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My review of Native Instrument's Guitar Rig 3 in April '08 EQ magazine
My original review(pre-edited)--
GUITAR RIG 3 makes recording guitar a lot more interesting, fun and easy. GR3 is a modeling software program of amps, pedals, effects, cabinets and more. It can be used as a plug-in for recording or standalone for live or practice. GR3 is available with a pedal board/USB interface called Rig Kontrol. The black Rig Kontrol is a 24-bit/192kHz audio interface with the same converters as NI’s AUDIO KONTROL. It has ¼” two inputs with line/instrument switch and gain knob. The ¼” outputs have a high and low setting. Headphone output with volume control, Midi in/out and 2 pedal inputs are also included. The interface can also be used with keyboards or other line level signals.
Banks/ presets:
Most players will recognize the look and names of amps, cabinets and effects. The category menu is great because it is arranged by amp type, signature sounds and style. Some of the presets are designed for certain pickups and positions (SC, HB, SC Bridge and so on.). You also have presets for drums, keys/synth, vocal and Fx.
“Clean (SC)” used the White Hot amp for a great, bright single coil tone for funk and blues. The “Clean (SC Neck)” was a lot warmer using a Plex with a matched cabinet. The “Fender Twang” was somewhere in the middle. Warm drive sounds include “Crunch Lite”, “Stevies Rhythm” and “Texas Crunch”. The “Ultrasonic Crunch” was just what I was looking for- single notes had a little bit of bite while chords were dirty. For a nice boxy tone, the “Lite Crunch” Tweedman lets you start overdriving a 4x10 “combo”. The “Plex” bank includes “Jimi Wing” and “Voodoo Jim” as crunch sounds. They might not be exactly like the name suggests but they are good usable sounds.
The Lead 800 category brings us into the heavy drive, distortion sounds. You really hear the tone of the 4x12 cabinet with the 800 in the Classical Rock bank. For a brighter sound try the “Foo Monkeys”. For the a little more aggressive tones, I looked into the Metal, Modern Rock and Ultrasonic categories. The “Scooped” could use a deeper scooper. “Modern Metal” was more to my liking with more bass and less highs. “Late 80’s Metallic” was other good distortion sound. “Heavy Lead” made notes sing. I really liked the “Modern Lead” and the “Modern Scoop”(using the “Gratifier”) worked well. With the gain turned up to 11, the “Modern Lead” needed the noise reduction component added to it between the cabinet and effects. The new “Matched Cabinet” feature makes it easy to get going with an amp. Rolling off you guitar volume does affect the amps just like to it would with a real tube amp.
New Effects:
Guitar Rigs includes 44 effects including 6 new ones and 5 modifiers. You have the usual array of effects, which include chorus, flanger, phaser, eq, wah, delay and reverb. The new Tape Echo has spacey delays with added movement and speed. A great option to a driven amp is the Sledge Hammer. This pedal component delivers great tube-like drive sounds. Delay Man gives you nice delays with a bit of modulation (chorus/vibrato) to add. Real Wah models a high-end wah, which just saved me over $200 and editing the standard wah component. Custom EQ is a warm equalizer with a bass/treble filter and a tweakable midrange scoop. Besides the “robotic “ type a sound the ring modulator gives you, it possesses great vibrato and tremolo presets.
Editing:
GR3’s editing is arranged by “components” on the left that you drag and drop into a virtual rack on the right. You have choices of amps, distortions, modulations (chorus flangers, tremolo…), Eq's, volume (compressor, gates and more), reverbs. Under tools you get the loop machine, split and crossover mix. Modifiers include a low frequency oscillator, envelope, 2 types of sequencer effects and input level.
I took an 800 stack with two 4x12 vintage cabs, one cab with a tube condenser on the speaker and the other with a 57 off axis. This panned very nicely.
With the lead 800 amp, I actually ran two stacks in parallel (as you would in the real world) using the split module. The second cab makes it sound so much fuller than one cab or in series (w/o the split). Crossover mix allows you to split and pan the guitar by frequencies. By selecting a frequencies you are deciding at what point the left speaker gets the lower and the right get the higher or vice versa. If you really want to edit and mess around with a tube amp, the expert controls will let you experiment. Here you can control parameters of the voltage -- power supply, variac, sag, response (bias)-- something you could never do unless you modified an actual amp. On the Fender Twang you can edit the reverb of the amp. I always felt the reverb was too deep on the real amp. Besides basic parameters (knobs like on a pedal), effects also have expert controls. I love the idea of editing a wah and coming up with a different sound.
By playing hard, the cabinet’s volume learn button automatically sets the output level to avoid clipping. Nice! This works with noise reduction and the noise gate as well.
You can spend hours with the Modifier components. The Input Level component lets you control a parameter by how hard you pick/strum. I set up a chorus and controlled the speed and intensity with the input level. When I strummed softly it was slow and fast when I dugged in. These types of features can add a more live or random aspect to recording a guitar track.
Effects presets can be saved within the individual component. Let’s say you came up with a nice chorus configuration, you can name it and save as a chorus preset.
Plug it in
As a plug-in, you get all the presets sounds already described. One advantage of GR is the stereo input, which can be utilized on stereo track for recording. If you setup a sound in GR with the split component you can pan two separate tones left and right. You could use a basic guitar sound, clean or dirty, with any of the modifiers. Pan the guitar sound left and the modifier part right and record the track. You can get feedback through your speakers also. You would have to place the speaker close to the guitar to initiate the feedback but it is doable.
“Look mom, no hands”
You can automate any parameter in Guitar Rig through your sequencer. So if you wanted to automate a filter, delay time, or maybe the split mix panning between two signals chains, it is up to your imagination. Uses of Rig Kontrol for recording are the obvious wah and whammy/pitch pedal. One really cool feature is that you can assign the pedal of the Rig Kontrol to a parameter in your preset then use that to record automation to get more of a live feel. Most of the modulation and delay effects have tempo syncs so you can sync the tempo of the song to the effect.
A little more…
A “Hi Quality Mode” button allows for more detailed sounds at the expense of taxing your CPU. You get a full screen view for those with large or multiple computer displays. Previous version’s presets are available for import into GR3. The manual offers many tips on achieving better guitar tones (dist, eq tips and more). There are other features that are geared towards a non-recording environment.
Conclusion:
GR3 is very guitar-friendly by being simple on the surface but gives you a lot of depth for those who want to build and edit their own custom “racks” of sounds. If you are a guitar player that uses one sound or one that needs a lot of diverse sounds, GR 3 could be the ultimate guitar rack w/o the price tag. You can also look at GR3 with the ability to get new and futuristic sounds. For the price of a mid-range combo amp, the 300 presets cover all styles. Vintage, classic & modern are all expanded in the latest version featuring 12 amps, 44 effects, 28 cabs and the updated USB interface.
My original review(pre-edited)--
“Future of Guitar Tone?”
By Brian Murphy
By Brian Murphy
GUITAR RIG 3 makes recording guitar a lot more interesting, fun and easy. GR3 is a modeling software program of amps, pedals, effects, cabinets and more. It can be used as a plug-in for recording or standalone for live or practice. GR3 is available with a pedal board/USB interface called Rig Kontrol. The black Rig Kontrol is a 24-bit/192kHz audio interface with the same converters as NI’s AUDIO KONTROL. It has ¼” two inputs with line/instrument switch and gain knob. The ¼” outputs have a high and low setting. Headphone output with volume control, Midi in/out and 2 pedal inputs are also included. The interface can also be used with keyboards or other line level signals.
Banks/ presets:
Most players will recognize the look and names of amps, cabinets and effects. The category menu is great because it is arranged by amp type, signature sounds and style. Some of the presets are designed for certain pickups and positions (SC, HB, SC Bridge and so on.). You also have presets for drums, keys/synth, vocal and Fx.
“Clean (SC)” used the White Hot amp for a great, bright single coil tone for funk and blues. The “Clean (SC Neck)” was a lot warmer using a Plex with a matched cabinet. The “Fender Twang” was somewhere in the middle. Warm drive sounds include “Crunch Lite”, “Stevies Rhythm” and “Texas Crunch”. The “Ultrasonic Crunch” was just what I was looking for- single notes had a little bit of bite while chords were dirty. For a nice boxy tone, the “Lite Crunch” Tweedman lets you start overdriving a 4x10 “combo”. The “Plex” bank includes “Jimi Wing” and “Voodoo Jim” as crunch sounds. They might not be exactly like the name suggests but they are good usable sounds.
The Lead 800 category brings us into the heavy drive, distortion sounds. You really hear the tone of the 4x12 cabinet with the 800 in the Classical Rock bank. For a brighter sound try the “Foo Monkeys”. For the a little more aggressive tones, I looked into the Metal, Modern Rock and Ultrasonic categories. The “Scooped” could use a deeper scooper. “Modern Metal” was more to my liking with more bass and less highs. “Late 80’s Metallic” was other good distortion sound. “Heavy Lead” made notes sing. I really liked the “Modern Lead” and the “Modern Scoop”(using the “Gratifier”) worked well. With the gain turned up to 11, the “Modern Lead” needed the noise reduction component added to it between the cabinet and effects. The new “Matched Cabinet” feature makes it easy to get going with an amp. Rolling off you guitar volume does affect the amps just like to it would with a real tube amp.
New Effects:
Guitar Rigs includes 44 effects including 6 new ones and 5 modifiers. You have the usual array of effects, which include chorus, flanger, phaser, eq, wah, delay and reverb. The new Tape Echo has spacey delays with added movement and speed. A great option to a driven amp is the Sledge Hammer. This pedal component delivers great tube-like drive sounds. Delay Man gives you nice delays with a bit of modulation (chorus/vibrato) to add. Real Wah models a high-end wah, which just saved me over $200 and editing the standard wah component. Custom EQ is a warm equalizer with a bass/treble filter and a tweakable midrange scoop. Besides the “robotic “ type a sound the ring modulator gives you, it possesses great vibrato and tremolo presets.
Editing:
GR3’s editing is arranged by “components” on the left that you drag and drop into a virtual rack on the right. You have choices of amps, distortions, modulations (chorus flangers, tremolo…), Eq's, volume (compressor, gates and more), reverbs. Under tools you get the loop machine, split and crossover mix. Modifiers include a low frequency oscillator, envelope, 2 types of sequencer effects and input level.
I took an 800 stack with two 4x12 vintage cabs, one cab with a tube condenser on the speaker and the other with a 57 off axis. This panned very nicely.
With the lead 800 amp, I actually ran two stacks in parallel (as you would in the real world) using the split module. The second cab makes it sound so much fuller than one cab or in series (w/o the split). Crossover mix allows you to split and pan the guitar by frequencies. By selecting a frequencies you are deciding at what point the left speaker gets the lower and the right get the higher or vice versa. If you really want to edit and mess around with a tube amp, the expert controls will let you experiment. Here you can control parameters of the voltage -- power supply, variac, sag, response (bias)-- something you could never do unless you modified an actual amp. On the Fender Twang you can edit the reverb of the amp. I always felt the reverb was too deep on the real amp. Besides basic parameters (knobs like on a pedal), effects also have expert controls. I love the idea of editing a wah and coming up with a different sound.
By playing hard, the cabinet’s volume learn button automatically sets the output level to avoid clipping. Nice! This works with noise reduction and the noise gate as well.
You can spend hours with the Modifier components. The Input Level component lets you control a parameter by how hard you pick/strum. I set up a chorus and controlled the speed and intensity with the input level. When I strummed softly it was slow and fast when I dugged in. These types of features can add a more live or random aspect to recording a guitar track.
Effects presets can be saved within the individual component. Let’s say you came up with a nice chorus configuration, you can name it and save as a chorus preset.
Plug it in
As a plug-in, you get all the presets sounds already described. One advantage of GR is the stereo input, which can be utilized on stereo track for recording. If you setup a sound in GR with the split component you can pan two separate tones left and right. You could use a basic guitar sound, clean or dirty, with any of the modifiers. Pan the guitar sound left and the modifier part right and record the track. You can get feedback through your speakers also. You would have to place the speaker close to the guitar to initiate the feedback but it is doable.
“Look mom, no hands”
You can automate any parameter in Guitar Rig through your sequencer. So if you wanted to automate a filter, delay time, or maybe the split mix panning between two signals chains, it is up to your imagination. Uses of Rig Kontrol for recording are the obvious wah and whammy/pitch pedal. One really cool feature is that you can assign the pedal of the Rig Kontrol to a parameter in your preset then use that to record automation to get more of a live feel. Most of the modulation and delay effects have tempo syncs so you can sync the tempo of the song to the effect.
A little more…
A “Hi Quality Mode” button allows for more detailed sounds at the expense of taxing your CPU. You get a full screen view for those with large or multiple computer displays. Previous version’s presets are available for import into GR3. The manual offers many tips on achieving better guitar tones (dist, eq tips and more). There are other features that are geared towards a non-recording environment.
Conclusion:
GR3 is very guitar-friendly by being simple on the surface but gives you a lot of depth for those who want to build and edit their own custom “racks” of sounds. If you are a guitar player that uses one sound or one that needs a lot of diverse sounds, GR 3 could be the ultimate guitar rack w/o the price tag. You can also look at GR3 with the ability to get new and futuristic sounds. For the price of a mid-range combo amp, the 300 presets cover all styles. Vintage, classic & modern are all expanded in the latest version featuring 12 amps, 44 effects, 28 cabs and the updated USB interface.
Axon review
Check out the Amazing Slower Down
Great software for transcribing for players, teachers and students!!
"The VG-99 is a an astounding advance from the company that originated
guitar modeling technology. New Age, Space Age, Traditional, Radical,
Down-To-B Metal to Nashville Studio Pro are all possible, along with
sounds no one can imagine for musical genre's yet to be invented. A
truly musical 21st century guitar tool." -Vernon Reid
I was working on a review of the 99 for EQ magazine. This is the original.
Check out the final version in Feb'08 issue of EQ.
VG-99 (for Recording) Review
Guitar players are known to have a few guitars, if not many. They own fewer amps, but who wouldn’t want a room full of Marshall, Fender, Boogie or Vox amps to satisfy their inspirations or mood of the day. Have you ever been recording and wanted a 12 string but didn’t own one? How about a Rickenbacker 360 for that Ric sound? Or how about a tweed amp, a far out synth-type sound or even an organ? Suppose you wrote a song in an open tuning but you want to solo in the regular tuning. Alternate tunings for a recording at a turn of a dial? The VG-99 makes it all possible and more!
Overview
The Vg-99 is a guitar processor/USB 2.0 recording interface that makes use of Roland COSM (composite object sound modeling) that is accessed with a guitar that has 13 pin interface, like a Godin or using the Roland’s GK3 pickup attached to your guitar.
I ran my Brian Moore MC1p.13 into the Vg-99 with the included 13-pin cable. There are software and drivers to install before you make any connections. One note here: to use the Midi converter you have to use the advanced driver setting. This allows you to use Roland drivers instead of your computer’s standard driver.
The Vg-99 actually takes the audio signal, changes, and manipulates it to give you unique sounds. You could look at it as two updated Vg88’s, a GI-20 midi converter plus 2 equivalent GT Pro effect processors in one box. There are 200 factory presets and 200 user presets. Working from the front end of the 2 channels, there are guitars, polyfx, pedal effects and amps. Any of these can be placed in any order. Just like previous versions (Vg-8, Vg-88), some of the presets have somewhat to be desired. The strength is in the programmability of the VG-99.
So much stuff and potential
The guitar section is one place where the Vg-99 is unique. You have 9 electric guitars that include Strat, LP, Rickenbacker, Tele, Dano, 335 and an L4. The presets sounded close though I wanted to tweak them more. There are really good distortion presets. Acoustics models include Martin D-28, Gibson J-45, Guild D-40, banjo, sitar, Dobro and a good sounding nylon. The steel strings presets sounded dark and warm. Great to have for recording are the 12 string presets and opening/alternate tunings. The DADGAD 12 string preset starts pushing the VG-99 capabilities. Bass models are the Jazz Bass and Precision Bass. The eleven synth models lead to a new world for guitar players.
The COSM guitars include a variable model. This is where you can have a lot of fun. On guitars you can angle the pickups extremely and place them anywhere between the bridge and the 15th fret. Yes, on the fingerboard, achieving a unique tone. You could even choose roundwound or flatwound strings! With the variable models you can really get creative and turn out your custom guitar!
Another unique feature is the Poly Fx. Here, since the 13-pin cable is sending audio from the six strings separately. The Vg-99 applies a compressor, distortion, octave or a slowgear effect individually to each string. This gives a more defined sound across the strings making chords are clearer.
With almost 100 effects pedals included, I really liked the wah possibilities with a connected controller pedal, a volume pedal or Roland EV-5. You can select different wahs; change the sweep of the pedal (range) and the tone (Q) within the “custom” setting. Defret simulates a fretless guitar. Cool idea but needs some tweaking. Humanzier dynamically applies vowels sounds to your picking.
I found using the D-Beam and the ribbon controller fun to play with while recording. The D-Beam are two little lights that I can pass my hand or the guitar neck over, vertically or horizontally, to produce effects such as a filter or bending a tremolo arm. You can even determine what type of trem: Fender, Bigsby, Floyd or Steinberger’s Transtrem. That is sick! Dynamic settings allow me to switch between the A/B chains by how hard or soft I picked achieving guitar parts otherwise very hard or impossible to produce. These can lend themselves to make recording more fun and interesting.
Midi USB
Most recording software comes with software instruments like piano, strings, organ synth and so on. The midi converter allows me to control/record these software instruments right from the VG-99 via the USB cable. The guitarist now can control 100% of his/her audio and midi software from this one box. The A/B chain and the midi converter allowed me to record three tracks at once, two audio tracks and a midi track. I can capture exact, multiple, fast lead lines or rhythm parts without the need to overdub.
Conclusion
Additional software includes a librarian for organizing your presets with comments and a nice editor that makes it really easy to do some editing.
Bottom line is that the VG-99 is a portable, huge and deep toolbox. It gives the guitarist an arsenal of audio and midi capabilities and sounds to create and record his or her music. With guitar players getting more adventurous with technology, the VG-99 could very well be the future of guitar.
What I like: COSM Guitars, amps and effects, tunings, USB Midi, programmability, editing software, presets by category.
What I do not like: midi tracking on the two lower guitar strings, No Musicman bass model, No more Chet body for the Gretsch tones.
Price: List $1399 Map $1195
With Gk3a pickup: List: $1599 Map: $1325
Shop for the Vg-99 @ zzounds.com.
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Why shop and buy at zZounds.com?
Lowest Price Guarantee, 30-day Lowest Price Protection After Your Purchase, Spy Reports, Super Low Shipping Costs, No Sales Tax Collected, They Don't Cut Corners...and MORE
Lowest Price Guarantee, 30-day Lowest Price Protection After Your Purchase, Spy Reports, Super Low Shipping Costs, No Sales Tax Collected, They Don't Cut Corners...and MORE
