NAM: Neural Amp Modeler

James Freeman said:
High-Z Instrument Inputs of various audio interfaces (at minimum gain) form their manuals:

Focusrite Scarlett: +12.5dBu
Audient iD: +12dBu
UAD Apollo Twin X: +12.2dBu
SSL2: +15dBu
Helix: +11.5dBu
Arturia MiniFuse: +11.5dBu
Motu M4/6: +16dBu


If the capture was made for that ~12dBu range, it should sound accurate withing ±0.5dB of gain difference for most audio interfaces.
Audio interfaces that deviate from that number too much can be easily compensated, for example SSL2 should be boosted by +3dB to match a 12dBu capture.
You see, if we start with a standardized number, we can easily match any audio interface just by reading the manual.

Think of it like so, when you plug your guitar into your audio interface with NAM input at 0.0dB, the capture should have the same amount of gain like the actual amp that was captured or very close to it, of course you can tweak to taste from there.

@MirrorProfiles, you can post that on FB.
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Thinking of switching to RME, did anyone post the numbers for something like a UCX II?
 
I bought some NAM models from @MirrorProfiles and Amalgam Audio they are nice enough to publish what levels the captures were done. If, for example, I’m using a HX Stomp as my interface and the capture was done at 12dBu what input should I set NAM in Logic? (HX Stomp 11.5 - 12 = -0.5 ?)
 
Elf said:
I bought some NAM models from @MirrorProfiles and Amalgam Audio they are nice enough to publish what levels the captures were done. If, for example, I’m using a HX Stomp as my interface and the capture was done at 12dBu what input should I set NAM in Logic? (HX Stomp 11.5 - 12 = -0.5 ?)
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Most of my stuff will work perfectly with the Helix level, it’s within 0.1dB of it. If it’s 12dBu, you’d lower your level by 0.5dB
 
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Elf said:
I bought some NAM models from @MirrorProfiles and Amalgam Audio they are nice enough to publish what levels the captures were done. If, for example, I’m using a HX Stomp as my interface and the capture was done at 12dBu what input should I set NAM in Logic? (HX Stomp 11.5 - 12 = -0.5 ?)
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Do Amalgam publish their capture levels? I thought he'd been telling people to do it by ear, which is why I haven't bought any so far.
 
yocky said:
Do Amalgam publish their capture levels? I thought he'd been telling people to do it by ear, which is why I haven't bought any so far.
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I sent him a email and he answered that the MES MKIV NAM Essential DI was at -3dBu
 
Elf said:
I sent him a email and he answered that the MES MKIV NAM Essential DI was at -3dBu
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Hmm, I can't help but think there's a better policy for everyone involved if he'd just publish the numbers instead of mildly ribbing people that ask the question on a forum and then answering it anyway individually by email.

Shame because they sound great.
 
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yocky said:
Hmm, I can't help but think there's a better policy for everyone involved if he'd just publish the numbers instead of mildly ribbing people that ask the question on a forum and then answering it anyway individually by email.

Shame because they sound great.
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I agree, I wouldn’t have bought it if he didn’t answer, I don’t understand why not just publish it in the product description?
 
Elf said:
I agree, I wouldn’t have bought it if he didn’t answer, I don’t understand why not just publish it in the product description?
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Do you happen to know if each of his sets is captured different settings?

I bought some of his lower gain sets, and I always thought my input at 11.5dBu wasn’t hitting his captures hard enough. I had assumed that the documentation would’ve provided this information, prior to purchasing.
 
bikescene said:
Do you happen to know if each of his sets is captured different settings?
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I asked him: Is there a place to go to know at what dBu your models were captured? His answer:

“Hi! -3dBu ;)”

The title of my email was: MES MKIV NAM Essential DI Captured at what dBu?

So I don’t know if all of them are captured at that level or just the one I bought :/
 
bikescene said:
I bought some of his lower gain sets, and I always thought my input at 11.5dBu wasn’t hitting his captures hard enough. I had assumed that the documentation would’ve provided this information, prior to purchasing.
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My interface is 12dBu and boosting his 2 free Two Rock "Edge" models on Tonehunt by 15dB does seem about right, not that I've ever played a Two Rock. That's his recommended method to set input gain, find an edge of break up capture and adjust until it sounds like it's at that point. That 15dB does make some of the free crunch captures of different amps sound too hot to me though, so who knows?

I wondered if his reluctance to specify his levels was either because they were all different or that he just didn't know, but I don't know anything about the process so have no idea if either of those explanations makes sense.
 
Elf said:
I asked him: Is there a place to go to know at what dBu your models were captured? His answer:

“Hi! -3dBu ;)”

The title of my email was: MES MKIV NAM Essential DI Captured at what dBu?

So I don’t know if all of them are captured at that level or just the one I bought :/
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Thanks. I might shoot him an email. I didn’t want to bug him but curiousity is getting the best of me.

yocky said:
My interface is 12dBu and boosting his 2 free Two Rock "Edge" models on Tonehunt by 15dB does seem about right, not that I've ever played a Two Rock. That's his recommended method to set input gain, find an edge of break up capture and adjust until it sounds like it's at that point. That 15dB does make some of the free crunch captures of different amps sound too hot to me though, so who knows?

I wondered if his reluctance to specify his levels was either because they were all different or that he just didn't know, but I don't know anything about the process so have no idea if either of those explanations makes sense.
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I was boosting the input fairly high myself. In my case it was his Element Cu, and the crunch was basically clean with my default levels.

I can see why it can be a headache to explain input levels with the amount of customers he may have.
 
Kind of curious here….

For anyone who wasn’t aware of calibrating your input to match the gain of the amp, when you use/used amp sim plugins, how much would you typically adjust the input level?

+/- 3dB?
+/-6dB?
+/-10dB?

Some plugins only have enough range for about 12dB of boost, if I had no idea, there’s no way I’d feel comfortable boosting a DI that’s close to clipping another 12dB. Before I knew any better, if I was adjusting by more than 5dB in either direction, I’d assume the plugin is just a dud and move on. I certainly did that with the Softube plugins - it felt counter intuitive to need to add so much level to them.

Obviously I know now that it can be absolutely normal to need to do that, and you could be boosting 20dB and still be below unity gain. Someone using an AxeFX as a DI is going to be way off -3dBu, how much gain are they really going to feel is “normal” to add to get unity gain?

But I do wonder about devs using headroom like -6dBu or -3dBu (i.e. Amplitube) and not providing any information - do they really expect people to record close to clipping, and then know to boost another 15-18dB on top JUST to reach unity gain? To someone who doesn’t know lots about digital audio, they’ll instinctively feel like you shouldn’t boost a signal close to clipping by a huge amount.

I think someone can get great tones by undergaining or overgaining a model. But if someone is undergaining an amp by 15dB they aren’t getting anywhere close to an accurate representation of it. Might sound good, but it would be like neutering a gain stage out of the amp and thinking you’re getting the real mccoy.
 
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Not sure how I feel about paid captures but point aside, I love Euge's videos. I've only seen him demo analog gear so it was neat to see his reaction to NAM

Spoiler, he really likes it
 
2dor said:
I'd probably charge for them if I owned more gear.
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Yeah if you are putting in the work getting them into NAM I don't see why you shouldnt charge for your work.

Is there a good reference guide somewhere how to even do the captures? Id like to check it out but seeing code scares me 😂
 
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