Axe fx II is out

[MDV]

In case you didnt already know

I for one 'meh' in its general direction

Unless the inevitable deluge of clips show otherwise, of course.

But BK seems to be the only forum without a 10 page thread on it :lol:

What do the venerable BK denizens think of this new glorified VST dongle development in amp modelling technology?

[Transcend]

When i hear clips this may change

But until then ill say it will still sound like a modeller and is definitely NOT worth the money they charge for it as you could get better tones from a real amp cheaper!

[gwEm]

i'm waiting for the Egnater E2 before I splash more on rack gear, couldn't give a monkeys about this ;)

[Frank]

Well gosh, a new buzzy-sounding £3000 distortion pedal covered in flashy lights.

Amps aren't games consoles. Nothing sounds as good as a genuine valve amp. And it never will.

Digital stuff sounds just good enough to make you want to take it home from the shop. Then you wake up and hey, it's boxing day and you're bored of your christmas presents already.

[Standard enquiry about crunch overdrive sounds goes here]

[JacksonRR]

What do the venerable BK denizens think of this new glorified VST dongle development in amp modelling technology?

As soon as I first saw the original this is what I was thinking, but it is a pretty powerful machine and does it's job well. A 1U or 2U short rack chassis with a dual-core and 4 gigs of memory and an EMU 1212m card(or something like that) would get you there with more flexibility in your effects choices, more processing power, on-the-fly recording and LOADS cheaper, even with a footswitch. Add a small flip-out monitor like you see sometimes in network racks and you're good to go. A dedicated guitar-puter that can also display boobies. If only I had more money to work with right now. It's been in my thoughts though. If you had a studio computer with Mac OS and you hackintoshed your guitar-puter, you could also sync them up and your studio computer could use the racked one's resources and CPU to give extra aid in recording and processing.

[hunter]

What do the venerable BK denizens think of this new glorified VST dongle development in amp modelling technology?

As soon as I first saw the original this is what I was thinking, but it is a pretty powerful machine and does it's job well. A 1U or 2U short rack chassis with a dual-core and 4 gigs of memory and an EMU 1212m card(or something like that) would get you there with more flexibility in your effects choices, more processing power, on-the-fly recording and LOADS cheaper, even with a footswitch. Add a small flip-out monitor like you see sometimes in network racks and you're good to go. A dedicated guitar-puter that can also display boobies. If only I had more money to work with right now. It's been in my thoughts though. If you had a studio computer with Mac OS and you hackintoshed your guitar-puter, you could also sync them up and your studio computer could use the racked one's resources and CPU to give extra aid in recording and processing.

But the PC would never give you 0.8ms In-To-Out latency, more like 10 times that. AND it's Bill Gates. J get eye cancer when I see Windows.

[Twinfan]

I couldn't give a flying $%&# about modelling gear  :lol:

Valves for the win  :D

[Andrew W]

I don't think I buy the argument that a digital solution can never sound as good as valves: if you throw enough CPU horse-power at something you can simulate pretty much anything. That said, I don't think we're even close to that point yet with amp modelling.  I'll certainly give any clips a listen but I'm not expecting it to do what a valve amp does.

[Transcend]

Yes you can simulate pretty much anything.

BUT a simulation is never 100% exact to what is being simulated

[Roobubba]

What do the venerable BK denizens think of this new glorified VST dongle development in amp modelling technology?

As soon as I first saw the original this is what I was thinking, but it is a pretty powerful machine and does it's job well. A 1U or 2U short rack chassis with a dual-core and 4 gigs of memory and an EMU 1212m card(or something like that) would get you there with more flexibility in your effects choices, more processing power, on-the-fly recording and LOADS cheaper, even with a footswitch. Add a small flip-out monitor like you see sometimes in network racks and you're good to go. A dedicated guitar-puter that can also display boobies. If only I had more money to work with right now. It's been in my thoughts though. If you had a studio computer with Mac OS and you hackintoshed your guitar-puter, you could also sync them up and your studio computer could use the racked one's resources and CPU to give extra aid in recording and processing.

But the PC would never give you 0.8ms In-To-Out latency, more like 10 times that. AND it's Bill Gates. J get eye cancer when I see Windows.

Is that what happened to Jobs then?

I find my home-built PC is far, far more stable than any of the 3 macs I have to use at work (2 8 core 16GB mac pros and a macbook pro), and it's also faster, despite costing between about 1/2 to 1/4 of the price of any one of the macs I use... And, as much as it's fun to despise Bill Gates (and it really, really is...), the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation is an excellent funder of science both in the US and here in the UK, so I've mellowed slightly towards the guy in recent years.
Add to that those godawful smug apple adverts (oh god they're almost as bad as traffic wardens, mashed potato, the c***ing beatw@ts and telecasters...), and I'm afraid Apple have actually pushed me towards Microsoft.
Don't get me wrong though, the laptop looks pretty :)

Roo

[Transcend]

I have found that stability and speed can vary a lot between varying macs of the same spec.

i presume its to do with the hardwares bios etc.

i do also prefer a pc though as you can build something that outspecs a mac by miles for about £300-400 and then just install mac on it anyway and it runs faster than it does on the apple hardware.

[tomjackson]

I think the point is you can get instant mix ready sounds in a studio or have a light portable and very controllable live rig through the house PA.  For consistent and controllable results this kind of thing is very valuable to some folks. Just think if you were recording a piece for a commercial or conference or music for TV and you needed one quick quitar line.  You are working on your own, do you:-

A.  Drag out the 50W Marshall, 4x12, SM57 and Neumann and spend 2 hours getting a good sound or
B. Plug into the Axe FX, play the line, sit it in the mix in 10 mins and move on....

These things are very valuable to studios and in a mix almost nobody could tell the difference.  Time is money so for instant and predictable results I can certainly see why people buy these things.

Okay, I'm putting my guitarists hat back on now:-

Valves all the way!!!!!!

That lazy studio git better mic my MJW up becuase I'm not playing through no rack computer :D

[Transcend]

A.  Drag out the 50W Marshall, 4x12, SM57 and Neumann and spend 2 hours getting a good sound or

it takes 2 hours getting a good sound? i can generally do it within minutes now that i've got used to the process of micing

[Frank]

... a pretty powerful machine ... dual-core and 4 gigs of memory and an EMU 1212m card ... processing power, on-the-fly recording ... small flip-out monitor  ... dedicated guitar-puter ... Mac OS .. hackintoshed your guitar-puter ... sync them up and your studio computer could use the racked one's resources and CPU to give extra aid in blah blah blah blah blah.

Yes, you could do all that. Or you could buy a valve amp.

[Frank]

I just realised, I've never played through a valve amp and thought hmmm, I wish this sounded more like a digital modelling amp.