THE AMP SIM PLUGIN THREAD

[MirrorProfiles]

Figured us losers who are more in plugin land than HW modellers should have a thread to discuss the latest shit. Plugin threads tend to exist on their own or dabble into the HW modeller ones in a somewhat confusing way. Maybe a good place to post about new sales/offers or other bits of useful information.

I may as well link this table that has some optimal input levels for the main amp sim plugins out there. There's a vacant spot at IK multimedia's seat, I think they've broken down somewhere and they're leaving my messages on read. May need to scroll to the right to see them all, I've been updating with any new info thats made available.



Video guide here if it makes things easier:


and if you dont know your interface specs or want to measure a specific chain:



SO many new plugins and updates recently. Very much digging Mercuriall's Stealth model. Missed opportunity to have the S/C switch for the blue channel, thats really the main difference between the 2 versions. Regardless, I think its a killer experience of the EVH amps ITB.

Also been impressed with Asato, its made me dive into the Lone Star emulations that are already out there more. Killer amp.

And been trying to spend time with Audio Assault's Amp Locker eco system. There is a lot to like about it, but the power amp/master volume modelling still seems dated and inaccurate.

 

[jellodog]

@MirrorProfiles What gen is the Focusrite 2i2? Probably worth including that in the name column.

 

[PLX]

@MirrorProfiles What gen is the Focusrite 2i2? Probably worth including that in the name column.

Gen 3 = set to zero
Gen 2 = set to 1

 

[jellodog]

@MirrorProfiles Thanks for the Focusrite updates!

 

[MirrorProfiles]

@MirrorProfiles What gen is the Focusrite 2i2? Probably worth including that in the name column.

Cheers guys, I've updated and added the 4th gen too. For anyone in doubt its always worth checking.

 

[Whizzinby]

Kind of blew my mind when it was suggested to turn the input gain on the Focusrite entirely down when using Neural plugs. I’d spent a year cranking it until it was just barely flashing yellow.

It also explains why I never got the Tone King plug to entirely clean up

 

[MirrorProfiles]

Kind of blew my mind when it was suggested to turn the input gain on the Focusrite entirely down when using Neural plugs. I’d spent a year cranking it until it was just barely flashing yellow.

It also explains why I never got the Tone King plug to entirely clean up

It's MILDLY amusing that NDSP were smart enough to set their plugins to be accurate for Focusrite, UAD Apollo/Volt and (most) Audient interfaces with the most simple procedure, but never bothered to tell anyone about it.

Even if you aren't using NDSP plugins, I think setting it to 0 is the best way because its a pretty perfect amount of headroom for any guitar, and also knowing exactly what headroom you are using means you can use anything you like with the most accuracy. If you are guessing then there's no way of getting back to that original level. I sort of had the same (but opposite) issue with Amplitube, I was using some of the Fender's and wondering why they were ALL so bland and sterile.

 

[Whizzinby]

It's MILDLY amusing that NDSP were smart enough to set their plugins to be accurate for Focusrite, UAD Apollo/Volt and (most) Audient interfaces with the most simple procedure, but never bothered to tell anyone about it.

Even if you aren't using NDSP plugins, I think setting it to 0 is the best way because its a pretty perfect amount of headroom for any guitar, and also knowing exactly what headroom you are using means you can use anything you like with the most accuracy. If you are guessing then there's no way of getting back to that original level. I sort of had the same (but opposite) issue with Amplitube, I was using some of the Fender's and wondering why they were ALL so bland and sterile.

I just always assumed (from watching videos of people on YT, part of the prob) that you needed to raise the input to near flashing yellow to ensure the plug was getting a strong signal, but I hadn’t considered that may only be applicable if you’re miking or doing vocals etc. (Or is just entirely dependent on what your using in the box)

It’s definitely one of those things where the plug maker should make a tutorial explaining that for their platform. It’s kind of non-intuitive to think that keeping your audio interface input signal at near zero is correct.

 

[MirrorProfiles]

I just always assumed (from watching videos of people on YT, part of the prob) that you needed to raise the input to near flashing yellow to ensure the plug was getting a strong signal, but I hadn’t considered that may only be applicable if you’re miking or doing vocals etc. (Or is just entirely dependent on what your using in the box)

It’s definitely one of those things where the plug maker should make a tutorial explaining that for their platform. It’s kind of non-intuitive to think that keeping your audio interface input signal at near zero is correct.

I think the thing with guitars that makes it different to recording vocals or drums is we are intercepting the signal at a very specific point. Amps aren’t designed like studio outboard gear - a compressor or EQ is typically able to handle a range of signals and perform in a similar way if you adjust its settings. Guitar amps aren’t designed for being patched into a mixing desk - they only except a particular signal to go into them.

In 2023 you can’t really record too quiet, especially when it comes to DI’s. I can just about clip 12dBu with humbuckers, it’s about as hot as I like to track anyway. If I boosted the gain, I’d be clipping quite a lot. With single coils it’ll definitely be a fair bit quieter but it’s perfectly fine to record with headroom. Your background noise into the pickups will be WAY louder than the noise of the interface, so increasing the interface gain isn’t going to give you a cleaner signal.

 

[James Freeman]

Bro, wtf is this?,
just turn up your gain right before it clips and play your darn guitar.

 

[MirrorProfiles]

Bro, wtf is this?,
just turn up your gain right before it clips and play your darn guitar.

plug-ins all sound like a garbled aliasing mess and lack the harmonic complexity and dynamics of real amps. I also choose to ignore decades of science, facts, advice and other information because I know what I’m doing and real amps sound better OK

 

[PLX]

plug-ins all sound like a gabled aliasing mess and lack the harmonic complexity and dynamics of real amps. I also choose to ignore decades of science, facts, advice and other information because I know what I’m doing and real amps sound better OK

It's the "crystal lattice".

 

[James Freeman]

It's the "crystal lattice".

Spoiler

 

[James Freeman]

Great work @MirrorProfiles !
I think at least some people care about this crucial step towards gain accuracy of plugins with a wide variety of audio interfaces, I know I do.

 

[TheTrueZoltan!]

Thank you @MirrorProfiles

 

[MirrorProfiles]

Happy to discuss input levels if anyone is stuck, but hopefully the 1st post has enough information for everyone to get good results.

Looking forward to chatting about the (slightly more) fun stuff!

 

[mavrick102000]

Spoiler

View attachment 11787

That's crystal Bok Choi, FOUL Sir!

 

[Elric]

This is a neat reference! Checking my understanding: if my interface is not listed (Presonus Quantum 2) but I see that the spec is +15dBu, I can just set gain to 0 on the interface and then use the SSL2+ row (it uses the same input gain setting) values for the plugins?

 

[MirrorProfiles]

This is a neat reference... Checking my understanding: if my interface is not listed (Presonus Quantum 2) but I see that the spec is +15dBu, I can just set gain to 0 on the interface and then use the SSL2+ row (it looks the same) settings on the plugins?

exactly

 

[Elric]

@MirrorProfiles I reached out to Overloud regarding TH-U, here is their response:

The 0dbFS value of TH-U in dBU is 6