Guitar Amp Sim Power User Tips

Reality check: If you want the exact sound of a Vox AC30, well, buy a Vox AC30. But if you want a sound that's based on an AC30 but then goes places conventional hardware can't, amp sims can do some fun tricks. Like these...

NATIVE INSTRUMENTS GUITAR RIG

Better Sound. Click on the High Res box (Figure 1) to process the signal at double the sample rate. The improvement in sound quality, especially with distortion and amp models, is obvious enough you won't mind the extra CPU hit. Stepped Filter Effects. The AdrenaLinn is one of the coolest effects boxes ever, but it's not available as a plug-in. However, you can come close with the rig in Figure 2. Start with the parameters as follows, then experiment:

1. Drag the Analog Seq Assign button to the Pro-Filter Cutoff parameter.
2. Set Resolution to 1/16.
3. Set the Seq Length to 16 (the longest possible).
4. Choose the “Rhythm" preset, as this is a good place to start.
5. Set the Slide knob fully counter-clockwise for the most “stepped" sound.
6. The “Targets" drop-down menu lets you set the extent of the effect. You might prefer something a little more conservative than the default, like 20-30%.
7. Move the sliders around to obtain the rhythm you want.

Frequency-Based Stereo. The Crossover Mix module can split a mono signal to a stereo signal based on frequency (e.g., lows toward the left, highs toward the right). In Figure 3, the lows run through the AC Box amp, while the highs go through the Plexi amp.

Use the Pan controls to place the lows and highs in the stereo field, and the Frequency control to set the crossover point. A crossfader adjusts the balance between the two bands. Although the net result isn't quite the same as sending the bottom three strings to one amp and the top three strings to another amp, processing the guitar's high and low frequencies separately can create some cool stereo effects.

Multiband Distortion. Yes, it's a complex setup (Figure 4 shows the block diagram) . . . but three Split modules can split your guitar into four frequency bands, and then you can distort each one individually. The resulting sound, with less intermodulation distortion, is “cleaner" than single-channel distortion.