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Old 07-07-2019, 02:20 AM   #1
mrelwood
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Default Announcing public beta for virtual guitar amp plugin AmpEra (0.99)!

I hereby open a public beta program for my upcoming free virtual guitar amp sim plugin AmpEra.



Notable features:

- Morphing "Era" slider takes both the sounds and looks to the selected year, from '69 to '10.
- Bypassable internal speakers "UK" and "US" with a blend slider.
- Gain ranges from clean to extremely saturated for every Era setting.
- Includes a single knob room ambience and multi-head tap delay.
- A/B switch with copy function for quick comparisons between two sounds.
- Smart 1-knob 4-band gate, fast decay for short notes, long decay for long notes.
- Up to 4x oversampling.
- JS format only.


Beta program

The beta is free to download and try. If you do try it, please let me know what you like and what you don't, regarding sounds, looks, and functionality. I plan on doing some polishing on the sounds, auto-volume levels and graphics, but your input will be crucial in determining what exactly will change.


Download link:

http://b.link/mrelwood_AmpEra_0v99

Other links:

Discussion about my other plugins.
mrelwood plugins webpage.


Thank you!

Version history:
0.81: First open beta.
0.82: Fixed presets loading, and tiny font on Windows.
0.90: Fixes, polishing sounds, mousewheel support, lower CPU.
0.91: Fixes, polishing sounds.
0.92: Larger GUI with more scalability, lower CPU, polishing GUI and sounds.
0.94: Re-working all sounds and dynamics from the ground up.
0.95: Tuning of most overdriven sounds.
0.99: BIG update, RELEASE CANDIDATE! (Mar 30th 2020)
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Old 07-07-2019, 03:02 AM   #2
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To install JS plugins for REAPER:
- Unzip the downloaded file
- Create the following folder:

Mac OS:
~/Application Support/REAPER/Effects/mrelwood/

Windows:
C:\USERS\<your username>\AppData\Roaming\Reaper\Effects\mrelwood\

- Copy/move both the AmpEra plugin and the AmpEra Data folder to the folder you created above.

Done! (Re)start REAPER and you will find "AmpEra" in the available JS plugins.
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Old 07-07-2019, 10:09 AM   #3
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Hi MrElwood!


Had a quick test with ampera!
Found a bug, Ampera seems to recall presets incorectly :

https://www.dropbox.com/s/wq4l0h0f84...ecall.gif?dl=0


Seems much easier cpuwise now and 0 latency with non HQ mode is Great!
Did you changed the room! Really liked how it sounds now!


All the best
Vincent
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Old 07-07-2019, 11:49 AM   #4
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and I think for portable Reaper users it's REAPER/Effects/mrelwood/ ?
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Old 07-07-2019, 04:46 PM   #5
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Thanks for making this!

I'm not able to get it installed. I created the following folder:
C:\Users\[USERNAME]\AppData\Roaming\REAPER\mrelwood
and copied the file named "AmpEra 0v81b" into it, as well as the folder named "AmpEra_data", and restarted Reaper a couple of times. It hasn't been detected yet.

I tried renaming "REAPER" to "Reaper" but no change. I searched "ampe", "ampera", and "elwood" and it was not found, and I also visually looked through all JS FX and did not see it in the As.

Windows 10 x64, Reaper 5.979
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Old 07-07-2019, 05:32 PM   #6
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Default Works in Linux

I am running Reaper in Linux where options are few for amp sims. I have been using Tonelib, which I like a lot. I can't say that this is better than Tonelib, but it sure is fun and I was getting musical tones with my Telecaster in a few seconds. The era and speaker sliders are a very cool feature, as is the changing GUI.

Thanks a lot! It's easy to use, sounds good, and it's fun!
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Old 07-07-2019, 06:37 PM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Reason View Post
Thanks for making this!

I'm not able to get it installed. I created the following folder:
C:\Users\[USERNAME]\AppData\Roaming\REAPER\mrelwood
and copied the file named "AmpEra 0v81b" into it, as well as the folder named "AmpEra_data", and restarted Reaper a couple of times. It hasn't been detected yet.

I tried renaming "REAPER" to "Reaper" but no change. I searched "ampe", "ampera", and "elwood" and it was not found, and I also visually looked through all JS FX and did not see it in the As.

Windows 10 x64, Reaper 5.979
You need to put it in the effects folder so the same path but also EFFECTS, this is where all JSFX plugins are located. I just did same as you and changed location and they appeared.

I really like the clean to cruncy sounds! Gonna experiment more, I could make my EMG equipped les paul sound rather strat'esque which was really cool! Thanks so much for this cool plugin.
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Old 07-07-2019, 06:48 PM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Regisfofo View Post
Hi MrElwood!
Found a bug, Ampera seems to recall presets incorectly :
Thanks Regisfofo, my bad! Version 0.82 now loads presets properly, and includes both A and B settings.

I also changed and enlarged the font, since it was (again) very tiny on Windows.

I think I did soften the room ambience a bit at some point.

http://b.link/mrelwood_AmpEra_0v82b

Quote:
Originally Posted by Reason View Post
C:\Users\[USERNAME]\AppData\Roaming\REAPER\mrelwood
Sorry! The "Effects" folder got left out. I updated the instructions in the second post for the proper path:
C:\Users\[USERNAME]\AppData\Roaming\REAPER\Effects\mrelwood\
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Old 07-07-2019, 08:32 PM   #9
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Thanks Osse and Mr Elwood, it works now.

I didn't get very deep into it, but it sounds pretty good. I don't know enough to know about authenticity, but the sounds I got out of my Epi LP special with P90s were pleasing to my ears. I added a noise gate, Kazrog's ReCabinet, Dragonfly Reverb and Dead Duck Delay and had a good time jamming to a youtube backing track. I'll try my active-equipped 7 string later.

Is there anything specific you want tested/checked out?
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Old 07-07-2019, 10:11 PM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Reason View Post
Is there anything specific you want tested/checked out?
Thanks for giving it a shot, and asking! I actually haven't yet tuned the sounds with the speakerless output, so I would just use the internal speakers for now. Also, I'm quite proud of the included noise gate, perhaps give it another shot?

What I'd love to hear from anybody is:
- Did you find anything that doesn't work as expected?
- Would you like to find something that isn't included?
- Is the GUI clear and self-explanatory enough to not be a hindrance?
- Did you find suitable sounds for you to play through? If not, describe the sound, and what do you find lacking in AmpEra.


Thanks guys!
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Old 07-08-2019, 04:32 AM   #11
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Hi MrElwood

I messed around a litlle with 0v82b and here are a few thoughts :
-The double click to reset knob value is to long IMO
-There's still a bug when recalling a preset, even if it's showing the 'new' value, seems like you need to touch the knob or eslsewhere in the screen for it to change effectively in the sound...
-I miss to mousewheel the knobs
-Man I love that gate!
-Interesting how the sound of ampera got a little more 'modern'. There are less variations within cab fader, but that may be good thing. It's clearly different from olders versions that could do more kind of the warm old a little muddy amp thing too. It feels more precise, And I like it!
Edit : Ah yes, I miss the ability to use param/last touched parameter too

Best regards

Last edited by Regisfofo; 07-08-2019 at 04:49 AM.
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Old 07-08-2019, 05:36 PM   #12
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Just a few thoughts (some are probably way easier to implement than others):

1. It seems like the "era" slider morphs between a Marshall and a Mesa Boogie [possibly with others inbetween]. It might be interesting to have another slider where you could blend between UK/US amps for those years (i.e marshall to orange and fender to mesa boogie)

2. There's a bit of noise (like clicks and stuff) when dragging the era slider especially. It's not the worst thing ever, but if you could get rid of it, it would open up some interesting automation opportunities.

3. The sound is fairly good, although for high gain sounds there's a bit of noise that's noticeable. I know that in some other amp sims (like Bias Amp/Fx), they do something with high-gain sounds/amps that reduces the need for a gate (possibly some sort of waveshaping or something that distorts only the peaks and leaves the noise-floor alone...?).
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Old 07-09-2019, 10:50 AM   #13
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I'd assumed that the slider went from Fender in the earlier years to Mesa in the later, on the US side, and possibly from Vox to Marshall on the UK side. I've only owned a Marshall out of those, current Valvetronix modeler notwithstanding, so I don't consider myself enough of an expert to say for sure.

I tried it last night for about a half hour, mostly dinking around with no focused "research" on any aspects. I used only AmpEra - no cab/speaker IRs or external effects.

First 10 minutes was soloing along with a pink floyd-esque backing track using P90s, the next 10 was the same with active humbuckers, and the rest was metal/alt-rock dickery on the same 7 string.

I also got some noise on the controls, most noticeably clicking on the era slider as well.

The noise gate seemed to work pretty well, once I found a setting I liked. After that I didn't think about it too much, so I'd say that's pretty good.

The delay sounded good for leads. I like a lot of delay so I had it on 10. I'd have liked more controls, but for a quick and dirty it got the job done. I'm not sure how much value would be added by providing more control - there are tons of delays available. I do think separate mix and feedback controls would be useful, and I'd prefer a DAW tempo sync to a tap control, but that's just me, and again, it worked fine for those sweet sweet bent 5ths aw yeah.

For the soloing I kept the gain between 5-9 and moved the era slider around. The P90s are better with mid gain in general, and the actives are good with high gain. I was able to get sounds I felt were very usable. I didn't hear the noise JayJSE2 refers to but I don't consider my ears very discerning.

The Room control seems like a fairly subtle change, but it is noticeable. I didn't mess with it much.

I didn't mess with the A/B/Copy function at all.

Knobs seemed to move faster than I'd have wanted. Getting a specific setting wasn't as precise as I'd like, and they also seemed a little bit "notchy" or not smooth. With that said, I do like the X.X numbers that show me where I'm at on a given setting.

All the settings seemed pretty self evident to me for the most part. I wasn't sure what the delay would do, but turning it quickly showed me that it seemed to function as a Mix control for the delay..

I guess I'd like to see wider era and location sliders, for easier and more precise control. Maybe stack them vertically so they can both use the space that is currently allotted to both of them, if that makes sense.

Good stuff, I didn't expect it to sound this good!
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Old 07-09-2019, 11:51 AM   #14
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Very cool to see a guitar amp sim in js format.

I have only had a quick play around with it. Initital thoughts:

Needs a larger gui for those of use who are running 4k (or scalable or switchable).

Missing some low hump and the upper harmonics. Some parameteric eq does wonders here, but still leaves alot to be desired. I can send some eq tweeks your way if you want to hear what I'm talking about, but I'm about to leave out for work today.

I'm sure you are aware of the parameter zipper noise.
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Old 07-09-2019, 11:45 PM   #15
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Regisfofo View Post
-The double click to reset knob value is to long IMO
-There's still a bug when recalling a preset, even if it's showing the 'new' value, seems like you need to touch the knob or eslsewhere in the screen for it to change effectively in the sound...
-I miss to mousewheel the knobs
Good insights! All fixed and implemented for 0.83. Last touched parameter will be left on the TODO-list though. I’m polishing the ’89 amp sounds a bit atm, but will publish it today.

Quote:
-Man I love that gate!
Thanks man! Me too. )

Quote:
Originally Posted by JayJSE2 View Post
1. It seems like the "era" slider morphs between a Marshall and a Mesa Boogie [possibly with others inbetween]. It might be interesting to have another slider where you could blend between UK/US amps for those years (i.e marshall to orange and fender to mesa boogie)
Thank you for taking the time to test and reply! I should emphasize that AmpEra is not a modelling or emulating amp in any way. The sounds for the three amps (’69, ’89 and ’10) are inspired by what has been produced by the popular amps of those times, but for no setting have I aimed for AmpEra to sound like any specific amp model. Therefore I think that the ’69 amp could be adjustable for JTM45 and AC30 styled sounds, ’89 amp for JCM800, and ’10 amp for modern metal amp sounds. But for example Fender cleans might be better found in the modern clean amps (shy lower midrange, lots of treble and headroom).

For the speaker slider to be as useful as possible, it actually already morphs between two amp parameter sets and two discrete speaker impulses, so in a way your request is already implemented! Just try to let go of the idea of using a modelling or an emulating amp when using AmpEra.

Yes, the zipper noise when holding mouse button down is a known issue, and I’m sure it’ll be fixed before 1.0.

Quote:
3. The sound is fairly good, although for high gain sounds there's a bit of noise that's noticeable. I know that in some other amp sims (like Bias Amp/Fx), they do something with high-gain sounds/amps that reduces the need for a gate (possibly some sort of waveshaping or something that distorts only the peaks and leaves the noise-floor alone...?).
The amount of gain available in AmpEra is intentionally huge, so that all guitar-interface combinations would be served without additional boosters. I feel that once adjusted for the required gain per the sound (instead of ”all to ten”) and finished up with the beloved 4-band auto-release gate, noise is not an issue with AmpEra. For best gainstaging I would adjust the interface input so that the peaks are topping around -6dB.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Reason View Post
I'm not sure how much value would be added by providing more control - there are tons of delays available.
I agree. As should be evident, the whole point of AmpEra is to get a good sound fast, without menus, detailed parameters, drag-dropping elments, etc. The Room and Delay sounds are what I prefer to play through, and if they do not serve you well enough, can be easily turned off.

Quote:
Knobs seemed to move faster than I'd have wanted.
The 0.83 has a precise drag mode while holdin Cmd/ctrl. Also, while implementing the mouse wheel usage, I was able to change the general dragging behaviour to a smoother one. Let me know if the improvement is not good enough.

Quote:
Originally Posted by brainwreck View Post
Needs a larger gui for those of use who are running 4k (or scalable or switchable).

Missing some low hump and the upper harmonics. Some parameteric eq does wonders here, but still leaves alot to be desired. I can send some eq tweeks your way if you want to hear what I'm talking about, but I'm about to leave out for work today.
Thanks for the comments! Switchable GUI to 150-200% is a wothy thought. I will surely consider.

Please do send me the AmpEra settings and additional EQ curves, I’d really like to know what kind of sound you are after.
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Old 07-10-2019, 07:07 AM   #16
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IS there a way to disable the cab and use your own IR's? That would be great.
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Old 07-10-2019, 01:44 PM   #17
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mcgiver69 View Post
IS there a way to disable the cab and use your own IR's? That would be great.
Yes, double-click the Speaker button to disable the internal speakers.

But the speakerless sounds are not yet tweaked, so you might have a hard time getting usable sounds that way just yet. But soon!
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Old 07-11-2019, 03:12 AM   #18
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mrelwood View Post
Yes, double-click the Speaker button to disable the internal speakers.

But the speakerless sounds are not yet tweaked, so you might have a hard time getting usable sounds that way just yet. But soon!
Oh thanks for you response, I'll then wait for the new tweaked version!! Great work on this.
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Old 07-11-2019, 04:47 AM   #19
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AmpEra 0.83!

- Refined all 80's amps
- Faster double-click limit
- Presets loads properly, not just GUI
- Precise scrolling with Cmd/Ctrl drag
- Mouse wheel support
- GUI size selection from the Help window!

GUI size should stay in the set value even after loading project or preset.

http://b.link/mrelwood_AmpEra_0v83b


Hopefully this update will get a few smiles going...
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Old 07-12-2019, 03:40 AM   #20
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Hi mrelwood.

My feedback so far (haven't had a chance to do much):
Pro:
I really like the concept of timeslider for tone and distortion and US-UK for cabinet.
I even like the UI and its colors.
The gate is a good thing to have, just didn't find the right riff to use it :-)


Con(?):
Unsure, if the UI is a little too small and darkish, depending on the theme used, somehow the settings might get a little hidden by the theme coloration.

Suggestion:
Technically I am still looking for a way to somehwhat soften the sound, meaning to de-distort, which is probably impossible (just thinking out loud here).
It migth be very helpful, to have some sort of clone or adopting functionalty, to load a riff and analyse and use that sound on your own riff for further modulation.

That's it so far. I havn't found any weird, severe or nasty misbehaviours.
Looking promising so far.
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Old 07-12-2019, 10:42 AM   #21
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Try adjusting the input level, and by that I mean the level of signal before the plugin. You can use a volume fader plugin to drop the volume a bit which will make the AmpEra plugin sound a bit cleaner. Or if you have already recorded a WAV file you can just turn its level down a little bit.

Also there is an option to change the size of the UI. Click the "?" on the right side. On the bottom of that window that opens you can choose 100%, 150% or 200%.
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Old 07-14-2019, 08:51 AM   #22
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Hopefully this update will get a few smiles going... [/QUOTE]



Definitely. I like this amp sim a lot. It is easy dial in and it sounds good. The only thing for me is that my CPU (or something else in the system) is begging for mercy while playing AmpEra live (the CPU load is still only 20%). It could be this confounded laptop acting up. But in any case I can render just fine and I'll play it regardless of the crackles etc.

Basically I have an overdrive and an eq to boost the signal going in to the amp sim and then I have two eqs to sculpt the output sound and it gets pretty brutal when playing in drop B. AmpEra is thus definitely one of my favorites in the amp sim realm for the heavy stuff. Cheers.
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Old 07-14-2019, 09:29 AM   #23
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Enjoyed playing around with this. I play metal so I had the gain up to 11 and EQ'd to taste. I can get a very reasonable 5150 or JCM900 sound out of it by adjusting the speakers and EQ.

Really happy to test this, thanks
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Old 07-14-2019, 11:25 AM   #24
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If you want to keep CPU lower with this plugin, turn off the oversampling. There are 3 settings (the "HQ" button) so you might not initially realize if it's still on; click it a few times and you'll see. The room and delay contribute to the CPU as well, but not as much.

The plugin still uses a fair amount of CPU. ToneLib-GFX uses about 0.8% CPU on my system, and AmpEra uses around 4.9% (with HQ/room/delay off). I know some of that is inherent to how JS plugins can't be as efficient as VST plugins all else being equal. Anyway AmpEra sounds great, and that amount of CPU shouldn't kill most systems these days (plus it drops to 0% when it's not processing signal that's gated out).
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Old 07-14-2019, 12:32 PM   #25
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This is glorious... I gave it a spin and it has a ton of usable tones.

If one is so inclined, the gui images look like they can be freely edited to taste, which imho is one of the best things about JS in general.

Cue: photo realistic Marshall and Mesa gui images


My gimp-fu is pretty woeful these days, but I may give it a shot, if someone else doesn't
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Old 07-14-2019, 01:45 PM   #26
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Quote:
Originally Posted by JamesPeters View Post
If you want to keep CPU lower with this plugin, turn off the oversampling. There are 3 settings (the "HQ" button) so you might not initially realize if it's still on; click it a few times and you'll see. The room and delay contribute to the CPU as well, but not as much.

The plugin still uses a fair amount of CPU. ToneLib-GFX uses about 0.8% CPU on my system, and AmpEra uses around 4.9% (with HQ/room/delay off). I know some of that is inherent to how JS plugins can't be as efficient as VST plugins all else being equal. Anyway AmpEra sounds great, and that amount of CPU shouldn't kill most systems these days (plus it drops to 0% when it's not processing signal that's gated out).

Thanks for the advice it really made me think about the issue more (because I knew that it could not be about the CPU load after the figures you posted. I had all the effects and the HQ off already) and I realized that I was running the 32 bit Reaper (I have both 32 and 64 installed, because of too many 32 bit plugins I simply can not abandon) so I decided to open it in the 64 and lo and behold crackling was gone just as was to be expected.

This is what happens when one never closes a project and just keeps on playing them guitars even when things don't work as they should.

But that's that and the bottom line is that this amp is great. I thought it was great even when I had problems with crackling and all (due to my own ignorance), but now it really shines.
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Old 07-16-2019, 03:39 PM   #27
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I made a recording of this amp's heavy sound. I tweaked it to my taste but did not use any outside IRs to do so. What you'll get is a couple of minutes of improvised drop B heaviness courtesy of AmpEra pushed to the "max." Cheers

[ ]http://https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
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Old 07-16-2019, 11:58 PM   #28
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Crowzilla View Post
I made a recording of this amp's heavy sound.
Wow... Thank you, Crowzilla! Amazing to hear what a fellow Finnishman was able to get out of the 0.83!

Everyone can still suggest changes to AmpEra, but we are closing in on 1.0 fast, so be quick!

http://b.link/mrelwood_AmpEra_0v90b

- Fixed first click on gain pot jumping to wrong value.
- Changed font on some items for better Windows compatibility.
- No more zipper noise when adjusting.
- No more large pause when dbl-clicking Era or Gain.
- 12-15% lower CPU usage.
- Extended frequency range for bigger sound (more low bass and high treble).
- Preliminary toning of speakerless sounds.

For minimizing CPU load:
- Turn off speaker (use ReaVerb or other external impulse loader for the impulses in the AmpEra data folder). -45%
- Turn off oversampling (HQ). -10%/-20%
- Set the Era slider to minimum, maximum, or double-click for dead center. -5%
- Turn off Gate, Room and Delay. -5%/-5%/-2%
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Old 07-17-2019, 07:10 AM   #29
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mrelwood View Post
Wow... Thank you, Crowzilla! Amazing to hear what a fellow Finnishman was able to get out of the 0.83!

Everyone can still suggest changes to AmpEra, but we are closing in on 1.0 fast, so be quick!
Thanks! Suomivoima jyllää!

Congrats on the 0.90 AmpEra, it really is a big improvement in every respect compared to the 0.83 beta.

AmpEra works now wonderfully with any IR you want, as promised. I tried the provided american style IR and loaded it in to ReaVerb and it works like a charm. The difference compared to the 0.83 native IR “loader” to me is a huge one (though I imagine the IR is the same). For example in 0.83 I felt that I could not dial the amp as aggressively (or was more hesitant to do so) and that is why I chose to eq its output quite radically (on the sound video I posted), with this one you don't have to do anything like that (unless of course you want to). You can slam them dials and it can handle it just fine. The eq section seems to be very musical all the way to the extremes and I like it.

(A reminder, if you want to use Reaverb to load your IR remember to turn the ZL box on BEFORE you load the IR. Reaverb seems to not like it if you do it after the fact and you'll get no Zero Latency at all. )

What comes to the CPU load, it is now minimal compared to the previous versions and for a lack of a better word, it feels, acts and sounds like a real amp juiced up to the gills with some “strange nectar” of tone that makes it a pleasure to play.

What comes to suggestions, I really have none on the things that are in the amp already. I liked the idea of being able to turn things on and off right from the start and now that it can do it fully, ie. use any IR loader you want, it has become totally configurable to one's liking.

Personally I really liked the gate, but I chose to turn it off to save even more CPU cycles (ReaGate took its place). The tap function in the delay is a tempting one too. It is nice to be able to change it even on the fly and with some of the room dialed in it makes for a good effects section. So I am personally happy with these features.

Now one thing that I've always wanted to see in a real (or a virtual) amp is the idea that you could have two (or more) separate inputs in to the amp. One is for the boost chain and the other is for the uneffected signal so you can go to your clean sound without having to do anything to your boost chain, just change the channel and you're good to go. I haven't seen something like that implemented in to amps and honestly it has always seemed strange to me.

In this virtual amp age everything is of course possible in routing and switching things on and off, but something like that would make things much easier for the simple man (meaning me) who only can bother to kick a single dial to change the channel in the amp while knowing that everything is still running in the background, when the heavy sound needs to come back. Now I am not saying that something like this should be implemented in to AmpEra, but rather that the idea of this amp being as simple to use as it is (while having all the necessary options to play right out of the box), is really a strength that should continue. Cheers.

Last edited by Crowzilla; 07-17-2019 at 12:13 PM. Reason: To highlight the quotes
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Old 07-17-2019, 08:11 AM   #30
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Crowzilla View Post
for a lack of a better word, it feels, acts and sounds like a real amp juiced up to the gills with some “strange nectar” of tone that makes it a pleasure to play.
Oh man, lovely to hear that I've succeeded to nail it down so well for a metal player! I was unsure if I'd be able to serve that segment much at all since I'm not a metal player myself. If I hear such feedback from traditional rock and blues players as well, I can be ernest in saying that I've succeeded better than I could ever have imagined.

Quote:
Now one thing that I've always wanted to see in a real (or a virtual) amp is the idea that you could have two (or more) separate inputs in to the amp.
Guess what, I've got just the tool for you! Look for "Routter" in my plugins page.
- In Routter, copy your guitar input from channel 1 to channel 2,
- set up your boost chain to channel 1,
- set another Routter to copy and replace the channel 2 to channel 1.
Now you can bypass the second Routter for a driven tone, and enable it for clean!
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Old 07-17-2019, 09:22 AM   #31
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Small thing, I was surprised that rotating mousewheel forward reduces rather than increases knob values?
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Old 07-17-2019, 10:08 AM   #32
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Default Demo track and feedback

Mr Elwood,

The demo (disco blues):

https://clyp.it/yvi1sl15

This demo has a lot of processing, mainly because I have other work that I need to practice for. Even though it might not give an honest and naked example of the amp sim, the fact is that I feel confident enough to use your plugin for actual production. I treated the AmpEra like I would any other guitar signal, and it felt completely natural.

-------------------------------

I have feedback. I'm gonna get straight to it with critical feedback/issues:

- The mouse wheel behaves backwards on certain pots. Not the end of the world. Probably something worth smoothing over.

- When the plugin is left idle, and sometimes on playing the track after stopping, the gain from the plugin doubles. Adjusting the amp gain immediately brings it down to what it is supposed to be.

I am willing to entertain the possibility that this is just happening to me, however, considering this is the first time I have ever experienced this issue, I doubt it. I think this is quite important to fix. This forced me to pretty much render everything out without going crazy. Very frustrating to record one part and be put off by another which is suddenly super loud. I would class this as fatal flaw.

- The underlined items is a great idea, and perhaps could be inside little boxes or something a little more visual. Just a suggestion.

- I don't care much for the room reverb. It's neither here nor there. Not the end of the world. I muted it and saved CPU anyway. Perhaps you could consider a spring reverb? I think that would have more meaningful use with the amp sim.

- I don't like the delay function. I think having either a sync functionality or the ability to enter the mS amount precisely would be better. However, 100% of the time I always mute amp sim effects and use my own.

-------------------------------

Now I am going to give my opinion as a human being.

This amp is fantastic. I love it. It has balls, guts and a host of other internal organs. It responds surprisingly well to dynamics and my guitar's volume pot - that is impressive. You have captured both Marshall and Mesa types of character very well indeed. Appropriate riffs and styles feel correct and satisfying to play.

It has a certain weight which a lot of amp plugins do not. It feels satisfying to play. I found it inspirational.

The amp works very well with my external IRs. I used redwirez ones with NadIr. I'm very happy like this, but the internal cab sims within the plugin are well done too.

The amp also took my pedal very well. Now I only use a tube screamer, and it behaved as I would have expected and as I wanted.

The amp is resource hungry, however, I feel that you get something for the CPU spent on it. Besides, all the modules I personally didn't like can be bypassed and that saves CPU.

You have done a fantastic job with this. Well done and thank you for sharing!

Last edited by Karmoon; 07-17-2019 at 10:11 AM. Reason: more feedback.
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Old 07-17-2019, 11:41 AM   #33
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mrelwood View Post
Oh man, lovely to hear that I've succeeded to nail it down so well for a metal player! I was unsure if I'd be able to serve that segment much at all since I'm not a metal player myself. If I hear such feedback from traditional rock and blues players as well, I can be ernest in saying that I've succeeded better than I could ever have imagined.
I'm sure that the blues players and those who don't need all the gain in the world will find this amp great too. It has a very real feel to it, playing-wise and it handles playing dynamics well. I could get some earlier Billy Gibbons and Hendrixy sounds out of it by turning the year slider back in time while also boosting the input somewhat (tried treble boosters, eqs, overdrives and they all worked) I noticed also that the room worked with those sounds to their advantage. It also handled funky fast strumming really nicely.

And of course in the metal realm this 0.90 version is simply BRUTALITY incarnate. It can be boosted ridiculously hard and it seems to just revel in the gain galore without losing any definition in the pick attack. It is definitely a winner of an amp.


Quote:
Originally Posted by mrelwood View Post
Guess what, I've got just the tool for you! Look for "Routter" in my plugins page.
- In Routter, copy your guitar input from channel 1 to channel 2,
- set up your boost chain to channel 1,
- set another Routter to copy and replace the channel 2 to channel 1.
Now you can bypass the second Routter for a driven tone, and enable it for clean!
Hah haa this is great. It worked just perfectly and now I can switch the boost chain off with a single click and know that it still on there, so when I turn it on again there is hardly anything that could go wrong. This is simply great. Thank you!!!
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Old 07-17-2019, 12:05 PM   #34
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Karmoon View Post
- When the plugin is left idle, and sometimes on playing the track after stopping, the gain from the plugin doubles. Adjusting the amp gain immediately brings it down to what it is supposed to be.

I am willing to entertain the possibility that this is just happening to me, however, considering this is the first time I have ever experienced this issue, I doubt it.
Yes a similar thing happened to me when I changed the year slider and then changed the gain setting. I don't think it ever happened in my case if I stayed in the same year setting. Cheers.
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Old 07-17-2019, 01:28 PM   #35
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Karmoon View Post
The demo (disco blues):
I only now realized that I was at my speakers and had a listen, that you are the blues guy I was hoping to hear from! I don't know why I thought you were a metal blaster as well. That was a nice demo, thank you!

Quote:
I feel confident enough to use your plugin for actual production.
Saying that has a lot of weight! Do note though that the sounds and/or volume levels will still change a bit before version 1.0, so once the beta version expires, the project will not restore 100%.

Quote:
- The mouse wheel behaves backwards on certain pots.
Perfect example of a DUH moment... macOS has the trackpad scrolling reversed by default. This never even entered my mind. Fixing!

Quote:
- When the plugin is left idle, and sometimes on playing the track after stopping, the gain from the plugin doubles. Adjusting the amp gain immediately brings it down to what it is supposed to be.
This is a new issue, related to the new lower CPU behaviour. I thought I had all situations covered though. Will fix.

Quote:
- The underlined items is a great idea, and perhaps could be inside little boxes or something a little more visual. Just a suggestion.
A good one, though. Boxes would look more streamlined. I'll see if I can get them fit, since there has to be quite a lot of headroom for the fonts, since they draw in different sizes on Mac vs Windows.

Quote:
Perhaps you could consider a spring reverb?
The point of the Room Ambience is to have a (somewhat) natural ambience, especially for playing with headphones. DI guitar is easily unnaturally dry and direct, I wanted to capture the feeling of playing an amp in the same space when using headphones. I consider it to be sort of more of a mic distance adjustment than an actual reverb.

Quote:
I think having either a sync functionality or the ability to enter the mS amount precisely would be better. However, 100% of the time I always mute amp sim effects and use my own.
For a delay to work universally, it should have tap tempo, sync tempo, precise time adjustment, stereo pattern selector, tone, feedback, and warble. A one knob delay can never satisfy anyone else but the maker. Unfortunately, I (and you all) have to live with the current implementation. Even the Tap button, while a marvellous idea from a beta tester, was something I had to consider hard. For me the current delay gives the amount of space that I would use a delay for when jamming. I'm afraid that's all I can do.

Quote:
Now I am going to give my opinion as a human being.
You can't even imagine the overly stretched smile your feedback gave me! Giving someone a tool that they like as much as these feedback shows is more than any developer can even dream of.
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Old 07-18-2019, 05:53 AM   #36
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Default New demo and refined feedback

Mr Elwood,

I am very happy that my feedback is useful to you. It's the least I can do.

I made another demo, this time more hard rock, kind of an Iron Maiden style track:

https://clyp.it/3o4ixhyr

I also figured out a workaround for the random 'gain' issue.

It seems this only happens when I am recording. So I tracked the guitars using Emissary, and then quite simply dragged the DIs over. This eliminated the issue entirely, and in fact I was able to complete the mini project without the need to render the AmpEra tracks at all.

This is pretty big for me. The stability of recording with it was driving me crazy, and it did lead to a few ideas lost. This simple workaround gave me something stable to work with.

So the demo is 6 instances of AmpEra. With a good deal of other processing going on. Had no problems. My machine isn't bad, but it isn't particularly modern either.

The focus of this demo is obviously going straight for the Marshall sound and the plugin nails it. I like the fact that you haven't gone for (and limited yourself) to specific model emulations. It's like you've captured the point behind amplification and not got caught up on minutia.

You have good points concerning delay and reverb, you know more than me and I hadn't considered your perspective. Ultimately they can be bypassed easily, so it's no problem.

I think AmpEra is better than Emissary at capturing this style and era of guitar amplification. I'm not sure if I can give any higher praise than 'better than Emissary' at something hahaha.

Also, randomly, I really like the EQ section. It gives a lot of meaningful choices and actually has an impact. The structure reminds me of my ENGL 530.

I wanted to do more demos, try out my stratocaster, mess around with the MESA, and try using it for ambient work, but unfortunately I have to go on holiday and my wife won't let me take a guitar.
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Old 07-19-2019, 08:43 PM   #37
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We are Reaper lovers and amp sim experts / enthusiasts so this is right up our alley. I'd be happy to rip through this and pass along some notes but it seems like you have already gotten a ton of great advice from the well versed folks around here. Happy to feature it on www.honestampsimreviews.com when it comes out. Have you also tried the KVR forum for suggestions?
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Old 07-20-2019, 03:29 AM   #38
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Hasrofficial View Post
We are Reaper lovers and amp sim experts / enthusiasts so this is right up our alley. I'd be happy to rip through this and pass along some notes but it seems like you have already gotten a ton of great advice from the well versed folks around here. Happy to feature it on www.honestampsimreviews.com when it comes out. Have you also tried the KVR forum for suggestions?
Hi! Any additional feedback would still be as valuable as ever.

My guess is that the REAPER forum has more feedback-capable users for evaluating a JS plugin. But once I get to version 1.0, it's a good idea to spread the gospel there too. And your web page would indeed be a perfect place to feature AmpEra. Thanks!
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Old 07-20-2019, 06:41 AM   #39
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We are getting closer and closer!

http://b.link/mrelwood_AmpEra_0v91b

- Polished auto-volumes
- Polished some sounds a bit
- Tweaked the blend amp sounds (~ '80, ~ '00)
- Fixed mouse wheel direction
- Fixed jumping output level
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Old 07-21-2019, 07:54 PM   #40
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mrelwood View Post
Hi! Any additional feedback would still be as valuable as ever.

My guess is that the REAPER forum has more feedback-capable users for evaluating a JS plugin. But once I get to version 1.0, it's a good idea to spread the gospel there too. And your web page would indeed be a perfect place to feature AmpEra. Thanks!
Oh I totally agree, this place is the Reaper mecca with the right info. I have been a member here for many years on my main account but this is an account that myself and my team mates here can use. I just meant in time, those other communities would be worth hitting up!

Did you maybe want us to do a post about this beta and direct some more beta testers your way? We have plenty of Reaper of users that follow the page.
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