Brian Walton

NAM support is huge but can't wait to test drive to see what the CPU hit might be like.

As someone who has access to Ken Fischer of Trainwreck amps prototype hand built attenuator and can say with some confidence that a power attenuator is a pretty significant compromise to sound and response. Captures on the otherhand can be made at full tilt so you don't have to endure that again.

There is a time and place for both. You always want to play at that kind of volume? I can't imagine having to blast a PA system in my home just to play along with a track. Sure , sometimes but every time? You could capture the amp and get the settings you like to pull them up at anytime. I've done so with an amp that is far more difficult to capture than a 2204 and while it isn't the same thing as playing it in the room with a 4x12 with pre-rolla 30s in it...it does sound and feel quite close to what the experience is like using it in a studio where the cab is isolated and all you really experience is the micd tone. And my house isn't sound proof enough to make a 125db amp not bleed everywhere.

Or you can buy a plugin that will never sound or feel right. Yes a lot of what is on tonenet simply isn't all that inspiring but I've been able to find quite a bit of good stuff easily, and also have captured some of my own gear. Now that they released some collections from 3rd parties, I'd suggest typing those user names in and grab the ones they gave for free. Those amps alone can provide a wealth of quality sound if you take some time to adjust the eq and gain for your own taste. I captured a bunch of amp sims using TONEX not only to try them in a pedal board but also to compare to real amp captures. Almost all 150 slots on the pedal got taken up by real gear captures after doing comparisons. A few exceptions exist, but those will likely be on the chopping block. If you have good IRs Tonex has replaced my extensive amp sim collection.

Once you get on the Tonex train, all these amp sims lose the appeal.

Guitar player here and I tested the previous guitar plugin though the best amp sims and effects in the box and even tried to reamp though some boutique amps via a reamp box. I personally couldn't get anything that sounded like a guitar tone Id want. Plugged in a $100 guitar and it sounded an order of magnitude better. I uninstalled and was one of very few PA plugins I didn't plop down $15 for after a demo. Of course I'm sure someone more skilled than myself could get something usable out of it.

In theory normal sale price on this is $55. Meldas sales are 50% off and this one retails for 109. This doesn't look like a current normal sale deal. If you have already used a Melda $10 sign up voucher and a 20% off referral this might be worth it. If you haven't gone that route before then I'd wait it out.

All of which have quite a bit of tweakability. This isn't like a snapshot preset system. I have the full version but have never entered the edit page other than to see what it looks like. The full version would let you create instruments you can sell (or give away) to others. And that Melda Grand is easily worth the $40 alone for anyone with gigs of space it takes up.

ML Sound lab makes the best IR packs I've personally used (fan of pre-rolla 30s and they are one of the few that have some good options there). The new cab VST is amazing though quite pricey, the free version is worth grabbing.

Add to my list of things it is missing from the 1st version is the visualizaiton you can toggle on and off by hitting the logo. I always thought that was a good feature/compromise for both those that do and do not want the visual feedback on a modern EQ.

Seems like input and output gain not just gai Resizable UI (with a new look) and a HPF For windows users anyway. Oh and no more prochannel version.

Thank you! I say we riot! 😁

Did they update the pro channel or is it no longer part of the package?

Almost ironically you picked two of their plugins that have legitimate free competition let alone paid https://www.patreon.com/posts/dbcomp-56933944 https://afa.productions/articles/top-3-free-pultec-eq-plugin/ And yes, WAVES makes stuff that sounds just fine, but there are plenty of reasons why they should be considered one of the first plugin makers to avoid.

You haven't missed out on anything. Great alternatives elsewhere. Only thing I use them for is Clarityvx for a very specific task of isolating vocals from other random noises.

I agree that a lot of the line feels like overlap or one with features another doesn't. For basic vintage compression tasks you TurboLE comp covers that part of mdynamics SpectralLE coversbasic ducking, dressing and gate of mdynamics. I think the thing mdynamics would give you is access to an edit page to do deeper edits and crazier stuff. I would say mostly covered by what you have unless you like the edit screen control. The value here for many is the buy cheap to get the credit towards a bundle it is included in later. Guessing you have the essential bundle based on those you listed.

I've owned 11 of the "partner" packs for a while (as they were available direct from the vendors). The nice things about the packs as that usually with the free ones random people post they do not run the gain range of an amp to give you better options of what to pick from. Many of the packs with 20+ captures, I'm simply narrowing it down to a clean, dirt and little heavier dirt that I like best from the pack. Some of the Amalgam Audio stuff is better than what IKM is capturing, IMO - as in more usable as it gives you a range of tones with the same mic setup. IKM would capture one amp and the clean might with with different mics than the dirty. Sure you could change cabs on it, but that loses some of the consistency.

Yes, switching between sounds mid song, using a computer you have to run the project at super low latency. I can't run a full track with effects at 3ms latency. You kill the feel of what it does if you run high latency, it integrates with other pedals, quick practice with headphones without starting up a computers, etc.

On the average it is fair to say most in this hobby bought far more plugins than they have use or need for. It was clearly a bubble that burst. Yes the economy is now terrible and combined with no need for more purchases are now rare. Wasted way too much during the constant pandemic sales.

This.

TONEX rules. Low CPU usage and amazing sound and feel (with select captures) and my favorite stuff isn't what IKM captured. The only problem with the deal is you will want to get the pedal which will in turn make this purchase redundant.

Honestly doubt they will ever do that outside of a flat out giveaway winner type of situation. Everyone will get different levels of value out of it. For me, it is the only plugin I can think of above $15 that is worth the normal asking price and getting even the small discounts where icing on the cake. I think the v1 to v2 upgrade price was only $15 or so and the updates from v1 to v2 are mind blowing. Thus they have a good track record of treating customers fairly. If you are a master keyboard player it may be of little value to you. As for me, it helps with ideas I wouldn't have come up with (though I come from a guitar background - which is notorious for approaching chords, melody, patterns, in accordance with the instrument's unique layout.

This. They have yet to release anything I thought was even worth the $20 price point if looking for something that sounds like the real thing at least with me attempting to play it.

You can tell him he needs to update the security certificate on the website while you are at it. 😂 I really do wonder if Ralph is behind the support and customer communication now though. I haven't seen anyone post anything yet that couldn't have been taken care of by someone else, this not really sure if he is still active. Agree we need some good tutorials, I like the program but only in the context of let it do whatever it wants and I'll create something to match it.

Glitch actually made it on a main track of a project I did, not bad for something I must have got for under $5. I thought they had a few plugins that when sold for a few bucks were just fine for the spend thrifts. Of course I do t think they were worth anything close to the retail rates, but I say the same thing about the vast majority of plugins.