Universal Audio Paradise Guitar Studio

[Ipkz]

In Mainstage, you should be able to call up presets when saving the channel strip as a performance. At least that's how it works in Logic.

Thank you! I didn't know I could save presets like that. I'm trying Erik's script to switch presets in Gig Performer and it is working great so far with Paradise. I’m also planning to test it with ToneX later. Much appreciated.

 

[Cactusprick]

Onto 3rd night. I must buy this. Boomer force is strong with this one.
So musical and all amps sound so organic and fantastic.
This will be the best thing next to my kemper.

 

[Sascha Franck]

Onto 3rd night. I must buy this. Boomer force is strong with this one.
So musical and all amps sound so organic and fantastic.

Yes to all of this (but the "must buy" part of it, I rather wait for a sale next year, which will happen pretty much inevitably).
It's in fact quite a lot of fun playing through some of the stuff.

Anyhow, while I thought it was fine as is at first, I do in fact think that they could offer more mic options for some cabs. Doesn't have to be like those pseudo-realistic "let's move some virtual mics around" things, but a variety of, say, anything between 3-10 most commonly used mic/placement variations per each cab would surely be useful to have without taking away much of the simplicity. Heck, make it just three, such as one bright, one dark and one balanced version and I'll be fine.

 

[laxu]

Anyhow, while I thought it was fine as is at first, I do in fact think that they could offer more mic options for some cabs. Doesn't have to be like those pseudo-realistic "let's move some virtual mics around" things, but a variety of, say, anything between 3-10 most commonly used mic/placement variations per each cab would surely be useful to have without taking away much of the simplicity. Heck, make it just three, such as one bright, one dark and one balanced version and I'll be fine.

Agreed. They even have this already. OX Stomp allows for all that.

My guess is they simply haven't ported OX Stomp to a plugin yet and that's why we get only what's on the pedals. I would not be surprised if they release that next year. Whether they allow that as a feature on Paradise...well, UA is not known for those kinds of updates.

 

[Ed DeGenaro]

I’ll play.
I quite enjoy PGS, moreso than other no/low gain amp suite. Like NDSP Morgan, ToneKing etc.

The game changer thing I don’t really see. It’s still more fun to play amps loaded down or even preamps.
That’s said use mostly higher gain for that and if they ever add the Recto and 5150 I can see using them in it.

Since they as pedals, along with Kemper and Tonex are my non amp go to.

As for the cabs, or more specifically mic options, I’m good with what’s there. I don’t need a darker mic choice on a v30 4x12 I just go to the stripped 4x12

Add on with fresh ears
That all said, stacking drives it does become a fun ride that can hand with my other faves.

 

[MirrorProfiles]

I really cannot see metal tones getting added here and i’m surprised people think they want that.

Imagine you’re sat at your recording rig, semi hollow body or telecaster or jaguar or whatever at hand. There’s already a lot of presets, but they all kind of make sense for these guitars. You can do indie stuff and some 80’s tones too.

Now imagine a load of Killswitch, Machine Head, Metallica, Gojira, Meshuggah, Pantera style presets clogging up the preset list. It just makes the preset list way more of a lottery and random, and if you’re using one of the guitars mentioned above then you almost certainly don’t want these kind of tones getting in the way while you scroll presets. You don’t even really need a filter on the presets list, you just don’t want them.

And put another way - imagine someone with a 7 or 8 string with active humbuckers plugging into this. Maybe they’d get some mileage from the clean/ambient tones? maybe some fuzz or something weird? For the most part there is going to be zero overlap, it just adds clutter that can be avoided in going to the great trouble of just instantiating another plugin.

Think of how Sound City and Ocean Way are seperate plugins. Or Hitsville chambers and Capitol chamber. or 224 and 480. They all probably have more similarities to each other and overlap and yet they still make more sense to seperate them.

 

[laxu]

And put another way - imagine someone with a 7 or 8 string with active humbuckers plugging into this. Maybe they’d get some mileage from the clean/ambient tones? maybe some fuzz or something weird? For the most part there is going to be zero overlap, it just adds clutter that can be avoided in going to the great trouble of just instantiating another plugin.

Hey, I was literally using my 8-string Skervesen Shoggie yesterday to test all the classic tones of the plugin!

No, it doesn't exactly djent or chug, but otherwise no reason why extended range guitars can't work.

I do otherwise agree with you.

PS. I really wonder if I should buy Paradise for $79 or wait for a sale where they might offer Ocean Way and this one in a $99 custom bundle. You can already pick Ocean Way for the current sale like this but Paradise is not an option unfortunately.

 

[MirrorProfiles]

PS. I really wonder if I should buy Paradise for $79 or wait for a sale where they might offer Ocean Way and this one in a $99 custom bundle. You can already pick Ocean Way for the current sale like this but Paradise is not an option unfortunately.

If you don't need it urgently it always pays to wait with UA. If you know you'll buy it eventually you just have to factor in what price you're willing to add on top of your internal value for it in order to have it right away. Maybe spending an extra $40-50 now is worth it to have it sooner.

I've been playing the UA sims I already have (all but the Dumble) and I can definitely wait for a better price, or a suite more in tune with my tastes. I was A/Bing tones with Lion yesterday and NAM models of my own amp are just a step above in every way. I like the options and workflow in the UA stuff but something like a plexi doesn't really need much messing around.

 

[Ed DeGenaro]

I really cannot see metal tones getting added here and i’m surprised people think they want that.

Imagine you’re sat at your recording rig, semi hollow body or telecaster or jaguar or whatever at hand. There’s already a lot of presets, but they all kind of make sense for these guitars. You can do indie stuff and some 80’s tones too.

Now imagine a load of Killswitch, Machine Head, Metallica, Gojira, Meshuggah, Pantera style presets clogging up the preset list. It just makes the preset list way more of a lottery and random, and if you’re using one of the guitars mentioned above then you almost certainly don’t want these kind of tones getting in the way while you scroll presets. You don’t even really need a filter on the presets list, you just don’t want them.

And put another way - imagine someone with a 7 or 8 string with active humbuckers plugging into this. Maybe they’d get some mileage from the clean/ambient tones? maybe some fuzz or something weird? For the most part there is going to be zero overlap, it just adds clutter that can be avoided in going to the great trouble of just instantiating another plugin.

Think of how Sound City and Ocean Way are seperate plugins. Or Hitsville chambers and Capitol chamber. or 224 and 480. They all probably have more similarities to each other and overlap and yet they still make more sense to seperate them.

You make a great point. But I’ll point out that high gain isn’t necessarily metal. There are plenty of guys wanting higher gain that aren’t Metal.

 

[MirrorProfiles]

You make a great point. But I’ll point out that high gain isn’t necessarily metal. There are plenty of guys wanting higher gain that aren’t Metal.

Sure, and Paradise can get very high gain. But the amount of extra work involved in firing up a different plugin is pretty minimal. It's almost a strength if you fire up something different to what you think will work, and you find something unexpected. The whole curation and speed aspect is probably the defining design choice of this plugin so it's the one thing I can't see them abandoning.

 

[laxu]

If you don't need it urgently it always pays to wait with UA. If you know you'll buy it eventually you just have to factor in what price you're willing to add on top of your internal value for it in order to have it right away. Maybe spending an extra $40-50 now is worth it to have it sooner.

I've been playing the UA sims I already have (all but the Dumble) and I can definitely wait for a better price, or a suite more in tune with my tastes. I was A/Bing tones with Lion yesterday and NAM models of my own amp are just a step above in every way. I like the options and workflow in the UA stuff but something like a plexi doesn't really need much messing around.

Yeah I was A/Bing the UA Lion plugin vs Paradise yesterday and as expected, the tones are the same. The main benefit of Paradise is being able to easily construct fx chains around it.

But I also have better fx, like the Pure Plate Reverb plugin is better than the Plate Reverb pedal in the Paradise. The separate plugin just sounds more dimensional and lush.

Might actually try what I can build out of separate plugins today and see how that compares. I don't really need drives because the boost on the UA Lion is enough to keep me happy for the kind of gain I want out of it.

Otherwise I have my pile of real amps, cabs, fx and Tonex.

It probably makes more sense to wait for a next sale to get a better price. I really like Sound City Studios so I definitely want Ocean Way as well.

 

[Dimiguitar]

I wonder how high gain amps will sound if they add them. Have they said they will add such amps?

 

[Dimiguitar]

Played (even) more with the plugin. I know I'm repeating myself that I don't think the amp sims are a game changer (still think the same), but the package of this plugin is indeed very nice.

For example, I'm quite detail oriented when it comes to amp sounds and feel. But I never cared much about effects.

Back when I mostly only used real amps, I wouldn't even bother with reverbs. These days I may add a little reverb in the DAW after recording, to some leads. But that's it.

Now, with this paradise plugin, I've enjoyed experimenting with some of the effects. That's new to me. I never felt the same way with fractal.

(I mostly don't even bother with fractal even though it's probably a usability and lack of knowledge issue. And it's never sounded as good as paradise plugin effects, the rare times I've tried to dial something in).

Whatever the case is, paradise plugin has me trying out effects more. And they do sound amazing. I find myself being like "dang".

 

[yek]

Cab sim is clearly kinda limited still and you need to rely more on EQ to shape the sound because you can't move mics or anything like that, and many cabs have a particular mic setup with no alternative options.

Paradise seems like a great sort of "turn key" product. James is skilled and nice as ever.
But having to resort to EQ-ing to make up for the absence of more mic positions, that's a showstopper.

 

[Ed DeGenaro]

Paradise seems like a great sort of "turn key" product. James is skilled and nice as ever.
But having to resort to EQ-ing to make up for the absence of more mic positions, that's a showstopper.

Is it? Cause there those of us geezers that will mic the loudest spot on the speaker and if needed eq then.

 

[Melodioso]

You make a great point. But I’ll point out that high gain isn’t necessarily metal. There are plenty of guys wanting higher gain that aren’t Metal.

UA is probably going to release a "Hell Guitar Studio" with the high-gain models (5150 + recto) and others (ENGL, Mesa, etc.). And charge again for it. That's what I would do!

(plus adding an IR loader)

 

[deadpool_25]

Haven’t tried this yet and won’t have the opportunity to do so for a while. From what I’m reading and hearing it seems pretty cool overall.

Count me in as one of those who’d like to see some high gain amps in there—specifically OG 5150, SLO, Recto, and (perhaps) EVH. Can you at least disable the amp/cab? I’d assume so but I haven’t seen anything about that just yet.

Edit: yeah it looks like you can disable the amp and cab.

 

[yek]

Paradise seems like a great sort of "turn key" product. James is skilled and nice as ever.
But having to resort to EQ-ing to make up for the absence of more mic positions, that's a showstopper.

Of course, if you have the kills. I consider mastering EQ an art and a rabbit hole. Dragging virtual mic suits non-pros better I think.

 

[Ed DeGenaro]

Haven’t tried this yet and won’t have the opportunity to do so for a while. From what I’m reading and hearing it seems pretty cool overall.

Count me in as one of those who’d like to see some high gain amps in there—specifically OG 5150, SLO, Recto, and (perhaps) EVH. Can you at least disable the amp/cab? I’d assume so but I haven’t seen anything about that just yet.

Edit: yeah it looks like you can disable the amp and cab.

You can disable amp/cab or cab. Can’t disable amp only. Which would make it an Ox Box. Which I don’t understand