Jkist7
Roadie
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- 169
Bruh that's a magnet.
Rumor mill: John Mayer plugin coming soon?
- Thread starter Lysander
- Start date
Chocol8
Shredder
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- 2,289
I made the move Monday after the superbowl a couple years ago. My Windows laptop died on me, and I won $2k in a Super Bowl squares pool, so I said fuck it, I am trying a MacBook Pro! There are some differences to learn and some minor annoyances, but after a couple years of use, I really love it. It is SO much more efficient, it's hard to compare a windows laptop for anything other than gaming.
JiveTurkey
Goatlord
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- 22,470
I'm not scared of the thought at all at this point. Seeing the path of Windows 11 and the overall trajectory of MS' path and just shaking my head kind burst that bubble for me. I'm due for a new laptop here in another year or so and I will probably head the Macbook direction.
Dom Mcsweeney
Roadie
- Messages
- 822
Do it.
I wish I wasn't saying that, really, because it's just fucking weird not using Windows, but everything feels wrong with Microsoft at the moment.
You'll never regret getting one of the current Macs for pissing around with audio software, and they're eerily quiet, efficient and low in temperature, and ridiculously stable in comparison.
You will probably find it fucking annoying in other ways though...
Gah, stupid computers.
I wish I wasn't saying that, really, because it's just fucking weird not using Windows, but everything feels wrong with Microsoft at the moment.
You'll never regret getting one of the current Macs for pissing around with audio software, and they're eerily quiet, efficient and low in temperature, and ridiculously stable in comparison.
You will probably find it fucking annoying in other ways though...
Gah, stupid computers.
ian_dissonance
Shredder
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- 1,850
See, I like having everything right there. I added a bunch of extra buttons for stuff I don’t do all the time. I have to use ProTools every so often and those menus/screennms/tools are abysmal to deal with.View attachment 56710
This right here is dumb. And the first thing you see. I know what a razor blade is and a metronome but a sideways horseshoe? Um no. Put the transport up top where it goes. I know there are tool tips but this iconography is like hierogliphic madness when you've already spent too long "readying the recording space" as it is to then have to go in and attend junior engineer school to understand the concepts and tools at hand. I'm probably more than slightly exaggerating but I'm always going on the DAW hunt at the lowest patience points of whatever timeframe I am in and it hits me WRONG
The thing is; every DAW has these same tools I am assuming. It's just the way it GLARES at you the minute you fire it up. Drives me NUTS.
Sideways horseshoe is funny. Its a magnet. And as you pointed out, Magnet = snap to grid. Personally I think words would have been a better choice than esoteric symbols. I mean snap, fade, link and grid could all easily fit in the space those Icons take up.
Sascha Franck
Goatlord
- Messages
- 10,950
Get a Mac. Download Garageband. Enjoy life.
Dom Mcsweeney
Roadie
- Messages
- 822
(see previous post, that wasn't my terminology)...
ps. if you hover over the button, there's a tool tip, and they are all customisable so you can have text if you want instead.
JiveTurkey
Goatlord
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- 22,470
I can see that. Whatever you are NOT used to in a DAW is for me the culprit. I probably just need to record things (even if they suck) more often the keep that part of my brain working.
That's.......on the menu at some point.
Dom Mcsweeney
Roadie
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- 822
Didn't Fender release an easy-peasy DAW a few months ago?
JiveTurkey
Goatlord
- Messages
- 22,470
They did. Fisher Price AF
Dom Mcsweeney
Roadie
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- 822
JiveTurkey
Goatlord
- Messages
- 22,470
I'm obviously pretty magnetic so that tracks
Dom Mcsweeney
Roadie
- Messages
- 822
I'll probably leave it at that now for a while, I never usually mess with snap settings anyway.
ian_dissonance
Shredder
- Messages
- 1,850
That’s really it, I came from Pro Tools all the way back when it only worked with Pro Tools hardware and from PT -> Reaper everything seemed sooo much easier. No special tool for fades, or special tool for selecting an item, no special screen to be on to select a track, no weird linked buttons, etc etc etc. If I did make a switch it would probably be for Studio One Pro just because of the way you can group projects and change settings in one place and have it reflected across songs. (If it still has that option, it’s been years). Cubase and PT feel like I’m literally fighting the software (and Cubase’s new musical flex thing is so stupid), Ableton is cool unless your songs have more than one time signature change or you want to make a live set with multiple MIDI files that are at different tempos/change tempo or time signature. Haven’t futzed with BitWig in years but when I did you were locked to 4/4 and when I asked them about it they basically said “music is in 4/4” lol. That and the screens on opening was a cluttered mess.
AlbertA
Shredder
- Messages
- 1,618
Simple life?
- Just keep the gain all the way down, use the database and it'll be fine for the most part.
If you really want to go down the rabbit hole...
There are two separate issues here at play
1. Accuracy
An amp responds to the strength of the incoming signal, shaping the tone differently at lower versus higher input levels. This is why single-coil pickups typically sound cleaner and less gainy than high-output pickups like EMG 81 humbuckers.
For a digital model to behave the same way, a model will assume a mapping of digital level to real real-world voltage. For example, it looks like the Neural DSP plugins assume that a 0dBFS signal corresponds to a real world 12.2 dBu signal.
To calibrate our input chain, we need to know what input voltage level results in which digital level. A lot of interfaces will list something like "Maximum Input Level (at minimum gain)" spec - for example the Scarlett 2i2 4th gen specifies +12dBu for its instrument inputs. That means that a 12dBu signal presented at the instrument input, with the gain knob all the way down, will result in a 0 dBFS signal.
This is why, when you specify "Neural DSP" and "Scarlett 4th gen" in the database here it will tell you to adjust the input gain by -0.2dB, because Neural DSP plugins, expect a 12.2 dBU signal to generate 0dbFS, not a 12dBu signal, and assumes you have the interface channel gain knob all the way down.
2. Noise and SNR considerations
A separate matter is how to capture an input signal so that the system SNR is maximized.
Broadly speaking, in a guitar recording chain with an interface we have:
- Guitar/source noise — EMI/hum, and thermal noise inherent to the pickups, wiring, and environment. The only way to improve this source SNR is by changing pickups, reducing sources of EMI, playing harder, etc.
- Preamp noise — noise contributed by the input stage of the audio interface, which is largely determined by the interface’s circuit design and components.
- ADC noise — noise introduced by the analog-to-digital conversion process, referenced to full scale.
- ADC noise is fixed relative to full scale
- Increasing the analog signal level increases the signal-to-noise ratio at the point of conversion. So when people say adjust your interface gain knob but leave enough headroom to not clip your signal - this is the SNR that is being optimized.
Does this matter?
Yes, because the goal is to feed the signal into a digital amp model, some of which apply very large amounts of gain. At that stage, all noise is amplified: guitar noise, preamp noise, and ADC noise. This is why differences in gain staging can become audible.
Here's a concrete example.
I use a MOTU M2, which I measured. With the input gain knob fully counter-clockwise, a +14.6 dBu input signal produces 0 dBFS in the digital domain.
From the database here, Neural DSP plugins expect +12.2 dBu to correspond to 0 dBFS. To align these references, I set the plugin’s input gain to +2.4 dB, effectively calibrating the input chain.
Next, to “optimize” the recording level of my PRS Silver Sky Core, I increased the MOTU’s input gain but ensured the signal still did not clip. At that setting a +0.8 dBu input produces 0 dBFS (verified using a calibrated test signal). To maintain the same effective operating point in the plugin, I compensated by setting the Neural DSP input gain to –11.4 dB.
In other words, both setups are nominally level-matched at the plugin input, but they differ in how much analog gain is applied before conversion.
Using the Lead 2 preset in the John Mayer X plugin, I can hear the difference in perceived noise.
In the first half of the example, the MOTU M2 input gain is fully down.
In the second half, the Motu M2 input gain is increased as described above but compensated at the plugin by lowering its input gain to remain calibrated.
In both cases, I start with the guitar volume fully off, then bring it to full, roll it back to 5, then to 2, and finally off again.
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