Audiobus: Use your music apps together.

What is Audiobus?Audiobus is an award-winning music app for iPhone and iPad which lets you use your other music apps together. Chain effects on your favourite synth, run the output of apps or Audio Units into an app like GarageBand or Loopy, or select a different audio interface output for each app. Route MIDI between apps — drive a synth from a MIDI sequencer, or add an arpeggiator to your MIDI keyboard — or sync with your external MIDI gear. And control your entire setup from a MIDI controller.

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Audiobus is the app that makes the rest of your setup better.

call for beta testers for a guitar amp sim AU3 plugin

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Comments

  • @Blue_Mangoo said:

    @flo26 said:
    Here is my review of this app.
    I’m sorry but I must admit i’m not really convinced by what i’ve been hearing.
    I’m going to try to be clear (it is not easy when english in not your first language).
    It sounds as if i plugged my amp on a mixing console via line out.that’s the reason for my previous post.
    I wanted to be sure that i used the app the right way.
    To my ears ,the speaker simulator is achille’s heel of the app.
    It doesn’t sound the right way to me.

    Yes. The speaker simulation doesn’t sound totally convincing. I was afraid of using too much processor power because the amp itself is already so heavy. I’ll try increasing the density of reflections in the stereo to mono unit. Hopefullythat doesn’t use up too mych processor power.

    Thanks for your input.

    The preamp section is rather good.
    I have a question though : why so much gain? It can be almost unplayable.

    Do you feel that all the amp types have too much gain or just some of them? Does it get better when you turn the input gain down?

    No,sure,not all of them.
    If i remember correctly,crunch is not really crunchy but heavy (for me).
    And brown,heavy amps etc....
    Yes,it sound better when gain is turned down.
    Hope it helps.
    Flo

  • @flo26 said:

    If i were you,i wouldn’t delete them as they act great as pedals before another amp sim.
    But i’m not you 😉.

    I don't think he's going to delete them but he will create a Name for them.
    What are you testing in series with this app? I think the name indicates where @Blue_Mangoo is positioning this in the AUv3 workflow. Hopefully more apps will follow
    and this will be a series of products.

  • @espiegel123 said:
    @Blue_Mangoo : +1 for glyphs to go to the next or previous amp type. Can program change or a MIDI Cc switch sim type? I don't have my iPad at hand. Are the params all accessible by MIDI?

    A midi controllable level boost or A/B switch would be useful to switch between two settings per preset. So that when can switch between solo and non-solo
    level/tone.

    I don’t like the way many AU plugins are replicating features that more logically belong in the host amp rather than the plugin. Specifically, I do not want to see an effect plugin responding to MIDI control because that creates a conflict between the AU3 parameters and the MIDI parameters. You have two ways to control every setting and its complicated to ensure that after you change the settings via MIDI they still save properly when you save the project in the host app.

    So... I want this plugin to be controlled either via touching the screen or by the host app modulating the AU parameters. If you want to A/B switch between settings, I prefer to do that by switching presets in the host or by muting/soloing a separate track for each tone setup.

    I would like to do a standalone guitar effects app later on that would respond to MIDI and save its own presets but those are features that belong in a standalone app, not a plugin.

  • @Blue_Mangoo ,
    Just as an example,crunch modern sounds as if i had put a wah pedal in front of the and in a fixed position’
    You see what i mean?
    Doesn’t sound like a guitar amp equalization to my ears.

  • edited January 2020

    @flo26 said:
    @Blue_Mangoo ,
    Just as an example,crunch modern sounds as if i had put a wah pedal in front of the and in a fixed position’
    You see what i mean?
    Doesn’t sound like a guitar amp equalization to my ears.

    Yes. You’re right. I am not thinking of these presets strictly as amp models. Some of them sound like an amp and others sound like a bigger rig with pedals out front, included into the amp preset. The update we released on test flight about 45 minutes ago has two more crunch amps that are more natural amp crunch with less gain and no pedals.

    If that modern crunch preset is the only crunch amp that has too much gain then I’m ok with that. However, if there is a category of sound for which you can not find any amp preset that has an appropriate level of gain, please inform me so that I can add another preset.

  • @flo26 said:
    @Blue_Mangoo ,
    Just as an example,crunch modern sounds as if i had put a wah pedal in front of the and in a fixed position’
    You see what i mean?
    Doesn’t sound like a guitar amp equalization to my ears.

    I also found that the default equalization sounds notched, particularly with the more gainy presets. I'm using FabFilter Pro-Q 3 to even out the EQ.

    @Blue_Mangoo, on the IR front, what if you had a toggle to turn on/off the mic/cab section? That way users could add IR following the Gain Stage app.

    Regarding the two knob rows, input and output: Do those relate to preamplifier and power amplifier stages, respectively? I tried toying with the "input" and "output" levels to see what sort of gain characteristic changes I'd get.

    I like the UI a lot, but I do see that the knobs in the input row are slightly off-center; I think they need to be moved up slightly to center with the level indicator rings.

    The "mono to stereo" effect is very cool—reminds me of the "Natural width" setting in the Haaze 2 plugin.

  • This rat preset sounds great as a booster.
    Really great!

  • edited January 2020

    @flo26 said:
    This rat preset sounds great as a booster.
    Really great!

    That preset isn’t actually intended to sound like a RAT pedal and I planned to delete it from the plugin before release. If you are using it as a boost going into another plugin, I would really like to hear the sound of that whole rig, because I want this plugin to work As an amp on its own. Perhaps with external reverb, chorus, flanger and other effects, but it shouldn’t require another amp plugin to make it sound good. if it needs another amp sim to get the right tone then something is wrong and I need to add another amp preset.

  • Sometimes,using something in another way than what it’s intended for can be a good thing 😉.
    But i understand your view.

  • @kgmessier
    Regarding the two knob rows, input and output: Do those relate to preamplifier and power amplifier stages, respectively? I tried toying with the "input" and "output" levels to see what sort of gain characteristic changes I'd get.

    I like the UI a lot, but I do see that the knobs in the input row are slightly off-center; I think they need to be moved up slightly to center with the level indicator rings.

    I reported this error to the dev that does the UI layout. He measured it and showed me that both the top and bottom rows of knobs are centered correctly. But because the background colour matches the highlight colour on the knobs, it looks like the too row is shifted down. Im not sure how to correct that.

  • @Blue_Mangoo said:
    I reported this error to the dev that does the UI layout. He measured it and showed me that both the top and bottom rows of knobs are centered correctly. But because the background colour matches the highlight colour on the knobs, it looks like the too row is shifted down. Im not sure how to correct that.

    That may be true, but if so, I would see that shifting in the bottom-row knobs as well.

  • McDMcD
    edited January 2020

    @Blue_Mangoo, Can I disclose the App's name?

    I can see where your headed, I think. This is NOT an Amp Sim product.

    An Amp Sim has specific design attributes that make it a guitar rig workflow replacement
    with every knob replicated for tweaking. Some buyers just use them to become expert knob
    adjusters and rarely play any music. Just makes cool tones.

    This is a "Tone Boutique".

    MARKETING MOCK UP:

    Tone Boutique
    
    Recognizable classic guitar tones in an AUv3 app.
    Forget tweaking 40 knobs. Just Plug in and Make Music. 
    
    SPECS:
    
    No cables required (uses the IOS internal buses for connectivity)
    Shipping weight = 0 lbs. (Actually too low to measure. Some quantity of electrons.)
    Power Consumption = 10-80% of your CPU *Device/Tone dependent
    
    NOTE: Multiple instances may throw your DAW's "circuit breaker".
    
    Reviewer's comment: "I made 3 tracks in the first hour after purchase. Didn't touch any knobs except the Bass control. Can you have enough Bass?"
    

    I can report that the Tones are very useful "out of the box" and in an AUv3 form factor I can
    totally F'em up, bigly. Works well on any Synth or AUv3/IAA app in a suitable DAW.

    Note to self... test DAW's today.

  • @flo26 said:
    Sometimes,using something in another way than what it’s intended for can be a good thing 😉.
    But i understand your view.

    I agree. I plan to release a different plugin for doing what you are doing there. It will have more options for you to adjust the way the amp saga and compresses. For this plugin I want it to work well by itself.

    If your only serious complaint is the speaker cab sounding artificial, I think we can fix that. And if the tone on some presets is too scooped, too much gain, etc., that can easily be fixed by making a similar preset with less gain, no mid scoop, etc. Let me know what you think it needs and I will work on it.

  • @kgmessier said:

    @flo26 said:
    @Blue_Mangoo ,
    Just as an example,crunch modern sounds as if i had put a wah pedal in front of the and in a fixed position’
    You see what i mean?
    Doesn’t sound like a guitar amp equalization to my ears.

    I also found that the default equalization sounds notched, particularly with the more gainy presets. I'm using FabFilter Pro-Q 3 to even out the EQ.

    @Blue_Mangoo, on the IR front, what if you had a toggle to turn on/off the mic/cab section? That way users could add IR following the Gain Stage app.

    Regarding the two knob rows, input and output: Do those relate to preamplifier and power amplifier stages, respectively? I tried toying with the "input" and "output" levels to see what sort of gain characteristic changes I'd get.

    I like the UI a lot, but I do see that the knobs in the input row are slightly off-center; I think they need to be moved up slightly to center with the level indicator rings.

    The "mono to stereo" effect is very cool—reminds me of the "Natural width" setting in the Haaze 2 plugin.

    @kgmessier said:

    @Blue_Mangoo said:
    I reported this error to the dev that does the UI layout. He measured it and showed me that both the top and bottom rows of knobs are centered correctly. But because the background colour matches the highlight colour on the knobs, it looks like the too row is shifted down. Im not sure how to correct that.

    That may be true, but if so, I would see that shifting in the bottom-row knobs as well.

    The bottom row has a darker background colour

  • @McD said:
    @Blue_Mangoo, Can I disclose the App's name?

    I can see where your headed, I think. This is NOT an Amp Sim product.

    An Amp Sim has specific design attributes that make it a guitar rig workflow replacement
    with every knob replicated for tweaking. Some buyers just use them to become expert knob
    adjusters and rarely play any music. Just makes cool tones.

    This is a "Tone Boutique".

    MARKETING MOCK UP:

    Tone Boutique
    
    Recognizable classic guitar tones in an AUv3 app.
    Forget tweaking 40 knobs. Just Plug in and Make Music. 
    
    SPECS:
    
    No cables required (uses the IOS internal buses for connectivity)
    Shipping weight = 0 lbs. (Actually too low to measure. Some quantity of electrons.)
    Power Consumption = 10-80% of your CPU *Device/Tone dependent
    
    NOTE: Multiple instances may throw your DAW's "circuit breaker".
    
    Reviewer's comment: "I made 3 tracks in the first hour after purchase. Didn't touch any knobs except the Bass control. Can you have enough Bass?"
    

    I can report that the Tones are very useful "out of the box" and in an AUv3 form factor I can
    totally F'em up, bigly. Works well on any Synth or AUv3/IAA app in a suitable DAW.

    Note to self... test DAW's today.

    Thanks ;)

    Yes, you may disclose anything you like. No secrets here.

  • edited January 2020

    @Blue_Mangoo ,as you asked...
    A demo in which i use your app as a booster with a marshall plexi (vstomp hd).
    A without and with comparison.
    I use several of your presets.
    A little bit off topic but....

  • @Blue_Mangoo said:
    The bottom row has a darker background colour

    Ah yes, I see it now. Interesting effect.

  • @Blue_Mangoo said:
    If your only serious complaint is the speaker cab sounding artificial, I think we can fix that. And if the tone on some presets is too scooped, too much gain, etc., that can easily be fixed by making a similar preset with less gain, no mid scoop, etc. Let me know what you think it needs and I will work on it.

    How many presets do you want to have nailed down before you release the beast?

    If you make a set to please @flo26 you will have a lot of happy buyers and a small
    group of "This is NOT as good as ---------. Save your money." reviews. Those reviews can
    help if ---------------- sounds bad or is too expensive as a substitute.

    For my needs it's worth more than the $100+ I have spent on Amplitube and ToneStack.
    It rivals my Joyo Amp Sim pedals (Fender and Vox models) with no extra cables or batteries. Makes packing easier. Fits in my carry on.

  • @kgmessier said:

    @flo26 said:
    @Blue_Mangoo ,
    Just as an example,crunch modern sounds as if i had put a wah pedal in front of the and in a fixed position’
    You see what i mean?
    Doesn’t sound like a guitar amp equalization to my ears.

    I also found that the default equalization sounds notched, particularly with the more gainy presets. I'm using FabFilter Pro-Q 3 to even out the EQ.

    They are indeed notched. I am not a high-gain player. To my ears most high gain tones are too harsh. I notched them to avoid that. I was listening to John Petrucci of dream theatre when I designed the high gain amps. his amp is always heavily mid scooped and Since I was following him, thats what we have. However, I understand that when you need to cut through in the mix, you need a mid-heavy tone that doesn’t necessarily sound good when you hear it without the bass guitar and drums.

    I would appreciate it if you or other readers who depend on high gain tones would post here a link to a video that shows the kind of high gain tone you want to have. As long as I have a model to work towards, I think we will get the tone you are looking for. It would be most helpful if you can find a video where the guitarist is playing alone without the band, but still recording with good sound quality.

    @Blue_Mangoo, on the IR front, what if you had a toggle to turn on/off the mic/cab section? That way users could add IR following the Gain Stage app.

    I am considering this.

    Regarding the two knob rows, input and output: Do those relate to preamplifier and power amplifier stages, respectively? I tried toying with the "input" and "output" levels to see what sort of gain characteristic changes I'd get.

    The Input stage controls sit before the tube stages, like the tone controls on an amp do.

    The output stage controls sit after the power amp. That’s something that usually doesn't exist in real amplifiers. It’s similar to the kind effect you get by swapping in a different speaker cab or repositioning the mic.

  • @Blue_Mangoo said:

    @espiegel123 said:
    @Blue_Mangoo : +1 for glyphs to go to the next or previous amp type. Can program change or a MIDI Cc switch sim type? I don't have my iPad at hand. Are the params all accessible by MIDI?

    A midi controllable level boost or A/B switch would be useful to switch between two settings per preset. So that when can switch between solo and non-solo
    level/tone.

    I don’t like the way many AU plugins are replicating features that more logically belong in the host amp rather than the plugin. Specifically, I do not want to see an effect plugin responding to MIDI control because that creates a conflict between the AU3 parameters and the MIDI parameters. You have two ways to control every setting and its complicated to ensure that after you change the settings via MIDI they still save properly when you save the project in the host app.

    So... I want this plugin to be controlled either via touching the screen or by the host app modulating the AU parameters. If you want to A/B switch between settings, I prefer to do that by switching presets in the host or by muting/soloing a separate track for each tone setup.

    I would like to do a standalone guitar effects app later on that would respond to MIDI and save its own presets but those are features that belong in a standalone app, not a plugin.

    I wish you would reconsider at least about each preset having an A and B setting that you can toggle between -- with the same parameter (be it an AU parameter controlled by MIDI or a direct MIDI parameter) as it is a pretty essential function for an amp. That is different than switching between different presets. For any amp you want a reliable way to toggle between its solo and non-solo setup.

    Setting up different presets and then having to switch between them is going to be messy -- because you are going to have to set up two different presets for each "setup" that you want to use and then remember what program change command is needed to change between them. By contrast, if the plugin itself simply has an A/B toggle, you can use the same command/pedal to switch between solo and non-solo tone for each preset.

    It would make a world of difference in usability for a guitar player. (There is a reason why channel switching via pedal on amps is such a critical feature to guitar players.

  • @flo26 said:
    @Blue_Mangoo ,as you asked...
    A demo in which i use your app as a booster with a marshall plexi (vstomp hd).
    A without and with comparison.
    I use several of your presets.
    A little bit off topic but....

    I see what you are looking for. This is a good tone. I’ll work on adding some presets.

  • edited January 2020

    @Blue_Mangoo said:

    @kgmessier said:

    @flo26 said:
    @Blue_Mangoo ,
    Just as an example,crunch modern sounds as if i had put a wah pedal in front of the and in a fixed position’
    You see what i mean?
    Doesn’t sound like a guitar amp equalization to my ears.

    I also found that the default equalization sounds notched, particularly with the more gainy presets. I'm using FabFilter Pro-Q 3 to even out the EQ.

    They are indeed notched. I am not a high-gain player. To my ears most high gain tones are too harsh. I notched them to avoid that. I was listening to John Petrucci of dream theatre when I designed the high gain amps. his amp is always heavily mid scooped and Since I was following him, thats what we have. However, I understand that when you need to cut through in the mix, you need a mid-heavy tone that doesn’t necessarily sound good when you hear it without the bass guitar and drums.

    I would appreciate it if you or other readers who depend on high gain tones would post here a link to a video that shows the kind of high gain tone you want to have. As long as I have a model to work towards, I think we will get the tone you are looking for. It would be most helpful if you can find a video where the guitarist is playing alone without the band, but still recording with good sound quality.

    @Blue_Mangoo, on the IR front, what if you had a toggle to turn on/off the mic/cab section? That way users could add IR following the Gain Stage app.

    I am considering this.

    Regarding the two knob rows, input and output: Do those relate to preamplifier and power amplifier stages, respectively? I tried toying with the "input" and "output" levels to see what sort of gain characteristic changes I'd get.

    The Input stage controls sit before the tube stages, like the tone controls on an amp do.

    The output stage controls sit after the power amp. That’s something that usually doesn't exist in real amplifiers. It’s similar to the kind effect you get by swapping in a different speaker cab or repositioning the mic.

    Here is an example.he talks a lot but listen to the whole thing’
    Precision,clarity,gain,but still very precise.Very epressive.
    The guitar player is also fantastic,isn’t he 😉?

  • @McD said:

    @Blue_Mangoo said:
    If your only serious complaint is the speaker cab sounding artificial, I think we can fix that. And if the tone on some presets is too scooped, too much gain, etc., that can easily be fixed by making a similar preset with less gain, no mid scoop, etc. Let me know what you think it needs and I will work on it.

    How many presets do you want to have nailed down before you release the beast?

    If you make a set to please @flo26 you will have a lot of happy buyers and a small
    group of "This is NOT as good as ---------. Save your money." reviews. Those reviews can
    help if ---------------- sounds bad or is too expensive as a substitute.

    For my needs it's worth more than the $100+ I have spent on Amplitube and ToneStack.
    It rivals my Joyo Amp Sim pedals (Fender and Vox models) with no extra cables or batteries. Makes packing easier. Fits in my carry on.

    Thanks.

    I think the tone flo is looking for is something that should reasonably added. I know we can’t please everyone but I would like to cover a wider range of useful tones than what we currently have.

  • @Blue_Mangoo said:

    @flo26 said:
    Sometimes,using something in another way than what it’s intended for can be a good thing 😉.
    But i understand your view.

    I agree. I plan to release a different plugin for doing what you are doing there. It will have more options for you to adjust the way the amp saga and compresses. For this plugin I want it to work well by itself.

    If your only serious complaint is the speaker cab sounding artificial, I think we can fix that. And if the tone on some presets is too scooped, too much gain, etc., that can easily be fixed by making a similar preset with less gain, no mid scoop, etc. Let me know what you think it needs and I will work on it.

    Granted I only spent a couple of hours with it. I enjoyed playing with it by itself but found that I enjoyed it much more when putting a compressor (Magic Death Eye) in front of it, a reverb after it, and oftentimes (though it varied) an IR.

    It didn't bother me to need to use some additional tools to get a nice sound. But, if the goal is to have this be entirely self-contained without such help, I think there is work to be done. I think you are underestimating what a good cabinet IR (however imperfect they are at modeling the glorious defects of real speakers which certainly adds character) brings to the tone. Those early reflections aren't just early room reflections, they also are resonances in the cabinet which result in some subtle changes in sound over their brief duration.

  • @espiegel123 said:

    @Blue_Mangoo said:

    @flo26 said:
    Sometimes,using something in another way than what it’s intended for can be a good thing 😉.
    But i understand your view.

    I agree. I plan to release a different plugin for doing what you are doing there. It will have more options for you to adjust the way the amp saga and compresses. For this plugin I want it to work well by itself.

    If your only serious complaint is the speaker cab sounding artificial, I think we can fix that. And if the tone on some presets is too scooped, too much gain, etc., that can easily be fixed by making a similar preset with less gain, no mid scoop, etc. Let me know what you think it needs and I will work on it.

    Granted I only spent a couple of hours with it. I enjoyed playing with it by itself but found that I enjoyed it much more when putting a compressor (Magic Death Eye) in front of it, a reverb after it, and oftentimes (though it varied) an IR.

    It didn't bother me to need to use some additional tools to get a nice sound. But, if the goal is to have this be entirely self-contained without such help, I think there is work to be done. I think you are underestimating what a good cabinet IR (however imperfect they are at modeling the glorious defects of real speakers which certainly adds character) brings to the tone. Those early reflections aren't just early room reflections, they also are resonances in the cabinet which result in some subtle changes in sound over their brief duration.

    I don’t think entirely self contained is possible without adding more effects. The way you are using it is basically what I intended. It has some simple reverb but if you want something bigger then you should be using an external reverb, as you are. And if you need compression... there is no compressor in the plugin so you will need an external compressor. The whole point of using an audio unit for a guitar amp should be to allow you to mix and match effects.

    However, at this beta testing stage, I want to identify places where we need to improve the plugin before release. So if you are using magic death eye not as a compressor but as a way to “fix” something that isnt right about the amp tone, then I would like to hear an example of the sound you are trying to get so I can get something like it added into the app.

  • @espiegel123 said:

    @Blue_Mangoo said:

    @espiegel123 said:
    @Blue_Mangoo : +1 for glyphs to go to the next or previous amp type. Can program change or a MIDI Cc switch sim type? I don't have my iPad at hand. Are the params all accessible by MIDI?

    A midi controllable level boost or A/B switch would be useful to switch between two settings per preset. So that when can switch between solo and non-solo
    level/tone.

    I don’t like the way many AU plugins are replicating features that more logically belong in the host amp rather than the plugin. Specifically, I do not want to see an effect plugin responding to MIDI control because that creates a conflict between the AU3 parameters and the MIDI parameters. You have two ways to control every setting and its complicated to ensure that after you change the settings via MIDI they still save properly when you save the project in the host app.

    So... I want this plugin to be controlled either via touching the screen or by the host app modulating the AU parameters. If you want to A/B switch between settings, I prefer to do that by switching presets in the host or by muting/soloing a separate track for each tone setup.

    I would like to do a standalone guitar effects app later on that would respond to MIDI and save its own presets but those are features that belong in a standalone app, not a plugin.

    I wish you would reconsider at least about each preset having an A and B setting that you can toggle between -- with the same parameter (be it an AU parameter controlled by MIDI or a direct MIDI parameter) as it is a pretty essential function for an amp. That is different than switching between different presets. For any amp you want a reliable way to toggle between its solo and non-solo setup.

    Setting up different presets and then having to switch between them is going to be messy -- because you are going to have to set up two different presets for each "setup" that you want to use and then remember what program change command is needed to change between them. By contrast, if the plugin itself simply has an A/B toggle, you can use the same command/pedal to switch between solo and non-solo tone for each preset.

    It would make a world of difference in usability for a guitar player. (There is a reason why channel switching via pedal on amps is such a critical feature to guitar players.

    I see what you mean. However, this is quite problematic for an AU because we have to provide a way for the host app to save the settings for both the A and B configuration. That means doubling the number of audio unit parameters AND adding the A/B switch. I agree that this would be really useful but it just doesn’t seem appropriate for an audio unit plugin to be designed like that.

  • McDMcD
    edited January 2020

    I think it's ready to ship with the presets you have *'ed. Just commit to providing more in updates.

    Don't make this a Drambo app. It's really solid now. Just name 'em and let the buyers send tone requests for updates. Then every update will truly be an event that triggers more sales.

    "The new phone books are here." - Steve Martin in "The Jerk."
    I know...

    Q: "What's a phone book?"
    A: "It's that thick wad of paper under the kitchen table leg. 'Cause the trailer is not level."

    Friggin' developers are always the bottleneck. You're fired.

  • Well, I tried it a lot today, and I have mixed feelings about it. Apart from the cabinet question just reported from others, I think you need to implement a few more fxs if you want a “standalone” app for guitarists. I can’t live without a good tape delay, a comp, a chorus, an overdrive, a tremolo, and a spring reverb. iOS totally lacks of a decent spring reverb.

    But guitarists are like children: they love toys, colored die cast little boxes at their feet. I really will not buy a real amp with all in the box. Never. So, my choice should be, just a good two channels amp, with a great cabinet section, and a great spring reverb (and the awesome mono to stereo fx). Dot.

    I don’t like the two different EQs. I like simplicity, one eq is enough for my taste, apart when you use a 2 channels amp. I miss the presence knob, but I’m a quite old style guy.

    I don’t like a “all around” amp emu either. I prefer one single kind of amp per app. I don’t know if you know the Kuassa amps in the desktop world. I love their implementations. One plugin for clean, one for crunch, one for heavy sounds. They look awesome, costs fairly and sound great. I’d love to have something similar on iOS.

  • @Blue_Mangoo said:

    Yes. You’re right. I am not thinking of these presets strictly as amp models.

    That’s one of the reasons I like it. It doesn’t have to sound like the usual lineup of 50-year-old amp designs to sound good! I love that it’s simple, easy to tweak, and has three or four presets that sound just great out of the box.

    I’m looking forward to applying it to recorded guitars in some beatmaker projects.

  • Spent a couple of hours with it last night, and overall I'm kind of "meh" on this one. Kind of reminds of of when Klevgrand came out with Stark. There was a lot of initial hype, but when I sat down to play it I just wasn't getting tones that inspired me to play. I realize that's not easy to track down and fix, but it's the kind of thing that's hard to nail down and put into words.

    I agree with @Faland about the two different EQs. I'm used to having just a single tone stack on a guitar amp, and the interactions between the two EQs make it very non-intuitive to try to dial in what I'm looking for. The flexibility may allow you to get there, but I got frustrated in trying to replicate tones.

    For example, I wasn't able to get a good high gain sound for palm muted bridge humbucker riffs with any of the presets. With something like AmpKit, I pick a JCM800 or JCM900 model, turn up the gain with the tone pretty flat, and I'm 95% of the way there. With Gain Stage I never got close with any of the high gain models no matter how I tweaked the EQ. The intro to something like White Zombie's Thunder Kiss '65 has an isolated guitar sound like what I'm looking for.

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