SPARK 2 " A.I " Tone Creation ..... pretty damn impressive

[Lysander]

Does the AI generate me this kind of tone from scratch or does it search among the presets on the web?

The latter, apparently.

 

[bigmenace]

The latter, apparently.

Meh, I deadass thought there's finally a way to get that very specific tone in my head with the help of AI.

 

[Aleksi]

Me: AI, I want for the love of god toan

AI: Steve Vai: gain 7, bass 4, mid 6, treble 5

 

[Ed DeGenaro]

I want AI to cook and clean for me so I *can* spend hours twiddling knobs dialing in perfect tones, and painting pictures of Eddie Van Halen as an ostrich slaying a dragon in Madison Square Garden.

I don’t want to work all day so computers can have all the fun. Our current reality is dystopian.

Cooking, cleaning...I have a GF for that job...

 

[Orvillain]

I agree - I didn’t hear anything that would have sounded out of place coming from Amplitube 3 or a PodXT. Probably a cool amp for beginners (who it’s likely intended for). I can’t imagine it’s of any use to 99.999% of people who post here who care about the details. Tones were 5/10 at best.

Too generous.

 

[Bluesguy]

Amps like the Spark are aimed at the more beginner group. These are the ones likely to look for 3rd party presets and want AI generated presets of their favorite songs.

Well seems to me there are lots of intermediate to actual full time gigging players using the Spark series. I've seen videos of some of the touring guys using them in the dressing room as their warm amps even saying they wish they could just mic the Spark and use on stage! I've been playing about 60 years now gigged about 40 of them and love my Spark 40 and loving my new Spark 2 even more. It's my living amp and it will certainly fill my cathedral ceiling with glorious ones and ambience. Is it as good as my Quad Cortex in my studio, of course not. Even the QC with thousands of presets out there in the cloud I built my own. Hey the main thing it is a blasts to play.

The brands you mention generally target the more professional player that will build their presets themselves, even if they are also popular with us hobbyists.

Yes I built all of mine in my 40 and will do so with the 2 at least the A bank 4. I have tried the AI thingy a couple of times and really impressed with the options it can come up with and then modify to suit your tasted. Hey it's FUN.

I'm not sure how e.g copyrights and use of songs for training data plays out here either. The video does not show if you can just input say "Metallica Enter Sandman" into it and get the right tone, the video doesn't really show anything but a more generic wording to get the Black Sabbath tone.

I am sure they have the BMI and ASCAP licenses to use them which covers you using them. I asked for a full mellow blues tone and it gave 4 really nice ones. Have not tried a specific song.

Maybe e.g wedding/cover bands could make use of a feature like this, but for everyone else it's unlikely to be that useful.

Well don't knock it till you tried it.

 

[Bluesguy]

What if I don't want (let alone need) any famous guitar tone? Does the Spark AI also understand my wishes for "Mr. Francks signature hairy rhythm tone"?

Yes just describe what you are look for and it will give you some options.

 

[Bluesguy]

As much as I dig Positive Grid stuff (have their BIAS/BIAS 2 etc), I can get better "famous tones" (at least of the ones I've deep-dived) than their A.I. .

Well it gave me some options with amps I've never used and was quite surprised how good they were. Yes I tweak them for the guitar I'm play and the room it which it is in. Tends to put a hair more reverb and delay than I like but hey just take it from there and make it better!

 

[Orvillain]

even saying they wish they could just mic the Spark and use on stage!

Influencer shillery.

 

[Bluesguy]

I agree - I didn’t hear anything that would have sounded out of place coming from Amplitube 3 or a PodXT. Probably a cool amp for beginners (who it’s likely intended for). I can’t imagine it’s of any use to 99.999% of people who post here who care about the details. Tones were 5/10 at best.

Have you actually played one live in the room guitar in hand? If you listen to most of the videos I have they person doing with announce their disclaimer about this is YouTube or whatever and the tone is going over the internet onto your computer so keep it in mind you aren't really going hear what it sounds like standing in front of it.

 

[Bluesguy]

Influencer shillery.

Have you actually played one? It's not meant to be a replacement for every amp in the world out there. It is designed to be the best little living room/ bedroom/practice/take anywhere little monster. I think they met the challenge improving on their own previous highly regard amp.

 

[MirrorProfiles]

Have you actually played one live in the room guitar in hand? If you listen to most of the videos I have they person doing with announce their disclaimer about this is YouTube or whatever and the tone is going over the internet onto your computer so keep it in mind you aren't really going hear what it sounds like standing in front of it.

the same is true for literally everything you hear online. Ultimately it’s not really a product aimed at 98% of the people who hang out on this forum. Probably cool for a beginner though.

 

[bigmenace]

It would be cool if the AI was more advanced.

 

[Orvillain]

Have you actually played one?

 

[Will Onyx]

I tried out the AI feature this morning and thought it was pretty cool. If I was jamming along to a backing track, it makes it quick and easy to get a decent, ballpark sound.

Also, you don’t need to buy the new Spark 50 for AI. It’s something they’ve added to the app for free. I have a Spark Mini and Spark Go and it works with both amps.

I know some people don’t like positive grid, but I like that they’ve added this for free and am looking forward to how they might grow it.

 

[timbuck3]

I tried out the AI feature this morning and thought it was pretty cool. If I was jamming along to a backing track, it makes it quick and easy to get a decent, ballpark sound.

Also, you don’t need to buy the new Spark 50 for AI. It’s something they’ve added to the app for free. I have a Spark Mini and Spark Go and it works with both amps.

I know some people don’t like positive grid, but I like that they’ve added this for free and am looking forward to how they might grow it.

Many are saying wifi is wonky and software has issues.. anyone notice if its true

 

[bigmenace]

Many are saying wifi is wonky and software has issues.. anyone notice if its true

No issues on my end with Wifi - initial setup and update over wifi took maybe 5 mins without any issues. Connects to phone BT flawlessly every time (iPhone).

The only ick I have with the software is the very rare loud pop when auditioning user made presets from their cloud. Quite hard to replicate but it seems like it happens only when you click between them too fast. So far I've had it happen like maybe 3 times within the month of use but I have been auditioning and clicking between hundreds of presets..
Never had it happen on saved presets.

Overall I'm happy with it. Don't care about the AI drummer/smart jamming feature and the AI tone generator is very hit and miss. Dialing in presets on my own yields pretty good results and there are users who have shared amazing presets.

EDIT: Oh and the "super wide stereo" thing is bs.. But what do you expect from a set of speakers that are placed so close together. The stereo is there but it's clearly not that great as they seem to market it themselves.

 

[timbuck3]

No issues on my end with Wifi - initial setup and update over wifi took maybe 5 mins without any issues. Connects to phone BT flawlessly every time (iPhone).

The only ick I have with the software is the very rare loud pop when auditioning user made presets from their cloud. Quite hard to replicate but it seems like it happens only when you click between them too fast. So far I've had it happen like maybe 3 times within the month of use but I have been auditioning and clicking between hundreds of presets..
Never had it happen on saved presets.

Overall I'm happy with it. Don't care about the AI drummer/smart jamming feature and the AI tone generator is very hit and miss. Dialing in presets on my own yields pretty good results and there are users who have shared amazing presets.

EDIT: Oh and the "super wide stereo" thing is bs.. But what do you expect from a set of speakers that are placed so close together. The stereo is there but it's clearly not that great as they seem to market it themselves.

The superwide stereo effect on my idcore amps is not bs but sounds huge

 

[bigmenace]

The superwide stereo effect on my idcore amps is not bs but sounds huge

Yes I have heard that as well about the ID:CORE amps. Usually a bit of reverb will do the thing but if wide stereo effect is important then I just use my studio monitors.

 

[Will Onyx]

Many are saying wifi is wonky and software has issues.. anyone notice if its true

The Spark Mini and Spark Go are Bluetooth only, no WiFi. But the app connects and works pretty trouble free for both.