Guitarists, share your virtual chain

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Aleks
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Guitarists, share your virtual chain

Post by Aleks »

OK, I tried everything - Guitarix, Rakarrack, various plugins inside Carla, but for the life of me, I simply cannot create a satisfactory sound with my computer. There's always something lacking, some kind of presence, and the sound is kind of...hollow, for the lack of better words. What effects do you use, and in what order? For best clean sound so far, I used these effects inside Carla:

- compressor (Calf, usually) Tap Tube, EQ. IR, Reverb

But for dirty sounds, that's a roller coaster. Sometimes I like "Big Stack" preset of Rakarrack, but it sounds kinda boxy. I tried the above mentioned clean setup with an overdrive pedal, but still.

In comparison, my 30w tube amp with an overdrive or boost pedal almost always gives me a sound orgasm, so to speak. Even my solid state practice amp is better sounding than the virtual amps and effects. Maybe I need a tube preamp?
eprincen
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Re: Guitarists, share your virtual chain

Post by eprincen »

I'm sure an actual amp is going to sound better for multiple reasons. I have yet to find a stellar modelling plug in. It really depends what you want to sound like. The Poulin ones are good. Use a Carla bridge. I can get the latency down to where it's fine recording with the plugin. I liked the Emissary as well: https://www.kvraudio.com/product/emissa ... gnite-amps
Aleks
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Re: Guitarists, share your virtual chain

Post by Aleks »

Thank you for your answers. As I said, I already have amps, one tube and one SS, but I would like to get a good sound from virtual effects for practical reasons, like practicing, learning songs, recording videos with me playing. I can't always mic the amps, because of, oh well, my unappreciative neighbors...

@eprincen

Yes, those are good plugins, but my Linux partition is a virgin, and I plan to keep it that way :)
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Re: Guitarists, share your virtual chain

Post by carlv »

It took me a while to find and dial in the sounds i'd hoped for, but with a lot of experimentation and perseverance, it's become much easier to call up the sound(s) i want for a given project quickly. Either quiet or slamming, the neighbours are none the wiser. :lol:

Now i tend to start with an IR that i like fed into Robin G's Lv2 Convolution, EQ, then slowly add in the fx i feel will work best for the given piece i'm working on. Tweak, tweak and tweak sum mo'.

...an early experiment with a new (to me) usb interface into Ardour, then moved over to Mixbus...

https://soundcloud.com/carlv-1/loop-sess2-bass-r7

GxSuperFuzz -> GxLiquidDrive -> ZamEQ2 -> GxAmpilfier-X -> Lv2 Convolution Mono IR -> DSR500 De-esser Mono -> EQ -> Comp
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magicalex
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Re: Guitarists, share your virtual chain

Post by magicalex »

I get tones I'm very happy with using Guitarix or its plugins in a DAW.

Here are some examples so that you can judge for yourself:

Fuzz Tone
Dirty Marshall
Early EVH
Leslie
Aleks
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Re: Guitarists, share your virtual chain

Post by Aleks »

I like the "Dirty Marshall" sound. What effects did you use in Guitarix for that?
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magicalex
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Re: Guitarists, share your virtual chain

Post by magicalex »

Aleks wrote:I like the "Dirty Marshall" sound. What effects did you use in Guitarix for that?
I didn't use any effects except a bit of convolution reverb. I use the JTM45 amp impulse and tonestack and a Bassman cabinet.

Here's a YouTube playlist with a variety of different tones all created with Guitarix.
omer666
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Re: Guitarists, share your virtual chain

Post by omer666 »

I think having a guitar preamp pedal with balanced out connected to your interface + some great cab IRs would be your best option.
Also, what interface do you use?
Aleks
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Re: Guitarists, share your virtual chain

Post by Aleks »

Funny, I just realized that there are amp IR's, not just cab. Is there a convolver like Poulin's LeCab, where you can load multiple impulses, pan them left and right, change their volume etc?
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Re: Guitarists, share your virtual chain

Post by tramp »

Aleks wrote:Funny, I just realized that there are amp IR's, not just cab. Is there a convolver like Poulin's LeCab, where you can load multiple impulses, pan them left and right, change their volume etc?
Well, the guitarix stereo convolver allow to set the volume, pan between left and right and set a delta delay, select the part of the file to use and set a gain curve on it, but, it ain't support the use of different files for the channels.
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Aleks
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Re: Guitarists, share your virtual chain

Post by Aleks »

tramp wrote:
Well, the guitarix stereo convolver allow to set the volume, pan between left and right and set a delta delay, select the part of the file to use and set a gain curve on it, but, it ain't support the use of different files for the channels.
A workaround would be to use multiple existing convolvers inside Carla, or in a DAW. Btw, how do you use Steve Hariss' and Robin G's convolvers. They don't have UI's, I see just this in the attachment. Also, there is no individual LV for guitarix' convolver?
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tramp
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Re: Guitarists, share your virtual chain

Post by tramp »

Aleks wrote:A workaround would be to use multiple existing convolvers inside Carla, or in a DAW
Or, if you've two mono files you would use for left and right channel, you could convert them to one stereo file with sox

Code: Select all

sox -M input.l.wav input.r.wav output.wav
if you would use different channels from stereo files you could split them into mono files:

Code: Select all

sox infile.wav outfile.l.wav remix 1
sox infile.wav outfile.r.wav remix 2
and concatenate the channels to your needs with the above command.
Aleks wrote:Also, there is no individual LV for guitarix' convolver?
No, there are enough LV2 convolver out there.
On the road again.
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GMaq
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Re: Guitarists, share your virtual chain

Post by GMaq »

magicalex wrote: I didn't use any effects except a bit of convolution reverb. I use the JTM45 amp impulse and tonestack and a Bassman cabinet.

Here's a YouTube playlist with a variety of different tones all created with Guitarix.
Wow!!

Nailed it! Especially Clapton's tone on Crossroads, that was perfect!!
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magicalex
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Re: Guitarists, share your virtual chain

Post by magicalex »

GMaq wrote:
magicalex wrote: Wow!!

Nailed it! Especially Clapton's tone on Crossroads, that was perfect!!
Thanks, Glen!
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