Tonex, ended up sucking for me.

[dean701]

I was using it as a pedal board only unit. Did three gigs with it that way as my amp. It worked perfectly. Had one overdrive in front, and one delay behind it. I put it into a DI box and direct to board. It sounded great. I had a monitor in front of me with only my guitar, and the vocals, much lower than my guitar. Perfect.

The problem was, when I went to update the software, it changed me from Max back to Tonex CS. The amps I use, were deleted from the pedal, as well as in the software itself.

I got absolutely no help from support. I still have not even received a reply at all. That was the problem I had. Yes it was a pain in the butt sometimes with the software alone, but I was willing to put up with that for the sounds I was getting. When I lost those sounds, it was useless to me.

I completely understand. I sent countless log files to them to help them out. I was very vocal on the AT5 and Tonex issue where when I used a tonex model inside of AT5, it would take over a minute for the software to populate/render the needed fields. They had me backup and delete db files and it would load instantly. There was obviously something in my db files that was causing the delay. After that I waited and waited for an email - nothing ever came. Finally with 1.61, it is working with no delay. It's really no way to run a company. They have plenty of software offerings, they are not new and they should have a toll free helpdesk, period.

 

[Elric]

What are the pedal alternatives to this thing right now? Anything small? Seems like there was some sort of Mooer thing, and I thought maybe NAM was on a pedal now?

Really ToneX is pretty simple as just a pedal if someone is using it as an AIAB type pedal. Like something to compete w/ Amplifire Box, etc. Load it with like a dozen really good profiles and be done.

I'd say it is currently the best option for that kind of use. It's insanely good for the money and compact and can just serve up a ton of killer amp tones pretty quick. If you are a load it and forget it guy who just wants to add a few more amp tones to a rig or take caps of your own hardware on the go, it slays.

Most people here aren't like that, though. People's issue, here, rightly, is that the software/ecosystem is just horribly bad, in terms of data management and there is no editor which is just ridiculous. A lot of folks would like it as a Kemper or QC replacement, in conjunction with like an HX Stomp or on the plugin side with their own Amplitiube; but it fails pretty hard like that because everything is just so wonky. Like everything about their ecosystem is just poor/weak.

IK is weird because they are so hit or miss. The ToneX capturing is concept is actually awesome but almost everything else about it blows and their support tend to gaslight or ignore issues and just let them fester for all of eternity. I mean *someone* on their staff has got to understand signal levels matter or they would not be able to produce plugins, but their support is like "there is no issue" when people bring stuff up about it.

They are so busy pretending there is no problem that their stuff never really improves and they will just keep pushing new packs for people to buy.

 

[ballhawk]

Not a fan of the name either, but it’s a little better than tonocracy. I would have gone with toneunism. Tonetatorship. Tonetalitarian.

Seems like it should have been ToneEunich.

 

[Orvillain]

It is significantly more accurate than the Kemper and QC.

Just to put some science behind my words:

 

[Axe]

My experience with the Tonex was a total train wreck. After multiple train wrecks with IK products and their lack of support, I'm done with IK stuff

 

[norminal]

I think my iLoud Micros are decent… for the price.

 

[pipelineaudio]

Really ToneX is pretty simple as just a pedal if someone is using it as an AIAB type pedal. Like something to compete w/ Amplifire Box, etc. Load it with like a dozen really good profiles and be done.

I'd be ok with it if it were much smaller

 

[northern_fox]

What are the pedal alternatives to this thing right now? Anything small? Seems like there was some sort of Mooer thing, and I thought maybe NAM was on a pedal now?

soon.jpg?

https://www.instagram.com/dimehead.electronics/

I'm anxiously awaiting this actually. I use tonex now and it's been my favorite hardware tone to date. Capturing my own amps with it and run it with the fm3 as the amp. However, I almost never touch the software or cloud - I just capture one thing here and there every so often using a reamp method and ignore the rest of the ecosystem. I only have about 3 or 4 captures I actually use and I only even connect it to the PC if I need to add one.

That said, I also think the QC sharing/library system is pretty annoying (but not as bad)

 

[pipelineaudio]

I see the Mod Dwarf thing. I swear there was one from Mooer or something that did captures

 

[northern_fox]

I see the Mod Dwarf thing. I swear there was one from Mooer or something that did captures

Mod dwarf can do it too but just barely - and not standard captures, CPU is not strong enough.

 

[Los-D]

I think there is also a Tonocracy (+NAM?) pedal apparently in the works from Atomic.

 

[JCW308]

So even with the update adding the tuner, it was still that bad?

 

[EOengineer]

Really ToneX is pretty simple as just a pedal if someone is using it as an AIAB type pedal. Like something to compete w/ Amplifire Box, etc. Load it with like a dozen really good profiles and be done.

I'd say it is currently the best option for that kind of use. It's insanely good for the money and compact and can just serve up a ton of killer amp tones pretty quick. If you are a load it and forget it guy who just wants to add a few more amp tones to a rig or take caps of your own hardware on the go, it slays.

Most people here aren't like that, though. People's issue, here, rightly, is that the software/ecosystem is just horribly bad, in terms of data management and there is no editor which is just ridiculous. A lot of folks would like it as a Kemper or QC replacement, in conjunction with like an HX Stomp or on the plugin side with their own Amplitiube; but it fails pretty hard like that because everything is just so wonky. Like everything about their ecosystem is just poor/weak.

IK is weird because they are so hit or miss. The ToneX capturing is concept is actually awesome but almost everything else about it blows and their support tend to gaslight or ignore issues and just let them fester for all of eternity. I mean *someone* on their staff has got to understand signal levels matter or they would not be able to produce plugins, but their support is like "there is no issue" when people bring stuff up about it.

They are so busy pretending there is no problem that their stuff never really improves and they will just keep pushing new packs for people to buy.

This is spot on.

I feel like the odd man out but I’ve overall had a positive experience. I’ve attributed that to a couple reasons that overlap with some of what was articulated above.

1. I don’t do much profile surfing. I know what I like, I found it, and loaded it into the pedal. In other words I’m not fighting IK’s bad UX often.
2. I bought it for what it was at release. IK’s reputation is well known. If there’s a critical feature you need that isn’t there at release - you’re rolling the dice.
3. I capture my amps and pedals. I love my amps. They sound great. I like being able to carry them with me in a little magic box.

Just to put some science behind my words:

Thanks for sharing this. We so rarely get opportunities to back our observations with data. Was a good read. There are countless YouTubers demonstrating the null test as well with similar observations.

Despite all the things IK did wrong in Tonex, they got the tones right. Like, big right. Kemper has a tell. Tonex is indistinguishable to me and IMO represents a step forward that is under acknowledged due to the number of non-tone related flaws at IK.

Someone said it earlier and I agree. The Tonex pedal is the Amplifirebox of the profiling space.

 

[riffy]

When the software reverts to something free from something paid for, it is a different ballgame. When that same software deletes the content you have paid for from the pedal during an official update, that is a whole different ball of wax.

I didn't find it difficult to use, it could be a pain, but I worked around that easily. I was using it as an amp in a box. No problems with that, the sound was outstanding.

When the erasure of said content from the pedal happened and I could not restore it and could not get any support at all from IK Multimedia,
it became a SUCK experience for ME!

 

[Boudoir Guitar]

I wish they would enable the hidden clock radio mode they've been hiding all this time

Available in the custom shop. 5.99 for military time, which you must purchase first, and then add 12-hr option for another 12.99, and a daylight savings option for 9.99, or buy clock Max which does 12-hr time and daylight savings, but will not all autolocation adjustment, for 25.99.

 

[ericbr1]

When the software reverts to something free from something paid for, it is a different ballgame. When that same software deletes the content you have paid for from the pedal during an official update, that is a whole different ball of wax.

I didn't find it difficult to use, it could be a pain, but I worked around that easily. I was using it as an amp in a box. No problems with that, the sound was outstanding.

When the erasure of said content from the pedal happened and I could not restore it and could not get any support at all from IK Multimedia,
it became a SUCK experience for ME!

Man , I know this doesn't help but I can only imagine how bad you feel about that! That whole scenario sucks so bad. Trying to relate, but even thinking about the literally hundreds and hundreds of downloads and program-patch writing I've done with Tonocracy (and it's frickin FREE) I'd be devastated if I lost all that time and those great sounds. With a paid product it'd be so much worse even. Anyway, I hope somehow you can retrieve everything , but obviously understand if you need to move on

 

[Deadpan]

I was using it as a pedal board only unit. Did three gigs with it that way as my amp. It worked perfectly. Had one overdrive in front, and one delay behind it. I put it into a DI box and direct to board. It sounded great. I had a monitor in front of me with only my guitar, and the vocals, much lower than my guitar. Perfect.

The problem was, when I went to update the software, it changed me from Max back to Tonex CS. The amps I use, were deleted from the pedal, as well as in the software itself.

I got absolutely no help from support. I still have not even received a reply at all. That was the problem I had. Yes it was a pain in the butt sometimes with the software alone, but I was willing to put up with that for the sounds I was getting. When I lost those sounds, it was useless to me.

They added a restore purchases option in the software vs before it had to be done in product manager.

 

[riffy]

Thank you, but that didn't work either. Just kept the CS version.

Any, it is sold now. Waiting on a Tonocracy pedal or a Kemper Player. I still have my Kemper Toaster.

 

[northern_fox]

I think there is also a Tonocracy (+NAM?) pedal apparently in the works from Atomic.

IIRC there's talk of that, and possibly two notes too - but I guess it's not clear now whether either will be able to include NAM and/or standard captures. Looking forward to it though!

 

[Sedaxel]

Personally, I think a pedal with the only ability to play captured amps is going to get obsolete in no time. It doesnt't matter its size. I've being considering an even smaller solution (Mooer Preamp X2) but on every way you slow think of it, it has no sense vs a more complete solution. For me, ToneX is just an oudated proposal from its release. Kemper player, even with its omissions, is way more useful with its effects. Yeah, accuracy is what it is... But being honest, in a blind test very few guys would take apart ToneX (or NAM) from Kemper. Besides, liquid profiles more or less equal the accuracy scale.

I'm still wanting for the tsunami... The great wave of cheap units with some kind of profiling. We even have an M-Vave doing AI amps. Sooner or later, we'll have Hotone or Zoom with a profiling unit. Not to mention the great quality of modelling algorithms.

And... Huge curiosity of Tonocracy pedal, since I'm really digging the plugin.

Too many options to think about ToneX. Of course, this is my feeling. Not wanting to deal with all IK issues, input gain issues, licenses, tricky updates... Meeeeeeh.