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Old 01-31-2016, 12:34 PM   #17
JamesPeters
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Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Near a big lake
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Quote:
Originally Posted by brainwreck View Post
If a plugin version was $200, where the hardware box is $2000, I think they would make more money by way of volume, even with some amount of piracy.
Perhaps. But if sales of a plugin version aren't what they'd hoped, and it hurts the sales of the hardware units (effectively competing with themselves), it could be worse than not taking advantage of having a plugin version. Plus: then they'd have to support multiple possible computer DAW configurations/OSes instead of just supporting their own hardware. I can understand their reluctance to make a plugin version.

As for the Axe-FX sounding "more fake" than the Kemper, I don't hear that. Unfortunately someone can pull up a clip of a Kemper they like with a certain profile/player/etc. and say "yeah but what about this" and since there are no similar Axe-FX clips (currently anyway), it's assumed the Axe-FX "can't sound as good" in that way. Like any amp clip, the sound depends on the entire signal chain (and the player). The signal chain in the Axe-FX consists of the various blocks including the speaker sim block, which is a make-or-break sort of thing. Without the speaker sim you prefer, you'd never know if the amp sim is going to make you happy. With the Kemper, the profiles (generally) include the speaker that was used at the time the profile was made. Someone "got that sound in the room", liked it, tested it before profiling it, and then profiled it (to the extent the profile mimics the sound). If someone chooses to use "Amp A" with "Cab B" in the Axe-FX because of his preferences, whereas you might've preferred "Cab A", you won't hear something quite like what you want.

Both units are very good at emulating the sound of a recorded amp. It's more about what you do with either of them, and if you're happy with the workflow of either device. The same can be said for some plugins, including some free plugins. With the right setup, you can use free plugins and get sound every bit as good as anything from a hardware amp sim. You may not want to work that way though, for various reasons.
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