Amp Nude Modeling

blakfeld

Okay, so, I have to listen to this guy at work go on and on about all these albums he's cranking out on a daily basis, and I've decided I should record music a little more prolifically. Problem is... Well, I kind of hate miking. By the time I get it all up, I've lost the feeling for the quick little idea I had, plus my room doesn't really have enough space for my amp, much less the mikes... aaaand my amp kind of sucks

Either way, I need some amp modeling. I already have a Tascam US 122, so I'd like to stick to that, and use a soft amp. I've never really used software for this, so, anyone have any suggestions?

T-bolt

NI Guitar Rig is very powerful with a lot of ways to shape your sound. It's so fun just playing around with different amp models and routing all the effects available. You can even get a foot controller for it. On the other hand, it's fairly pricey and a resource hog, so you might not want to have too many instances running at the same time.

I've used a plug-in from Voxengo that worked OK, don't remember the name off-hand though.

ForgottenVariable

If you're hard up for money you really can't do any better than the SimulAnalog guitar suite. It's free and the amps almost sound like amps (despite its lack of flexibility, I find it more realistic than Guitar Rig 3).

http://www.simulanalog.org/

That said, you're never going to get the same quality you'd get with an actual amp, but the simulanalog stuff is pretty good. Just don't go in expecting an awesome UI or anything, it's just a bunch of simulated stomp boxes and 2 simulated amps with the original knobs and settings intact.

EDIT: It can be hard to find the download on their site; it's located at:

http://www.simulanalog.org/GSuite.zip

As long as you're familiar with using VSTs, this should be a solid solution.

Sir Carcass

I have a Line6 Tone Port and I love it. Hooks up with USB, can use either their Gearbox or Pod Farm modeling software, and it can be used as an input or as a VST plugin in most recording programs. I don't think they make mine any more, but it looks like this is the replacement.

flatlinegraphics

line6 is probably your best bet. you can pick up a pod 2 or XT for less than $100 used. the toneport/pod farm thing looks pretty good.

basically, no modeller is going to be great. but they newer ones are more than acceptable, eps for basically a music scratchpad. the pods main advantage over a vst is that it will work away from a computer, so you + headphones can go noodle on the couch.

Dark_Side

3rded on the Line 6 stuff, a good portion of their line is catered to exactly the type of stuff you're trying to do. The modeling isn't going to be perfect, but for laying out demos it's really all you should need.

blakfeld

Exellent, This will definitely give me something to play around with. I had been looking at a POD, I'd like to end up with one eventually, but I haven't made the jump yet. Thanks for the tips gentlemen, I'm off to hunt down that damn Cubase disk, and pray it works for Windows 7.

Also, My roommate has a Line 6 Tone control big ass pedal thing, I need to go hi-jack that....

T-bolt

A Line 6 Flood Pod controller will do the trick, should have the same capabilities as a Tone Port without needing a computer to generate the sound.

I had a Tone Port until I switched to Vista 64-bit, as the software would stutter and make little popping sounds. There was never a sufficient answer to the problem, so I switched to a M-audio interface. Dunno if Windows 7 64-bit has the same issues, if that's what you're using.