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Old 02-06-2011, 08:39 AM   #1
Silo Ted
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Default Pure Reaper Guitar Sounds ?

Been playing around with the vst's to try and create a guitar tone purely within Reaper, and find that it's quite poor, especially with overdrive & distortion tones. As a general interest question (not a complaint, nor really a future requirement for me) do any guitarists depend solely on the bundled plug-ins, or even after-market vst's to get a great sound?

Can anyone direct me to any free vst's for guitar - not pirate bay 'free', but legitimate freeware that I can play around with? I don't want to stuff about with cracks, keygens, etc.

I tried using Cubase a couple of years ago (a legit copy bundled with some hardware I bought) and found the same dissatisfaction.

As I say though, not a requirement for recording final material but it would be nice to get some late night cranking guitar tones through Reaper so when I'm sketching out an idea I don't wake the neighbors or the sleeping wife
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Old 02-06-2011, 08:52 AM   #2
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Originally Posted by Silo Ted View Post
Can anyone direct me to any free vst's for guitar - not pirate bay 'free', but legitimate freeware that I can play around with? I don't want to stuff about with cracks, keygens, etc.
This thread, second post, ampsims...

http://forum.cockos.com/showthread.php?t=52382

Have fun
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Old 02-06-2011, 09:23 AM   #3
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Silo Ted View Post
Been playing around with the vst's to try and create a guitar tone purely within Reaper, and find that it's quite poor, especially with overdrive & distortion tones. As a general interest question (not a complaint, nor really a future requirement for me) do any guitarists depend solely on the bundled plug-ins, or even after-market vst's to get a great sound?
Are you using a cabinet impulse plug after the sim? The sims alone will sound like ass. Also put some sort of distortion plug in at the beginning of the chain.

Check out the link brucie mentioned. Lots of us are getting great sounds with free sims.
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Old 02-07-2011, 04:59 AM   #4
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As you will see from the link posted there are loads around.I tried to get some decent sounds using the supplied VSTs but they are very limited in this respect.

The two free ones that are pretty easy to use are Voxengo Boogex,
http://www.voxengo.com/product/boogex/

And ACME Shred(don't let the name put you off it has clean amp sounds as well),

http://www.acmebargig.com/product/shred/


however a few years ago I,"Bit-the-Bullet" and bought a cheap commercial option e.g the Toneport Studio GX which comes with Podfarm amp software among many other great features like zero latency monitoring,

http://line6.com/podstudiogx/
http://line6.com/podstudiogx/sounds.html

It can get the sublimely sweet sound on this track,
http://forum.cockos.com/showthread.p...hlight=lullaby

To the bone crunching sound on this,
http://forum.cockos.com/showthread.p...ghlight=sweaty




All the songs/Guitar/Bass and Vocals in my Reverbnation sig link are done through it as it has patches for Bass/Guitar and Vocals supplied in the Podfarm software.




HTH
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Last edited by Sheppola; 02-07-2011 at 05:24 AM.
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Old 02-07-2011, 08:27 AM   #5
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Without singling you out, Silo Ted, I will say this - too many guitar players who use computers obsess about plugins and simulators when they should be doing one of two things: 1) practicing their instrument (because most of your tone comes from your fingers) and 2) working with real amps in addition to simulated ones. I have tried various simulations, both free and commercial, and I find that none of them sound very good unless you do all sorts of things to them. I'm dating myself by saying this, but I'd much rather hear Jimi play through a wall of Standel solid-state amps (! Ever heard one of those?! Eek!) than KC and the Sunshine Band through the best, coolest old Plexis.
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Old 02-07-2011, 11:55 AM   #6
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Without singling you out, Silo Ted, I will say this - too many guitar players who use computers obsess about plugins and simulators
The death of the Tascam/Fostex/etc 4-Track tape recorder may have heralded the beginning of a complicated path Obviously there are many advantages to a DAW, such as unlimited tracks and no loss to 'bouncing' mixes back to Track one and starting again. Although.. wasn't Sgt Pepper's done on a TWO track ?

I concur with what you say, wholeheartedly. A friend of mine in his 60's has a vintage HiWatt which he has customised to death, and it sounds so much sweeter than I could ever imagine any straight vst tones would bring to a song.

Also tend to agree with the obsession of a digital realm overtaking the importance of other fundamentals. Already I have spent far too long mucking around in getting Reaper to work, and with so many features & functionality of a DAW it's already been noted to myself to keep in mind the core of what I want to do. And that is to fiddle around with some multitracking, to create some songs that I can listen to and say "hell yea, that's pretty good for a guy who knows nothing about playing music". Regrettably, I can already see how modern technology will redefine a composer's approach, when sections can be cut/pasted instead of playing each instrument from top to tail as per the traditional approach to recording.

Despite my own failings as an amateur player, Sheppola's great dirty big blues number might just make me reconsider the use of digital equipment. Hey Paul - Is the Toneport Studio GX magic in the interface (can't see how, it looks pretty basic) or the bundled software that comes with it ? And can one just purchase the software only and use it as a vst via Reaper? If so, I might like to see if there's a demo version I can trial.

For me, I'm just waiting on some more cables to arrive in the post, and will use my existing amplifier for the moment. It's nothing flash or vintage cool - a Behringer V-Tone GMX210 http://www.behringer.com/EN/Products/GMX210.aspx with some good tones, a variety of modelling options, but some vey CRAP and restrictive effects in the library. I can see Reaper delay vst being something I might use for it's versatility, without buying a dedicated pedal. Same to for the phaser, chourus etc.

Wondering if I build a bank of post-amp signal vst effects in Reaper, can they be triggered on & off in infinate combinations while playing live (by live I mean putting down a track in one hit, not playing a gig )
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Old 02-07-2011, 02:11 PM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Silo Ted View Post

Despite my own failings as an amateur player, Sheppola's great dirty big blues number might just make me reconsider the use of digital equipment. Hey Paul - Is the Toneport Studio GX magic in the interface (can't see how, it looks pretty basic) or the bundled software that comes with it ? And can one just purchase the software only and use it as a vst via Reaper? If so, I might like to see if there's a demo version I can trial.
)
It's all in the software that you get with their products.
http://line6.com/podstudiogx/podfarm.html


The box just plugs into the USB and is Plug in and Play.The sounds can be really good but I recently added a small Art Tube MP ,

http://www.dolphinmusic.co.uk/produc..._campaign=base

preamp as I needed a cheap 48v power supply for a Condenser Mic I was buying but the added bonus was that I can plug my guitar into it and then from that into the GX so it adds a little valve warmth however this is a good little VST to add slight Valve colouring to any sound after it's been recorded.I've even used it on vocals,

http://www.kvraudio.com/db/tal_tube_by_togu_audio_line
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Old 02-09-2011, 02:10 AM   #8
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Nice one, Shep. It's a testament to your ability in engaging the realm of the organic (the playing) with the high-tech tools & toys available to get such a good sound.

Not taking into account the bundled software that comes with various hardware interfaces, the free vst's I have found so far range between bloody awful to truly shocking. The Le Pou plugin called LE456 is the best I have found so far, and still it's not so hot. Too much overdrive & distortion, even when the controls are down low. And I say that as someone who LOVES a lot of distortion in my tone The vst's however just sound raspy and fuzzy. If anyone remembers the old Rat Pedal, it's like that !

As much as I think it's a so-so amp for FX, I think I'll stick to my Behringer cabinet and use the Reaper effects to colour that signal.

Or, I could always record guitar through my line out and add Reaper FX, and on a second track simultaneously record the amplifier with a microphone, then belnd the two for a unique sound.
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Old 02-09-2011, 02:12 AM   #9
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On second thoughts, I would only need to record the one track then copy it to a new track for after-treatment for the same end result. Which would probably save me overloading my precious PC processing resources.
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Old 02-09-2011, 02:15 AM   #10
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Sorry to hog this thread, but I forgot to ask about something concerning vst's. Are all vst's able to recognize a guitar signal input? I am guessing that some of them only work with a keyboard interface, even the ones with misleading word 'guitar' in the title. The latter of which might be designed to produce a 'guitar' sound when no guitar is available to the composer.
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Old 02-09-2011, 02:39 AM   #11
JFX
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Default VST's & VST(i)s

Perhaps the distinction you are looking for is this (and this is just off the top of me head, and as a rule of thumb)..

VSTi -virtual studio technology instrument. These will need some midi input from say a keyboard, and produce some kind of (instrumental)sound, say a guitar.

VST - vurtual studio technology. These will apply effects to a sound -EQ, reverb, distortion, wah etc.

/JfX

For further ref:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_Studio_Technology

Last edited by JFX; 02-09-2011 at 02:41 AM. Reason: had the great idea to check Wiki...
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Old 02-09-2011, 06:57 AM   #12
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JFX as nailed that one

There are more reasons why I like my little Toneport GX other than just the sounds,which are very usable as you can hear.I originally bought an Emu 404 sound card when I started using Reaper which is fine but when I got the GX I noticed it's on-board sound chip was just as good if not better so could have saved myself some money.
Then there's the zero latency monitoring.I gets what I play and can record it Wet/Dry or even semi processed with the a few clicks of the mouse.
It's an extremely quiet unit as well so no noise problems for recording and even the simple little digital tuner in the Podfarm software is a joy to have.
Add to the the above that if you were on-the-move with a Lappy you could take it with you and just plug in and carry on working.
I suppose it depends on one's outlook.I don't try and emulate any one particular Artiste's sound,never have but like to get sounds,"I" like.Some of these may be close to known Artistes and some have come from the Podfarm software that have inspired me to to do some songs I may not have bothered with.For example as soon as I heard this Octave sound and Echo/Wah guitar in Podfarm for some reason it clicked with me and a little tweaking led to one of the few covers I've done e.g Born Under a Bad sign by Albert King,

http://www.reverbnation.com/play_now/song_3053584

So the variety of sounds can inspire new directions
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Old 02-09-2011, 07:33 AM   #13
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As someone else asked, are you using some sort of cabinet simulation with your VST amp sims? If not, and if your amp doesn't have a cabinet effect on the Line Out jack, you're not working with a proper guitar tone, and anything you try to dial in will be weak and fizzy. Cabinets, speakers, and mics are a huge part of any guitar tone.
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