up until recently.

For 1176, 1073, API, LA2A, Fairchild, SSL channel and bus comp, Manley Vari Mu, Lexicon reverbs, Roland Space Echo, Distressor, Ampex+Studer tape, UA is just better (even when IK does them well).

I also rather like the IK SSL bus compressor although on last count I had over 10 different versions on my computer and they’re all decent. IK Sontec is good, but I tend to gravitate to Brainworx’s or DMG Equilibrium. IK 33609 is good, but I use UAD. The tape machines are good, but I never use them. The distressor is awesome but again, I just use UAD exclusively. That’s my point really - no matter how much I like the IK version of something, I never seem to prefer them over the alternatives.

 

[synthpenguin]

Quick question: how many of the factory Tonex captures are DI vs amp + cab?

I’m really only interested in DI captures for various reasons, so I’m curious how many of the stock ones will be useful for me.

I’m sort of going between the NC and Tonex, and I like that the Neural captures are all (as I understand it) DI… but then the NC only includes 25 factory ones (and you apparently can’t get the QC capture library without buying a QC)

 

[EOengineer]

Quick question: how many of the factory Tonex captures are DI vs amp + cab?

I’m really only interested in DI captures for various reasons, so I’m curious how many of the stock ones will be useful for me.

I’m sort of going between the NC and Tonex, and I like that the Neural captures are all (as I understand it) DI… but then the NC only includes 25 factory ones (and you apparently can’t get the QC capture library without buying a QC)

It’s been a minute since I’ve fired it up, but my recollection of the included IK stuff was that it’s mostly mics on cabs, but there are some direct caps and then tonenet is packed full of direct captures.

 

[MirrorProfiles]

Yeah I think only a couple of the more recent IK packs have any DI models at all. Almost all are including cabs, and don’t be surprised to find things like U87’s micing a Randall cab….

 

[Elric]

Lack of DI models is a huge problem with IK’s factory caps and packs, IMHO. You are mostly looking at user caps for those.

 

[Richard_G]

Fwiw, there’s plenty of third party DI capture packs. I recommend Amalgam Audio.

 

[NightWalker]

https://www.tone.net/tonex/users/keemosawbe all captures are DI

 

[synthpenguin]

It’s been a minute since I’ve fired it up, but my recollection of the included IK stuff was that it’s mostly mics on cabs, but there are some direct caps and then tonenet is packed full of direct captures.

That’s kinda what I figured from my demoing of the free software version before. Thank you!

and don’t be surprised to find things like U87’s micing a Randall cab….

Huh interesting…

Lack of DI models is a huge problem with IK’s factory caps and packs, IMHO. You are mostly looking at user caps for those.

Yeah, that seems like a big oversight tbh. Speaker and mic choices are so subjective and situation dependent! And I have some speakers and IRs I like to hear all amps through.

Fwiw, there’s plenty of third party DI capture packs. I recommend Amalgam Audio.

Yes, I’ve looked at those! If I go Tonex or NC, I will definitely grab some of theirs. Very interested in the Benson ones; I’ve been sort of obsessed with their amps lately, and Amalgam is one of the only ones I saw that has decent DI captures of them (and many of the amp + cab captures out there don’t have the stock speaker for some reason?)

https://www.tone.net/tonex/users/keemosawbe all captures are DI

Thank you, I’ll check it out!

 

[EOengineer]

For those of you using the Tonex hardware, what input levels are you using? I remember at some point it was recommended to run the hardware at -7 or something to match the plugin but I vaguely recall that being adjusted in a firmware update and frankly lost track of what’s recommended. I guess I could just factory reset it.

 

[synthpenguin]

How are people doing clean > crunch in the same capture? What sort of capture are you starting with to get that range?

Like with an amp, I’d normally set my amp loud to get my overdriven rhythm tone (think cranked amp rock rhythm; not EOB, but not high gain), and then control the distortion / go clean with my guitar volume. I’m imagining the equivalent of that would be using an overdriven capture as a starting point, and I seemed to get decent results with that when I was demoing the software.. but I’ve seen some people say to do the opposite and start with a clean capture to get good cleans, and then push it from there. And most of the people on YouTube I’ve seen seem to just go between totally separate clean and dirty sounds.

So yeah, I’m not experienced with captures outside of that short demo, so I’m just curious how people are approaching this sort of thing. Thanks!

 

[EOengineer]

How are people doing clean > crunch in the same capture? What sort of capture are you starting with to get that range?

Like with an amp, I’d normally set my amp loud to get my overdriven rhythm tone (think cranked amp rock rhythm; not EOB, but not high gain), and then control the distortion / go clean with my guitar volume. I’m imagining the equivalent of that would be using an overdriven capture as a starting point, and I seemed to get decent results with that when I was demoing the software.. but I’ve seen some people say to do the opposite and start with a clean capture to get good cleans, and then push it from there. And most of the people on YouTube I’ve seen seem to just go between totally separate clean and dirty sounds.

So yeah, I’m not experienced with captures outside of that short demo, so I’m just curious how people are approaching this sort of thing. Thanks!

I’m usually using something similar to your described approach- like an edge of breakup/crunchy Plexi or JCM 800 tone that I’ll hit with a Klon style boost to push up into the higher gain areas.

I’m usually not satisfied with a super clean amp getting the bulk of its clipping from a distortion pedal, be it in the physical world or modeling.

 

[Chocol8]

For those of you using the Tonex hardware, what input levels are you using? I remember at some point it was recommended to run the hardware at -7 or something to match the plugin but I vaguely recall that being adjusted in a firmware update and frankly lost track of what’s recommended. I guess I could just factory reset it.

I would recommend following IK's instructions which are basically to get your highest signal level out of the guitar and all pedals you might be using, and set the input trim just below clipping using the built in meters. Keep in mind, the trim is digital so you need to be careful not to clip the input with too hot of a signal.

 

[Chocol8]

How are people doing clean > crunch in the same capture? What sort of capture are you starting with to get that range?

Like with an amp, I’d normally set my amp loud to get my overdriven rhythm tone (think cranked amp rock rhythm; not EOB, but not high gain), and then control the distortion / go clean with my guitar volume. I’m imagining the equivalent of that would be using an overdriven capture as a starting point, and I seemed to get decent results with that when I was demoing the software.. but I’ve seen some people say to do the opposite and start with a clean capture to get good cleans, and then push it from there. And most of the people on YouTube I’ve seen seem to just go between totally separate clean and dirty sounds.

So yeah, I’m not experienced with captures outside of that short demo, so I’m just curious how people are approaching this sort of thing. Thanks!

Both approaches work, but you have to avoid clipping the input. That means boosting a clean capture into breakup is best done on the pedal in the digital domain.

I find it easier to start with a capture that has the gain you want and then roll the volume down for clean or add a bit of boost and dirt for higher gain. Basically, exactly what I would do with a real amp, except with the caution about not clipping the input converter.