You mention compression when talking about IRs but I don't think there is any compression in FIR filters. From what I know they behave linearly and they only alter the frequency content of the input signal.
He probably mispoke, yeah. FIR filters can only replicate static delays and EQing, but not compression (or pitch shift, or distortion for that matter).
The EQ processing from AnyAmpIR is kind of like a high resolution dynamic compression, that's why I mentioned compression. -- This is where I said wrong about the IR, in short IR is a complex EQ with phase modulation, the compression capture part is only burned into this complex EQ, working as a static linear eq eventually, hope people who read this comment can understand 😅 But anyway, this doesn't affect that a good IR will make the guitar sound great.
@@playpm IRs can be used to perform EQ, which is an important part of "amp tone" as you said. IR captures frequency amplitude and phasing changes. It's a representation in time of the frequency response of a measured system (here, the tonestack of an amp).
I don't usually comment on videos but congrats on doing these videos and these plugins. I come from a physics background and what you say makes absolute sense. Signature sounds from amps are just a combination of very simple modifications to the sound. I feel like the music world is just like the wine-tasting world. Lots of people will like a specific wine because of the price tag associated with it. Good wine is a wine you like. It doesn't have to be a $1000 bottle. Good sound is a sound you like. It doesn't have to be a $1000 plugin preset. I've been chasing plugins for years. Now I just use Ableton stock and nothing else. Any DAW is fine. Just make music.
If you haven't seen ti there's another youtube that demystifies famous amps by using pedals, preamps and speakers to analyze where the sound of an amp really comer from as well as even from guitars, if any parts other than the pickups affect the sound
Its almost imposible to find such level of intelligence and sharpness in the crazy and absurd world of music gear, thank you for your amazing videos !! Cheers from South America !!
Dude. Your free plugins are what I have been searching for. This is not an exaggeration. I'm using AnyAmpIR as a convolver and it really works like a charm for my Dubstep production. And your AASampler is capable of micro sampling, allowing me to make versatile sounds with MIDI. You are seriously underrated.
Amazing work and thank you very much for sharing this for free! I'll try to clarifying FIR/compression/distortion topic since I have a background in this: 1- FIR is linear, if you boost the input signal by a coefficient the output will be boosted by the same amount while keeping the ratios of output frequencies wrt. each other the same. 2- While FIR is captured from a real amp the compression/distortion characteristics are embedded into the FIR but only that that input level. 3- A simulation based solely on FIR will not act like a real amp in some ways. In this case, changes in the input volume would result a real amp to compress/distort the signal differently whereas this simulation will just output the same signal but at different amplitudes. A more clear example would be that if you boost an input signal (consisting of a single frequency and at the same level as the signal used to record the FIR) by a coefficient C, Input_Signal * C => AnyAmpIR => Output_AAIR it won't be the same signal as if you boosted the input on a real amp Input_Signal * C => Real_Amp => Output_RA_Premul != Output_AAIR However, it will be the same signal as if you boosted the output signal of the real amp by the same coefficient: Input_Signal => Real_Amp => Output_RA, Output_RA * C => Output_RA_Postmul == Output_AAIR Note that this part is key: (consisting of a single frequency and at the same level as the signal used to record the FIR) Because any real music you'll play on your guitar will have multiple frequencies at different levels, and since FIR is a linear system you can apply the principle of superposition which tells us that you will not get the "exact" output as the real amp because some components of your input signal are already getting "scaled" (or compressed if you will) as if they were at one level while the real amp would scale them differently as they're at a different level. Note that just because you don't get the "exact" output of a real amp doesn't mean that it's not going to sound great. Use your ears!
Spot on dude. I have only one concern, you seem a little stressed out but I understand your frustration at these software companies. Just chill dude. You Rock.😊
Your sense of humor and deadpan timing is comedy gold, thanks for such a good laugh well also being informative. I use mainly waves and auburn sounds plugins and at times it boggles my brain with the complexities tho i do love the results they could take your approach and be a whole lot easier. Deffinatly gunna give your ampsims a shot for sure after this.
16:06 is so darn important. As a vst user buying gear/ hardware here and there I always watch reviews and think "but doesn't 'X' plugin do this same thing???" For example lot of granular pedals (delay, reverb, etc.) can be perfectly; and I mean perfectly recreated within your DAW with free or really really inexpensive plugins that are great. Some really really pricey pedals etc can be replicated perfectly with stock plugins. And one really cool exercise I recommend people doing is going out of their way to try and replicate the gear, etc with their plugins/ what you already have. Along the way you may end up making something that you personally like more than 'X' shiny thing.
Yo my dude, Michael. Your content is IMPRESSIVELY useful and helpful. It's also GOOD-NATURED, FRIENDLY and laid-back as well as CONCISE, TO-THE-POINT…and basically the embodiment of what we all need more of. Thanks so much! I just bought the AMP app…I probably should have "tipped" you instead..not exactly sure how all your revenue streams break down, but point being, threw a couple bucks to you today just for being you. Please continue to be just that!
This is awesome. Also a good idea to throw an eq before the distortion, as that can change the nature of the distortion. Removing bass before distortion gives a tighter sound - better for very high gain.
Okay, to elaborate a bit more, I'll deal with the "Where does the Tone in an amp come from" thing first, and then the "Bad Monkey/Klon" thing The experiment with the amps used a pretty high quality "Tube like" Overdrive, and several of them, stacked with several EQs. The interaction with different frequencies being distorted at different stages is a big part of what creates the final sound - to recreate this in a DAW you'd have to stack a lot of different overdrives and EQs, and of course a cranked tube/like poweramp particularly and some drive pedals are going to add quite a bit of compression. When I talk about "Tube like" overdrives, this is kind of important. Getting into the second point, the Bad Monkey is actually a "Good" Overdrive pedal. It's based off the Tube Screamer circuit with expanded EQ, while not everyone is the biggest fan of the Tubescreamer(including myself to an extent - I prefer the Boss SD-1 variant, the TS is in of itself a variant of the OD-1) a lot of that is down to the tone stack, the circuit is actually pretty clever. Even "Non Tubescreamer" overdrives like the Klon still took a lot of influence from it, which is why there's a lot of overlap. Because people have a particular idea of what an "Overdrive pedal" sounds like, there is always going to be overlap there. Of course - the same psychology works in reverse here - a lot of these videos are setting up the expectation for you to focus on the similarities, as opposed to the differences that a lot of amp and pedal makers emphasise. When you sit down and play a lot of these amps, you are gonna notice the more subtle differences. Now the question is - do those subtle differences equate to *better* or worse? There's a similar case with the amps, in that VIntage Fender, Marshall and Vox amps preamp wise at least had a lot of overlap. Marshalls were essentially modded bassmans to begin with. The final speaker is going to be *huge* in shaping the sound - connecting a hifi speaker to a guitar preamp to most people is going to sound like shit, unless you're going for that industrial tone. Yes, it is just EQ, but it can be a balancing act - Guitar speakers are essentially "Lofi" in that they act as both hi and low pass filters(among other things), focusing the mids and generally making sure none of those really high highs get out - that's a big part of what differentiates guitar overdrive/distortion from the clipping we don't like in our DAWs. This is of course, a great place to use IRs since they can replicate these complex EQs, and the various different takes and compromises made by the speakers & cabinets to create it. Going back to the idea of distortion for guitar vs. generic clipping - in reality, no, there aren't as many *Good* overdrives and distortions as you might thing. Fancier ones tend to be pretty dynamic systems. To a degree, they figured out a lot of this with the Tubescreamer and other early-ish overdrives, but that was over 15 years of hectic technological research and evolution after the first solid state amps(1961 for the first SS guitar amp, 62 for the first fuzz pedal, vs 1977 for the Boss OD-1, the first "Tubescreamer") . That's not to say you still can't get cool sounds with regular clipping and some EQ/low pass filtering, afterall that's what synth guys often go in for - but more often than not they use guitar/bass distortions or emulations thereof. I use a lot of cheap gear, a lot of modelers, so I'm not a cork sniffer and that's not so much why I'm saying this - but a great example of where you can run into issues here is not with guitar, but with Bass. Some guitar distortions are very popular with Bass like the RAT and Russian Big Muff, but when it comes to Overdrive? The RAT and Big Muffs are "Fuzztortions" rather than fully amp-like distortions(though they were "amp like" by early 70s SS standards), you're not using them to replicate the sound of a cranked SVT. A lot of guitar pedals tend to cut off the lows in a way you don't necessarily notice with guitar unless you're playing in low tunings(generally, lower than C). This can help tame the mud a bit, as the roll off starts to happen just about where the lowest lows live and you're probably familiar with how further highpassing tends to be done to make room for the bass and other instruments. Running a Bass through a guitar distortion that DOESN'T cut lows might sound muddy too, is the problem. It's a cool sound in of itself, but if you want articulate BAss Overdrive, that tends to come from dedicated circuits. If you run a Bass into a Tubescreamer, it doesn't sound like a Bass anymore. In fact, if you run a Bass through a Dynacomp, it'll probably sound less Bassy. Unless it's a Bass dynacomp. Clean blends can help but utlimately it's still blending with a less bassy signal so you're losing low end. This is where we need to talk about dynamics & how guitar and bass gear respond differently - some compressors and distortions will work great for both Guitar and Bass, others less so. Some Bass amps are very cool for Guitar tones, others end up having weird nasally artifacts, or being paradoxically either too fizzy on the high end or too muffled(Since there's a lot more variety here - depending on whether you want vintagey very warm bass tones or modern crispy slap tones - this is why I have a modeller!). A lot of that of course is still just EQ - but with the compressor, there's additional problems we run into. Bass frequencies are BIG. We're not as sensitive to them as higher frequencies. It's why you can get a lot of insanely loud small 5W Tube Amps but a 15 Watt Bass amp will probably struggle to be heard in a quiet pub - unless you're just deciding not to put that power into the low lows. Bass Compressors are going to treat the low end differently - transparent compressors tend to not affect the EQ much at all, but even then you still have the issue of how bass frequencies "Look" bigger to the compressor. So Bass Compressors will sometimes respond differently to it - maybe boosting the bass afterwards a little to make up, or in higher end compressors, having a Hi-Pass filter in the compressor chain itself - not added to the signal, just what the compressor "sees". I know that seems like a tangent, but it's just an example of how the dynamic systems in guitar & bass gear can be hard to replicate. You can have some multiband weirdness going on. Then you get into Fuzz pedals and how they have unique artifacts that you're not going to replicate just by tweaking EQ on a guitar amp, you start getting into synth territory in some cases with wavefolding, rectification etc. because some of these fuzzes were created with circuit bending they can react in unpredictable ways. There's even things modelers can't really replicate without a dedicated circuit, like the way the Fuzz Face turns into a clangy overdrive when you roll the volume back - something to do with Impedence, I don't fully understand it! That's not to say simple basic gear can't be great especially with the tweaking in the DAW. Just that there is some value in unique, purpose built gear, and reasons why people have so many different distortion pedals and plugins and amps. Personally though, I value uniqueness over "quality" - it's just a shame that for the most part for unique sounds you do tend to have to pay a lot - it's usually boutique brands like Chase Bliss or Old Blood Noise(a bit more affordable) that are making "New" effects. I do think that for the most part, quality Solid State gear and modelling is the way to go. I'm transitioning from a guitarist to a bassist. Tube snobs, blues lawyers and the like piss me off. Look up some old live videos of T-Rex, Marc Bolan's solid state guitar tone is one of my favourite live tones. But even in that amp that's basicallly a giant fuzz pedal into a poweramp(Hendrix would approve!), there is a bit more going on there than just what an IR can recreate. But - I think this is a great plugin. Guitarists in recent years have gotten pretty heavily into IRs, and for bassists - who are less picky and more willing to experiment to a degree - this is especially great. It's ALSO great for Synth players - Sylvia Massey is a big fan of reamping synths through amps in a studio to give them more complexity and warmth, and a good IR can capture most of that. So basically I'd think about how you're marketing this. I get the need to Clickbait to get your stuff out there, but focus on the plugins strengths rather than claiming it's a do-it-all.
you are simply amazing. Aside from the amp plug-in, I play with my fingers I'm 73 years old and I've just not been able to do the pic thing. That being said, I've gotten pretty good fingerpicking watching you play is very inspiring. Thanks for that and thanks for the plug-in, I will purchase the iOS version as well. You've got a big new fan. Thanks.
First, I love your vids and your brutal honesty and wit! Second, your English is great, man! One thing…you say “four ninety nine dollars”. Now, of course we get what you mean in context and you’re also showing the price on screen. It could be mistaken (only hearing your words) as $499 (four hundred and ninety nine dollars). Heh. What a native speaker would say would be “four dollars and ninety nine cents”. The ONLY reason I brought it up is because you seem to imagine that your English is terrible (which it is not), so it seems to be important to you. Also… “the link is in THE description” Again, thank you SO much for your entertaining content and plug ins. I played bass for a couple of decades, was always into synths. Could never afford them, so software was a blessing to me. Now I’m iPad only and so happy and love your sample player! Love and light to you!
I'm all for saving money, but the difference in tube amp distortion is in how the speaker/OT/tube impedance interacts to compress and distort the midrange more than the bass and treble. That has been emulated with SS components by a few designers, but is not commonly incorporated in distortion pedals. There's also the resonances, harmonic makeup and S-curve of various components to consider. FI, the S-curve of tubes is generally smoother than transistors, and tube types and brands vary in that respect. Beam tetrodes also generate weaker 3rd harmonic than Pentodes. Biasing also alters the odd to even harmonic make up, which can also be done with SS parts.
You're loading cabinet/speaker IRs into your loader, not 'amp IRs', that's why you only have clean tones, put an amp model in front of it and it will sound as intended
i have a macbook air early 2015 that basically has the same specs as yours, and it's really validating to see somebody using one too. i thought i was suffering alone
This is a really nice tool! I've had a lot of the same frustrations with amp sim / guitar-pre VST's: A bunch of eq and compression stuff where I just think "I already have all that stuff in other plugins that I already like to use and know how to use. I'm just looking for the actual fingerprint of the amp and the way it is mic'd up. The instant I started using this, I knew it would be perfect for me. Didn't take me long to start dropping in random short samples to play with the IR scheme. A cymbal sample sounds really interesting and sitar-like. In Ableton, you can drop samples in right from the sample browser in the DAW, and it still loads all the samples in the folder. Super intuitive and fast! 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏
Appreciated! I used to search things like this a lot but got no luck, so I had to do it myself. And I had a lot of fun playing while testing it 🎸 Btw it doesn't mess up your sample folders like Ableton, you know what I mean 😋
Great video! You just got a new subscriber. I fell into the gear and plugin trap and realized that, like most things, KISS principle holds true. Nicely done!
I remember when I started recording. Every single track was "new" and panned left only. Every single track I had to rewire every take. No control for defaults. Brain cells. Your "brain cells" is like the "emotional damage" meme. Keep being amazing!
Found this in another thread: "It’s been a while for me, but from what I remember, the feel of a tube amp moving all that air, the volume, the way that volume interacts with the guitar, the sustain from that interaction, the physical feeling of the back of your pants legs vibrating, the things in the room rattling….no recording will capture that. My opinion (just an opinion) is that’s what they may be talking about. The irony is that now, we can grab a Fractal modeler, and get a sound better than we could record that same amp. Will never replace that amp feeling though." -Pauly I guess this only applies to live performances, but maybe still needs to be mentioned in the context of this conversation?
Absolutely agree! EQ is the most powerful tool. The guy from Wampler Pedals has a pretty cool video where he replicated guitar tones (ones played through amps, cabs, pedals, etc) by using EQ on a direct input guitar signal. Thanks for sharing!
Michael you are super cool Japanese Man. Your sense of humour and cut through the BS simple approach is very ok! You are the new ninja saving money and time and brain cells... Hooowah chop! Subscribed!
@@playpm oh so sorry 😐 Love your humour and no nonsense style! It's funny how you admit to GAS but also caution how dangerous it is! Like a spider with his web... Is he not also trapped like the fly? ❓🤔🤔❓
I got a nice sound going on my Marshall amp, so I ran a sweep through it with REW software and a reference mic and used the results to make my own I-R. Then I tweaked a knob... rinse and repeat. My hat's off to anybody who makes a good amp sim.
I haven't seen Jim's video but i watched a great one by Aaron Rash about his journey replicating Nirvana's Nevermind tone, and he realized the same thing after spending lots of money.
Nevermind was just a Sansamp GT-2, DS-2 and Big Muff or RAT on occasion right? So mostly solid state stuff anyway. Bleach was a DS-1 into a Fender Twin(Not SS, but a mostly clean amp). I love the tone on Bleach, personally, it's really Doomy, I feel like the record is almost a Stoner Rock record. IIRC Kurt used Sunn Beta Leads live in the early lead, which have a similar sound to Bleach overall, but used the DS1 + Twin Combo since the Sunn was in the shop. There's definitely an overlap between early grunge and early stoner for sure.
Switched to this after getting fed up with Presonus Ampire. I love it. Sounds exactly like the AC15 that I used to use. It also takes pedals super well.
Breaking apart so many myths of the music world… this is the information people need to hear. Now they just need to go out and actually apply the information and get to WORK.
An Impulse Response can not replace an amp or an amp model. IR's aren't really for capturing amps. I've had this discussion before with a Helix Developer, and there is MAJOR limitations and drawbacks when using IR's for amps. This was a cool idea, but tbh this is bad information especially when you're saying Amp Sim plugins are just tricking you with different IR's. Amp Sim plugins are generally component modelling of the entire amplifier, with component tolerances, and non linearities. All the way through the input stage, preamp, effects loops, power amp, and output stage, every component is modelled. This is impossible with an IR. Using IR for amps would be like saying don't use Neve plugins, just use an IR of a Neve and it will work.. even though the transformers, saturation and eq isn't included... An Impulse Response can not replace an amp or an amp model. Even on "Clean" tones, guitar amps are still non linear, so notes that you play louder than others will have a difference in character, curve and harmonic content then the quieter ones. This is a big part of the "edge of break up" tones. This AnyAmpIR is basically just creating an Alternate DI box. It is capturing the EQ characteristics and time domain of a guitar amp chain but it will not react in any way like a guitar amp would. And it is only capturing the exact settings of the amp at the time the IR was taken. So.. Yes the EQ curve may be similar and the decay of the sound will be similar, but everything else is missing. I would call this "IRampDI" Don't stop using amp sims, there are lots of free options that will get you much more accurate amp like tones.
Personally I won't sacrifice my computer resources just for eq fine tuning on one track of guitar. Od/dist with eq into amp IR can already sound really good, I'll settle and move on. But to each their own.
@@playpm Come on.. I like some of your past videos and I don't like to hate on any content creators but this is simply bad information presented as a replacement or solution when it is FAR from it. You can't just pretend to know what you're talking about, create an IR loader, call it an Amp, make a video about it including false information on IR's, and then say it's fine because you prefer to use a terrible method to save resources on your computer.. Distributing bad information is dangerous because you're hurting the people who don't know any better, they will grow thinking false things about amp sims and form their future opinions based on bad information they've learned from you. You should address this in a follow up video, or remake this video with correct information and don't present it as a replacement for amp sims. In Logic and GarageBand the stock Pedals, Amp and Cabinets are very good with limited resources. You can also choose to bypass the cabinets (Click "Direct") and use a free IR loader if you want different cabinets at low processing power. Voxengo also has a great free amp plugin ("Boogex") which will use little resources with near zero latency, and it's able to load IR's too, while still behaving like a proper amp.. Plus so many others, just google it. These are options to replace paid amp sims, AnyAmpIR is not. Unless you seriously value computer resources over your sound quality. And if that's the case then there's no hope.. An IR can't have changing dynamic behaviour, saturation or non linearity in a single impulse. Some companies like Acustica have developed their own software to use IR's in tandem with DSP so they can use 1000's of IR's together replicating the changing curve of certain gear at every different position of each knob. (ex: Tone Knob at 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, etc) but you just can't use a single impulse to replace non linear gear. Even with 1000's of IR's they still need to use DSP to emulate the dynamic behaviour, saturation and non linearities of the unit they're emulating..
My sincerest gratitude for eternity dear lord of the poser destroyer!!! Blessings, on another note, I’d sacrificed 12 years from my life line to you, this world needs you to live longer! Doesn’t even bother me a bit! ❤❤❤❤❤
haha! Was just getting into electric guitaring with my computer pre-amp so that was perfect timing! This was exactly what i needed to hear though! thanks for sharing this man!
Great vid. Glad you mentioned Jim Lill. He's done some amazing work debunking the myths in the guitar world. Another great YY gear nerd who focuses more on the Metal side of things is Glenn Fricker @SpecterSoundStudio who is also a great proponent of demystifying all things "tone" related. Cheers!
I made some pretty cool metal with my £280 DI'd, budget, Randy Rhodes-style Jackson. More so than my £1200+ Ibanez. ANY guitar can be made to sound cool/innovative/powerful through VST manipulation, with a mind for mixing, as long as it's played well of course.
I'm glad you mentioned Jim Lil. I know synth heads got some GAS issues, but lemmie tell ya, nothing compares to the placebo wizardry that is guitar tone chasing...
@@playpm That's why I put EMGs in my Partscaster - the SPC knob alters the pickup sound so I can just keep using one guitar for everything... Unless I need a different tuning.
You mention compression when talking about IRs but I don't think there is any compression in FIR filters. From what I know they behave linearly and they only alter the frequency content of the input signal.
He probably mispoke, yeah. FIR filters can only replicate static delays and EQing, but not compression (or pitch shift, or distortion for that matter).
The EQ processing from AnyAmpIR is kind of like a high resolution dynamic compression, that's why I mentioned compression.
-- This is where I said wrong about the IR, in short IR is a complex EQ with phase modulation, the compression capture part is only burned into this complex EQ, working as a static linear eq eventually, hope people who read this comment can understand 😅
But anyway, this doesn't affect that a good IR will make the guitar sound great.
@@playpm What?? EQ is linear, there is nothing dynamic about it.
This is not an eq, it's IR convolution.
@@playpm IRs can be used to perform EQ, which is an important part of "amp tone" as you said. IR captures frequency amplitude and phasing changes. It's a representation in time of the frequency response of a measured system (here, the tonestack of an amp).
Dude is so minimalist, his guitar is just a pickguard
It is Asian efficiency 😊
I didn't notice that! Whoa!
😂😂😂
I thought you were joking. Lol
Hilarious!
I don't usually comment on videos but congrats on doing these videos and these plugins. I come from a physics background and what you say makes absolute sense. Signature sounds from amps are just a combination of very simple modifications to the sound.
I feel like the music world is just like the wine-tasting world. Lots of people will like a specific wine because of the price tag associated with it. Good wine is a wine you like. It doesn't have to be a $1000 bottle. Good sound is a sound you like. It doesn't have to be a $1000 plugin preset.
I've been chasing plugins for years. Now I just use Ableton stock and nothing else. Any DAW is fine. Just make music.
If you haven't seen ti there's another youtube that demystifies famous amps by using pedals, preamps and speakers to analyze where the sound of an amp really comer from as well as even from guitars, if any parts other than the pickups affect the sound
Its almost imposible to find such level of intelligence and sharpness in the crazy and absurd world of music gear, thank you for your amazing videos !! Cheers from South America !!
Greetings from China 🎸
Dude. Your free plugins are what I have been searching for. This is not an exaggeration. I'm using AnyAmpIR as a convolver and it really works like a charm for my Dubstep production. And your AASampler is capable of micro sampling, allowing me to make versatile sounds with MIDI. You are seriously underrated.
Glad you liked them, I don't like wasting people's time, including mine 🥂
there si no downloads just wav fikles i can play and download to hear them??
This guy is hilarious what a gem I love it
This is what good software design/programming looks like. Awesome work!
Such a breath of fresh air and wit! Congratulations and Hat tip for the incredible contribution to musicians and their art. Thanks Michael!
Incredible work Michael!
I love that your channel is turning a whole industry on its head.
Stay tuned, there will be more :)
Amazing work and thank you very much for sharing this for free! I'll try to clarifying FIR/compression/distortion topic since I have a background in this:
1- FIR is linear, if you boost the input signal by a coefficient the output will be boosted by the same amount while keeping the ratios of output frequencies wrt. each other the same.
2- While FIR is captured from a real amp the compression/distortion characteristics are embedded into the FIR but only that that input level.
3- A simulation based solely on FIR will not act like a real amp in some ways. In this case, changes in the input volume would result a real amp to compress/distort the signal differently whereas this simulation will just output the same signal but at different amplitudes.
A more clear example would be that if you boost an input signal (consisting of a single frequency and at the same level as the signal used to record the FIR) by a coefficient C,
Input_Signal * C => AnyAmpIR => Output_AAIR
it won't be the same signal as if you boosted the input on a real amp
Input_Signal * C => Real_Amp => Output_RA_Premul != Output_AAIR
However, it will be the same signal as if you boosted the output signal of the real amp by the same coefficient:
Input_Signal => Real_Amp => Output_RA, Output_RA * C => Output_RA_Postmul == Output_AAIR
Note that this part is key: (consisting of a single frequency and at the same level as the signal used to record the FIR)
Because any real music you'll play on your guitar will have multiple frequencies at different levels, and since FIR is a linear system you can apply the principle of superposition which tells us that you will not get the "exact" output as the real amp because some components of your input signal are already getting "scaled" (or compressed if you will) as if they were at one level while the real amp would scale them differently as they're at a different level.
Note that just because you don't get the "exact" output of a real amp doesn't mean that it's not going to sound great. Use your ears!
Truly a simple, efficient and extremely useful amp sim. Thank you again; been using your sampler since last fall and it's changed how I make music.
AASamplePlayer will get a big update soon, will change your workflow again, stay tuned~
You sir are a hero and gentleman. A gift to the world.
Spot on dude. I have only one concern, you seem a little stressed out but I understand your frustration at these software companies. Just chill dude. You Rock.😊
Your sense of humor and deadpan timing is comedy gold, thanks for such a good laugh well also being informative. I use mainly waves and auburn sounds plugins and at times it boggles my brain with the complexities tho i do love the results they could take your approach and be a whole lot easier. Deffinatly gunna give your ampsims a shot for sure after this.
Jim Lill's video about the where the sound from a guitar comes from is also very eye opening, in my opinion
Yeah, it's all about pickup and pickup position, although his video has a minor flaw about the pickup scale position imo, but still amazing.
I adore and respect your efficiency! Thanks for letting our devices work only on the tasks we need them to do! ❤
because thats also what I concider great engineering :)
this video is so high quality and helpful and cuts fat from all the useless vst stuff , thanks a lot :)
Just found your channel. All I can say is...OUTSTANDING!!
Keep it up.
Your english is good enough, for me to understand you clearly, and also find it entertaining.
You speak truth...
I love it...
Love your rant and your attitude!
The rant about existing amp plugins is iconic 🤘🏼
Man is really amazing what you've been doing. Thank you so much!!
Thank you for the no nonsense commentry on gear❤❤❤❤
16:06 is so darn important.
As a vst user buying gear/ hardware here and there I always watch reviews and think "but doesn't 'X' plugin do this same thing???" For example lot of granular pedals (delay, reverb, etc.) can be perfectly; and I mean perfectly recreated within your DAW with free or really really inexpensive plugins that are great.
Some really really pricey pedals etc can be replicated perfectly with stock plugins.
And one really cool exercise I recommend people doing is going out of their way to try and replicate the gear, etc with their plugins/ what you already have. Along the way you may end up making something that you personally like more than 'X' shiny thing.
10/10.
Let's hear it for efficiency and ignoring the magical thinking that so many musicians apply to gear purchasing.
Yo my dude, Michael. Your content is IMPRESSIVELY useful and helpful. It's also GOOD-NATURED, FRIENDLY and laid-back as well as CONCISE, TO-THE-POINT…and basically the embodiment of what we all need more of. Thanks so much! I just bought the AMP app…I probably should have "tipped" you instead..not exactly sure how all your revenue streams break down, but point being, threw a couple bucks to you today just for being you. Please continue to be just that!
Appreciated the support! Any way will work just fine, I'll try my best not to stay at the same position 🍻
This is awesome. Also a good idea to throw an eq before the distortion, as that can change the nature of the distortion. Removing bass before distortion gives a tighter sound - better for very high gain.
Good thing I saw your post before I made a redundant comment. I hate redundancy!
Okay, to elaborate a bit more, I'll deal with the "Where does the Tone in an amp come from" thing first, and then the "Bad Monkey/Klon" thing
The experiment with the amps used a pretty high quality "Tube like" Overdrive, and several of them, stacked with several EQs. The interaction with different frequencies being distorted at different stages is a big part of what creates the final sound - to recreate this in a DAW you'd have to stack a lot of different overdrives and EQs, and of course a cranked tube/like poweramp particularly and some drive pedals are going to add quite a bit of compression.
When I talk about "Tube like" overdrives, this is kind of important. Getting into the second point, the Bad Monkey is actually a "Good" Overdrive pedal. It's based off the Tube Screamer circuit with expanded EQ, while not everyone is the biggest fan of the Tubescreamer(including myself to an extent - I prefer the Boss SD-1 variant, the TS is in of itself a variant of the OD-1) a lot of that is down to the tone stack, the circuit is actually pretty clever. Even "Non Tubescreamer" overdrives like the Klon still took a lot of influence from it, which is why there's a lot of overlap. Because people have a particular idea of what an "Overdrive pedal" sounds like, there is always going to be overlap there.
Of course - the same psychology works in reverse here - a lot of these videos are setting up the expectation for you to focus on the similarities, as opposed to the differences that a lot of amp and pedal makers emphasise. When you sit down and play a lot of these amps, you are gonna notice the more subtle differences. Now the question is - do those subtle differences equate to *better* or worse?
There's a similar case with the amps, in that VIntage Fender, Marshall and Vox amps preamp wise at least had a lot of overlap. Marshalls were essentially modded bassmans to begin with. The final speaker is going to be *huge* in shaping the sound - connecting a hifi speaker to a guitar preamp to most people is going to sound like shit, unless you're going for that industrial tone. Yes, it is just EQ, but it can be a balancing act - Guitar speakers are essentially "Lofi" in that they act as both hi and low pass filters(among other things), focusing the mids and generally making sure none of those really high highs get out - that's a big part of what differentiates guitar overdrive/distortion from the clipping we don't like in our DAWs.
This is of course, a great place to use IRs since they can replicate these complex EQs, and the various different takes and compromises made by the speakers & cabinets to create it.
Going back to the idea of distortion for guitar vs. generic clipping - in reality, no, there aren't as many *Good* overdrives and distortions as you might thing. Fancier ones tend to be pretty dynamic systems. To a degree, they figured out a lot of this with the Tubescreamer and other early-ish overdrives, but that was over 15 years of hectic technological research and evolution after the first solid state amps(1961 for the first SS guitar amp, 62 for the first fuzz pedal, vs 1977 for the Boss OD-1, the first "Tubescreamer") . That's not to say you still can't get cool sounds with regular clipping and some EQ/low pass filtering, afterall that's what synth guys often go in for - but more often than not they use guitar/bass distortions or emulations thereof.
I use a lot of cheap gear, a lot of modelers, so I'm not a cork sniffer and that's not so much why I'm saying this - but a great example of where you can run into issues here is not with guitar, but with Bass. Some guitar distortions are very popular with Bass like the RAT and Russian Big Muff, but when it comes to Overdrive? The RAT and Big Muffs are "Fuzztortions" rather than fully amp-like distortions(though they were "amp like" by early 70s SS standards), you're not using them to replicate the sound of a cranked SVT.
A lot of guitar pedals tend to cut off the lows in a way you don't necessarily notice with guitar unless you're playing in low tunings(generally, lower than C). This can help tame the mud a bit, as the roll off starts to happen just about where the lowest lows live and you're probably familiar with how further highpassing tends to be done to make room for the bass and other instruments. Running a Bass through a guitar distortion that DOESN'T cut lows might sound muddy too, is the problem. It's a cool sound in of itself, but if you want articulate BAss Overdrive, that tends to come from dedicated circuits.
If you run a Bass into a Tubescreamer, it doesn't sound like a Bass anymore. In fact, if you run a Bass through a Dynacomp, it'll probably sound less Bassy. Unless it's a Bass dynacomp. Clean blends can help but utlimately it's still blending with a less bassy signal so you're losing low end. This is where we need to talk about dynamics & how guitar and bass gear respond differently - some compressors and distortions will work great for both Guitar and Bass, others less so. Some Bass amps are very cool for Guitar tones, others end up having weird nasally artifacts, or being paradoxically either too fizzy on the high end or too muffled(Since there's a lot more variety here - depending on whether you want vintagey very warm bass tones or modern crispy slap tones - this is why I have a modeller!).
A lot of that of course is still just EQ - but with the compressor, there's additional problems we run into. Bass frequencies are BIG. We're not as sensitive to them as higher frequencies. It's why you can get a lot of insanely loud small 5W Tube Amps but a 15 Watt Bass amp will probably struggle to be heard in a quiet pub - unless you're just deciding not to put that power into the low lows. Bass Compressors are going to treat the low end differently - transparent compressors tend to not affect the EQ much at all, but even then you still have the issue of how bass frequencies "Look" bigger to the compressor. So Bass Compressors will sometimes respond differently to it - maybe boosting the bass afterwards a little to make up, or in higher end compressors, having a Hi-Pass filter in the compressor chain itself - not added to the signal, just what the compressor "sees".
I know that seems like a tangent, but it's just an example of how the dynamic systems in guitar & bass gear can be hard to replicate. You can have some multiband weirdness going on. Then you get into Fuzz pedals and how they have unique artifacts that you're not going to replicate just by tweaking EQ on a guitar amp, you start getting into synth territory in some cases with wavefolding, rectification etc. because some of these fuzzes were created with circuit bending they can react in unpredictable ways. There's even things modelers can't really replicate without a dedicated circuit, like the way the Fuzz Face turns into a clangy overdrive when you roll the volume back - something to do with Impedence, I don't fully understand it!
That's not to say simple basic gear can't be great especially with the tweaking in the DAW. Just that there is some value in unique, purpose built gear, and reasons why people have so many different distortion pedals and plugins and amps. Personally though, I value uniqueness over "quality" - it's just a shame that for the most part for unique sounds you do tend to have to pay a lot - it's usually boutique brands like Chase Bliss or Old Blood Noise(a bit more affordable) that are making "New" effects.
I do think that for the most part, quality Solid State gear and modelling is the way to go. I'm transitioning from a guitarist to a bassist. Tube snobs, blues lawyers and the like piss me off. Look up some old live videos of T-Rex, Marc Bolan's solid state guitar tone is one of my favourite live tones. But even in that amp that's basicallly a giant fuzz pedal into a poweramp(Hendrix would approve!), there is a bit more going on there than just what an IR can recreate.
But - I think this is a great plugin. Guitarists in recent years have gotten pretty heavily into IRs, and for bassists - who are less picky and more willing to experiment to a degree - this is especially great. It's ALSO great for Synth players - Sylvia Massey is a big fan of reamping synths through amps in a studio to give them more complexity and warmth, and a good IR can capture most of that.
So basically I'd think about how you're marketing this. I get the need to Clickbait to get your stuff out there, but focus on the plugins strengths rather than claiming it's a do-it-all.
You are a treasure!! I agree 100% with your opions and I am very grateful for what you offer to us!
Thanks mate!
you are simply amazing. Aside from the amp plug-in, I play with my fingers I'm 73 years old and I've just not been able to do the pic thing. That being said, I've gotten pretty good fingerpicking watching you play is very inspiring. Thanks for that and thanks for the plug-in, I will purchase the iOS version as well. You've got a big new fan. Thanks.
First, I love your vids and your brutal honesty and wit!
Second, your English is great, man!
One thing…you say “four ninety nine dollars”. Now, of course we get what you mean in context and you’re also showing the price on screen. It could be mistaken (only hearing your words) as $499 (four hundred and ninety nine dollars). Heh.
What a native speaker would say would be “four dollars and ninety nine cents”.
The ONLY reason I brought it up is because you seem to imagine that your English is terrible (which it is not), so it seems to be important to you.
Also… “the link is in THE description”
Again, thank you SO much for your entertaining content and plug ins. I played bass for a couple of decades, was always into synths. Could never afford them, so software was a blessing to me. Now I’m iPad only and so happy and love your sample player!
Love and light to you!
Appreciated for this, I'll try to express it more precisely 😄
Sir, you are, as ever, a gentleman and a scholar. ❤
Love your approach...Occam uber alles!
Thank you so much Michael. Wishing you all the best!
Brilliant! Congrats for the new plug in.
I literally JUST came to this video from Jim's video you referenced - it's providence!
I'm all for saving money, but the difference in tube amp distortion is in how the speaker/OT/tube impedance interacts to compress and distort the midrange more than the bass and treble. That has been emulated with SS components by a few designers, but is not commonly incorporated in distortion pedals. There's also the resonances, harmonic makeup and S-curve of various components to consider. FI, the S-curve of tubes is generally smoother than transistors, and tube types and brands vary in that respect. Beam tetrodes also generate weaker 3rd harmonic than Pentodes. Biasing also alters the odd to even harmonic make up, which can also be done with SS parts.
Sounds just like a distortion plugin to me 😅
Your a legend already 💪🏽
Proud to support
Appreciated!
You're loading cabinet/speaker IRs into your loader, not 'amp IRs', that's why you only have clean tones, put an amp model in front of it and it will sound as intended
I appreciate your work Michael!
i have a macbook air early 2015 that basically has the same specs as yours, and it's really validating to see somebody using one too. i thought i was suffering alone
This is a really nice tool! I've had a lot of the same frustrations with amp sim / guitar-pre VST's: A bunch of eq and compression stuff where I just think "I already have all that stuff in other plugins that I already like to use and know how to use. I'm just looking for the actual fingerprint of the amp and the way it is mic'd up.
The instant I started using this, I knew it would be perfect for me. Didn't take me long to start dropping in random short samples to play with the IR scheme. A cymbal sample sounds really interesting and sitar-like. In Ableton, you can drop samples in right from the sample browser in the DAW, and it still loads all the samples in the folder. Super intuitive and fast!
👏👏👏👏👏👏👏
Appreciated! I used to search things like this a lot but got no luck, so I had to do it myself. And I had a lot of fun playing while testing it 🎸
Btw it doesn't mess up your sample folders like Ableton, you know what I mean 😋
This channel is pure gold. I will definitely check out the app
appreciate your work on this!
Congrats dude... awesome
Great video! So cool to see you watched Jim's video too, that was indeed a real eye-opener :)
This is absolutely awesome man! Thanks!
Great video! You just got a new subscriber. I fell into the gear and plugin trap and realized that, like most things, KISS principle holds true. Nicely done!
Never seen this guy before. I’m now a fan.
Got it.
Awesome.
One thing, though.
I still need the 808 emulation before the input, you know... metalheads :)
THANKS A MILLION! New Sub! Sharing! YES YES YES... everything you say I CONCUR! Too much too much variety it's just too much! Thank you so kindly.
Amazing video again man. Thanks for the free version for PC! You are awesome!
I remember when I started recording. Every single track was "new" and panned left only. Every single track I had to rewire every take. No control for defaults. Brain cells. Your "brain cells" is like the "emotional damage" meme. Keep being amazing!
Damn, there's a daw worse than Reaper by default? 🤯
Wow, thanks a lot for your work and clear vision! It makes total sense to me.
absolute legend. Thank you
You’re killing the game! Love from Salt Lake City
Appreciated! Love from China ❤️
What About the world famous DUMBLE amp, it’s not only series distortion and EQ, it has parallel along with compression and more..
Found this in another thread:
"It’s been a while for me, but from what I remember, the feel of a tube amp moving all that air, the volume, the way that volume interacts with the guitar, the sustain from that interaction, the physical feeling of the back of your pants legs vibrating, the things in the room rattling….no recording will capture that. My opinion (just an opinion) is that’s what they may be talking about.
The irony is that now, we can grab a Fractal modeler, and get a sound better than we could record that same amp. Will never replace that amp feeling though."
-Pauly
I guess this only applies to live performances, but maybe still needs to be mentioned in the context of this conversation?
Absolutely agree! EQ is the most powerful tool. The guy from Wampler Pedals has a pretty cool video where he replicated guitar tones (ones played through amps, cabs, pedals, etc) by using EQ on a direct input guitar signal. Thanks for sharing!
👍 Fantastic! "Stock EQ" finally someone that gets it! Thank you for making this FREE plugin!
Michael you are super cool Japanese Man. Your sense of humour and cut through the BS simple approach is very ok!
You are the new ninja saving money and time and brain cells... Hooowah chop!
Subscribed!
Appreciated, although I'm a Chinese 😆
@@playpm oh so sorry 😐
Love your humour and no nonsense style!
It's funny how you admit to GAS but also caution how dangerous it is!
Like a spider with his web...
Is he not also trapped like the fly?
❓🤔🤔❓
This sounds surprisingly well. i’ll have to check it by myself. Great video!
Thanks so much Mike, I appreciate your awsome work, will contribute when some money comes in. Well I will try it now
I got a nice sound going on my Marshall amp, so I ran a sweep through it with REW software and a reference mic and used the results to make my own I-R. Then I tweaked a knob... rinse and repeat.
My hat's off to anybody who makes a good amp sim.
Hats off to people who sacrifices the soul of their amp 🙌
@@playpm Naw, I found it easier to use the line-out on my amp and make a mic simulator.
Thank You for the great plugin cheers from Brazil .
Learn a lot from you, appreciate it.❤
Great work and great video
I missed you!❤ Can't wait to try this with my guitar / basses !!!
thank you my guy
I haven't seen Jim's video but i watched a great one by Aaron Rash about his journey replicating Nirvana's Nevermind tone, and he realized the same thing after spending lots of money.
Nevermind was just a Sansamp GT-2, DS-2 and Big Muff or RAT on occasion right? So mostly solid state stuff anyway. Bleach was a DS-1 into a Fender Twin(Not SS, but a mostly clean amp). I love the tone on Bleach, personally, it's really Doomy, I feel like the record is almost a Stoner Rock record. IIRC Kurt used Sunn Beta Leads live in the early lead, which have a similar sound to Bleach overall, but used the DS1 + Twin Combo since the Sunn was in the shop. There's definitely an overlap between early grunge and early stoner for sure.
Amazing thank you for showing me an escape from needing expensive gear for this new hobby!
Thank you for saving my brain cells (and wallet) You are the most refreshing music UA-camr ever.
you're my hero. thanks! 🇧🇷
Great video and sound at the plugin you create
Switched to this after getting fed up with Presonus Ampire. I love it. Sounds exactly like the AC15 that I used to use. It also takes pedals super well.
Wow, EXCELLENT work!! 😳
I’m impressed. And this sounds like exactly what I’ve been looking for in an Amp Sim.
This is AWESOME!!
👍😃👍
Thanks for the video and the app! I just got it working with Ableton 11 on my MacBook Pro. Thanks!
Breaking apart so many myths of the music world… this is the information people need to hear. Now they just need to go out and actually apply the information and get to WORK.
An Impulse Response can not replace an amp or an amp model. IR's aren't really for capturing amps. I've had this discussion before with a Helix Developer, and there is MAJOR limitations and drawbacks when using IR's for amps. This was a cool idea, but tbh this is bad information especially when you're saying Amp Sim plugins are just tricking you with different IR's. Amp Sim plugins are generally component modelling of the entire amplifier, with component tolerances, and non linearities. All the way through the input stage, preamp, effects loops, power amp, and output stage, every component is modelled. This is impossible with an IR.
Using IR for amps would be like saying don't use Neve plugins, just use an IR of a Neve and it will work.. even though the transformers, saturation and eq isn't included... An Impulse Response can not replace an amp or an amp model. Even on "Clean" tones, guitar amps are still non linear, so notes that you play louder than others will have a difference in character, curve and harmonic content then the quieter ones. This is a big part of the "edge of break up" tones.
This AnyAmpIR is basically just creating an Alternate DI box. It is capturing the EQ characteristics and time domain of a guitar amp chain but it will not react in any way like a guitar amp would. And it is only capturing the exact settings of the amp at the time the IR was taken. So.. Yes the EQ curve may be similar and the decay of the sound will be similar, but everything else is missing.
I would call this "IRampDI"
Don't stop using amp sims, there are lots of free options that will get you much more accurate amp like tones.
Personally I won't sacrifice my computer resources just for eq fine tuning on one track of guitar. Od/dist with eq into amp IR can already sound really good, I'll settle and move on. But to each their own.
@@playpm Come on.. I like some of your past videos and I don't like to hate on any content creators but this is simply bad information presented as a replacement or solution when it is FAR from it. You can't just pretend to know what you're talking about, create an IR loader, call it an Amp, make a video about it including false information on IR's, and then say it's fine because you prefer to use a terrible method to save resources on your computer..
Distributing bad information is dangerous because you're hurting the people who don't know any better, they will grow thinking false things about amp sims and form their future opinions based on bad information they've learned from you. You should address this in a follow up video, or remake this video with correct information and don't present it as a replacement for amp sims.
In Logic and GarageBand the stock Pedals, Amp and Cabinets are very good with limited resources. You can also choose to bypass the cabinets (Click "Direct") and use a free IR loader if you want different cabinets at low processing power. Voxengo also has a great free amp plugin ("Boogex") which will use little resources with near zero latency, and it's able to load IR's too, while still behaving like a proper amp.. Plus so many others, just google it. These are options to replace paid amp sims, AnyAmpIR is not. Unless you seriously value computer resources over your sound quality. And if that's the case then there's no hope..
An IR can't have changing dynamic behaviour, saturation or non linearity in a single impulse. Some companies like Acustica have developed their own software to use IR's in tandem with DSP so they can use 1000's of IR's together replicating the changing curve of certain gear at every different position of each knob. (ex: Tone Knob at 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, etc) but you just can't use a single impulse to replace non linear gear. Even with 1000's of IR's they still need to use DSP to emulate the dynamic behaviour, saturation and non linearities of the unit they're emulating..
Ok Mister, you just got a fan!
This is game changing! Thank you very much for this! 🎉
Fantastic video and plugin. Thank you
My sincerest gratitude for eternity dear lord of the poser destroyer!!! Blessings, on another note, I’d sacrificed 12 years from my life line to you, this world needs you to live longer! Doesn’t even bother me a bit! ❤❤❤❤❤
Sir, you are absolute gold!
Holy Moly?! Subscribed
Oh my that London Town UI preset!!! I used to own that London city
"And make it as accessible as possible." Cries in Linux.
I'll try to catch-up Linux and android later, they will come eventually, stay tuned.
@@playpm Awesome!
I wish more plug ins took your philosophy of simple is better, this is just such an easy vst to use. Ty so much
I loved you video! Content = good. Delivery great! Thank you.
your philosophy is amazing
Dude that guitar is F'in EPIC.
haha! Was just getting into electric guitaring with my computer pre-amp so that was perfect timing!
This was exactly what i needed to hear though! thanks for sharing this man!
There's some venom on this one. The jaded guitarist in me really feels this.
Great vid. Glad you mentioned Jim Lill. He's done some amazing work debunking the myths in the guitar world. Another great YY gear nerd who focuses more on the Metal side of things is Glenn Fricker @SpecterSoundStudio who is also a great proponent of demystifying all things "tone" related. Cheers!
I made some pretty cool metal with my £280 DI'd, budget, Randy Rhodes-style Jackson. More so than my £1200+ Ibanez.
ANY guitar can be made to sound cool/innovative/powerful through VST manipulation, with a mind for mixing, as long as it's played well of course.
I'm glad you mentioned Jim Lil. I know synth heads got some GAS issues, but lemmie tell ya, nothing compares to the placebo wizardry that is guitar tone chasing...
Totally get it lol, just for different pickup types, you'll need at least four guitars to start with!
@@playpm That's why I put EMGs in my Partscaster - the SPC knob alters the pickup sound so I can just keep using one guitar for everything... Unless I need a different tuning.
Love the gearless aproach to music😁
This guy is my next hero! He's just tells it how it is!
Thanks man! This video earned my subscribe
This is rad. Thank you good sir