Electro-Harmonix has teamed up with MixWave to present six of its most-loved classic guitar effects pedals as guitar plugins.

Available now for the introductory price of $109, the EHX Classics Bundle comprises three versions of the ubiquitous Big Muff fuzz pedal, plus the Andy Summers-approved Electric Mistress Flanger/Filter/Matrix, the Deluxe Memory Man Echo/Chorus/Vibrato, and the warbling Come As Your Are electric guitar tones of the EH4800 Small Clone chorus pedal.

You can, of course, buy each of the four plugins (the Muffs are all in one) separately. These are presently being offered at a discount rate of $39 each, regular price $79 for the Muffs, $69 for the rest.

For many players, these sounds will need little introduction. They have been pedalboard staples for decades. But if you’re approaching Electro-Harmonix sounds from the DAW side rather than the hardware side, they might be a unfamiliar, so here’s what you are getting.

The Big Muff plugin bundle features the original Big Muff Pi, the Ram’s Head Big Muff, and the Russian variant. The latter is what you want for “darker, heavier” tones, which is to say that it has a more aggressive character, more low-end oomph.

The Ram’s Head is the Muff many Pink Floyd fans would hear and instantly think of David Gilmour, with its smoother fuzz sound a more gentile proposition. The Big Muff Pi? It’s the Big Muff Pi, so it’ll give you that dreamy saturation, the sustain that has this weird violin quality on single note melodies.

The Deluxe Memory Man plugin keeps the 500ms delay time of the original unit. It is one of the most iconic analogue delay pedals of all time, a BBD-driven unit used by a who’s who of players but notably the Edge, Robert Smith, Ed O’Brien, and so on.

MixWave says this digital version was created using “component-level modeling, faithfully recreating the behaviour of its bucket-brigade delay line, modulation circuitry, and analogue signal path”.

Where the Deluxe Memory Man was, there was often an Electric Mistress, too, providing movement to your tone, that could be subtle, or like a jet, or by using the Filter Matrix you can turn it into a static comb filter and use it to tease out all kinds of captivating textures that can make a single chord something transcendent.

Finally, the Small Clone presents you with the most simple take on chorusing you will find. There is a switch for Depth, and a Rate knob, and yet that is all you need to get going. The circuit does the rest. Simple, but then, in the hands of Kurt Cobain, it helped change popular music for good.

The Electro-Harmonix Classics Bundle is available now, see Electro-Harmonix or MixWave for more.

Fractal Audio Systems, the brand behind the Axe-Fx range of amp modellers, is moving into the guitar plugins market with the ICONS series, with its first drop inspired by golden era Fender amps.

The Fullerton Collection comprises 36 guitar amp models in total, plus effects imported from Fractal’s Axe-Fx.

“Deluxes, Bassguys, Double-Verbs, Vibrato Verbs, Supers, Princetones, Champlifiers...” You can guess from these pseudonyms that all the classics are present and correct, and the user interface is faithful to the plug-in-and-play appeal of these classic amps.

Whether chicken-head dials a la the vintage tweed set, or the ‘witch hat’ skirted knobs of later years, they are recreated here on the ICONS GUI.

Expect the same level of sonic detail and behaviour as you would from Fractal’s hardware units.

Fractal says it takes a component-level approach to engineering these analogue circuits as a digital replica, analysing and copying the response of “the preamp, tone stack, cathode follower, power supply, power amp, phase inverter, amp/speaker interaction” and so on down the list.

We don’t need to know all of the mathematics and science behind these endeavours, only that Fractal promises that “each model sounds, feels, and responds just like the real thing at any setting”.

Fractal’s ICONS series amp models are paired with custom-engineered DynaCab HD models; you can pair these virtual cabinets with a mic, move the mic position and monitor the sound in the real-time. There are 11 microphones to choose from, 13 DynaCabs in total.

Plugins might not push the air about the room but they certainly take some of the pain out of miking up an amp – you can experiment at pace.

Players can upload their own or third-party IRs and you have two slots to mix and blend. The ICONS cabinet section also includes a stereo room simulator, virtual mic preamp, and master high-cut and low-cut filters.

“Even with all of this power, ICONS stays fast and intuitive, with a simple interface that lets you dial in without distraction,” says Fractal. “Amps and effects have familiar controls, plus a few carefully chosen extras, while a modern preset manager, complete with tags, favourites, and metadata, keeps you organised and focussed on creative…

“With support for automation, MIDI control, and essential tools like a built in tuner, ICONS is designed to fit seamlessly into modern recording and performance workflows.”

The ICONS Fullerton Collection is offered in four individual volumes or as a set, available now at an introductory price of $299 (regular price $396), all of which can be run as a standalone app or in your DAW.

See Fractal Audio Systems for more details.

What is it?

When Neural DSP announced it had teamed up with John Mayer for a plugin, two worlds that probably couldn’t have been further apart were suddenly thrust together. On the one side, there are vintage tube amps, analogue pedals, and boutique single coil pickups. On the other, it’s 1s, 0s, and a pair of studio headphones.

It’s a mind-blowing thing when a guitarist famous for using bespoke Dumble amps announces a digital version of their rig, and with Neural DSP Archetype: John Mayer X, suddenly, there’s a guitar plugin that may satisfy even the most rigorous of tube amp tone defenders. I can’t have been the only person questioning whether this was the event that was finally going to make me put down my tube amp and go for a full modelling rig.

The plugin models three of John’s favourite guitar amps, with the vibrato channel of his 1964 Fender Vibroverb, a Dumble Steel String Singer #002, and the Two-Rock John Mayer Signature Prototype ‘Signature #83’. His pedals are also present and accounted for, with approximations of a clean boost, Klon Centaur, Ibanez Tube Screamer, and Marshall Bluesbreaker making up the overdrive section.

A filter pedal based on the EHX Q-Tron is available alongside a short, analogue delay for slapback sounds in front of the amp. The 'Gravity Tank' effect combines harmonic tremolo and spring reverb, and you also get an EQ and compressor modelled on units he uses in the studio. At the end of the chain, there's another delay pedal and a reverb pedal, giving you plenty of options for tone tweaking.

Specs

• Launch price: €199
• Type: Amp and FX modelling plugin (hosted or standalone)
• System requirements: MacOS 13 Ventura or higher/Windows 10 or higher, AMD Quad Core R52200G/Intel Core i3/Mac Silicon M1 or higher, 1GB storage space, 8GB RAM
• Formats: VST2, VST3, AU, AAX
• Contact: Neural DSP

Usability

Usability rating: ★★★★½

The Neural DSP John Mayer plugin is arranged very similarly to every other Neural plugin, so if you’ve used one before, you’ll feel right at home. The signal chain is accessible via the top of the window, starting with the ‘pre-fx’ that features a boost, filter, two overdrive pedals, and a delay effect. The harmonic tremolo and spring reverb is next, titled the ‘Gravity Tank’ and interestingly placed before the guitar amp section.

The following section houses the window to select from John’s amps, and even more interestingly, an option to run all three at the same time. The visual shows all of the amps on one stage, and they get blacked-out accordingly depending on which setup you select. With the blend option selected, there’s no option to adjust the cabinet settings however, you can only do this with a single amp type selected.

Each amp has its own control scheme, differentiated by individual designs for each control set. Bright and Mid switches are available alongside the usual EQ controls, with two input types on the Dumble, while the Two-Rock amp features a Bright switch, two EQ types, and a Presence control.

These controls are scaled down from the actual amps Mayer uses, so if any super-fans were looking for exact recreations, they might be slightly disappointed here. Personally, I don't think it hampers the usability of the amps all that much.

Opening up the cab window, it’s the usual fare for a Neural plugin. You can change microphone types with 11 different options, as well as the ability to load a third-party impulse response if you wish. With dynamic mics, condenser microphones, and ribbon microphones available to be selected, each cabinet allows for the placement of these in any way you see fit, adjusting their position on the speaker as well as the distance away from the cabinet. You can also flip the phase between the two mics if you want to create some purposefully thinner tones.

Next up, we have the EQ and compressor section. It’s a wide, four-band EQ that covers lows, low mids, high mids, and highs. You also get additional low and high cut options to tweak things further.

The compressor offers a simple two-knob layout which will be familiar to any guitarist who’s used one on their pedalboard, with knobs marked Input and Output for simplicity. The final section of the app features a Dream Delay and studio reverb, with the delay able to switch between ping pong and regular tones, while the reverb can be set to hall or plate.

There are 18 presets from the man himself, and a full 40 artists have contributed their own presets to the plugin, which is the most I’ve seen in any Neural DSP product. The preset browser finally has a Favourites option, something I’ve been crying-out for over many years using Neural plugins, with presets featuring tags for descriptions and a useful ‘recent’ section to quickly recall your last used settings.

Sounds

Sounds rating: ★★★★½

With a single-coil-equipped Telecaster plugged into my Universal Audio audio interface, I start by clicking through the Mayer presets to see what sounds are available. It’s no surprise to find that these are mainly made up of clean and low/mid-gain sounds, with some specific presets for Gravity, and a tone from the Dead & Company celebratory concerts. If you’re looking for a plethora of song-specific sounds however there aren’t all that many, with the bulk made up of more general-purpose tones.

They respond well to volume knob adjustments, allowing me to clean up the dirtier tones before applying more gain when I want to start playing lead, just like the man himself does. As you might expect, there’s plenty of blues-lead-friendly stuff here, whether you want notes that ring out for days or those edge-of-breakup tones that respond to your picking dynamics.

If you’re not a blues player, there are still plenty of great sounds to dig into here. The quality of the trio of amps is such that you can get bright Fender jangle that can be pushed into a harsher breakup from the Smooth Operator, a more mid-focused tone from the Headroom Hero, or more low-end from the Signature 83. It’s surprisingly versatile, and of course while there’s no high-gain, the combination of boost pedal and two overdrives means things can get pretty saturated when you need.

There’s a lot of fun to be had in the Pre-FX section, and I particularly enjoyed the Justa Boost pedal, which just makes everything sound better and has a switch to add even more gain. The overdrive section does what you’d expect, and the trio of Klon, Bluesbreaker, and Tube Screamer style sounds means you can coax a lot of different tones out of it. The Antelope Filter modelled on the EHX Q-Tron is a load of fun, and the Millipede Delay in front of the amp is great for classic slapback sounds, adding a nice bit of thickness to the tone without being immediately obvious.

I found it a bit of a shame then that you can’t place the spring reverb and harmonic tremolo of the Gravity Tank after the amp. The lack of signal chain maneuverability is something present on all the Neural DSP plugins, but I personally prefer my reverb after my amp. As something of a tone tweaker who spends a lot of time playing guitar ‘in-the-box’, I would love to see the same flexibility you get on the Quad Cortex present in the plugins too.

Verdict

The Neural DSP John Mayer plugin is a triumph in many ways, but mainly in that it’s managed to bring the two opposing worlds of tube amp purists and modelling aficionados to a single, incredibly good-sounding place. It delivers damn good guitar tones quickly and easily, with enough variety to keep players of all kinds entertained.

For those who like to tweak, the lack of signal chain agility could be a limiting factor. It would be nice to be able to move elements back and forth at will for deeper experimentation, and with the three amp setup, I would’ve liked the flexibility of customizing the cabinets of each for super deep editing. I imagine those players are in the minority however, and the ability to instantly get your hands on some of the greatest guitar tones of the modern era will more than make up for the lack of flexibility.

MusicRadar verdict: At the core of the Neural DSP Archetype: John Mayer X plugin are brilliant guitar tones, and I love that you don’t have to be a Mayer mega-fan to enjoy what’s on offer here. Despite not being much of a fan myself, I never felt like an outsider using his signature plugin, because the core sounds are fantastic, no matter what your preferred playing style or genre.

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Guitar World

Danish Pete

Rabea Massad

What is it?

Recording guitar at home has never been so easy. Nailing that perfect tone used to require the hiring of an expensive studio and an engineer with the know-how to place an appropriate mic in that perfect spot to get the best from your carefully curated gear. This, of course, still has its place, but the advent of digital modelling technology has allowed many of us to record high-quality guitar tracks from the comfort of our own homes. Universal Audio is one such company that has driven this change.

It has a strong pedigree in audio recording gear that stretches back to the 1950’s, and has been an important figure in utilising digital technology to recreate classic audio gear in plugin form.

Expanding from the recording world into the live music space, UA has, in recent years, launched a collection of high-quality digital pedals, most notably its guitar amp pedals in 2021, as well as effects such as the Golden Reverberator, Starlight Echo Station, and others.

The amp pedals are particularly interesting as they provide amp modelling to those who want to keep it simple by ditching the screens and almost infinite options provided by the likes of the Line 6 Helix and Neural Quad Cortex, and instead focusing each pedal on a few versions of a single amp with a familiar selection of knobs and switches.

With a selecition of these pedals already available in plugin form, Guitar Paradise Studio offers five - the Ruby (1963 Vox AC30 Top Boost), Lion (three ‘60s Marshall Plexi’s), Dream '65 (1965 Fender Deluxe Reverb), Enigmatic (Dumble Overdrive Special) and Woodrow (1955 Fender Tweed 5E3 Deluxe) - along with the Showtime plugin (Fender Showman) and a collection of drives, fuzzes, modulations, delays, reverbs, compressors and other utilities, all packed into one plugin.

This makes for a comprehensive recording suite that, on paper, should provide everything a guitarist needs for recording guitar tones of professional quality.

Specs

• Launch price: $199
• Type: Amp and FX modelling plugin (hosted)
• Features: 11 UA Amp Plugins - Ruby, Lion, Dream, Woodrow, Enigmatic, and Showtime. 35 cab/mic combinations, over 25 effects
• Platforms: Windows and PC
• System requirements: macOS Big Sur 11 or higher/Windows 10 or higher/10GB SSD storage
• Formats: VST3, AU, AAX
• Contact: Universal Audio

Usability

Usability rating: ★★★★☆

Getting the plugin fired-up in PreSonus Studio One, Paradise Guitar Studio’s interface is fairly straightforward, but it is not perfect.

At first glance, it’s an easy setup to get your head around. The signal chain, along with the Input, Gate, Tuner, preset selection, settings, Output, Limiter, and Room send, is displayed along the top. Below that are large and detailed images of the amp and cab or effects (depending on what section of the signal chain you have selected), and at the very bottom is a panel consisting of the amp settings. Simple.

There are over 300 presets to get you started, through which you can explore the full breadth of what the software can do. All these presets are displayed in one big, very long list with tags that help narrow down that selection, as well as a Favorite function to get straight to the ones you love.

The user presets menu has its own dropdown, which you can sort into folders to then store your presets via projects or whatever you like. I have previously complained about the lack of ability to do this on other plugins, so I’m glad to see it here.

In tweaking presets, I find that the images used in the signal chain displayed along the top of the page lack detail. This makes it tricky to quickly see what is loaded into each block.

The chain is split into three sections: the pre-amp effects featuring five blocks, the amp and cab, and then another five blocks of post-amp effects.

On selecting each of these sections, all the blocks are displayed at the centre of the screen, with detailed images through which you can adjust the parameters via the familiar depictions of all the controls and switches associated with the modeled gear, along with a drag-and-drop style interface to move the effect order around. So this part is very intuitive.

The general adjusting of knobs and switches is as it would be on real-life gear, which results in a positive, tactile experience; however, there is no way to type in values for these adjustments. This feels like a bit of an oversight, as moving some of the smaller knobs to a specific number can be quite fiddly.

When selecting an amplifier, there is no suggestion of an appropriate cab to pair with it. For those getting to grips with these sounds, it would be nice to have a little guidance here. Having said that, there are plenty of presets to glean this information from.

The Gate, Limiter, and Tuner utilities are all simple to use, with the expected associated controls popping up upon selecting each one. A couple of useful tweaks here are that the Gate and Limiter can be adjusted via a little draggable icon by the In and Out meters. And the Tuner can be set to Mini-Tuner mode, in which it is always displayed in miniature form alongside the preset drop-down.

These are minor things, but adjusting the Gate and Limiter as well as keeping an eye on your tuning are all things that are important when nailing that perfect take and tone, adding to what, despite a few niggles, is a smooth experience overall.

Sounds

Sounds rating: ★★★★½

Given the impact that UA made with its Amp Pedals, I am excited to get stuck into the plugin equivalents within Paradise Studio. Each of the aforementioned models is a faithful recreation of the original gear, complete with a full suite of controls and switches, including convincing versions of the reverb and tremolo featured on the Dream '65 and Showtime.

This makes the plugin a good choice for those looking to experience the sounds of some rare, vintage amplifiers that a lot of us will never get the chance to touch, let alone play.

With the exception of the Showtime, each amplifier boasts options based on the different inputs of the real amp or its common variations. For example, the Lion can be either a Marshall Super Bass, Super Lead, or Brown, which is a Variac-modded Super Lead.

The Dream, Lion, Ruby, Enigmnatic and Woodrow also feature a Boost, appropriately chosen by UA to get the most out of each amp as you push it into overdrive. This Boost changes depending on the variation of the amp/input selected, too. In short, the variety on offer is astounding.

Starting with the Ruby, it brings that trademark Vox chime, and the tendency to get a bit too bright. As does the real thing, lending credence to the idea that these amps have been accurately modeled - warts and all.

Easily my favourite setting on the Ruby, and perhaps the whole plugin, is the Normal channel, with the Volume gunned with the Boost dimed. Here, the Boost operates as a treble boost circuit, resulting in the amp kicking out a mid-forward, highly rewarding Brian May-style tones.

The Woodrow brings a clean with a mid-focused nature and a familiar aggressive breakup that the Fender Tweed Deluxe amps are known for, while the Dream '65 does a more scoopy Fender clean and a convincing edge of breakup sound that just begs to be pushed with a boost.

I don’t get on that well with the Showtime, as it seems to lack the dynamic of the other models. It’s still a nice-sounding, high-headroom clean, but just doesn’t feel as lively, so I am more likely to reach for the Dream '65 or the Woodrow for all things Fender.

The opposite is true of the Enigmatic. It has a bright, mid-forward nature reminiscent of the Dumble tones used by the likes of Robin Ford, which leaves nowhere to hide, with all the nuances and mistakes within my playing, clearly represented. It’s a lot of fun.

There are tons of options, as with the real thing, and I find that it’s worth spending a bit of time learning how to get the best out of it, as it is very easy to tweak your way into an unpleasant tone. Again, as with the Ruby, it’s a warts-and-all type situation, but when you nail that sustaining, mid-forward gain, or lush clean, it's totally worth the effort.

Lastly, the Lion can do a Hendrix-esque edge of break-up thing, that ACDC drive, or an all-out Van Halen-like Brown sound. Stick the included Tube Screamer model (more on that later) in front of it and you're in that heavy, saturated, classic rock heaven.

The only thing missing is an all-out metal amp. In Universal Audio’s amp pedal stable sits the Anti 1992 and the Knuckles, which are based on the iconic Peavey 5150 and Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier repectively. If one of these were included in the Paradise Guitar Studio plugin, it would easily become a one-stop shop for guitar tones of almost any genre.

With over 300 presets, there is more than enough to get anyone started if you want to skip a bit of tweaking. A couple of my favourites are the B-Man 4x10 Clean, which provides a nice, warm, mid-forward clean utilising the Woodrow ‘55 and suiting my Telecaster perfectly, and the entertainingly-named 80’s Hair Snakes, using the Lion amp for those Marshall tones and the Micropitch Shifter for some ‘80s flavoured wobble.

Looking at the cabs, I note that we cannot change the mics or mic position. None of the amplifiers shy away from bright high-end, so the ability to play around with these settings would be helpful, but alas, this is not to be.

The upside of this is that Universal Audio has expertly curated the cabinet and mic combinations, making it easier to get great tones.

And, to be fair, we are not short of options here. There are 34 mic and cab combinations in total, with everything represented from a Fender Style 1x12 loaded with an Oxford 12K5-6 speaker, right up to a Marshall style 4x12 with Celestion V30’s. The microphones are equally as varied, covering everything from a Shure SM57-inspired dynamic mic, through to a Royer 121 ribbon.

The real fun, though, comes with pushing these amps. For this, we have four drives. The TS Overdrive (Tube Screamer 808), Gold OD (Klon Centaur), Nashville Overdrive (Nobels ODR-1), and RAW Distortion (Pro Co RAT).

Using the Dream ‘65 as a pedal platform within the plugin, the TS does a great job of that compressed, mid-humped, Tube Screamer thing. The Gold Overdrive is mid-boosted at a higher frequency than the TS, just as you would expect with a Klon-type drive.

However, in a clone of the Klon, that mid bump would usually become more pronounced as you dial in the gain - this doesn’t happen here. So it’s not a wholly accurate recreation, but it's fun all the same.

The Nashville Overdrive provides a more full-range type of tone, with the RAW Distortion bringing that all-out saturation worthy of its status as a RAT model. All in all, a great selection of drives.

Fuzzes are well represented, too, with the Big Fuzz (EHX Big Muff) and Vintage Fuzz (Dunlop Fuzz Face). Both these models are convincing replications of the originals they are inspired by, with the Big Fuzz bringing that smooth, mid-scooped eq and the Vintage Fuzz being fat and aggressive.

Both include common mods, as the Big Fuzz has a switch to take out the Tone stack from the circuit. To my ears, this results in a tone that is a tad too bright. The Sputter control added to the Vintage Fuzz, however, makes things all spitty and angular, which is just a ton of fun.

No plugin with the Guitar Studio moniker would be complete without a little wobble, and here, there are plenty of modulation options. There’s the Blue Flanger, Brigade Chorus, Micropitch Shifter, Multi Chorus, Orange Phaser, Trem 65, and Vintage Vibrato.

Covering all bases when it comes to modulation, it really is a complete and very capable suite in this regard. I particularly love the Multi Chorus. It provides a glassy type of movement with plenty of high end information retained, and a comprehensive suite of controls that results in a very polished and highly customisable chorus sound.

The Micropitch Shifter is another favourite, as I find it particularly useful when set post-amplifier in stereo. Here, it can be used to create a doubling effect, giving the impression of a wide stereo spread to your guitar through two separately tweakable delays and/or pitch changes. It’s hard to turn it off once you’ve heard it.

EQ needs are also suitably covered with two EQ effects. The first being the Studio EQ, which is a four-band parametric EQ that also features high- and low-pass filters. And then the 10-Band Graphic EQ, which, based on the Boss GE-10, does exactly as it says on the tin.

Also modelled is Universal Audio’s legendary 1176 Compressor. It’s a simple setup with Attack, Release, Input, Output, and a 4/8/12/20:1 selectable ratio. But it covers everything from super squashy to a subtle polish.

That’s not the only compressor option, however, as the Red Comp model provides the famous MXR Dynacomp sound. It’s a little less transparent than the 1176, slightly coloring the tone in a warm and rewarding way.

Everyone likes a little space. To that end, there are four reverbs to choose from. The Digital Reverb, Reverb 224 (Lexicon 224), Plate 140 Reverb (EMT 140 Plate Reverb), and Drip Spring 65 Reverb.

The Digital Reverb is nice and easy to use, the 224 allows a lot more tweaking, the Plate brings the brighter plate-style thing and also boasts plenty of room for adjusting, and finally, the Spring 65 is a simple spring reverb with plenty of that drippiness on tap and three reverb tanks to choose from. Again, it’s a pretty comprehensive selection of high-quality options.

Sticking with the theme of creating some space, the delays here also cover pretty much every echo style you're likely to need. There’s the Memory Delay with some analogue warmth, the Digital Delay sporting plenty of controls and wide stereo sounds, the EP-III Tape Echo that emulates the Echoplex III Tape Delay, and the Pitch Shift Delay, which contains some outlandish sounds via heavily modulated, stereo repeats.

Playing around with them, I find the digital delay particularly rewarding. With a Low Cut, a High Cut, and modulation adjusted via Rate and Depth controls on top of the Time Feedback and Mix you would expect on any Delay, it runs the gamut from warm, texture-adding repeats to the crystal clear digital high fidelity thing, great for time-based acrobatics.

Both the Memory Delay and EP-III Tape Echo emulate pedals that are known not only for their delay sounds, but also for how they color a tone in general. A nice touch with the UA Paradise Guitar Studio plugin versions of these is the option to turn this color on or off.

The EP-III in particular provides a nice bump to the higher mid-range, so I am inclined to leave the color switch on.

Verdict

So it’s fair to say that what we have here is an incredibly capable plugin. Elements of the user interface, such as the lack of ability to type in parameter values and the detail-lacking images of the signal chain, do put a bump or two in the user experience, but overall, it remains fairly straightforward to use thanks to the utilization of the familiar knobs and switches that we would see on the real life versions of the gear the plugin is modelling.

Universal Audio's highly-regarded amp pedals are well represented here and do a good job of meeting the bar that the pedals set. Although to make the selection of amps truly comprehensive, it would have been great to see an all-out metal amp, too.

What is comprehensive, however, is the selection of effects. Drive, fuzz, distortion, delay, reverb, modulation, compression, EQ - it’s all here. Making it a one-stop shop for almost everything a guitarist might need.

MusicRadar verdict: It’s always easier to have everything in one place, and for the most part, that is exactly what Universal Audio’s Paradise Guitar Studio does. It brings together a selection of UA’s well-regarded digital amplifier modeling products and combines them with a comprehensive list of effects to make what will be, for many guitarists, the only plugin you will ever need.

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John Nathan Cordy

Plugin Boutique

Name: What is it?

With a sonic assault of technical riffs, hooky melodies, and a healthy dose of well-placed screaming, Periphery have made their mark in modern guitar music of the djenty ilk with songs like Marigold and Scarlett rightfully garnering tens of millions of plays. It only takes a quick listen to those songs to conclude that it's the crushingly heavy guitar tones from guitarists Misha Mansoor, Jake Bowen and Mark Holcomb that are leading the charge of the Periphery sound.

So, an amp and effects modelling plugin that makes some of those tones available to the masses would be an exciting prospect, right? Well, that is exactly what we have in Neural DSP’s most recent artist collaboration, the Archetype: Misha Mansoor X guitar plugin.

More than just a guitarist, Misha Mansoor also possesses some pretty serious metal production chops, having not only taken up the role of producer on Periphery’s work, but also with bands such as Animals as Leaders and Veil of Maya. If you would like someone to contribute to a plugin aimed at the contemporary metal guitarist, it’s hard to imagine a person better suited to do so.

What Neural brings to the table is a storied history of quality signature guitar plugins with the likes of Rabea Massad, Tim Henson, and Cory Wong, all getting the Neural treatment. Also within the company's plugin arsenal are specific amps such as the Soldano SLO-100 and Mesa Boogie MKII, and expertise in vocal processing demonstrated by the recent Mantra release. So, it’s fair to say that, beyond any doubt, Neural knows what it’s doing.

Adding to this catalogue, the heart of the Archetype: Misha Mansoor X, is based around three amplifiers - a Clean, Rhythm, and Lead, all voiced for metal and each with its own individual cab, which can be mixed in matched if you feel the need.

Complementing the amps is a signal chain that consists of Special FX, Pre FX, Amp Cab, EQ, and Post FX represented at the top, and some global adjustments - Input, Gate, Transpose, Doubler, and Output, as well as the facility to load and save presets. So plenty to talk about here.

Looking forward to finding out what the Archetype: Misha Mansoor X can do, I figure the best way to assess it would be to utilise it in its intended context - recording music. Hooking up a Presonus Quantum HD2 and running through Presonus Studio One, it’s time to get stuck in and see how Neural’s newest plugin performs.

Specs

• Launch price: €125/£149/$149
• Type: Amp and FX modelling Plugin (hosted or standalone)
• Formats: Windows and PC
• System requirements: MacOS 13 Ventura or higher/Windows 10 or higher, AMD Quad Core R52200G/Intel Core i3/Mac Silicon M1 or higher, 1GB storage space, 8GB RAM
• Formats: VST2, VST3, AU, AAX
• Contact: Neural DSP

Usability

Usability rating: ★★★★½

An awkward user interface is the best way to kill any inspiration, and with this much functionality, it is a pit that guitar plugins, and any plugins for that matter, can easily tumble into. Thankfully, the Archetype: Misha Mansoor X is fronted by an interface that is helpfully visual and very intuitive.

Getting to grips with it, the first thing I appreciate is the fact that the plug-in can run as a standalone app, making things nice and quick when you just want to experiment with a couple of sounds for future use, without going to the effort of loading up a project within a DAW.

It’s a simple layout, with tabs to navigate to each section of the signal chain - Special FX, Pre FX, Amp, Cab, EQ and Post FX - presented at the top and the global functions just below them. These global functions stay in place as you click through the tabs so getting around the software and accessing all of its tools is a comfortable and straightforward experience.

Across the board, parameters are represented via dials and switches that look similar to their hardware equivalents, making for a familiar experience that I’d wager anyone who has used real amplifiers and pedals could figure out, even if this was their first foray into the plugin world.

It’s the same deal when it comes to tweaking the cab settings, with a selection of six drag-and-drop mics as well as associated dials and controls, again in a visual and intuitive style.

Helping the workflow along further, MIDI mapping comes with a MIDI Learn function, which may prove particularly handy when using effects like the Laser that lend themselves to expression pedals in a Digitech Whammy style. Just right-click on the parameter you want to map, select MIDI learn, use the desired control on your connected MIDI controller, and the software will map that parameter to that control. And, as is standard on most modern plugins, tempo is automatically synced to your DAW.

Perhaps the only thing I would tweak is the way the software stores user presets. They are all kept in one folder named “User” with no way to create further subfolders within it from the software.

There are plenty of us who delve into our tones with significant detail and often see user preset counts skyrocket pretty quickly. Having subfolders for separate bands or projects may be useful to help organise things a little and save scrolling through tens or hundreds of lovingly curated tones.

Having said that, there is a facility to add tags to your sounds so that they can be located via the search tool, which is handy, but I’d still prefer the ability to organise them into folders in addition to this.

Sounds

Sounds rating: ★★★★½

Getting ready to record, it’s time to explore the plug-in a little and see what there is to play with. The focal point of the software is those aforementioned Clean, Rhythm and Lead amps.

The Clean can go from pristine to edge of break-up, with a Boost control that helps push things over the edge. However, it’s the glassy clean thing that I imagine will get the most use here, particularly when paired with some of the effects, to create those ethereal bridges we often hear in this style of music. It’s a gorgeous sound, with plenty of overtones to bring it to life.

Both the Ryhtm and Lead are geared towards higher gain, with the Lead being a little more saturated and mid-forward. They can do the crunchy thing, but are unsurprisingly happiest within the realms of heavy tones. Fat with a percussive thump and a high end that is clear even with unreasonable levels of distortion - it’s hard to ask for more here.

All three amps have a two-way voice switch, a three-band EQ and a presence control. The voice switch toggles between two settings, one more mid-forward than the other.

The Treble has the most adjustment available, with the Bass and Mid being a little more subtle on the Rhythm and Lead amps and the Clean amp possessing a bigger sweep in the Bass control.

We have all tweaked our way out of a good tone, but the EQ here makes this pretty hard to do, as the adjustments are wide enough to make the changes I might need, but narrow enough that the tones are pretty much foolproof.

You’re not going to be able to employ any extreme, quirky EQ tricks here, but in the context of use with a DAW where there are many other built-in tools to do that with, this strikes me as a good choice. It allows the user to get straight to a no-frills, metal amp tone. If you like a frill, though, fear not, there are plenty of those elsewhere.

Coming up with some heavy riffage, I would love a bass-cutting, mid-humped boost pedal in front of the rhythm amp to tighten things up further. Enter the Pre FX section, where I find a model of Horizon Devices Precision Drive, which is built for this exact job.

Horizon Devices was founded by Misha Mansoor himself, so it’s no surprise to see this featured here, nor is it a surprise to see how well it works, tightening up the tone and adding yet more gain without getting muddy.

The Pre FX tab also sports a Compressor, Tape Echo, Dual Octaver and a rather interesting one knob wonder pedal named Chaos, which adds distortion that is mixed with the dry signal. Combined with the Post FX section that contains a Modulation, Stereo Delay and Reverb, these add up to a suite of tools that cover all the basic food groups you might need in a metal context.

Where things go beyond those basic food groups into something a little more wild is in the Special FX tab, as here lies the Glitch and Laser effects. The former provides some synthy sequencer sounds and the latter operates as - perhaps a little more familiar to guitarists - a whammy pedal that can be triggered by your picking dynamics.

Periphery are no strangers to these otherworldly tones. A quick listen to the likes of It’s Only Smiles will demonstrate that, so if you're buying this plugin as a fan of the band, you will be pleased to see these effects included. And as if all this wasn’t enough, the ten-band EQ provides even more helpful tweaking to get those sounds just right.

Jumping into recording, the first thing I would usually do for this style of music is drop-tune a guitar. However, the transpose function on the plugin saves me a bit of work here. It tracks impressively well throughout all of its two-octave (one up, one down) range, without affecting the guitar's overall tone. It does a good job polyphonically too, only struggling with more complicated chord voicings at around the four semitone mark and above. Impressive.

Utilising the transposer to put my Gibson SG into C# standard, the next tool that speeds up the process is the doubler. As the name suggests, it doubles the audio but with a few milliseconds delay, panning the doubled track opposite to the original signal, creating a stereo feel. It’s not quite as wide as true double-tracking, but it is perfect for making a riff sound bigger.

Dialling in good tones to record with is a breeze, with a great starting point in all three of the amps. I would have liked a bit more flexibility in the signal chain - for example, the ability to run the chorus into the amp rather than after it, but the upside of this is that you are safeguarded from decisions that could lead to undesirable sounds.

Verdict

Cracking on with some recording, the experience of using the Archetype: Misha Mansoor X is an endlessly rewarding one. It contains enough tweakability to serve the type of music it is aimed at, without rendering the user paralysed with too many options.

Want a heavy rhythm part? Use the Rhythm amp. Need some cleans? Switch over to the Clean amp. Time to record an epic lead - you get the idea. The suite of effects boasts the expected boosts, delays and modulation, all of which are easy to use.

The more outlandish stuff is contained within its own tab, meaning those of us who are a little out of our depth with what is offered from the likes of the Glitch effect can easily stick within our comfort zones. But, if you are not afraid of a learning curve, there are some fun sounds to be had here, too.

For genres outside of the heavy technical thing, there are better options in Neural’s catalogue, as the Misha Mansoor X is not the most sonically flexible piece of software. However, I don’t see this as a bad thing, as it results in a plugin with a clearly defined purpose. In other words, if you want the sort of huge sound that is inspired by bands at the forefront of the progressive scene, you know where to go.

Music Radar Verdict: A collaboration between an artist who is among those at the leading edge of what they do and a company with a respected expertise in its field was always going to result in a product with a hefty amount of expectation to live up to. Happily, the Archetype: Misha Mansoor X does exactly that, providing a focused toolbox of amplifiers and effects that are exactly what is needed for those after huge, progressive metal tones.

Also try

Hands-on videos

Neural DSP

Rabea Massad

Jack Gardiner

Universal Audio has announced the launch of a new plugin: UAD Showtime '64 Tube Amp. A guitar amp emulation based on the punchy, vintage tones of a Fender Showman, it's available for free until October 31.

Launched in the early '60s, the Fender Showman is a high-headroom tube amp originally designed for influential guitarist and surf music pioneer Dick Dale, but has since been used by The Beatles, David Gilmour and John Frusciante, among others.

In developing Showtime '64, UA claims that it's meticulously recreated the Showman's amplifier circuit in "end-to-end detail", delivering an authentic and versatile tone that spans shimmering cleans, crunchy overdrive and a convincing imitation of the amp's renowned tube-driven vibrato.

Alongside the original amp's paired 2x12 speaker cabinet, Showtime '64 offers a choice of three emulated microphone set-ups featuring the Shure SM57, Royer R-121, AKG C414 and Beyerdynamic M 160. On top of standard controls for gain and EQ, the plugin's Bright control adds a high-end boost, while the Room dial introduces room tone and natural ambience.

The original Fender Showman was equipped with a complex harmonic vibrato circuit that produced a distinctively lush and watery effect reminiscent of a rotary speaker; Showtime '64 features an emulation of that vibrato, alongside controls for both Speed and Intensity.

UAD Showtime '64 Tube Amp joins a growing collection of amp simulation plugins in Universal Audio's product line, including the UAD Woodrow '55 Amplifier, UAD Ruby '63 Top Boost Amplifier and UAD Dream '65 Reverb Amplifier. These are typically priced at $149, though they're currently discounted as part of the company's Rocktober sale.

“This is the amp that defined the sound of surf and early rock ’n’ roll,” says Universal Audio's Product Designer James Santiago. “With UAD Showtime ’64, we’ve brought its unmistakable tone to anyone making music in the box.”

UAD Showtime '64 Tube Amp is available now for macOS and Windows in VST3/AU/AAX formats. It's only free until the end of the month, so if you're interested, grab it while you can.

Find out more and download Showtime '64 on Universal Audio's website.

Positive Grid might just have done for the guitar plugin what its Spark amp did for the desktop amp by unveiling an AI-powered tone platform that allows you to design your electric guitar tone by text prompt.

The suite is called Project: BIAS X, and Positive Grid has described it as a “paradigm shift” for in-the-box tone solutions.

“For decades, creating new tones meant navigating through layers of gear, menus, and manual tweaks,” says Positive Grid. “Now, musicians can just say what they want. Powered by agentic AI that understands tone like a musician, BIAS X transforms user input into high-quality sounds fast – making tone creation feel less like trial and error, and more like inspiration.”

Simply type in your prompt and it will make you a tone. Then you can refine if needs be, asking for more compression, or a more drive... or maybe to take some of that chorus off because it is not 1986 anymore.

But you don’t even need text. Say you want to nail the tone to a song you just heard, or one that has been eluding you for years and is driving you nuts (hello, David Gilmour fans, come on down…) you could ask the BIAS X to engineer the tone from the music or an isolated guitar track.

You can also lean fully into the digital present and give it some blue-sky “creative” prompts and see what happens. “Try prompts like ‘sunset over Saturn’ and hear them come to life,” suggests Positive Grid.

We imagine similar conversations went down in studio control rooms throughout the ‘60s. Now we’re having those conversations with a computer program that has been trained on over a million different guitar tones. Is this progress? Positive Grid would argue in the affirmative.

“BIAS X understands the sound of every genre, era, and technique – so you can explore tone without limits,” it says.

BIAS X sure has a lot of carefully AI-engineered models of guitar amps to draw upon, with Positive Grid training its AI on over 200 models to present us with the BIAS X platform’s 33 amps.

These have been engineered with circuit-level detail, replicating the sag, compression and feel of a genuine tube amp.

And then you have the effects, 63 in total, plus the IR loader that allows you to blend and customise IRs, plus a collection of cab sims that was engineered in partnership with Spectre Digital, and the capacity to take any of these digital components and put them together to create custom rigs.

Indeed, you can create two entirely different signal chains and run them in parallel, blending them, panning them or layering them. BIAS FX gives you the drag-and-drop functionality, the streamlined user experience, but also the option to dive deeper and tweak.

It will be interesting how this accelerated front-end experience of dialling tones via text prompt works in concert with the desire to create something totally bespoke.

We as guitar players share the thrill of convenience and quick discovery but underneath that there is a more obsessive compulsion to assume a forensic level of control over our sound.

Perhaps these AI prompts take the heavy lifting out of creating draft tones – even tones that are good enough for practice or demos – but we still have the option to refine manually, or by further text prompts.

Positive Grid says “nearly-endless customisation” is on the menu, and the BIAS X user interface has been designed to take the pain out of the process – particularly useful when it comes to preset management. It's a tantalising prospect.

Priced $149, or at $99 if you are upgrading from the qualifying Positive Grid Spark and BIAS products, BIAS X is available now. See Positive Grid for more details.

Neural DSP has announced its latest Archetype X signature guitar plugin suite and this one is a biggie, with Misha Mansoor joining the likes of Gojira, John Petrucci and Cory Wong in offering an in-the-box guitar plugin solution for nailing his electric guitar sounds.

It seemed such an obvious collaboration that it was to our amazement that Neural and Mansoor hadn’t already sat down together and gamed out a guitar plugin; the Periphery riff-master’s state-of-the-art metal guitar tone is absolutely the Neural demographic.

But no. Not, until today. At least it looks worth the wait. Sure, there will be many adding to cart, signing up for the 14-day free trial right this minute, to add some of Mansoor’s chuggable djent to their tone arsenal, but that is just the start of it.

With three core guitar amps, a generous array of effects, plus some tailor-made for Mansoor, this will of course do Periphery sounds – only it will do so much more besides. Neural bullishly describes it as “The ultimate toolkit for modern metal guitar” and when you consider what’s in it, the Finnish brand might just have a point.

Also, we said “in-the-box” but with the Archetype X plugins, you can get that in the device, on the floor, downloaded for your Quad Cortex – albeit you will have to wait for a future CorOS update.

So what’s inside? Mansoor says pretty much everything he needs. Just add a Jackson Juggernaut.

“I wanted to design something that would not only be capable of but excel at any tone I might need, from crystal-clear cleans, to chimey breakup, to djenty tones, to absolutely crushing heaviness,” says Mansoor. “I wanted to create a bit of a sound-design sandbox that could act as a launchpad for inspiration… I genuinely cannot wait to see what people do with it!”

Mansoor says he had a wishlist of sounds going into this but the final version goes “above and beyond”. We’ll start with the amps. There are three of them.

The Clean is based on a “modern American classic” and that means headroom for days, big sounds that your pedalboard will love. “Push it harder, and it breaks up into a thick harmonically rich overdrive,” says Neural, “with the kind of character that moves from glassy cleans to classic rock crunch with ease.”

There is an onboard boost switch plus a Voice switch for toggling between two EQ profiles. Next up is Rhythm, a high-gain amp for “tight, percussive riffing” – or what many people would call “chug”. Again, you have a Voice switch.

The graphic for this is kinda cool, too, and is inspired by Mansoor’s love of supercars. But what sells this one is the fact you can tune your electric guitar down, turn up the gain to burn, and it will articulate all the nuance in your riffs.

Finally, you have the Lead amp. Could this be based on Mansoor’s signature Peavey Invective tube amp head? Neural says it is inspired by “custom-modded British classics and purpose-built for expressive solos and singing lead lines”.

Think saturation and heat, heaps of sustain, and again a two-way Voice switch. Each of these amps is served by a separate outboard 9-band graphic equalizer. You will not want for tone-shaping options.

There is a typically generous array of CabSims. You have seven virtual microphones to mic them up. You can run this in stereo or mono and this module can be used as an IR loader. A virtual room mic is available for adding depth before you start touching the reverb.

Given that this plugin is officially a Misha Mansoor joint, it is only fitting that we have his Horizon Devices Compressor pedal and Precision Drive in the list of pre fx. You’ll also find a Dual Octaver, Tape Echo emulator, and the single-knob Chaos distortion pedal which gives you that classic Swedeath chainsaw tone.

But there’s some exotic stuff here, too. Neural calls them “Special FX” and they’re what you can use to make things really interesting. There is the virtual treadle-equipped Laser stompbox, which has 19 presets, ring mod, pitch shifter, all with sweepable parameters, plus an envelope mode for automatic dynamic effects.

“It’s perfect for breakdowns, transitions, and experimental sections, and becomes even more powerful when combined with other effects,” says Neural.

Next up there’s the Glitch, a granular processing effect that chops up your guitar’s signal and rearranges it. Glitch can make glitchy sounds, weird textures, and has four modes: Pitch Delay, Sequence, Interfere, and Texturizer.

We like the sound of its Chaos Macro, which randomises multiple parameters simultaneously for experiments in granular guitar tone. Hey, overdrive is like the air we breathe. It’s essential but not exotic. This is the kind of thing that could really take your tone off-road.

As for post-effects, you can apple chorus/flanger with the Modulator, add stereo delay with onboard ducking, and a dual-mode reverb. There’s also a Preset Explorer to help you manage and order these sounds, with Mansoor supplying 34 of them.

Neural DSP CEO Douglas Castro says this is the brand’s most ambitious plugin suite yet.

“We’ve combined Misha’s iconic tones with bold new effects, versatile amps, and creative tools that invite guitarists to experiment, redefine their sound, and carry modern metal into the future,” he says.

And you can try that for yourself. Priced €125 (excluding taxes), the Archetype: Misha Mansoor X is available now. See Neural DSP for more details.

What is it?

If you’ve ever wondered whether Boss will create plugin versions of its classic, near-20 million-selling stompboxes, then wonder no more, because the answer is here. The Boss Effects Pedals plugin initially sees eight of Boss’ pedals ported into the digital realm of a DAW plugin, allowing you to incorporate official replications into your projects.

To start with, it comprises staples such as the DS-1 Distortion, OD-1 OverDrive, SD-1 Super OverDrive, CS-1 Compression Sustainer, PH-1 Phaser and TW-1 T Wah, alongside some more left-field examples in the SG-1 Slow Gear and SP-1 Spectrum.

Boss says that this collection is intended to be “ever-expanding” with no word yet on when or what future additions could be, and there’s a strong caveat that should be mentioned straight out of the gate: you’ll need a Roland Cloud Ultimate subscription in order to get your hands on the Boss Effects Pedals plugin, and unlike the Roland JC-120 plugin released earlier this year, there’s no route to purchase a lifetime key.

With that said, you can run the plugin on a 30-day free trial, and of course, a Roland Cloud Ultimate package gives you full access to an entire suite of music-making tools including classic synths, drum machines, samples, expansion packs and more.

Specs

• Launch price: Roland Cloud Plan Ultimate membership, $19.99 a month/$199 a year (30 day free trial also available)
• Type: Stompbox plugin
• Plugin formats: VST 3.7 (64 bit), AU, AAX
• System requirements - Mac: macOS 12, Intel Core i5 or better (Quad-core CPU recommended), Apple Silicon, 2 GB RAM, 150 MB storage
• System requirements - Windows: Microsoft Windows 10 (64-bit), Intel Core i5 or better (Quad-core CPU recommended), 2GB RAM, 100MB storage
• Contact: Roland

Usability

Before you can get started, you’ll need to create a Roland Cloud account and sign up for an Ultimate membership. From here, installation of the Boss Effects Pedals plugin is quick, with the required space starting at 100mb on PC, and 150mb for Mac OS. The plugin comes with VST, AAX and AU versions, and requires a host DAW to run - for me that’s Logic Pro.

Navigation is simple, perhaps a little too simple, with only one pedal available per-instance of the plugin. So, if you want to run, say, a T-Wah into a DS-1 then place a PH-1 Phaser at the end, you’ll need to load three instances of the plugin.

One advantage of having these effects in plugin form is that without the restrictions of hardware connections and impedance-matching, it unlocks the ability to apply classic Boss effects to any audio channel you like without having to incorporate DI boxes or re-amping as you might with hardware.

However, given the stompbox design, it seems like a missed trick not to have compiled the effects into a single instance. A pedalboard-style interface capable of loading a whole chain would be more convenient, especially for guitarists.

Beyond this minor inconvenience, each instance of the plugin works in a similar way. There’s a menu for selecting your chosen pedal, along with a drop-down menu giving access to five presets per-pedal.

The centre panel contains a graphical representation of your chosen pedal, and there’s a choice of views (Basic and Pro Edit) with the latter offering additional parameters not found on the original hardware. Further functionality includes a single user preset for each pedal (saved as the Default setting), A/B comparison between two settings and input/output pots for level controls outside of the pedal settings.

As well as this, every control and switch is assignable to a MIDI controller, as well as automation within your DAW by simply right-clicking and selecting or learning the parameter you’d like to control. It’s all very straightforward and intuitive, aside from the discrete nature of each pedal.

Sounds

As a collection, the eight effects give a fairly well-stocked set of sounds, and the choices have been partially made to reflect the first three Boss compact pedals ever launched (OD-1, PH-1 and SP-1).

The strongest single category in terms of volume is the Distortion/Overdrive pedals, and each of the three offer something slightly different.

The OD-1 is famed for its smooth, valve ampl-like response, and here it’s no different. It reacts with a mid-forward tonality that sprinkles your signal with fat-sounding overdrive, working nicely for vintage tones. It’s firm bluesy/Screamer territory when played on the neck position of my Strat, and works really nicely for Zeppelin-y chords fed from a humbucker.

But, for those who want a bit more gain, the SD-1 Super Overdrive takes things up a gear. Here is home to the mid-ground rock sounds, with its clear attack and smooth note separation providing ample playing ground for a huge range of styles.

Polished ‘80s rhythm sounds, ‘90s indie, punky, heavy crunch and more are all on tap making it a really versatile and dynamic drive. Finally, there’s the DS-1 - this classic has been featured on countless ’boards, and this digital recreation nails the raspy, throaty, full distortion of its hardware counterpart.

Many of us will have, at some point owned or used the CS-1 Compressor Sustainer, with this blue box giving plenty of guitar players their first glimpse into the useful, yet sometimes misunderstood world of compression.

The compression part of the pedal actually acts more like a limiter, and it’s noticeable as you turn the Sustain control to the left - this clamps down on the incoming signal with vice-like authority, emphasising the attack of the note with aggression.

The result is a pronounced pop to each note, which while desirable, definitely needs to be used sparingly here. Too far and the signal becomes very squashy - dial it in just right, though and funky single-note lines will cut through with ease. It’s characterful, which is just as well given the number of software compressors at our disposal these days.

Push the Sustain, on the other hand, and you’re rewarded with glistening ring to your notes, emphasised further by engaging the Treble control, which will help to remove mud while keeping the higher frequencies ringing. Think Mutt Lange clean rhythm sounds and you’re on the right path.

The Spectrum and T-Wah are a bit more niche. The former works a bit like an EQ/enhancer, allowing you to brighten dull sounds to give a bit more energy. It’s focused on frequencies between 500Hz and 5Khz, which plants it firmly in the range of mid-shaping and higher-end enhancement when it comes to guitars.

It does a great job of bringing out pick attack and adding punch to electric guitars, while also applying a bit of cut and sheen to acoustics. It can add zing to a dull-mic’d acoustic, or reduce a bit of the honk from a DI’d under-saddle piezo. It’s not the most exciting of effects, but it is a problem solver.

The T-Wah offers a great funk injection, falling into the categor of ‘envelope filter’ rather than an LFO-based auto wah. This means that it’ll react to your playing dynamics, rather than cycling through a sweep with a rate and depth control.

You can adjust the Peak control to make everything more explicit, and there’s a toggle switch for changing the filter sweep direction (Up or Down). It’s a useful addition, especially if you want to apply wah sounds without committing at the point of recording, not least because controlling a virtual wah pedal without an expression pedal requires some tweaky automation.

Finally we have the Slow Gear, which is among one of Boss’ most cult pedals, commanding high prices for used hardware and often imitated in modellers and multi-fx, as well as pedals such as EHX’s Pico Attack Decay.

The basic premise is to give you automated ‘violining’ of notes without having to adapt your pinky finger to rolling-up the volume control. It works best on single notes, with chords often pushing the sensitivity threshold too far. But, with some careful adjustment of the incoming signal thanks to the included control, I found it possible to fade-in chords too with some success.

Verdict

There’s a lot of fun to be had with the Boss Effects Pedals plugin, and as always, it gets even better when you start combining the pedals in series, or, as our DAW flexibility allows, blended in parallel.

Of course, there is an element of nostalgia to be had here too, and while these are the first official software emulations of Boss hardware, we’re not really starved for plugin options.

It’s curious that Boss has chosen to launch this plugin in the way it has for a few reasons - the single-pedal, multi-instance operation being one. Another glaring omission at launch is the lack of any of Boss’ chorus, delay or reverb algorithms, but I can only hope that some of these are next on the list.

Finally, is the entry route. It’s a hard sell to think that many players will take out a Roland Cloud subscription purely on the strength of one plugin. In reality, that’s not the case at all, as the wealth of resources you’ll gain access to by signing-up is good value, even if the subscription price will no doubt limit access for some people. It’d be great to see this available as a one-off purchase.

Those points aside though, once you get your hands on it, there’s plenty of mileage there which is only going to grow with expansion. At last, the ability to use official Boss stompboxes in our DAWs is here - and with that comes flexibility iin terms of how and what instruments they're applied to.

MusicRadar verdict: With tons of nostalgic charm and quality sounds to match, the Boss Effects Pedals plugin has a lot going for it. It's unlikely to convince you to take out a Roland Cloud Ultimate subscription on its own, but bundled with everything else, it just adds to the value. Here's hoping for more expansion and entry options soon.

Hands-on videos

Roland Cloud

Patrick Breen

Late last year, Universal Audio reimagined several of its well-rated UAFX amp modelling pedals as plugins, releasing a trio of software tools - Dream '65, Lion '68 and Ruby '63 - that made legendary Fender, Marshall and Vox amp tones easily accessible from your DAW.

Today, UA expands its collection of amp modelling plugins with the UAD Woodrow '55 Instrument Amplifier, a software version of its Woodrow '55 pedal that recreates the vintage tones of the 1955 Fender 5E3 Tweed Deluxe.

Closely emulating its every component via painstaking circuit analysis, Woodrow '55 is said to authentically capture the sonic nuances of an amp beloved by everyone from Neil Young and Chuck Berry to Joe Bonamassa and Ariel Posen, delivering the "punchy cleans, rich tube-driven overdrive and natural compression" that made the original a bona fide classic.

Woodrow '55 features a considerable assortment of modelled speaker responses and virtual mics with which to play with, along with a healthy range of artist-crafted presets that provide an easy route to imitating some of the 5E3's most memorable moments in musical history.

“This is the amp that defined what electric guitar sounds like - from the first fuzzed-out rock records to today’s alt-country and Americana,” Universal Audio's Lev Perrey says. “With UAD Woodrow ’55, we’ve made that iconic tone accessible to anyone producing music in the box.”

In our review of the Woodrow '55 pedal, we praised its "glorious sound" that admirably recreates the original amp's ability to deliver "clean complexity all the way to beautifully broken drive extremes".

UAD Woodrow '55 is priced at $199. The plugin is also available as part of Universal Audio's subscription service, along with 50+ UAD plugins. In recognition of Spark's third birthday, the company are offering a two-year subscription for $99/year.

Find out more about UAD Woodrow '55 on Universal Audio's website.

IK Multimedia has expanded its Tonex digital ecosystem with a free app for players to manage, save and audition electric guitar tones and get the most out of the guitar plugins specialists’ stompboxes.

The Tonex Editor is just that. It is an editor, one-stop access point for your Tonex library, allowing players to pull together sounds from their own presets and Tone Models, plus sounds shared on ToneNET by the IK Multimedia user community and then save them down to their Tonex pedals.

One of the biggest advantages of digital tone-chasing is the options it presents. There are thousands upon thousands of tones to find. But managing these great abundance is not easy, and that’s where the Tonex Editor will come in handy.

It is designed to streamline your workflow, allowing players to audition sounds and edit them in real-time; simply load up the editor, call up a preset or Tone Model, make some adjustments and save them straight to the pedal.

For touring guitarists, it makes it much easier to organise all the sounds needed for a set; players have full control over all parameter presets. Users can import and export entire libraries.

The Tonex Editor can be used to apply global setup and performance modes on the “tiny but mighty” MusicRadar favourite Tonex One mini pedal, and like everything in this Tonex family of products, it is fully compatible with your library, stored settings and presets, and can see all of the Tone Models and IRs stored on your hardware, in your computer library, and on ToneNET.

IK Multimedia says special attention has been paid to the GUI, with a new “floating window” design making the most of screen space and making it easier to browse through your Tone Models, IRs, etc.

“A straightforward drop-down menu provides quick access to hardware-stored Tone Models, conveniently sorted by type and character,” says IK Multimedia. “Additionally, the editor offers full control over all key parameters, including FX, Tone Model Amps, Tone Model Cabs/IR/VIR, and tempo and global setup options, delivering comprehensive, real-time control over all settings.”

And it is free. It comes bundled with Tonex 1.9.0 and newer, and is compatible with PC/Mac. You can download the Tonex Editor now direct from IK Multimedia.

As any sufferer will tell you, Gear Acquisition Syndrome can be an expensive habit, but what if there was a way to feed your addiction without spending any money? If your vice happens to be guitar distortion stompboxes, Sampleson’s new rePedal plugin - a free AI guitar pedal maker - could be the itch-scratching cash-saver you’ve been waiting for.

The concept is simple: Every time you click the Remake icon, the plugin automatically creates a random new distortion pedal for you to try. It does this by randomising the structure of the neural network that’s working away behind the scenes, creating a different model each time.

Each pedal has Drive, Threshold and Post Gain controls, along with a Gate switch. If you hit on a pedal that you like, you can save it for recall later.

And that’s about all there is to it. RePedal is billed as an “experimental machine learning project” and is currently in beta, but is free for everyone to try. It runs on PC and Mac in VST3 and AU formats, so most DAW owners (though not Pro Tools users) should have compatibility.

Find out more and grab your free download on the Sampleson website.

Firewind’s shredder-in-chief and former Ozzy Osbourne guitarist Gus G has joined the likes of Alex Lifeson and Joe Satriani by teaming up with IK Multimedia for a signature Tonex collection.

The Gus G Tone Asylum collects 27 Tone Models, each designed and captured by the man himself in his studio, and it offers a one-stop shop for nailing his high-gain electric guitar tones.

“High-gain tones is what I've been into my whole life,” says the G man. “With Tonex, I captured the amps from my collection, the amps I’ve used on recording sessions, and my live rigs from the past 15 years to my most recent ones. I also took the opportunity to capture my favorite stomp boxes and all the signature overdrive pedals I’ve released so far. Where I go, Tonex goes.”

That is very much the idea. IK Multimedia has created a digital eco-system so that these sounds can be used on any of its Tonex devices, so you can run it out of your DAW, in your AmpliTube 5 suite, the Tonex app itself – or load its sounds onto the Tonex pedals and your new favourite power metal guitar tone is good to go for the stage or studio.

As for the guitar amps themselves, we’ve got seven in total, and it is no surprise that we’ve got some Blackstar amps here. There’s a model of the HT-5 Metal, the St James 6L6 and of the the Series 200 Gus G signature amp. These are joined by an Engl Powerball, an EVH 5150 III lunchbox amp, a Mesa/Boogie Triple Rectifier and a Marshall JCM2000 TSL60. Fire-breathers, one and all.

If you are looking for Gus G’s Ozzy-era tone then fire up the Series 200. That signature model is hard to find these days – and it’s also a monster. This digital representation of that sound is a lot easier to housetrain.

“This was my signature amp back in 2012. We only produced 250 of them,” says Gus G. “They’re based on Blackstar’s Series One 200 amp, but my version has more high gain. I toured the world with it when I was with Ozzy Osbourne. It was the core of my sound at that time, and I wanted to capture it for the first time.”

The tube amp models alone put a lot of gain on tap, but we’ve got six drive and dirt pedals to dial in some more. Choose from the J Rockett’s esteemed Klon clone, the Archer, Gus G’s signature Crazy Tube Circuits pedal, the Speed Demon, his signature BBE Green Screamer, a Boss SD-1, a Blackstar Dept 10 Dual Drive, and another CTC custom build in the shape of the Fire & Fury.

All of this is of course made possible by IK Multimedia’s AI Machine Modeling tech. What a time to be alive. The Gus G Tone Asylum is available now at an introductory price of €49 (regular price €69) – see IK Multimedia for more details.

NAMM 2025: It's been 50 years since the Roland JC-120 Jazz Chorus guitar amp was released and won an army of fans thanks to its legendary clean tone. So what better time for Roland to unleash a software version? Get ready for the "king of clean", coming soon to a DAW near you...

1975 saw the release of what would become one of the most-loved amps and chorus effects of the era, the Roland JC-120 Jazz Chorus. As the need for punk and distorted guitar tones fell away, in favour of the clean sound and quality chorus effects that were ushered in with the 1980s, the JC-120 was adopted by guitarists the world over, who fell in love with its polished tone and powerful sound.

Artists including Andy Summers (The Police), Robert Smith (The Cure), Roger Hodgson (Supertramp), and Johnny Marr (The Smiths) are among many notable users in the guitar community. Uber producer Steve Levine is also a huge fan of the original, saying, "this amplifier absolutely suited the high quality and beautiful recording that was taking place in the '80s. It was the perfect amplifier for the time."

For the amp's 50th anniversary, Roland has announced a software recreation, so producers and guitarists everywhere can now access the "king of clean".

While the original amp/chorus remains in production, the new plugin recreates its sound and character "through deep analysis of the original circuitry". You get both the powerful and ultra-clean tone - as originally created using an integrated stereo amplification system and custom 12-inch speakers - along with the evocative Dimensional Space Chorus, an effect that was actually first introduced to the world via the original hardware.

The plugin has new features to go alongside that classic character, with a choice of stereo modes, tempo sync, speaker simulation with multiple mic types and positions, plus an ambience control.

The new JC-120 Jazz Chorus VST3, AU and AAX plugin will initially be introduced via the Roland Cloud Ultimate Early Access program, although a release date has yet to be specified, and nor has a price for the individual plugin (if indeed it will be made available outside of the Roland Cloud ecosphere as many Roland plugins are).

However, the plugin will likely be included as part of the full Roland Cloud subscription which costs $20 a month and gets you all of the existing and future Roland plugins. (There are lower cost subscription levels, but they only offer a limited number of software titles.)

You can get more information on the Roland JC-120 Jazz Chorus plugin from the Roland and Roland Cloud websites.

He has built a replica of Kurt Cobain’s aluminium Veleno guitar. He has compiled a forensically accurate suite of IRs capturing the late Nirvana frontman’s In Utero tone. Now Aaron Rash has unveiled his latest project, The Nevermind Sessions, an IR pack that sounds “identical” to the era-defining electric guitar tones of the Seattle grunge trailblazer’s seminal 1991 album.

Rash is YouTube’s most-authoritative voice on Nirvana guitar tone. In his words, he “started going down the rabbit hole” and what a journey that turned out to be. Along the way he befriended the late Steve Albini, the legendary producer responsible for putting In Utero down on tape.

Albini even lent Rash his Veleno for the project. Nirvana tech Earnie Bailey also helped him fill in the missing pieces, like how Cobain got that clean tone on In Utero from a Frankenstein’d tube amp that was rescued from a dumpster.

One of Rash’s great epiphanies in this archeological survey of Nirvana tone is that your amp’s speaker matters. Like, it really matters, and is the secret sauce to so many of the tones you hear on the records. Rash has gone to some insane lengths to source this gear and to test it. A 13-hour drive to pick up a vintage HiWatt from Seattle? No problem.

This dedication is what makes his YouTube channel essential viewing. It is what makes these IR packs worth checking out. He even recorded The Utero Sessions IR pack at Robert Lang’s studio in Seattle, where Nirvana tracked You Know I’m Right.

Speaking to MusicRadar in January, Rash said this was a learning process. On occasion, the gear seemed to change in real time, with speaker responses and tone changing after being exposed to too much fuzz pedal.

“It’s really weird. So I started taking speakers apart,” he said. “And I’ve actually re-coned a few, which was really, really eye-opening for me. I’ve learned that the tone is in the cone, more so than anything. So I did weird things like taking the cones off of different speakers and putting them on other speakers. It’s really weird stuff but it’s really interesting.”

So what’s in the box? Well, The Nevermind Sessions was another Herculean labour. “It sounds, literally, exactly like the record,” promises Rash. It also ships with a manual that walks you through everything you need to know. “It covers every pedal, every song, how many layers of what is recorded,” says Rash. “It’s super in-depth. It’s super-easy to use.”

Rash has organised all these sounds by song, so if you’re trying to nail that In Bloom rhythm sound you can just load up that IR and it’s there.

Though, one thing to note: the names to the tracks have been changed. You should be able to guess which IR goes with which song. Teenager Spirit? Yes, you guessed it. “I don’t want to get used, obviously, so everything is named a bit differently,” says Rash. “But you’ll know what it means.”

You’ll know how it sounds. Just check out the video, and listen to those opening powerchords to Smells Like Teen Spirit. Sorry, Teenager Spirit. It’s uncanny.

It’s also available now direct from Aaron Rash, priced $49.99. For more, subscribe to Aaron Rash’s YouTube channel.

If you’re looking to expand your library of music making plugins, Cyber Monday offers a great opportunity to pick up a lot of software for not a lot of cash. You could easily lose hours trawling through software store fronts to pick up the best individual instruments and effects.

If you’re looking to pick up multiple plugins and want the best possible deal, a software bundle is the way to go. The bundles below, most of which are focused around a single brand’s catalogue, offer solid value even at their full prices, allowing you to pick up a whole range of tools at a price considerably lower than that of buying each individually.

Once you factor in Cyber Monday discounts on top of this, some of these bundles start to look like serious value.

Below, we’ve collated our top software bundle deals. These bundles are all selected from software our team has either tested, or ones we own and use regularly, and each is currently available with a significant discount. If you want a lot of quality software for your money, these are the way to go.

If you're not ready to commit to a full bundle, check out our guide to the best individual Cyber Monday plugin deals.

I've been a bit behind when it comes to the leaps guitar plugins have made recently, but the Black Friday guitar deals gave me a reason to dive into the latest offerings from Universal Audio – because they're a massive 50% off.

Admittedly, the massive half-price deal on the new Dream, Lion and Ruby amp plugins was already rolling before the Cyber Weekend from retailers including Sweetwater here, but now Thomann is now offering it for even less. Plus, I got paid so this felt like the perfect deal at the right time.

It turns out I was right.

I'm a little biased here – but for good reason. I am already a fan of the pedal version of the UA Dream '65 amp pedal – it raised the bar for the kind of detailed amp modelling technology could capture when I reviewed it, with a focus on the 1965 Fender Deluxe Reverb combo and the most popular mods that have been done to this iconic tube amp over the years. And it worked incredibly well on my pedalboard.

Universal Audio did the same for the Vox AC-30 Top Boost with the Ruby '63 pedal, plus Marshall Plexi Super Lead and Super Bass with the Lion '68 pedal. But its decision to make plugin versions of these pedals has impressed me in a different way.

I'm a dad, and when I'm not reviewing guitars as part of my job in a test environment, it can be difficult to find space and time to play guitar through an amp after my two children have gone to bed. The headphone experience with amps and even multi-fx has often felt somewhat compromised for me – compressed and oppressive. but UA's Dream '65 Amp plugin changed that.

The Dream '65 UA plugin doesn't require the company's hardware to launch it. I can boot up my laptop and GarageBand (the three amp plugins work with any DAW) then launch the plugin from there. And it sounds spectacular through headphones; like a loud Deluxe in the room; spring reverb dripping, vibrato throbbing and captured with mics I could never afford in the real world. It's blown me away.

Unlike the pedal that needs the UAFX Control smartphone app to access presets, they're instantly accessible here – alongside the amp's controls in a super easy-to-use interface. They're a great jumping-off point for inspiration, from gritty edge of breakup to flubsome, cab-rumbling neck pickup drive and glassy cleans. These are sounds I get lost in, and it's reinspired me to record more too.

But it ain't cheap. These three amp plugins are $299 each. Quality like this is worth paying for but half price is much more palatable, especially if you are yet to be convinced by the pedal versions. But we've found it even cheaper – Thomann is offering each one for $142 / £138 rather than the £/$149 everywhere else. If you're looking for iconic tones for your recordings or just a way to enjoy those sounds through cans in your house, this is a Black Friday deal I can personally recommend.

• Check out more great Black Friday music deals

IK Multimedia has teamed up with Alex Lifeson to help you nail the Rush icon’s electric guitar tones with a TONEX signature collection that collects four digital models of his most-loved tube amps.

If the machine learning TONEX tech behind this guitar plugin suite is complex, the idea behind it is simple; Lifeson picked four favourites from his guitar amp collection and IK Multimedia deployed its proprietary AI machine learning to engineer 25 tone models that give you tones from all stages of his career.

Been searching for that Moving Pictures “clean-yet-dirty” tone? You will find it here with a digital reproduction of Lifeson’s open-backed Marshall 4140 Club and Country 2x12 combo.

As IK Multimedia notes, Lifeson made full use of this lesser-spotted Marshall amp’s capacity for pedalboard accommodation. Pair this with a Boss CE-1 Chorus Ensemble or an EHX Electric Mistress, add a delay pedal of your choice and you’ll be on the guest list for Xanadu.

Next up is another Marshall and a cornerstone of his tone. Lifeson calls this one “Curly”, and it’s a Marshall 6100 30th Anniversary head that’s paired with a 1960BV straight 4x12 speaker cabinet.

“One of the most versatile amp designs yet produced, ‘Curly’ played an essential role in providing Alex with every era of ‘British’ guitar tone on stage and in the studio,” says IK Multimedia, and no one here is going to argue with that.

These three-channel 100-watters were launched at Winter NAMM 1992. If you attended one of the guitar expos of that year you too might still be lucky enough to still have your 30th Anniversary poster signed by Jim Marshall. Ours is sadly long missing in action. IK Multimedia presents 10 amp and cab tone models from this special edition tube head and cab.

This collection would not be complete with a Lifeson signature amp, and we’ve got two. His first, the all singing, all dancing Hughes & Kettner TriAmp, which IK Multimedia describes as “the backbone of Rush guitar tones from the late 1990s through the early 2000s” is replicated with five amp and cab tone models, and a super-wide range of tones, from gin-clear cleans to super-saturated lead tones.

The second signature amp brings us right up to the present day, and Lifeson’s signature Lerxst amp brand, with the Omega and its matching 4x12 offering you all the tone and feel of the amps he used on Clockwork Angels.

Again, versatility is the watchword. This is a two-channel amp with switchable clipping, a greatest hits of all his previous amps in one, and in Lifeson’s words, “These plug-ins sound just like the amps or better!”

They are also designed to as a standalone plugin in your DAW or anywhere within the TONEX eco-system, meaning you can access Lifeson’s signature Rush tones via your TONEX pedal.

The TONEX Alex Lifeson Legacy Signature Collection is available now, priced €99.99. See IK Multimedia for more details.

In an astounding Black Friday guitar deal, IK Multimedia has made its two biggest platforms more affordable than ever, with a fantastic $500 discount on the premium iterations of both Tonex and AmpliTube 5. IK Multimedia’s audio software tools are the platonic ideal for the exploratory musician. The software encourages experimentation – and produces absurdly high-quality results as your reward.

If you’ve spent any time messing around with amp emulation plugins in your DAW, you’ll have discovered just how impressive amp modeling is nowadays. Giants of the field, like Kemper and Fractal Audio, loom large over professional session musician pedalboards; for guitarists and producers big and small, software solutions like IK Multimedia’s AmpliTube and Tonex are at once arresting and affordable.

If you’ve not immersed yourself fully in the potential of digital modelers, IK Multimedia has thrown you a Black Friday bone like no other; you can pick up two world-class guitar-gear emulation systems for three times less than the price of one. If that's not enough to convince you, just remember AmpliTube is as popular with Slash as it is with the average guitarist recording at home.

While having two separate options for amp emulation might seem like overkill, AmpliTube and Tonex overlap one another in some hugely useful ways. Tonex is the newer of the two, and we praised it in our Tonex software review for its use of machine learning to reverse-engineer recordings of existing amps or guitar set-ups, in order to create damn-near perfect “Tone Model” algorithms of the same equipment.

A comprehensive digital guitar-rig modeler that uses meticulously coded sims of quintessential amps and pedals, we gave a full 5 stars out of five in our Amplitube 5 review. AmpliTube 5 Max v2 is the juiced version, which gives you the keys to thousands of factory and user presets – including a heady number of world-famous amps. Tonex Max is itself juiced, with thousands more Tone Models to choose from (as well as the option to immortalize your own rig into a Tone Model).

With both apps at your disposal, you can achieve practically everything guitar ‘in the box’ – apart from actually playing the thing. With a little extra investment in a Tonex pedal, you can even take your precious Tone Models out to shows with you! This Black Friday bundle is more than an opportunity to grab at multitudes of new guitar patches to play through; it’s an opportunity to get serious about sculpting your tone for the studio and live performance, without spending thousands on vintage amps in the process.

Check out more early Black Friday deals:

• Musicians Friend Black Friday deals 
• Guitar Center Black Friday deals
• Thomann Black Friday deals
• Black Friday guitar deals

Sonora Cinematic Panorama Guitars: What is it?

We’ve had some great guitar instruments in for review in recent months, but Sonora Cinematic’s latest looks like being one of the best titles for those of us blessed with more keyboard than string-plucking skills, and after a more atmospheric style of axe sound.

Panorama Guitars is designed to produce the kinds of lush and evocative guitar sounds that shoegaze and post rock bands made famous over the last 20 to 30 years. Think Slowdive, Mogwai and even the sounds of Robert Fripp playing on David Sylvian albums – heavily laden with emotion, atmosphere and reverb.

Panorama Guitars not only delivers that sound in spades, but has a superb and tweakable engine that lets you record movement, modulate and layer sounds together. If you want your guitars dreamy, you’ve come to the right place.

Sonora Cinematic Panorama Guitars: Performance and verdict

It might not have the most inspiring-looking interface, but there’s more going on with Panorama Guitars than meets the eye because it’s based around the same flexible engine used in Sonora’s rather great Aria Vocalscapes.

For a start there are some hidden extras like a three-slot effects area and dual LFO page. Each LFO operates on one of two sounds that layer each preset in Panorama Guitars, so the main feature on its UI is an X-Y pad that allows you, on a basic level, just to blend between sounds. You can even record these movements, which are then played back on subsequent key hits.

Already, then, there’s a lot you can do with the sounds that ship with Panorama Guitars. There are currently 40 different sampled-based instruments that you can apply to each of the two layers, A and B (with more planned in an imminent update). These range from bright guitars, reversed sound, and bass sounds, to ambient tremolos and washes. (Sonora sampled five electric guitars, a baritone guitar, and an electric bass for the title.) The 100 presets tend to – but not always – deliver a more distinct guitar-based instrument on Layer A and a more atmospheric ambient pad-like sound on B, but you can easily change and mix these sounds.

As good as these instruments are, the effects must also take some of the plaudits for the overall amazing sound here, as each of the presets is drenched in them. Each of the three slots can have one of 28 effects placed in it, with further controls opening up to adjust. You can choose from amps (bass and lead), stompboxes (wahs, distortions, lo-fi and more), delays, reverbs and modulation types. A lot of fun can be had mixing and matching, and the three slots let you change a preset beyond all recognition and layer up as much atmosphere and emotion as you please.

We’ll cover more on the modulation side of Panorama Guitars below, but one other feature worth highlighting is the ability to assign many of the parameters to that X-Y pad – and you thought it was just for blending the layers, right? Wrong. Any parameter – and that’s a lot – which has an empty dot next to it can be assigned to the X-Y pad. Set the maximum amount you want the parameter to cover, then hit X or Y and it will be assigned. Easy! This makes automating and performing with Panorama Guitars a hoot, and some lovely evolving sounds can be created.

LFO meet guitar

Both layers A and B get an LFO and filter to tweak. You can easily assign the LFO to volume pan and filter cutoff, and choose from five different waveforms for modulation. It can also be easily synced to your DAW.

As with other parameters in the effects section, and as described above, the filter cutoff has a dot next to it so can be assigned to the X-Y pad. A third way of controlling this (on top of the LFO and X-Y pad) comes by way of a step sequencer (shown in orange). This can have up to 16 steps which you can then draw in to change the filter cutoff at a rate determined by a frequency dial (top right). This can drastically change a sound, so you’ll have to tread carefully. And it should also be noted that you can use all three modulation types – step sequencer, X-Y pad and LFO – on the filter frequency simultaneously if you want some ultra crazy filtering action! Again, there’s more depth here than meets the eye.

Dreamscape

By now you’ll have got the point that we love this instrument. We don’t really even have to describe its overall sound quality – it’s dreamy, evocative and incredibly emotive, but there’s so much you can do to sounds as well. Yes, if you don’t like the genres it aims itself at as much as us then it won’t be a 10/10 for you as it is us. But even a few glitches where sounds needed to be reloaded can’t stop us max’ing this instrument out score wise (we think it might be a Logic/Kontakt thing anyway) as this is probably the best 60 quid we’ll spend on a plugin. It’s finally time to throw ourselves at that long awaited post rock album, right now.

MusicRadar verdict: You know when an instrument is going to be a useful tool for years to come, right? Yes, this is it. Panorama Guitars (post) rocks.

Sonora Cinematic Panorama Guitars: The web says

"The sounds go from recognisable guitars and basses all the way to ethereal pads, faux harps, spy movie harpsichords, dreamy pads and timbres that could easily be mistaken for processed electric piano."
Sound On Sound

Sonora Cinematic Panorama Guitars: Hands-on demos

Sonora Cinematic

The Sampleist

Sonora Cinematic Panorama Guitars: Specifications

• Fully compatible with Kontakt Player version 7.7+.
• CONTACT: Sonora Cinematic

Having scored a home run with its UAFX amp modeller pedals, Universal Audio has taken the exact same algorithms from three of its vintage tube amp-inspired stompboxes and released them in as guitar plugins.

That means you have classic Fender, Marshall and Vox guitar amp tones at the click of a mouse button, with the Dream ’65 emulating a golden era Deluxe Reverb, the Lion ’68 doing that high-volume Plexi Super Lead thing, and Ruby ’63 on-hand for electric guitar tones ranging from Rory Gallagher blues through Beatles chime and Brian May-style harmonic crunch.

Now these are all available individually as UAD Native plugins. Simply add them to your DAW and you’re off, no need Apollo needed. And they arrive with their custom onboard boost options, plus a bewildering array of speaker emulations.

If you’re already down with the digitalisation of guitar hardware then you might even make the case that owning these is preferable to the originals. For a start, there is no maintenance required. Also, these can effectively be modded on the fly.

For those with the UAD Dream ’65, you can toggle Stevie Ray Vaughan and Steve Lukather mods on the amp, adding the an emulation of the original amp’s tube-driven spring reverb and vibrato to taste. A clean boost will give you the push you need when taking a solo.

The Plexi ’68 presents three classic Marshall amp sounds. There’s the the 100-watt Super Lead (model 1959), the Super Bass, and one named Brown, named after Eddie Van Halen’s “Brown sound” and emulating his use of the Variac to adjust the voltage going into the Marshall in search of sweet spots with more more warmth and saturation to them.

Furthermore, you have an emulation of the Boss GE-10 10-band EQ and the tone-sweetening powers of a ‘70s Echoplex EP-3 tape echo preamp at your disposal.

As for the Ruby ’63, it has onboard boosts modelled on the the ‘60s Dallas Rangemaster germanium treble booster and an EP-3 tape echo – which is where you’ll find that Gallagher/Queen mojo.

And as with the UAFX amp modelling pedals, all of these amp sounds can be paired with a formidable array of mic and speaker pairings. As ever, in the world of digital, it has never been easier – or cheaper – to browse vintage gear and put it to work.

The UAD Guitar Amp Emulation Plugins are available now, each priced $299. For a limited time only (well, until the end of the year) they are available at an introductory price of $149. Head on over to Universal Audio for more details.

Neural DSP has unveiled the latest of its upgraded guitar VSTs and plugins, with the Fortin Nameless Suite X capturing all the fire-breathing power of the legendary Mike Fortin tube amp head, and bundling it with an array of digital features.

This is city-levelling tone in code, 1s and 0s arranged in formation to weaponise your extended-range metal guitar riffs. It’s chug on a hard drive. And for a limited time only you can get it with 50 per cent off. Neural DSP is presently running a special birthday promo with all plugins half-price.

Existing users can download the update free of charge, and when that long-awaited Quad Cortex firmware update arrives in Q2 of 2024 (which was the last ETA and thus it is imminent) the plugin will be downloadable to the unit and available to access from the floor.

The amp that headlines the Fortin Nameless Suite X needs little introduction. Like the Mesa/Boogie Mark IIC+, it is a legendary piece of work, a 50-watt gain monster that put the “urgh” in Meshuggah. In short, nuclear amounts of gain, lots of clarity, all voiced for precision blasts of audio brutality.

So with this you get a Neural Capture of the original Fortin amp, with Neural DSP working hand in glove with Mike Fortin to develop it. Fortin says he does not like amp modelling and we believe him but he says he likes this. It sounds like he made Neural’s DSP team work for it.

“Technologically challenging and artistically fulfilling,” was how Dan Davies, CMO at Neural DSP described it, and judging by the demo video, featuring rhythm guitar excellence courtesy of Car Bomb’s Greg Kubacki, this really is a serious piece of work. 

Besides the guitar amp model you get a trio of pre effects, digitally created stompboxes comprising the Grind distortion pedal, which adds clarity as well as ancillary gain, the Zuul “studio-grade” noise gate, and the Hexdrive, overdrive pedal, which can be operated as a boost or a drive.

There is also a new 9-band EQ with high-and low-pass filters, a transpose feature that can retune your guitar in an octave either way via constant intervals, and a doubler that widens your signal across the stereo field. Neural DSP boss Doug Castro says this is a “complete redevelopment” of the original plugin.

“It reflects the enormous advances that Neural DSP Technologies has made in that time,” he says. “Our modelling technology has been able to even more precisely capture the nuances and features of the Fortin amplifier. Mike Fortin’s sonic genius has been at the core of so many great metal guitarists’ signature sounds, and now we’re able to bring that exceptional capability to many more of them everywhere.”

Other features include cab sim and IR loader, with six virtual microphones that can be positioned around the speaker. Newly designed reverb and delay processors are bundled, as is a live guitar tuner and metronome. It is priced €119 which means it is just €59.50 in the sale. To order, head over to Neural DSP.

The notion that computers are only good for making ‘electronic’ music may have long since been dispelled, but we don’t think we’re exaggerating when we say that there are still a few guitarists out there who remain wary of recording on a Mac or PC.

Allow us to reassure you, though: rather than being something to be feared, the computer is actually the recording guitarist’s best friend, particularly if you team it with a few choice pieces of gear from the Focusrite family of brands.

This includes not just Focusrite itself, which offers a wide range of audio interfaces to suit every price and budget, but also MIDI controller specialist Novation and acclaimed studio monitor manufacturer ADAM Audio.

Together, these three companies can provide all the hardware and software you need to record, mix and produce guitar-based music.

Getting down to specifics, if you need a reliable audio interface - the box that’s used to get sound in and out of your computer, basically - may we suggest the Focusrite Scarlett 2i2, a perennially popular device that features guitar and mic inputs, high-quality preamps and top-quality sound.

This ships with the excellent Hitmaker Expansion bundle, a carefully curated suite of software that includes a set of plugins that will enable you to shape your vocals (Antares Auto-Tune Access and the Relab LX480 reverb), add crunch to your guitar (the Softube Marshall Silver Jubilee 2555 virtual amp is a top-notch performer), create piano and drum parts (you get the Addictive Keys and Addictive Drums 2 instruments from XLN Audio) and sculpt your sound via high-quality mixing and mastering plugins such as the classic BX_Console preamps and 'Red' EQ and compressors.

Of course, you’ll need a MIDI controller keyboard to play these excellent sounds, and Novation can help you out here with the Launchkey 37, which offers the perfect balance between playability and portability. This is designed to work seamlessly with Ableton Live, the industry-leading DAW, and a Lite version of the software comes in the box. It also offers full integration with Logic Pro, Cubase and Reason, while out-of-the-box support for other DAWs (Studio One and Pro Tools, for example) is made possible by the HUI controller protocol.

Between these two products, then, you have pretty much everything you need to record your songs, but how do you actually hear them?

This is where ADAM Audio has you covered: Its T5V speaker is an affordable two-way nearfield monitor that’s ideal for perfecting your mixes in a small studio, and for those times when you need to work quietly, the premium-quality SP-5 headphones are a godsend.

So, the message is simple: you bring the guitar, the computer and the talent, and Focusrite can help you out with everything else. Who said digital recording needs to be complicated?

Electro-Harmonix is aiming to deliver the ultimate Big Muff for recording and pedalboard with its new Hardware Plugin. 

Players can connect the Muff Pi Hardware Plugin fuzz pedal to their computer via USB and run recorded tracks and virtual instruments through its circuit 'to add signature warmth and distortion with the same ease as using a digital plugin'. 

In addition the Hardware Plugin can also be used as a 2-in/2-out audio interface and of course a standalone Big Muff Pi pedal, with the added advantage of 10 programmable presets. 

It's certainly a weighty investment at $328.90 but it's aiming to be the most advanced Big Muff to date. Taking the circuit design is straight from the classic 1973 Violet Ram’s Head Big Muff and updating it with true stereo, a Tone Wicker switch for the option of three high frequency filters for added bite when desired. 

In addition, a Tone Bypass button completely removes the tone control for a heady character some players prefer and then there's those handy presets. It can also be powered via its USB 2.0 Type B port for studio use.

For more information visit Electro-Harmonix

It just so happens three of the greatest contemporary guitar talents around right now all have signature Neural DSP Archetype signature plugin packs. That sounds like a good excuse to get them together on a track; Polyphia firebrand Tim Henson, funkateer Cory Wong and maestro Plini agreed. The result is Sunset.

Unsurprisingly, all three are used their respective Neural DSP Archetype plugins, and to celebrate Neural are offering them with 30% off over at neuraldsp.com.

Best guitar VSTs 2022: guitar plugins and software to supercharge your guitar recordings

Neural DSP has launched the Tone King Imperial MKII Suite, a plugin that emulates all of the vintage Fender-esque mojo of the original tube amp combo in digital form – and for a fraction of the price.

Just like the Imperial MKII, the plugin offers players a two-channel setup, with spring reverb and bias-modulated tremolo, and an onboard Ironman II Reactive Attenuator to change the feel of the amplifier.

And thanks to the magic of digital, you get some effects to play with pre effects including a compressor pedal and two different overdrive pedals, with BBD-style chorus and delay joining reverb in the post effects section. There is also a wah pedal, plus Neural DSP’s nine-band graphic equaliser. 

The Tone King Imperial MKII is much sought-after for its super capable rendering of classic Fender guitar amp sounds, with a voice ranging from spanky black panel to gritty tweed, with plenty of sweet spots to be found between benchmark tones. Its 20-watt, 1x12 format is replicated here. 

The original is fitted with a custom-voiced Eminence driver, but here there is a cabsim module that offers 100s of IRs designed by 5by5 studios and the capability to upload your own.

It also features two speakers and a selection of eight virtual microphones for recording – including AKG C414 B ULS and the Sennheiser MD409-U3, vintage models that would cost close to two grand in the physical space, so to speak. All this, however, is priced €99, with a free 14-day trial on offer.

The Tone King Imperial MKII Suite is available as a standalone package or 64-bit VST/AU/AAX, with a free iLok License Manager and iLok account required. See Neural DSP for more details.

Creating digital versions of classic amplifiers is all in a day’s work for for Neural DSP, but the Tone King combo makes is something of a change of pace, perhaps recognition that the boutique amp demographic is more amendable to using plugins, or that the tech-savvy are seeking out more classic tone options.

Neural DSP has also designed plugins that similarly translate physical amplifiers to digital, with the likes of Fortin, Soldano and Omega Ampworks available online. It’s most recent blockbuster release saw John Petrucci join its Archetype artist roster, offering Dream Theater fans the chance to house all of his tones in one convenient format. Mastering his formidable playing style, however, is all on you.

John Petrucci and Neural DSP was always going to be a special combination, and in a new in-depth interview above, the Dream Theater titan has given the inside perspective on the process and the high standards he was holding his signature Archetype guitar plugin suite to. And in Neural DSP he found the perfect collaborators.

Petrucci was clearly hands-on with the details - down to the amp graphics, and his enthusiasm for the process and the results is infectious. No wonder it's going down a storm with guitar players.

"I'm a gear nerd  and I love getting new stuff and trying it; getting excited about new creative material that just inspires you and then you start playing and writing," say Petrucci. "So that's the first thing I'd like people to do when they open it up."

Neural DSP’s Archetype: Petrucci is one of the biggest software and guitar plugin releases of the year, with the Dream Theater guitarist offering up a digitally accessible version of his rig, and new features such as Room Mics expanding the Archetype experience.

But there’s a lot going on there. There are four core amp models, including a Piezo amp to get the best out of Petrucci’s piezo-equipped signature guitars, or indeed an acoustic electric guitar. You have heaps of effects options, including Overdrive, Phaser, Chorus, and Flanger stompboxes, a wah pedal and compressor, plus studio-quality stereo chorus, delay and reverb.

Then there are the IRs, Room Mics, a four-band semi-parametric EQ that you can assign to each of the amplifiers.... It goes on. Even though you can download the Archetype: Petrucci for a free 14-day trial, sometimes you need to see someone give it a test run and showcase the sounds before deciding where it’s worth the hassle.

Enter, Rabea Massaad, who has helpfully stepped up and shot an in-depth half-hour video tour of its features, and recorded a track on his Ernie Ball Music Man JP15 that’s inspired by Petrucci’s 2005 debut studio album, Suspended Animation, and showcases the sounds on offer. 

Check out the video at the top of the page for Massaad’s tour of the features and functionality of the plugin, and below for his Petrucci-inspired track. It's pretty neat.

Like the others in the Archetype series, the user experience looks typically player friendly. And it’s certainly a lot easier than putting together a hardware version of Petrucci’s epic stage rig. 

Even back in 2017, when MusicRadar joined Petrucci for rig tour before Dream Theater’s Images And Words 25th anniversary tour, it was ridiculously stacked, with a full complement of signature Majesty and JP electric guitars, an officially modded Mk IIC+ MESA/Boogie that was now operating under the designation JP-2C, and a vulgar display of amp modelling power courtesy of Fractal’s Axe-Fx.

At €149, the Archetype: Petrucci is a little more accessible, and is available now on 64-bit VST / AU / AAX and as a standalone software package. See Neural DSP for more details.

• “We were all inspired” – Dream Theater members talk new album and how Scenes From A Memory influenced it

We spoke to Mark on the release of his 2018 album, Down The Road Wherever.

Classic Interview: Loving guitars means you’ve got to love the cheap ones as well,” Mark Knopfler reflects as he leans back in his chair in the control room of his studio in West London.

“A really powerful part of my childhood was gazing longingly at those things. I didn’t know whether it was going to be a Futurama or a Hofner or a Burns Sonic that I was going to get first. But I was desperate for something. Boy, I loved them and I still do. You never escape that.” 

He should know. Four decades on from Dire Straits’ debut hit, Sultans Of Swing, in 1978, he’s still making records that are, among other things, love letters to the sound of the guitar in all its many guises.

His latest album, entitled Down The Road Wherever, is also his most autobiographical record in a while, and its 14 songs include many unsentimental portraits of the life he led as a gigging guitarist in Newcastle and Deptford before big-time fame hit.

As usual, there’s also plenty of those unhurried, emotive guitar lines that linger in the memory – including some offbeat but moving moments that only Knopfler could pull off.

Halfway through the slide solo in Just A Boy Away From Home, for example, you realise that the melody he’s coaxing from the guitar is You’ll Never Walk Alone – Knopfler phrasing the old hymn from the football terraces beautifully and investing it with fresh emotional power. 

“The idea of it actually came from when my dad was in hospital in the General in Newcastle,” he explains.

“He’d had his first heart attack after he retired and he’s lying in there in the middle of the night feeling maybe just a little bit sorry for himself, when he hears someone singing as they’re walking past. It’s right near St James’ Park and it was in the middle of the night. So it was obviously a Liverpool lad who had missed his train or his bus home, you know? And he’s on his own and he’s singing You’ll Never Walk Alone – and I think my dad found it sort of like a little sign to keep his chin up. 

“It’s great that that should happen and I’ll tell you this as well: somebody will have helped [the Liverpool fan] out, taken him down to the station, got him a cup of tea, asked him if he’d got any money, you know… put him on a train or told him what time the first train for Liverpool would be and all of that. That’s Newcastle for you,” he says, with evident pride in his home turf.

The solo is just one of the guitar highlights of the record, but it stands out not only for the quote but for the deft slide work. Knopfler’s well known for his fretted playing, but the roots of his slide playing, which is less frequently talked about, are actually even older, he explains. 

“I could do Elmore James-style steel from the very, very beginning when I was just a kid,” he explains. “After I heard it, I could just kind of do it. I don’t know whether I could do it very well, but I was doing it straight away. I probably wouldn’t like to hear it now. It was just pure Jeremy Spencer kind of thing.”

The remark opens up a bit of discussion about his unmistakable playing style, which borrows freely from blues, country and folk without hanging its hat on any one of those classic genres in particular. Like many guitarists, early exposure to a really good record collection – belonging to his friend and musical sparring partner Steve Phillips – laid the blueprint for Knopfler’s approach to the guitar.

“Even when I would be about 20 or so, I was already steeped in a lot of early country blues and everything,” he recalls. “We were listening to all of that stuff because Steve had a record collection and so I’d be around there most nights just drinking his coffee and listening to Blind Willie [Johnson] and all of these people. It’s stuff like that, listening to everything going back to the 20s, maybe even before: early jug band, string band stuff. 

“Steve’s house became like a university of the blues for me… as well as the Nationals and all of that. Everything. I think that’s the background of my acoustic fumblings and that started to develop to where I’d take liberties and the thumb would start to play the top strings and the fingers on the bottom – and I was always losing the pick anyway,” he says, explaining how his distinctive style of playing the electric guitar with fingers only evolved from those early acoustic days. 

“Then when I could afford an amplifier and started with Gibsons and Fenders and all the rest of it, I could already find my way around and I’d done a lot of listening,” he explains. “I think if you’ve done a lot of listening, if you’ve gone back to both black roots and white roots in music – folk and blues, all of those styles – it might just give you a bit of depth as a writer, I think.”

Coming back to the present, he adds that the slide work on Just A Boy was done using the Fender single-coil sounds most people associate him with.

“That would be one of my Strats: just a regular Strat or one of my signatures,” he says. “Though I also sometimes use a really early ‘Coke bottle’ Danelectro, with one pickup, for slide. Speaking of cheap guitars, I once had a 12-string Dan’ and I was getting up from my chair and I put my thumb straight through the top of it. Straight through the body, and I realised, ‘Oh, this thing’s chipboard – there’s nothing to it.’” 

Wasn’t that stuff dubbed ‘Masonite’ by Danelectro, we offer? 

“This wasn’t Masonite. You wouldn’t have even used it for a picnic table,” he laughs. 

Elsewhere in the album, there are more portraits of life from Knopfler’s earliest days as a pro guitarist, including what is arguably the best song on the album, Matchstick Man, which tells the story of a musician hitchhiking north on a snowbound Christmas Day after playing a dead-end gig in Cornwall.

The lyrics describe how a truck driver drops the young man off at a high crossroads overlooking a bleak plain of snow. It’s a song that’s somehow larger than its subject, speaking of what it means to choose your own path through life, without signs, maps or encouragement to guide the way. 

“And who would you be, vagabond?” the lyrics ask. “No-one invited you, you know.”

Was this a chapter from Knopfler’s own experience, we wonder?

“Yes. I was standing there with the realisation of what I’d chosen to do in life,” he recalls. “It didn’t bother me. You’re young and you’re just full of it and I didn’t even look to see how far it was from Penzance to Newcastle. I don’t think I even knew it was 500 miles back then, you know? I would climb up into trucks with a guitar all the time, because, you know, from college and stuff, I used to hitch with a guitar all the time. It’s unthinkable now. I wouldn’t do that now. With a guitar? You’re kidding, aren’t you? But there you are, that’s just the way I was. 

“Actually, it did take a while to get a break in music after that,” he recalls. “I got a job that saved my life for a while and I earned some money that actually enabled me to swap my motorcycle for a car and to buy a Fender and stuff like that. It just got me back operating again and eventually to be able to get Dire Straits together.” 

After years of living hand to mouth as a gigging guitarist, was the sudden transition to worldwide fame after Sultans Of Swing a bit of a shock to the system?

“It was probably fast by a lot of other people’s standards, but I felt as though I had been working all my life towards it,” Knopfler says. “I was 28 when Sultans broke, when that first album burst open all round the world. We were still living in Deptford, and with the record deals back then when you first signed, they wouldn’t give you any money for 18 months. I think they’re still like that today, actually.

“So it was No 1 all over the world, but I didn’t get any money from it for ages, and we were still living there for a good while. But I managed to move up the road after a few years. All those deals get renegotiated, in return for which you give them more albums, that’s how it works. And it slowly edges up to where you get a reasonable royalty.”

Nonetheless, he remains grateful for the lean years when there was nobody to carry your amp from van to venue for you. 

“I know plenty of musicians who have never unloaded a lorry and I think, I’m sorry for them, because if you’ve never really done anything like that then you don’t really know what it’s about. What people are thinking, all the rest of it,” he says. 

The new album isn’t all grizzled autobiography, however. There are moments of offbeat humour to be found in tracks such as My Bacon Roll, which gives voice to the frustrations of middle-aged men on corporate team-building days. Drovers’ Road, by contrast, is the kind of rugged ballad with a stirring Celtic inflection that Knopfler made his own from Local Hero onwards.

“I don’t think it’s ever very far from the surface,” he says of the Celtic influence on the track, but adds that he’s far from being a pious disciple of folk music tradition.

“I’ve got to the stage where if there was a Celtic band playing I would spoil it with my Les Paul or something, you know? If I write something like that and if it’s got an instrumental coda that goes between the verses, something like Laughs And Jokes And Drinks And Smokes, I’m quite happy to put some guitar in there. I don’t mind sort of crashing in through the French windows of a folk tune that’s being played,” he admits.  

“I’m not much of a purist, you know – I don’t really think there has to be a classical form for anything. I would put a concrete mixer on a record if I thought that it was going to help it. I don’t want to be orthodox necessarily. It’s like those people who say, ‘Oh, this is an English folk club,’ you know. You’re joking aren’t you? Go and fuck yourself! I’m not interested in that kind of thing. 

“It’s like bluegrass. There are people who think, ‘Oh, well, it’s not bluegrass unless it’s got a Dobro and a fiddle and banjo and a flat-top guitar and you can only play with a pick, and whatever else…’ Well, who cares? I love all that music, but a lot of the new stuff, it’s far too fast. I call it ‘turbo grass’. Actually, if you listen to the really great people – you know, Bill Monroe and the people who started it – it’s not played that fast. The originals never really played that fast.”

Knopfler adds, as an aside, that his intense focus on songwriting in recent years has left him wanting to brush up on his own playing technique a bit, to the extent that he’s even toying with the idea of taking guitar lessons.

“You do get one thing at the expense of the other to a certain extent. I certainly think that my playing has suffered from just being so preoccupied with writing songs over the years. I’m not bitching about it, I love songwriting more than anything and that is why I’ve ended up where I am with it, with the guitar.

“I tell you the truth, though, I’d like to have a guitar teacher come round on a Tuesday morning or something and ring the bell, and not set me a load of theory but just talk about a little passage or a little sequence and leave it with me and then go through it with me the next week… That’s exciting to me, because I’ve never had a teacher like that. I don’t want to start learning some shit that I’m not interested in, but there’s lots and lots of other stuff I’d still love to get into.”

It’s heartening, if surprising, to learn that Knopfler feels he could use a few lessons this far into his career – meaning there’s surely hope for the rest of us yet. All the same, on the evidence of tracks such as Drovers’ Road and Nobody’s Child, it’s clear he hasn’t got too much to worry about.

Knopfler sounds great on the album: as well as the languid, lyrical phrasing he does so well, the guitar sounds are top-drawer throughout. But anyone hoping to crib detailed notes from the Knopfler school of guitar tone is in for a disappointment, he reveals. 

“People say, ‘How do you get that sound?’ Well, I plugged it in and then I started fiddling with the knobs until I got something that I quite liked [laughs]. That’s how I did it. But I can tell you some things that I do,” he admits. “I’ve just found on my old Tone King amp, for instance, that I like the rhythm channel better than the lead channel for a lot of things that I do.”

When it comes to the guitars used on the album, he says it’s a mixture of his go-to vintage instruments and lesser-used guitars that had a more specific role in tracking certain songs. 

“There’s a slew of Les Pauls on the album. Gibson copied my ’58 [pictured opposite] and they did it so well that I used a few of those. Just out of interest, I would try one or two, and one of them would just maybe slot into a song better than another and it’s so amazing why the hell that happens, but they’ve all been just a joy to use. I’ve a very nice ’59 Les Paul, too, which gets used from time to time, which is lovely.

“There would definitely be P-90s, too; I think P-90s are just great pickups. I find that there’s often more tone in them than others, don’t you? There’s a reason why I keep going back to them. So the 330 gets used a little bit. I use a Gretsch every now and again. I use a Rickenbacker for some ‘chings’ or some ‘drings’ occasionally.

“Acoustically, it’d be the Martin, the 1935 D-18,” he says. “If I’m strumming straight chords I like to use an old Gibson Southerner from about ’53 because it just shivers straight across – it’s nice and even. If I was doing rhythm, maybe on One Song At A Time, it would probably be that if I was just hitting it with a pick and playing straight rhythm chords. If I was using a cello [archtop], it would most likely be the D’Angelico Excel, from ’37, which was an amazing time for D’Angelicos. 

“The thing about the great old jazz guitars, the great old cello guitars, is that as time goes on you can do anything with them,” he adds. “What I’m trying to say is I could play a song that’s ostensibly out of character for it and it will handle it, you know? You can play straight cowboy chords or just pick on them. They’re just uncanny the way that they are.”

Knopfler ascribes some of the incredible musicality of these guitars to the exacting tradition of archtop building, passed down from master to apprentice, that links the D’Angelico Excel to the younger but equally refined Monteleone that also forms part of his collection. 

“It’s an apprentice system,” Knopfler explains. “Just like D’Aquisto was apprenticed to D’Angelico, then John [Monteleone] started doing stuff for D’Aquisto as an apprentice. I asked John Monteleone who his apprentice is and he said, ‘I haven’t got one. Never found anybody.’

“There must be less kids now that can subject themselves to that kind of discipline. It’s a nutty discipline, though, the standards are so high, you know? But when the Monteleone has been around as long as the D’Angelico it will also sound like that, which is scary to think about – but I’ll be long gone,” he concludes, with a smile.

Beginning as an online project between former Iwrestledabearonce vocalist Courtney LaPlante and guitarist Mike Stringer (who also happen to be married), Spiritbox might be new on your radar, but their seemingly rapid rise to success has actually been six years in the making. 

Debut album Eternal Blue mixes up influences from metalcore, nu-metal and hardcore, but also takes in polar-opposite sounds, reaching into soundscapes, EDM and even pop to create one of the freshest, most anticipated collection of songs heavy music has seen in a long time.

What’s more, the extreme drop-tuned guitar tones on Eternal Blue were recorded with multi-scale 7-string guitars and captured entirely with plugins (specifically Neural DSP’s Nolly and Plini models). In a nutshell, Spiritbox is a none-more-2021 snapshot of what’s possible using your creativity, guitar and a computer. 

We sat down with Mike Stringer to get the lowdown (drop-F#, to be precise) on the band and his tips for using plugins with your guitar. 

How did Spiritbox get started?

“Courtney and I were in an old band together called Iwrestledabearonce which ended in the winter of 2015. As soon as we got home we started writing for the first EP and it took us close to a year to get that solidified and ready to go. 

“It didn’t come out until October 2017, and when that came out we just started making more music and creating videos and everything. We picked up Bill [Crook], our bass player in early 2018, and from there it’s just been pumping out material and making as much music as possible, putting it online to try to create a demand. 

“But then the moment we were able to do it live it was March 2020, and we went out to go do it and everything went to shit! It’s crazy how time has flown by and now we’re here which is pretty wild.“

Do you think the enforced downtime of the pandemic and having to find other ways to promote yourself helped in a weird way?

“Yeah, for sure. The band definitely had a very unconventional approach to building an audience first before going out and doing it live, so we spent a long time just putting music out and trying to connect to people that way. 

“So when Covid happened, we just immediately flipped back to doing what we were already doing, but for other bands they were like ‘What the fuck do we do?’, you know? For us it was like going back to our old ways. In the last 12 months especially, things have changed for us quite a bit, and it’s just been this very odd time where all these awful things are happening in the world. 

“You read these headlines and see all these people suffering, and for our band to be going in the opposite direction is just odd. It’s a weird feeling. But at the end of the day I feel like in these times people need music, they’re on their phones and on their computers, and maybe that’s how we were able to be discovered easily, because we already had the videos out there and the music available on all those services and stuff. It’s definitely been a whirlwind to say the least.”

Your music isn’t just one sound or sub-genre of heavy music either, there are a lot of influences in there…

“It’s hard to get specific with describing our sound because the whole goal of the band is to be genre less in a way. We don’t sit down and say ‘We have to write this type of song’. Whatever riffs or sounds come out, that just is what it is, because if we enjoy what we’re hearing on the playback monitors then we just go with it.

“I feel like that’s kind of the beauty of it because we’ve spent most of our careers in other bands feeling so worried and being trapped in that thinking ‘We can’t use synths, we can’t use 808s’ or any of that stuff. But what’s the joy in that?

“Creating music is supposed to be fun and it’s supposed to not have rules, so I think if you were to classify it, you’d call it metalcore. I just tell people I’m in a metal band because in a nutshell it’s kind of what it is. But yeah, I think the goal of the band is to have variety.”

How about you as a guitar player, who are your influences?

“I used to only look at one thing, especially when I was younger. Every other band I’ve ever been in has been about ‘How many notes can you play? How ugly and dissonant can you make this’. In the older days I was obsessed with Tony Danza Tapdance Extravaganza; Josh Smith was a huge one for me. I used to love the guys from Protest The Hero, and I still love all those guys, don’t get me wrong. 

“But as I’ve gotten older I’ve gone back to the roots which I used to start listening to metal music. James Hetfield has the most insane right hand on the planet. Guys like Mick Thomson and Jim Root write incredible riffs. Munky and Head from Korn were at the forefront of downtuning, and it being the biggest style of music in the world and so widely accepted. 

“I love looking at that and thinking ‘Why did it work so well?’. Why is it now that the average person would listen to something that low-tuned and heavy and frown on it, but back in the year 2000 it was on the radio, you’d walk into the supermarket and Korn would be playing! It’s interesting to me. 

“I don’t mean to sound like that guy but I think I’ve just gotten to the point where I’m more focused on the big picture as opposed to in the moment of that riff of ‘How could I impress someone?’ I’m thinking more about how I can support our vocalist so that she can shine and make the part better. It’s a bigger challenge to me to make something simple and memorable than something fast or dissonant or whatever for the sake of shock value.”

What guitars did you use on the album?

“The three guitars that I used on the album were my Artistides 070SR, it’s one of their Raw models and it’s a multi-scale. Then I have a Balaguer Growler with an EverTune, and we doubled everything with that. So that way, anything that needed to be super-locked-in, like choruses and lead stuff where you need it to be perfectly intoned, we’d have takes with the EverTune guitar. Then anything that could ride that line a little bit, we had the non-EverTune.

“Then 99 per cent of the clean stuff was a Schecter seven-string Elite multi-scale guitar we had in the studio. It had Fishman Moderns in there, but it was a split-coil, and then there’s the active/passive setting too. It’s also just a really sick guitar. It plays amazingly.“

You recently had your tour with Limp Bizkit cancelled, that must have been a huge moment but also disappointing at the same time

“Man, what a bummer! When we got the tour offer for Limp Bizkit I was just ecstatic. When I was younger I think I melted Chocolate Starfish… so getting that tour was huge. It was such an honour. Then three shows in it all got cancelled. 

“We were on stage sound checking an hour before doors and a stagehand for the venue came up to us and said ‘Hey, I’m really sorry to introduce myself like this, but the show’s cancelled and you’ve gotta pack up.’ So we were standing there and it was like last March all over again, being told you’ve got to go home.

“But the silver lining is that we were all healthy and safe. It definitely could have been a much worse situation. I’m just happy that we’re all vaccinated. It’s just going to be a bumpy six to 12 months, I think. All you can do is make sure you’re safe and healthy and wearing masks and stuff, otherwise we’re not going to get through this anytime soon!“ 

Did you get a chance to hang out with Wes?

“Yeah, his rig is crazy. I don’t know the absolute specifics because the day I was getting into asking questions with his tech, that’s when we got cut. I don’t want to be there on day one going ‘Can you tell me about your rig and how it all works?!’. But what his tech told me is that one half of his pedalboard is for all the clean stuff and the other half is for all the heavy stuff. 

“He has a split between a Roland JC120 for cleans and then he’s got two EVH heads. It sounded massive. That was cool to get to see because when you look at the pedalboard at first it looks so overwhelming. But once you think of it as two separate boards it makes more sense.“

What were your first experiences with guitar plugins?

“I had one of those Line 6 Guitar ports, the little red box that was kind of slim with one knob on it and a demo copy of the software with 10 amps on it. I think that was about 2008/2009. I got it then, even though it wasn’t the most seamless thing, I understood the power of it and it’s taken a long time for plugins to get to where they are now, where we’re using them on actual album releases and stuff.

“But even then I was like ‘This is so insane, you can get this clean of a signal through your computer, print it and then you’re good to go.’ I feel like over the years diving into that has been such a blessing because over the years just diving into that has enabled us to make records in my parents’ basement! 

“Then I got a Pod, which had the same kind of interface for the plugin side of things. Then I recorded a couple of albums with a Fractal [Axe FX], but the moment that the Neural DSP plugins came out, that’s kind of when everything changed for me. That was the first time a plugin had that weight and response and felt as close to an amp as I’d ever felt.

“That’s 90 per cent of it for me, how it feels as opposed to how good the sound is coming out. I know with my right hand when I hit a palm-mute or something, what I’m feeling back is very important. The Neural definitely supplies that and reacts like a real amp.“

“Back in 2019 we went and recorded two singles, Blessed Be and Rule of Nines with Dan Braunstein. I was adamant that I wanted to use a real amp, so we mic’d stuff up, it was sounding good. Dan recorded the band Volumes and they have a record called Via which changed my life completely. 

“He’s just got that ear and was doing all the plugin stuff well before a lot of people. He championed Guitar Rig and made it work, and no dig on Guitar Rig but that is not an easy feat because it’s a hard programme to use to me.

“So anyway, he wanted to try a plugin so he could compare the real amp and the plugin. He came across the Neural Nolly 5150. I don’t know if it’s directly a 5150, but the UI of it definitely is. We tried that and put it up against the real thing and he was like ‘Dude, the plugin smokes it. Plus the fact that I can switch out the cab sim, and I can tweak it after. This is a no-brainer.’ 

“We’ve been using that Neural Nolly plugin on our stuff exclusively ever since, and I think it’s the stock setting that it comes in, straight up. I set it flat at 12 o’clock with minimal tweaks and a boost in front, and I think it’s the stock cab sim too. 

“I can’t say that it’s totally just that because I’m sure he adds some EQ and flavouring on top, but the heart of it, that’s what it is. But the nice thing about it too is that you’re able to split up the plugin, so on some clean stuff we used the Plini plugin with our split coil, then all the distorted tones are all the Nolly plugin.”

Mike's plugin tips... 1. Get a great guitar audio interface

“One thing that helped me a lot, and I highly recommend it, is if you can get a Universal Audio Apollo – you can find them used too -  those are honestly super-clean going in. You don’t even need a DI box, you can just go straight into the interface and that plays a huge role in my opinion for not only latency, but how clean the signal is. 

“There are some interfaces that are entry level that’ll get you by, but if you A/B it, there’s a huge difference in my opinion. Even the small things like being able to use the DSP plugins on the way in, we used their 1176 compressor on the way in and that made a huge difference.“

2. Know your DAW

“Learning your DAW is huge. I use Reaper and when I tell people they’re like ‘Why would you use that?’ But it’s the only thing I’ve used since I was 16. I don’t know it inside and out, but if I get to a point where for whatever reason my DI is being heard at the same time as my amp sim or whatever, or I have an issue, it’s just super easy to figure it out because it’s what I’m comfortable with. 

“So I’d say just pick one. It doesn’t matter [which] at the end of the day, but if it’s Pro Tools, stick with Pro Tools, if it’s Reaper stick with Reaper. Your sound isn’t going to be affected, it’s just being able to learn it inside and out so that when you do run into issues you can troubleshoot really easily. I’d also recommend picking one that lots of people use, so that if you do get stuck you can just go on YouTube and have someone walk you through how to fix it!

“But for me learning Reaper was important in my recording career, which usually is just minimal stuff like sometimes recording Courtney’s vocals, or recording my DIs and sending them out. But not knowing that stuff is daunting.“

• Best beginner DAWs 2021: music production software recommendations for newcomers

3. Monitoring is key

“Most of the time I’m using a set of Adam studio monitors that I’ve had for a long time and I know, to a certain degree. Some people want to monitor really low, I’m the type of dude that wants it really loud, like a real amp so I can hear how it’s coming through. 

“But I think it comes down to personal preference. I’ve recorded in headphones before; I don’t personally recommend it. Whenever I’m recording or doing tone-chasing, I open up the volume quite a bit and I’ll just sit there and play the same thing and A/B it over and over again. Whether it’s different cab sims or different amp heads that I’m trying out with the plugin, I feel like monitors are a huge benefit in that situation.”

4. Set your feel as well as the sound

“I definitely get it to a point where, by itself, it feels good to play. Because I feel like when you’re tracking, it’s important for your stuff to sound good, and you can trick yourself into thinking you’re doing better than you are. Like, if you were to take a sound and be like ‘Whatever, I’ll figure it out later’, you’re not going to be digging in as hard. 

“Your playing is going to be reactive to what you’re hearing coming back, so whatever you’re playing through it has to be pleasant to your ears, and get you excited about what you’re doing. The beautiful thing about plugins is that you can get the guitar sound to a point where it’s 75 to 80 per cent there by itself. 

“But what I’ve come to learn is that a lot of stuff has to be done once everything else is finished. Because the moment you put that in a full band scenario, it’s going to get lost under everything else. So my thing is that you can take your performance and play to it, it’s all good, then at the end of the day you can tweak for the mix. Whereas with a real amp, you’re committing to that sound, and then you’re stuck. So it’s nice to be able to take what you’ve done and then at the end be able to tweak things if needed.“ 

5. Minimal gain equals maximum gains when stacking

“We literally do one quick run through a part, and then we’ll take the other side. So we won’t do the full song on one side then the other side all the way through. If we’re doing a chorus, we’ll record the chorus part and then double it for the other side. 

“It makes it more consistent for tuning because we’re in Drop F# on a seven-string, so we’re really low, and I’m fortunate enough to have a couple of guitars with an EverTune bridge on them so it makes recording those parts really easy. But before I had those we’d record one take and it’d be in tune, then if you don’t do the double-take really quickly, you’re going to spend 20 minutes tuning to match the first part!

“We barely use any gain, like at all. I’ll go into it with a lot, then as we’re finishing recording Dan’s taking that gain knob and turning it lower and lower and he’s like ‘It’s so much clearer dude!’ And he’s right. To be able to do that [after the track is recorded] is massive.”  

6. Replicate, don’t duplicate

“Don’t do that! Here’s the thing, for me I definitely like to get through whole parts. I don’t like to do, ‘Punch-in, copy/paste, quantize’. It loses that natural playing feel and I think that’s where metal has gone wrong in the last little while. 

“Everybody is so hyper-focused on perfection, but I like hearing the natural sound of what your hands are doing, because you’re human! Right off the top of my head, there’s a part in a song of ours called Hurt You, where right before the final breakdown there’s a weird guitar scrape sound [and] the left and right are off – it’s not exactly the same. But to me it sounds a lot cooler that way. 

“I’ve been told before that we should just copy and paste a part for consistency’s sake, but I’ll always go through it again just so that we have the option. It’s important in this day and age to have that natural human feel, and you can’t do that if you copy and paste like a robot.“    

7. Don’t regret presets

“I’m a firm believer that, let’s say you have three guitar players in the room and they all played through the same plugin, they’re all going to sound different. Because they’re all going to play differently. If you put your picking hand just a little more towards the pickup, or they play with their fingers out, or they fret really hard, it all plays a huge role because it changes the signal. 

“For me, I don’t really think that a lot of guys giving away their patches really care that much because they know ‘It’s not going to sound like me’. I look at plugins and patches as a good starting point for someone to see how the artist does it, and then from there they tweak it to their liking with their hands.” 

8. Lay off the edits, geddit?!

“There’s always going to be editing, don’t get me wrong. My parts are edited to a certain degree, but not note-for-note. If I’m playing a little behind the beat, they’ll bump my whole part forward a tiny bit, but we’re not speeding things up and slowing them down, and chopping and stretching them. I don’t get that. 

“It’s 2021, we work really hard to make our albums, mixing them and mastering them to sound pristine. Then they get put on an app where people listen to them in earbuds for the first 30 seconds before they skip and skip, then make a decision on whether they like your music or not! So is it really going to make a difference if that delay tail is perfect? No! Sorry to be a bummer, but this is where we’re at.”

9. Create, don’t procrastinate

“I have friends who have been working on music for four or five years, and I’m always like ‘How’s it going, I’d love to hear it.’ And they go ‘Oh, it’s not ready yet.’ And it’s unfortunate, because people are stuck in that mindset of perfectionism, but it doesn’t exist. Everything is a moment in time, so you can put it out there and let people discover it while you’re working on the next thing. That should be every artist’s dream, but a lot of people are too hung up the mix, or a snare sound!

“At some point you need proof-of-concept, and you have to wrap it up and put it out there to see if anyone even likes it! If that means using presets, mixing it yourself or just doing whatever you have to do to wrap it up. It’s better than it just being files on your computer or phone. 

“I think another big part of it is that a lot of people feel like they want to put their music out there, but they’re terrified of the rejection or the critique, but it’s important to get that done and get over it in my opinion. Then you’ll get used to it, and even used to people commenting negatively about your music.” 

10. Learn to listen

“We’re definitely not in the normal range for guitars, and the guitars I play aren’t made out of wood so it’s a lot snappier and there’s a lot more high end register. So it enables me to play that low without sounding so muffled. It’s ultra-clear right off the bat because of the materials being used. 

“But there are certain things that we need to keep in mind with EQ because we’re so low, it’s basically like a bass. So we roll off a lot of lows, but you have to be careful because at the same time you can lose a lot of weight. 

“Thankfully our producer has a longstanding history of doing this well before anyone else was doing it, so he’s the one advocating for low gain, boosting up front and trying to make it sound as tight as possible.”

11. Playing heavy? Leave the gates

“For me, I’m pretty adamant that there shouldn’t be too much choke. The signal is pretty hot, but it’s all done before. So we’re boosting up-front rather than taking the gain and going to 10. I’m not one for when you palm-mute, everything cuts and it’s super-robotic like a machine. 

“Maybe some parts require that, but I’m not looking for that. I feel like if you don’t use a noise gate properly, it can really suck your sound. The moment you need to start supporting melodies with octave parts and things like that, it feels like your signal’s not coming through properly. 

“There’s a sweet spot with gates and you can spend a long time on that. With a plugin, you can control it after the fact so it kind of takes that worry out for me.”

12. Look beyond guitar plugins for sounds

“The first part of the song Hurt You that we just put out is actually the lowest string being pushed over the top of the fretboard onto the neck. So it’s reaching a certain note and then being pushed even farther.  

“We took that sound which is definitely very jarring, then added a lot of distortion and saturation, then put some chorus on it. It kind of made this grinding gear sort of sound which became a theme throughout the song. But that pushing the string off the fretboard is definitely a thing we do from time to time.

“A lot of times for the clean sounds we’d use the Neural Plini plugin, and we’d have the Schecter in the active setting, but on the second-to-last split coil. We use a lot of dotted 8th-note delays, and we use a lot of the Valhalla reverbs. I highly recommend the Valhalla VintageVerb, Shimmer and the Room plugins. 

“We went a little bit crazy on some of the clean stuff, and a lot of the time what we’ll do with those sound is take the cab sim off the amp plugin so it’s like a more colourful DI. We also used an 8-bit plugin on some of the parts, it definitely rounds it out quite a bit. It was so much fun to just experiment with a lot of stuff. You can definitely go overboard with the atmospheric sort of stuff, but those Valhalla plugins are just so nice.“

13. Plugins, baby!

“It’s got to a point now where companies like Neural are supplying something for everyone. So if you’re a blues player or alt-rock player who wants to get into the recording/plugin game, just get one of the free trials. You can try any interface just to try it out – borrow a friends’ or something and just see if it’s for you. 

“It’s not for everybody, some people are more tech savvy than others, but being able to take your ideas and record them without having to rely on going into a studio, and having it sound really good is just amazing. Even just for your own guitar playing – playing to a click, learning stuff, it’s great for your playing.“      

• Eternal Blue is out now via Rise Records.

Neural DSP has unveiled the latest in its Archetype series of signature plugin sets with Polyphia's future-forward electric guitar trailblazer Tim Henson joining its lineup.

Like previous editions of the Archetype series – which have included plugins for the likes of Gojira's Joe Duplantier and Cory Wong – the Archetype: Tim Henson presents a comprehensive software solution for nailing his tone, and contains three guitar amplifier models, an array of effects pedals, and a cab sim module comprising hundreds of IRs made by Adam "Nolly" Getgood.

Let's start with the amps, first. Here you have an acoustic guitar amp, a low-gain British-voiced amplifier and a high-gain lead head for crushing rhythms and full-on saturated gain to help those solos pop off the fingerboard. Once again, these are beautifully rendered onscreen, reassuringly amp-like. 

The Acoustic amp model has a blend control that can give your pickups an acoustic/piezo quality. The Rhythm model, meanwhile, has two channels, a three-band EQ and Presence controls, and will take you from sparkling cleans to crunch. Finally, the Lead amp model, finished in an alien pink that looks like it was colour-matched to The Blob (the Chuck Russell version as opposed to the original) is simply described by Henson as: “this one f**ks.“ But let's not get bogged down in technical terms here.

Moving on, there is a generous complement of effects. The customary 9-band EQ affords you a huge degree of control over your sound, and as the black, white and Blob pink colour scheme suggests, you can run one with each amp. 

Now, EQ is exciting, no question, but the Multivoicer is exciting and radical, and if you have the chops, its quartet of pitch-shifted signals will help you recreate those sci-fi guitar sounds that make Henson's guitar style so compelling. Again, as with all Neural DSP products, you get a lot of control over this effect, with the voicing library allowing you to set the effect over the root note, modes, chords for harmonising and arpeggiating.

You can also activate MIDI to receive MIDI chords or notes that you can harmonise with your DI signal to the MIDI-instructed pitch, effectively building an electrical orchestra out of your guitar.

Elsewhere, there are boost, compressor and overdrive pedals in the pre-effects section, with the time-sensitive post effects comprising a simple one-knob chorus, a reverb with switchable shimmer mode, and a fully-featured delay pedal with tap tempo, a trio of modes (ping pong, wide, normal) and a choice of diffusion, vintage digital and modern. 

Then, of course, you have the cab sim module with IRs from Adam "Nolly" Getgood. All this can be run as a standalone plugin suite. No DAW needed. Or run it inside one. The option's yours. 

The Neural DSP Archetype: Tim Henson is available now, priced €119, and there's a 14-day free trial. See Neural DSP for more details.

Nembrini Audio's new Acoustic Voice plugin aims to deliver studio quality mic'd acoustic guitar tones via modelling of classic models and mics.

The idea is to give piezo electro acoustic guitars the sound of a mic'd acoustic via impulse response – making recording acoustics quicker when the use of a real condenser mic is impractical.

"The plugin turns your under saddle pickup into a studio-grade, pro-sounding full body elite instrument," says Nembrini founder and plugin creator Igor Nembrini.

Available for Mac, PC and iOS, Nembrini Audio has profiled six iconic acoustic guitars and three professional mics for  Acoustic Voice. The Martin 0028ec, Gibson L00, Landola J80E, Guild D140CE, Ayers DSR and the Taylor 814CEDLX combine with the Audix ADX 51*, Beyerdynamic M201* and the Shure SM57 to give players a wide range of choices.

Acoustic Voice's preamp lets users shape their tone with the compression of input signals, progressively add distortion, mix input signal and mic’d acoustic guitar simulations, choose different pickups, adjust low frequency bass notes, boost trebles, work with or remove high and low frequencies and deal with problem frequencies.

In addition, speed, synchronisation and intensity modulation controls offer further control with tweakable delay and reverb.

Acoustic Voice is available as an iLok-protected AAX-, AU-, VST2-, and VST3-supporting plugin for MAC OS1.9 and above or Windows 7 and above.

As an introductory offer, Acoustic Voice is available to purchase for $39 USD (normally $99.00 USD) until 8 August 2021. 

The AuV3 format for iOS can be purchased for $9.99 (normally $14.99).

More info at Nembrini Audio. 

Nembrini Audio has released the Clon Minotaur, a free plugin that’s based on the Klon Centaur guitar overdrive pedal that was manufactured between 1990 and 1994.

Like its hardware forebear, this promises “transparent” overdrive that adds gain to the signal without colouring the tone of the guitar. The sound is said to sit somewhere between distortion and clean boost.

There are just three controls: the gain parameter controls the balance between the modelled diode clipping stage and the clean stage. The two signals are summed together before interacting with the other two controls, treble and volume.

Clon Minotaur is available as a free download from the Nembrini Audio website. It runs on PC and Mac in VST/AU/AAX formats.

GEAR 2021: Neural DSP's Archetype series of guitar plugins has amassed a formidable reputation as repositories of great tone, featuring superlative artist tie-ins with the likes of Tosin Abasi, Cory Wong and Plini. 

The latest in the series has seen the Neural DSP boffins hunched over in the coding room in the company of Joe Duplantier as they look to capture all of his Gojira tones in one software package.

Neural DSP calls describes the Archetype: Gojira as the “heaviest plugin in the universe,” and inside you'll find everything you need for replicating Duplantier's tone. Or, rather, simply have a fresh tonal landscape to explore and put your own spin on things.

• • NAMM 2021 is cancelled, but we'll be covering all the big January gear announcements right here on MusicRadar.

Running the full spectrum of Duplantier's tone, the plugin will help you dial in ambient, washy tones and high-gain chug, that skyscraper-chewing rhythm tone upon which rides the French progressive metal band's rhythmically audacious sound.

There are three guitar amplifiers available: Clean, Rust and Hot. Clean is described as “a pristine model of a vintage tube amplifier“, y'know, just the ticket for glassy cleans, but when pushed it will deliver a nice degree of saturated tube overdrive. Rust is all about the crunch, but that comes with a caveat from Neural DSP that the gain range here is the widest they have ever came across.

Finally, Hot is on-hand for Duplantier's most fire-breathing tones. The serving suggestion from Neural DSP advises you to pair it with the Time Effects and onboard Pitch Effects for maximum effect. Which brings us on nicely to the effects...

The Archetype: Gojira comes with a Pre Effects bundle comprising Overdrive pedal (OD), Distortion pedal (DRT), Phaser pedal (PHSR) and a Chorus pedal (CHR). The Pitch Effects is where the ground falls out from under your feet. There are, however, two very special effects in the package, Wow and Oct, both crucial for playing through the Gojira songbook.

Wow is a MIDI-programmable pitch shifter that has a trio of modes with a response that promises to be better than the best analogue units. Oct is a polyphonic octaver pedal that can add two independent octaves, -1 or -2 octaves below your dry signal. When you think of it like that, it's really the monster button, for pushing the bassist out of the mix, squashing all before you.

Elsewhere you've got a 9-band EQ and a cab sim section featuring 100s of IRs made by the fair hands of Adam "Nolly" Getgood. You can, of course, load your own, and there are six virtual mics that you can position around the virtual cabinets, which all adds up to a lot of fun, real, virtual and otherwise.

The Archetype: Gojira is available now, priced €129, with a 14-day free trial just to make sure you can handle all of that power...

See Neural DSP for more details.

Neural DSP's signature Archetype series is becoming a must-try series for players who appreciate plugins for the source of their recording tones. Packs for Plini, Adam Nolly Getgood and Tosin Abasi have won plaudits far and wide, now a modern funk hero is getting the treatment with Archetype: Cory Wong.

The Vulfpeck, Fearless Flyers and solo guitarist's plugin aims for versatility for any player looking for clean and edge-of-break-up tonal excellence via Mac or PC.

The three guitar amp models of offers are D.I Funk Console, The Clean Machine and The Amp Snob.

The D.I Funk Console is based on an analogue channel strip and aims to recreate the lauded “bubble tone” sought by funkateers. It features compressor Tube Saturation,  selectable frequencies on the EQ section, High Pass and Low Pass filters and unsurprisingly, it's designed to work without a cab model.

The Clean Machine is tantalisingly described as "an amalgamation of the best clean amps in the industry"  to deliver "crisp, clean tones with a beautifully warm top end."

The Amp Snob's name has out tonehound snouts primed and "a model of one of the rarest amplifiers in history" - we're thinking Dumble. 

While you'll get crystal clean in lower gain settings, you can take things to the edge of breakup tone by cranking with the master volume. "The tube power amp will soften high transients and round up the sound of boosters," says Neural, "complimented with a great bottom end and dynamic response."

Pre-effects include The Postal Service: A complex envelope filter with a simple user interface, 4th Position Compressor for Cory’s signature sound, modded booster The Tuber and The Big Rig Overdrive.

Post-effects are the analogue-flavoured Delay-y-y and reverb The Wash.

For the full rundown on Archetype: Cory Wong, head over to neuraldsp.com

Waves believes that Valentine’s Day is as much about treating yourself as it is the person you love – and that’s why for the next 5 days you can get 30% off almost all of their VST plugins, virtual instruments, bundles and upgrades. Whether you're buying for yourself or someone else, it’s the ultimate Valentine’s Day gift for musicians, and one that will be genuinely well received.

The discount code LOVE30 is valid from today until Sunday February 16 at 5am EST/10 GMT. What’s even better is the code can be used on as many transactions as you like in that period.

As usual, Waves has a load of great plugins already on sale, but this coupon will get you a further 30% off. So, for example, if you want to get stuck into the excellent Abbey Road collection - which bundles 11 plugins including Abbey Road Chambers, Reverb Plates, Mastering Chain and Vinyl - you’ll save a further $77 off the already discounted price, paying just $181.30. The price for this bundle is usually $1,599! There's discounts like this available across the site.

Once you’ve loaded up your shopping cart, head to where is says "Click here if you have a coupon code", punch in the code LOVE30, hit apply and watch as the price plummets.

Happy Valentine's to you.

• Need some inspiration? Here’s our pick of the best Waves plugins right now

*(Barring these exceptions: Abbey Road Studio 3 + Nx Head Tracker, SuperRack, MultiRack, eMotion LV1 (16, 32, 64 channels), Dugan Automixer + Dugan Speech, TRACT System Calibration + Smaart Di v2, SoundGrid Rack for VENUE, Pro Show, SD7 Pro Show, DTS Neural™ Surround Collection, Broadcast and Surround Suite)

Positive Grid has been causing quite a stir with its incoming Spark smart amp and app which we just declared the best amp on show at NAMM 2020. 

And for good reason. Not only can the amp jam along with you, but Spark can work with Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube, enabling you to choose any song for which the Spark will display chords in real-time. You can even slow the tempo or loop a section until you've nailed it. It’s got voice control, too...

The Spark's Tone Engine offers amp modelling and effects powered by Positive Grid's acclaimed BIAS plugins, so great sounds are a given. And right now these top-rated guitar plugins are available with a hefty discount.

BIAS Amp 2 is Positive Grid’s best ever software amp modelling plugin, and we loved it when we took it for a spin last year. This second gen plugin features more responsive amp tones than its predecessor and impressively deep levels of tone editing: select your amp, then modify everything from the preamp and power amp tubes to the biasing and EQ shelf frequencies, before playing around with cabs and mics. It’s a tonehound’s dream.

BIAS FX 2 is described as an ‘all-in-one guitar powerhouse' that turns your computer into a virtual electric, acoustic or bass guitar rig. Featuring a huge collection of amps, effects and HD racks, you can piece together the ultimate pedalboard or tap into a vintage amp tone without dropping thousands on gear, all from the comfort of your home.

Both plugins are currently available with up to $120 off. There are three tiers to choose from, unlocking more features, functions and sounds the higher up you go. The discounts look like this:

• Elite tier – was $299, now $179
• Pro tier – was $199, now $119
• Standard tier – was $99, now $79

Positive Grid is also knocking money off its BIAS Studio bundles and Bias expansion packs, whilst there’s still time to get money off your pre-order of the Spark. There are various bundles to choose from, but hurry as they're only available in limited numbers.

The Cyber Weekend cheap plugins train keeps on rolling. Waves has already got in on the act with these great plugins deals for guitarists, but now IK Multimedia is getting in on the action with a phenomenal deal on these great amp modelling plugins.

Right now, you can get $250 off IK's AmpliTube Max plugin suite. This tone-packed bundle is jam-packed with great guitar sounds for recordings. It's usually $499, but today you can land it for just $249.

• These are the best Cyber Weekend plugin deals
• More great guitar plugins from Waves

The bundle includes: AmpliTube 4 Deluxe, AmpliTube Fender, AmpliTube MESA/Boogie, AmpliTube Orange, AmpliTube Ampeg SVX, AmpliTube Jimi Hendrix Anniversary Edition, AmpliTube Slash, and AmpliTube Metal.

But that's not all, you'll also get IK’s awesome Cab Room, an onboard eight-track recorder and crazy range of guitar amps and pedals, arming you with everything you need to record amazing guitar sounds.

This guitar plugins deal is available right now at Sweetwater.

• AmpliTube 4 Deluxe review
• AmpliTube Fender 2 review
• AmpliTube Orange review

Cyber Weekend deals from around the web

• Amazon.com - new Cyber Monday deals every day
• Amazon.co.uk - new Cyber Monday deals every day
• GuitarCenter.com - loads of great Cyber Monday deals for musicians
• Sweetwater.com - save up to 74% on music gear
• SamAsh.com - score savings on thousands of products
• Zzounds.com - make big holiday savings on music equipment
• MusiciansFriend.com - save up to 15% with code BLACKFRI19
• Walmart.com - great deals on music gear
• Argos.co.uk - top deals on iPads and laptops
• Currys.co.uk - black Tag tech sale now on
• PluginBoutique.com - up to 95% off the latest music-making software
• Waves.com - daily deals, free plugins and more!
• Loopmasters.com - save up to 80% on plugins and bundles

Cyber Weekend is well underway, and so far we've seen big savings on everything from guitars, to amps, pedals and even guitar lessons. 

One area that's less obvious but could give your recorded guitar sound a new lease of life, is the humble guitar plugin. Waves is the daddy when it comes to recording software of all kinds, and we've spied some crazy deals on guitar specific plugins in their massive Cyber Weekend sale.

• Get 50% off all Waves plugins right now
• Check out more of the best Cyber Weekend music deals
• Best Cyber Weekend plugin deals
• Best Cyber Weekend guitar deals

Five of Waves' best guitar recording plugins - the Eddie Kramer Guitar Channel, GTR Solo, PRS SuperModels, CLA Guitars and Renaissance Axx - have been reduced by as much as 70 percent.

Each of these plugins will do wonders for your guitar recordings, so take a look at all five and see which strikes your fancy. Be sure to act fast as these deals end tonight!

But that's not all. Waves is offering a free plugin to anyone who spends over $50 and two free plugins for $100+ transactions. Choose any from this list.

The best Cyber Weekend guitar plugin deals

Cyber Monday deals from around the web

• Amazon.com - new Cyber Monday deals every day
• Amazon.co.uk - new Cyber Monday deals every day
• GuitarCenter.com - loads of great pre-Cyber Monday deals for musicians
• Sweetwater.com - save up to 74% on music gear
• SamAsh.com - score savings on thousands of products
• Zzounds.com - make big holiday savings on music equipment
• MusiciansFriend.com - save up to 15% with code BLACKFRI19
• Walmart.com - great deals on music gear
• Argos.co.uk - top deals on iPads and laptops
• Currys.co.uk - black Tag tech sale now on
• PluginBoutique.com - up to 95% off the latest music-making software
• Waves.com - daily deals, free plugins and more!
• Loopmasters.com - save up to 80% on plugins and bundles

Guitarists know that, when it comes to tone, it’s easy to become obsessive, but what if - even after hours of tweaking - you still can’t quite get the sound you’re looking for? Audified says that the solution is ToneSpot Electric, the latest in its range of instrument-specific mixing plugins.

This post-processor promises to improve your tone whatever your current rig, giving you a set of of musically named controls with which to hone it. It’s divided into several control sections: Voicing, Character, Saturation, Shaping, Smash, Surgery, Effects and Finalizer.

The hope is that, using these, you’ll be able to come up with a guitar sound that really cuts through the mix.

Find out more on the Audified website, where ToneSpot Electric can be purchased for the introductory price of $49. It’s available for PC and Mac in VST/AU/AAX formats, and you can download a demo. 

STL Tones has partnered with British shred titan Andy James on the Tonality: Andy James Guitar Plug-In Suite.

The VST/AU/AAX plugin and standalone software offers guitarists a fully mixed guitar tone that models three of James' amps from his personal collection, with amp and cab mixing options, delay, reverb and two overdrives – one an exact digital recreation of STL Tones' Andy James Revenant Pre Amp pedal, with the other looking very much like it is shooting for that Maxon OD-808 overdrive tone.

Amp models 1 and 2 are modelled after a high-gain metal head, with Amp 2 solely focused on the lead channel. Amp 3 goes for a more vintage 1960s vibe and has onboard tremolo. 

"Andy was our first ever artist signing to the company nearly three years ago for his Kemper product," said STL Tones' founder and CEO Sonny Truelove in a statement.  "So I think it’s fitting that nearly 3 years to the day, we were able to collaborate and release Andy’s signature tones in plugin format, which was something he expressed interest in doing way back then!”

Meanwhile, Andy James added: "This plug-in has completed my life long search for the ultimate guitar tone, completely in the box. 100% creativity while recording, 0% time wasted tweaking and second guessing my sound."

The Andy James Guitar Amp Plug-In Suite is available now, priced $119 (£99, €109 approx).

Initial orders are discounted at $89.99 and available via STL Tones here.

Minimum Requirements Mac OS 10.9 or Windows 7.

Neural DSP and Adam "Nolly" Getgood have collaborated on an amp/effect modelling plugin featuring all the tones from four of Nolly's personally rewired valve amplifiers.

The Archetype: Nolly also contains a pre-effects section comprising two overdrive/booster pedals, a solid-state compressor, and a pre-delay. 

An onboard nine-band EQ then carries the signal into the post-amp effects which include "multi-dimensional reverb and feature-rich delay pedals," with the latter featuring Neural's machine-learning generated Tape Saturation algorithm. The idea is to find a modern tech solution for recreating vintage delay tones.

The virtual speaker section of the Archetype: Nolly features 640 impulse response elements captured personally by Nolly.

Once of the frontier metal band Periphery, Nolly is an avowed tonehound who will take an amp apart and rework it until he gets the tone he likes. It's this that convinced Douglas Castro, Neural's CEO, that a collaboration could work.

"Throughout the years, there are very few things Nolly hasn't experimented with in his quest for the perfect guitar tone," says Castro, "even teaching himself electronics to re-engineer his favorite amplifiers' circuits to his exact requirements."

The Archetype:Nolly launches 30 August and is available to pre-order now, priced €119 (approx £107, $132)

See Neural DSP for more details.

Previously exclusive to the UAD platform, Brainworx has now brought its Diezel Herbert amp sim plugin to native formats. Designed for heavy rock and metal, this 180-watt monster is an emulation of Peter Diezel and Peter Stapfer’s hardware original, and offers three distinct channels.

For a classic Diezel clean sound, go for Channel 1, which gives you plenty of headroom and polished mids, while Channel 2 offers growly crunch combined with dynamic and punchy attack. Channel 3, meanwhile, will suit high-gain hounds, enabling you to “join the heavy guitar gods and shred with pure distorted madness”.

On top of this, there’s Brainworx’s signature FX rack, which offers a noise gate, switchable high- and low-pass filters, and a so-called Power Soak circuit that enables you to control the amount of overdrive without cranking up the gain.

You’ll also find 120 Brainworx Recording Chains; based on Impulse Responses, these emulate the sound of classic cabinets, vintage mics and legendary outboard gear, all tracked through Brainworx’s Neve VXS 72 console emulation.

Find out more and download a 14-day trial version on the Plugin Alliance website. Diezel Herbert is available in VST/AU/AAX formats for PC and Mac - it comes as part of Plugin Alliance’s Mega Bundle subscription and is also available on its own for $149. 

Audio Assault is giving away Grind Machine II for nothing, but hurry as it looks as though the offer is only available for a short time.

The amp sim is designed for the heavier end of the electric guitar-playing spectrum and features a wide variety of high-gain models that are not too dissimilar to some well-known classic amplifiers. 

A total of 15 preamp simulations are joined by 15 cabinet impulse responses and, of course, you can add your own cab models to the IR loader.

The desktop app is free (standard price $49) and available for Windows and Mac systems in VST/VST3/AU/AAX formats. Head over to the Audio Assault website to download yours.

Australian guitar phenomenon Plini has teamed up with audio boffins Neural DSP to produce Archetype: Plini.

The plugin - out now for €119 and with a free 14-day trial - models three all-new amps using Neural DSP's well-regarded proprietary methods.

Kicking things off, there's a classic overdrive/boost pedal in front of the virtual amps, as well as a Solid State inspired compressor. 

Each of the trio of heads is then followed by its own 9-band graphic equalizer, while the cabinet captures themselves were produced by ML Sound Lab and feature 6 freely movable mics.

Finally, last in the signal chain is the Time Effects section, featuring a tape delay algorithm modeled using neural networks for vintage warmth, and a multidimensional reverb algorithm.

Plini: Archetype is out now. For more details and to download a trial version head over to Neural DSP's site.

• Best amp modellers: 10 hi-tech solutions for guitarists

We’ve seen plenty of guitar amp simulations down the years, but Blue Cat Audio’s Re-Guitar promises something different: the ability to make a single guitar sound like many other types of guitar. In fact, it promises “an infinite number of guitar tones out of a single instrument”.

Announced at NAMM 2019 but now available, Re-Guitar includes a pickup simulator that not only models a range of well-known guitar pickups, but also enables you to design your own. Acoustic guitar simulations are included, too; again, you can create your own if you wish.

Hollow body guitars are also covered off, right down to being able to set the desired body thickness. Brightness and gain can be adjusted, and there are virtual tone and volume pots.

You can use Re-Guitar in real-time, so it feels like you’re playing a different instrument, or make adjustments to the tone after recording. As such, you’ve got total flexibility.

Re-Guitar is included as a free update in Blue Cat’s Axiom multi-effects processor, and also offered for sale as a separate VST/AU/AAX plugin for PC and Mac. It's included in the Axe Pack, too. Introductory pricing for this guitar plugin is as follows:

• Blue Cat's Axiom: 159 USD/EUR (instead of 199)
• Blue Cat's Re-Guitar: 69 USD/EUR (instead of 99)
• Blue Cat's Axe Pack: 248 USD/EUR (instead of 299)
• Blue Cat's Axiom for Customers: 139 USD/EUR (instead of 199)
• Blue Cat's Re-Guitar for Customers: 49 USD/EUR (instead of 99)

Find out more on the Blue Cat Audio website.

Blue Cat Audio Re-Guitar features

• Guitar tone modeler, with electric pickups, acoustic guitars and hollow body emulations
• Built-in single coil pickups: single hot, vintage, modern, active, tele, neck+mid, bridge+mid, P90, P90J
• Built-in humbucker pickups: vintage, classic, ricky, modern, rails, bright, wide, wide(jazz), jazz box
• Built-in piezo & acoustic guitars: solid body piezo, acoustic sim pedals, modern & dreadnought, jumbo, mini jumbo, 000, small
• Create your own electric pickups or acoustic guitar emulations with the custom electric and custom acoustic models
• Adjust hollow body thickness and amount
• Adjust simulations brightness and gain
• Built-in virtual volume and tone pots
• No latency

Universal Audio has, once again, updated its UAD 2 platform with three new plugins, including Antares Auto-Tune Realtime Advanced, Diezel Herbert Amplifier and the much coveted V76 Preamplifier.

Improving on the previous UAD version, UA promises the Antares Auto-Tune Realtime Advanced plugin is optimised for instant live recording with Apollo and Arrow audio interfaces.

Undoubtedly, this version mirrors the existing Autotune Pro plugin and you’ll be able to add subtle tweaks to any vocal track, as well as applying the classic Auto-Tune 5 sound, synonymous with Cher et al.

Antares Auto-Tune features

• Realtime Auto-Tune pitch correction for UA Audio Interfaces and UAD hardware
• Create the iconic Auto-Tune Vocal Effect or fine tune a vocal performance
• Classic mode for the iconic “Auto-Tune 5” sound used by Cher and Kanye West
• Ultra-low latency on stage or when tracking in the studio

The Diezel Herbert amplifier has been developed by Brainworx and is officially endorsed by Peter Diezel himself.

Modelling the 180-watt head, powered by six KT77 tubes, the UAD version promises to encapsulate and deliver the same pristine clean and super-heavy tones that have been a mainstay in metal for over a decade now.

Diezel Herbert amplifier features

• Exacting emulation of the original Diezel Herbert 180-watt guitar amp
• Endorsed and fully authenticated by Peter Diezel
• 120 Recording Chains with multiple speaker cabinets – recorded in Brainworx’s studio using the Neve VXS72 console, outboard gear, and world class mics
• Feels like a real amp when played through UA Audio Interfaces' Realtime UAD Processing

UAD version 9.8 is also joined by the venerable V76 Preamplifier, which will prove popular with anyone who records… anything and everything. Originally developed in the 1950s by the German Institute of Broadcast Technology (IRT), the distinct sound of the V67 quickly found its way into every big studio across Europe.

Much like the Diezel Herbert, the V76 Preamplifier also supports Universal Audio’s Unison technology, giving UA Audio Interface users the V76 preamp’s impedance, gain staging, and circuit behaviors that all contribute to its iconic sound.

V76 Preamplifier plugin features

• An authentic end-to-end circuit emulation of the legendary V76 preamp exclusively for UAD hardware and UA Audio Interfaces
• 76 dB of clean gain to gently shape sounds and quickly dial in "mix-ready" tracks
• Models entire pentode tube and transformer circuit path, including preamp, output amplifier, nonlinearities, and clipping
• Unison technology for UA Audio Interfaces offers authentic tone, touch, and feel of the classic V76 preamp, including precise impedance matching

The Antares Autotune Realtime Advance plugin is available now for $299/£229, while the Diezel Herbert and V76 will both set you back $149/£115 each. For more info, check out the Universal Audio website.

The generous folk at IK Multimedia have announced a free update to the AmpliTube Slash suite of amps and presets for PC and Mac.

13 new Slash-designed presets have been added to the plugin to replicate the top-hatted one’s new album, Living The Dream, featuring Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators.

In addition, two AmpliTube Slash models - the Marshall JCM Slash Edition Silver Jubilee and Marshall AFD100 - have been fine-tuned using IK’s latest DSP - under Slash’s direct supervision, apparently.

“I have to say, it's probably the best amp modelling that I've ever worked with,” says an enthusiastic Slash.

“I've worked with a few different ones, and this is by far superior.”

The Guns N’ Roses guitarist goes on to elaborate on the kind of projects on which he utilises AmpliTube.

“I've used AmpliTube to record a whole bunch of different things as final recordings. I did the Angry Birds Space Theme for that version of Angry Birds using AmpliTube through my computer. I just did a new video game with AmpliTube as well.

“Recently, I recorded some stuff for Universal Studios’ Halloween Horror Nights. So a bunch of the music in the theme I did for them I recorded with AmpliTube.”

High praise indeed. The AmpliTube Slash update is available now for free for existing users. Head over to IK Multimedia for more info.

Waves has joined forces with Paul Reed Smith to create PRS SuperModels.  This features models of three high-end PRS Guitars amp designs, all of which were created using Waves’ Precision Analog Component Technology.

First up, we have PRS Archon; use it clean or with overdrive or even full-on distortion. It can be called on for both lead and rhythm parts.

The PRS Blue Sierra/V9 is something of a curio in that was never actually released as hardware - it’s a rare amp that was an original early format for the PRS J-Mod 100. It offers the tone of boutique US guitar amps, and is suitable for clean and medium-gain overdrive tones. Expect a big ‘3D sound’ from this one.

Finally, we have PRS Dallas, which will be your go-to model if you want the sound of classic American reverb amps.

All the amps also have several features that are exclusive to the software: a tone-shaping boost, a digital tuner and a smart noise gate.

SuperModels includes eight different speaker cabinet IRs that were captured by Paul Reed Smith in his home studio using his personal collection of mics and mic preamps. You can also use third-party IRs - up to two at a time. What’s more, the Phase Fix and Time Fix controls can be employed to automatically correct any phase or latency issues between the different IRs, with the Smart Mix control being used to balance the perceived volume of IRs when you use two cabinets.

PRS SuperModels is available now for the introductory price of $49 (regular price is $129). It works standalone or as a VST/AU/AAX plugin on PC and Mac, and there’s also a demo for you to download. Find out more on the Waves website.

There’s no shortage of high-quality guitar amp and effect sims on the market, but with Axiom, Blue Cat Audio looks like it’s making a serious attempt to challenge the very best of them.  

Designed for both guitar and bass, this offers two amp sim channels with pre and post effects. The simulations are based on Blue Cat’s Destructor plugin, and the channels can be mixed or used independently. Hundreds of amp model presets come included, and you can also build you own in the amp editor, giving you complete control over the tone.

There are additional input and master sections, too, plus a tuner and brickwall limiter.

There are 40 built-in effects that can be loaded into the 32 plugin slots, with Blue Cat’s Late Replies and Destructor processors coming built-in. There are also three slots that can be used to host your other AU and VST plugins, giving you total flexibility. You can even load up to three virtual instruments in the tools section.

Axiom is available now for PC and Mac in VST/AU/AAX/DirectX formats from the Blue Cat Audio website. It’s currently being sold at the discounted price of $149/€149 (regular price is $199/€149) and you can also download a demo.