Re: RME Firewire 800 and Guitar Amp Sim

["Krispen Hartung" <khartung@cableone.net>]

> Kris,
> I am a bit late on this but ill tell you my opinion on
> the fw800,i own it since about a year.At first i was
> impressed with its sim but compared to my Koch
> twintone tube amp it sounds a bit harsh for my
> ears,ive used it though for funky compressed rhythm
> guitar tracks which works ok.Ive never used it live
> though.
> Nothing coming out of a guitar through a digital amp
> sim has really impressed me soundwise, i remember
> seeing Fripp live and he had a Digitech new preamp and
> a roland GP100 at the time and his sound was really
> cold to my ears,Adrian on the other had had a much
> warmer sound!
> Luis

Yup. I agree. Most of the digital sim amps I've used
sound relatively "stiff" and lacking in that non-linear warmness
you get from a tube amp. The Roland Cube series does the
best that I have been able to find with my own testing and
personal preferences

I'm surprised no on has commented on the sound clip I send
out with my best shot at a warm jazz guitar tone with just
the Boogex VST amp sim. Not a single soul replied...how
disappointing.  : (    I've been working on that computer based
tone for years, and I am a picky SOB when it comes to
juzz guitar tone...not that I am using it to play trad jazz, but
I start with that tone as a starting point for most of my avant-garde
looping performances. I've just grown to like a nice warm and
traditional jazz guitar tone from a tube amp.

Here is the original message, in case most everyon deleted it
by accident amidst all the OT threads.

Cheers, K-

*****************

Now, here is my tone example (not a song, just me looping the A section of
"Black Orpheus"and soloing over the top):

- Guitar running directly into my ThinkPad T60p sound card (just the stock
soundcard and ASIO for All driver), no preamp
- Sound card into Max/MSP patch
- MAX/MSP patch with only the free Boogex amp VST and my max reverb patch
(no other effects or patches)

And to add some comedy to the clip, I recorded this with my mini guitar, a
1/2 size Epi "Roadie" solid body electric, with a '57 reissue humbucker
(from my ES-335), shown here: http://www.krispenhartung.com/gear/epi.jpg

Here is the clip, complete with clams and blemishes:
http://www.box.net/shared/static/8ougz31hkk.mp3

Now, I actually think this tone is halfway decent, given the clean and warm
jazz tone I after, and given that I'm not even using a real amp, just a 
VST,
and using no preamp or "botique" external audio interface.  My next test
will be when I get my Fireface 400.  If I see a major improvement, I may be
good to go. We'll see.

Bottom line, for guys wanting to get a traditional jazz tone, I think there
is hope for doing that withh the laptop and decent audio intereface....and 
a
mini solid body electric to boot!  :) Imagine that. I could do a standards
jazz gig with a mini guitar...seems ridiculous, but doable. I might get a
lot of laughs.

Kris