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I can confirm this, and I think I figured out what the bug is. When I strike a note and it dissipates, I can already faintly hear the harmonic distortion as early as -27db or -30db. And it’s certainly more disproportionally prominent at -45db or -55db. When playing regularly that harmonic is obscured by the louder signal. And yes turning up the output on my headphones makes it more obvious when the input signal is softer. Most importantly, the harmonic distortion is exactly the note that’s being played or tapped, so it’s not a random note. And it is directly related to the tone knob, since maxing out the tone knob only brings it out more. I’m confident that the bug is that no matter where the Gain knob is set, there’s another Max Gain signal bleeding into the Tone knob. Because when you max out the gain knob it is exactly the sound of that harmonic, just louder. You will hear this by keeping the gain at noon and maxing out the tone knob. It’s the faint tone of a Max Gain dual signal. I think that’s what’s going on.
@JoyceRoadStudios @flo26 : I've sent a note to the developer.
Thanks!
Just downloaded this for my Mac and the same glitch happens with the AU. Hope the dev can fix it soon - I have one of the better Klones to compare it with. (Don't have $5000 to get a real one!)
@espiegel123 this will probably get you somewhat closer to that Rush Hour tone.
This pedal gets closer than I've got with anything else. I find the issue with low level signals having that artifact largely avoidable so far the pluses outweigh the minuses as I haven't found another virtual pedal that achieves that sort of sweet distortion and also retains the guitar's tone so well.
How does it compare to your Klone?
Haven't had time for a proper play of this, but here's a quick Rush Hour tone. My initial feeling is it sounds good and usable - and it's free! Don't really think it sounds like my pedal, but we'll see - my pedals have been packed away for about a year now, time to dust them off.
Nice clip! I am not sure if you heard it, I think I get pretty close to the Rush Hour tone with some of the settings in the YouTube clip I posted up-thread.
My latest attempt at the tone, using Centaur and Cali
Sounds good! Bit too much bass - that's the Cali, normally dial the bass right off.
Good point. Thanks.
I also feel like I need to spend some time figuring out the specific range of high-mids that open things up without being too bright.
**EDIT: The link below may lead to an old beta that you don’t want to use. Make sure it says 1.3.4 or later before downloading. **
**UPDATE 2: ** TestFlight now is showing the correct version: 1.3.4.
The Chow Centaur developer asked me to post a link to the public beta for Centaur. He has posted a beta that addresses the disproportionate harmonic distortion with low level signals. To my (old) ears, it sounds like he has nailed it — it would be great to have some more ears on it:
https://testflight.apple.com/join/JFh8At83
@flo26: give it a whirl
Warning! The link above will result in a download of an outdated beta. Don’t download it! I am letting the dev know that the public beta link has the wrong software!
UPDATE! The correct version (1.3.4) should now be available from the link.
@espiegel123 just got an auto update for the new new beta, so all should be good.
YES YES YES! This is it, it sounds so good, background harmonic tone fixed, this emulation is really quiet compared to other distortion apps. It sounds sweet saturated at noons and sweet fire with gain and tone maxed. I love it. I ran it in th-u with the “special DVMark” preset and then with the Nembrini Vox beta and the Bst100. “Traditional” mode is something special, when maxed it reminds me of a warmer less compressed Mesa Boogie lead tone that’s also low cut, it’s really in the slot. LOVE.
beta 1.3.5 is out now (just visual enhancements).
When set subtle, ChowCentaur is a fairly transparent signal boost with slight saturation. With the Gain and Tone knobs maxed, it sounds like the kind of fire you want to bathe in. This is in the “Traditional” mode. The “Neural” mode is brighter, and really sharp when maxed out, reminding me of other prickly distortion apps. I prefer the darker and warmer sound of the traditional mode, and it feels really good under the fingers.
The original Klon Centaur is a lot of hype, some of which is well deserved considering the unique design features in the circuitry for the time, it started the whole boutique overdrive pedal craze, and there have been many great boutique pedals since then, as well as clones (Klones?). I’ve never heard one in person, but I can say that this emulation is the right kind of OD/Dist for me. It really nails the warm hard rock rhythm sound and the lo cut but rich and warm lead sound. And it doesn’t particularly fart out, it’s very articulate probably because of the dual path design where the clean tone gets mixed into the overdrive as you turn up the pedal. It’s quite responsive to picking dynamics, and I don’t find anything particularly digital about it. In that same “analog” vein I also love Nembrini Boss as an equally great pedal with a different flavor. Where the Boss nails that Marshall JCM lead channel sound, the ChowCentaur gets me closer to that 1991 Peavy/Mesa sound like luke warm lava.
I assume plenty of people will use this as a subtle signal boost and overdrive, but I have to say my favorite sound here is “Traditional” with the Gain and Tone knobs completely maxed. Most impressively, I was putting it in front of Nembrini and TH-U amps that were already set into overdrive, and it performed magnificently.
I really love the new update!
My only complaint is that the Centaur logo is red instead of the iconic gold:
This may seem like a minor thing to most, but as a graphic designer, matching the icon color to the app’s predominant color unifies the presentation. When searching for Centaur in AUM or elsewhere, the matching gold color would provide an instant color cue that would subconsciously connect the icon to the app.
If anyone with the developer’s contact information would pass that on, it would be appreciated.
You can contact them through their website
https://chowdsp.com/
But that is the company icon, you are talking about, I think. He may want the icons from his other plugins to share the same company icon/theme.
Cool @espiegel123. Thanks!
Hi all! Thanks to @espiegel123 and @SNystrom for telling me about this forum!
Glad you all are enjoying the Klon emulation! As a rather beginner guitarist myself, I don't think I fully appreciated some of the finer points of how the plugin can affect your tone, so it's been very cool learning more about that from reading this thread.
Thanks also to some of the "golden ears" on here for noticing the harmonic distortion at low levels. I probably would not have noticed that on my own, but I definitely like the sound better now that the issue has been fixed.
Speaking of, I have pushed a new version containing the bug fix up to the app store, and (pending review) it should be available pretty soon.
Thanks to all of you for trying this plugin! I hope to be releasing more plugins for iOS in the future
.
Thanks,
Jatin
Congrats on the launch, Jatin!
For those who are interested, here is the complete list of plugins he has created thus far:
https://chowdsp.com/products.html
@chowdsp Welcome to the forum! 🤟
@chowdsp Hi Jatin! Considering how far iOS music and apps have come in the last few years, it is remarkable that you low key released a free Klon emulation that’s now one of the best overdrive plugins on any platform. For me it is one of maybe four or five OD/Dist/Fuzz plugins total that matter on iOS and that I plan to use regularly. Looking forward to your future releases!
We’re hoping Jatin is soon able to release a Tip Jar IAP for all of us to support his awesome work!
Make us pay!
@chowdsp thansk for the Klon,
And... Please port Chowtape And Matrix to iOS!! (Not for free of course!!)
Thanks @chowdsp for this really great Klon emulation!
For comparison, here's a clip of a Klone going thru Nembrini's CaliReverb - it's not quite the same but you can get a similar tone from the ChowCentaur.
(For those who are interested, I've tried several Klones and the one I settled on can be found here - comes with magical unicorn tears and fairy dust!)
Yeah that sounds really good. I particularly love that unmistakable “sizzle and clank” of a proper strat style pickup and board, and it seems like the Klone/Cali pairing shows it off really well.
I haven’t played too much with the Chow at subtler settings, but I love how it sounds with Gain/Tone maxed out, both in front of a clean sim and an already driven one. A great hard rock rhythm and lead tone and feel. The SNR on the Chow is remarkable compared to most other pedals sims on iOS.
Need to get around to trying this. Welcome @chowdsp The Chow Matrix looks awesome, would love a port of that to iOS.
New update has been released:
Fixed the weird harmonic distortion issue and the color-themed icon now makes it easier to find in AUM and other DAWs.
Thanks, Jatin!
Another Chow Centaur example. This is the same riff presented with Centaur bypassed and then at a range of settings to give a sense of the pedal’s range. Stacking them can be cool, too.