Brian Walton

The more I think about it, 3 switchable dirt slots in one unit has massive appeal. This is basically how I treat my King of Tone. Two independent channels which is stackable to give the 3rd. However that creates a compromise in how one side is set up. With toneX you could setup all 3 exactly how you want each and you could venture into more circuits to switch between or even stack and capture. I think I just convinced myself I need two of these on my board instead of boutique dirt boxes, which I can capture.

Sonic SE had licensing problems and stopped working out of nowhere and refused to reregister. Why these companies treat free products like they don't want you to even consider a paid product from them is beyond me. Pass until they remove all registration requirements from the core player.

It can also be used as an IR loader. While still guitar related, I plan to load some Acoustic IRs in it to replace my dedicated IR loader pedal. Anyone that runs an instrument through an amplifer for a unique sound could use tonex to replace that "unique" amp or saturation box. Keyboard players over the years have used a few different guitar amps (despite people telling them of reduced frequencies or damage to an amp) and they get used to that sound instead of a full range system. Realistically this is a box for Guitar and Bass players though as many other instruments are not going to respond the same way to feel and dynamics due to the whole pickup and impedence thing that happens with a guitar and amp relative to creating harmonics and distortion.

If you or even a casual aquatience owns or even borrows a guitar, this is clearly essential for everyday life. In all seriousness, I personally think this device makes it far more likley someone would want to pick up a guitar and play it. The response and sound of the unit at any volume (assuming you have great headphones or speakers) make playing more enjoyable than prevoius generation stuff. Rarely play guitar means picking up a guitar a couple times a year and realiazing you forgot where the notes and chord shapes are...a purchase might be overkill. This unit actually makes me want to play again. And by play, I mean dynamically interact with tone, not actually play music anyone would listen to.

Yeah, I was going to post about Shadow Hills and Adaptor Audio also joining Plugin Boutique - but the real news is just that they can be bought every day of the week at lower prices than the PA "every day price" has been. As the detail seems to suggest they are still redeemed through PA. Interesting move, but personally glad to see it doesn't look like the DearVR situation or Vertigo.

I agree that if you have the pedal itself that is what anyone should want to use for a gig vs an Ipad + pedal or dongle. That said in terms of an interface, I think the signal path is higher on the Pedal than it is for the HD2. A stand alone Pedal without the interface component absolutely sounds better than the HD2 + computer, IMO. Sadly as an interface, the TONEX pedal also isn't ideal being a 44.1 device when used in that configuration even though it has 24bit 192 AD stuff going on internally so we are told. I've found the use as an interface / preset manager to be on the buggy side of things so far on at least one computer.

I don't think I've seen any quote yet from IKM that is in the works (though I certainly would like to see it happen). A 4th footswitch to turn such a suggested pedal slot on/off would have really been the appeal, IMO. The reality is some people could use this thing as a dirt box in front of their amp. I think it is overkill for that, but TONEX max included a bunch of Klon profiles you could dump into the pedal.

"control" of the tone is the only question. The quality of the tone this thing is capable of is outstanding with the right capture. However, it isn't like a modeler/real amp where you can use the built in EQ to fully tweek the response of the amp in the same way as an actual amp. It is basically a snap shot of an amp at certain settings and then the EQ you apply to it is like using an EQ in a DAW on top of the signal. Adjusting the gain (up or down) is closer to lowering or pushing the input harder. That is something you really have to experiment with first hand to know if it will work for you. It takes pedals better than any digital modeler I've tried.

Agree on the high pass/low pass thing, I've had that concern with the software version since it came out...but in the software world easy to add another plugin to deal with it...pedal world not so much. I honestly do not thing MAX is that much more valuable than SE. There are a few extra decent amps that IKM has done, but unless they expand on MAX down the road - it isn't like they profiled that many amps for MAX and hate to say it - many of the captures they did not very good. Some are fantastic...others are below meh. It is good if you didn't buy a version already though. But there are user captures that are in that same boat - the spectrum of awesome to unusable. And the low tier gets you access to all of that. Yes, you can do this and it is mind blowing at it. However, the question is there a profile(s) that get the core tone you want....or do you have the ability to capture the rig you already love (i.e. you own a re-amp box, microphones, amp with cab, computer interface - and time....old computers can take 5+ hours for one single capture). New computer with Nvidia graphic card closer to 15-20 minutes per capture. Run some demos with the free version on your computer - if anything the pedal is going to sound and respond better than that when used on its own due to low latency, proper signal inputs and nice converters.

Expired for the day.

Must be nice to have the free time to actually play instruments and not just collect VSTs that never get used.

I bet people notice if the part is played really poorly and off-beat. Thus the legitimacy of wanting MIDI/some program to do it for us. I know I tried recording a shaker part a couple times that sounded so awful it was distracting. ?

This was the first thing that came to mind. 2nd is Jamcussion if someone happens to also have a Jamstix plugin. I've never tried to control that specifically, but have generated a few as part of a larger "jamcussion" groove where a tambourine is included as an element.

Omni was the first Channel Strip I started to use as a "standard" across tracks that didn't feel limited such as all the SSL clones. But I hate the WAVES model and switched to the AMEK

Thats true, Ironically I'm more inclided to use Mix box as the random effect / design tool than the standard "chanel strip" for basic adjustments. So I might use the Amek for the tone and dynamic shaping then MIxBox on select tracks for "coloration" effects ala Chorus, Flanger, Uni-Vibe, Tremolo if I'm not using a dedicated unit for one of those functions.

Yep or just the the Plugin Alliance Amek 9099. ? I haven't been able to truly figure out the freeze method in a way that works well with my workflow. I've had to do it hundreds of times over the years but realistically mixing shoud be done in the context of the mix, not an individual track and freezing one track to move on to the next effectivly makes it an individual track type of adjustment not in the context of the whole. I've got the Snap Heap thing also, but have only attempted minimal use with it. It is a good concept, but haven't fallen in love with the interface yet.

It is a great concept and pretty well executed everywhere other than the processing power it can require depending on the plugins used. Not for older machines + high track counts, in my experience.

Sadly it doens't stack with JamPoints as far as I could tell. Otherwise this would have been an amazing ToneX pedal opportunity.

It is the best sibilance reduction/removal tool I've found. Granted, it is horrifically expensive for that function.

Gave a quick test spin, sounds pretty good for a free one. Blending between the two algos is a nice feature and would certainly be cool if they added more to it like the actual pedal. Resizable and simplistic. Indeed, a little questionable using a name so well known. That said, it is also really easy to remember because of it.

They charged me more than the local tax rate, but at least they had free shipping. Last physical gear I was going to order from them had some outrageous shipping charge that negates all the jam points savings. Question is how quickly they are actually going to ship these things, the receipt says expect 3-5 days to ship any order. Which is usually the delivery expectation from any other music dealer these days.

This, and you can't even access the library tab without registering the serial number. So it is unfortunate for those of us that bought multiple products to get toneX. Such as the AXe I/o and now the pedal.

I think (and pray) that 44.1 is a typo. Other pages seem to list the spec as better than that. Agree lack of fx loop is unfortunate, and so is the lack of ability to load a ToneX pedal model and an amp+cab as a preset. Effectively you would have to capture the whole setup and load that.

Also 400 in USD. Not too bad if you have JamPoints to cover 30% off that. 90 day warranty on an item they also state will take years of tour abuse seems pathetic though

Goldwave must be some jivin cats then.