Re: Delurk, intro and a couple of questions.

[Per Boysen <per@boysen.se>]

On Jul 23, 2005, at 15:50, Risto Paalanen wrote:
>
> I would prefer not having an amp at all and just settle for running  
> the guitar signal through a DI into a laptop running a modelling  
> amplifier / Ableton Live, controlled with the FCB1010 and possibly  
> a BCR2000 as MIDI controllers. Would any of you folks have  
> experiences with software-amps?

I tried NI's guitar rack and completely hated it. I also got NI's  
Guitar Combos and liked it better. But it's still too much for a  
Powerbook if you plan to also run Ableton Live with some plug-ins.  
Regarding software amps I like Guitar Combos just as much as I like  
Guitar Amp Pro in Logic. They are usable but not fun to play. I  
prefer to fade in notes with the guitars volume know and this is  
impossible with all software amps. BTW I think that the Nomad guitar  
software sounds best of the few I mentioned here. But that's about  
all I have tried so far.

As Andreas pointed out a Powerbook is not very efficient with Live's  
recent code and given Apple future move to Intel processors Ableton  
will probably not work on optimizing the code for the almost obsolete  
CPU situation in todays Powerbooks. I bought a Powerbook one and a  
half year ago mostly because of Logic that I use for both fun and for  
pro work. For Live an XP lappy will give much more processing power.  
They are also known to be better with NI Reaktor (I have not gotten  
into Reaktor but many like it for guitar - Trent Reznor to name one  
well known dist icon)

Myself I now play guitar with a TC FireworX effect processor as  
"guitar pre amp". It's miles away form any "rectifier sound" that is  
typically adored by many guitar players. But I must say that I'm very  
happy with the Fireworx sound. But the pre-set sounds were all crap.  
I had to put many days into programming sounds that felt playable and  
now I have eight or ten patches that are ok. When looping such an  
effect processor is a very good tool because you can change your  
sound in a snap before it goes into the recording looper devices.  
Personally I would value an effect processor (like the FireworX or  
and Eclipse) more than a amp modeling box or software.

Well, I guess what I'm trying to get at is the fact that all these  
boxes and software amps are not the same instrument as a real tube  
amp with a cabinet. I own a 60 w Sovtek amp that is a joy to play and  
compared to the DI and software stuff it feels as different to me as  
the difference between playing flute and sax. Not that one is better  
than the other, they are just different instruments.

Greetings from Sweden

Per Boysen
www.looproom.com (international)
www.boysen.se (Swedish)
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