In order to complete an amp head simulator, you need to add a speaker cabinet simulation. Some amp sims already have a built-in head + cabinet, but some only have the head. So here's what you need to complete your equipment.
How does it work? It's simple. Use one of the following plugins, LeCab for instance, add it after your amplifier simulator and load an impulse in it. The impulse will simulate the cabinet you've chosen, so the impulse's quality is essential to the result. In fact, your cabinet simulator is nothing but an impulse loader. And you get to choose which cabinet you want to emulate
SPEAKER CABINET SIMULATORS
All simulators don't exactly sound the same. If you use the same impulse in two different simulators, it will sound different, because the plugins' rendering engines are different. Pick the one that suits you best.
Here is a comparison between several simulators.
You can notice that KeFIR is different from the others, with a more metallic sound and less bass tones.
Note 1: I used an Orange PPC412 cabinet impulse from RedWire, recorded with a Royer R-121 microphone from a distance of 4 inches in Cap Edge position.
Note 2: SIR 2 is a commercial program and MixIR2 is provided by RedWire to clients of their impulses.
I used the commercial amplifier simulator Kuassa Amplifikation Creme (tested here) with the following settings:
The cabinet simulators you can download below are provided without any impulses, so you have to find or buy them and load them in your cab simulator. You can download free impulses below, find some on the Internet (free or not), or make them yourself...
LEPOU - LECAB 2
After LeCab, here comes LeCab 2! This time, LePou gives us access to no less than 6 impulse slots simultaneously! For each one of them, you can invert the phase if needed, set the delay time, configure a lowpass and a highpass filter, and of course you can set the pan and volume. You can also solo each slot, link the loaded impulses of 2 slots (but other controls remain independant). You can also control the latency. The lower it is, the more CPU-consuming it becomes and vice-versa. Last but not least, the graphic interface is nice and clean!
One nice improvement over the previous version of the plugin, it now remembers the impulses' folders of origin. So you don't need to scratch your head anymore if you don't remember what impulse was used when the impulse name is not explicit.
Here are two samples to illustrate how the 6 slots can be used. I play a series of chords 6 times in a row. The first time, only one slot is on, the second time two slots are used and so on and so forth up to 6. Of course, there is only one guitar track.
For the first sample, I used the follwoing cabinet impulses in that order:
- Orange 4x12 V30, microphone SM57, position Cap at 5", pan 25% left (RedWire impulse)
- Orange 4x12 V30, microphone R121, position CapEdge at 4", pan 25% right (RedWire impulse)
- Roland Micro Cube, microphone SM57, tone à 60%, position Grill, pan 60% left (personal impulse)
- Roland Micro Cube, microphone SM57, tone à 60%, position CapEdge45 Grill, pan 60% right (personal impulse)
- Orange Micro Crush, microphone NT5, tone à 75%, position Grill, pan 95% left (personal impulse)
- Orange Micro Crush, microphone SM57, tone à 75%, position Grill, pan 95% right (personal impulse)
For the second sample, I used the follwoing cabinet impulses in that order:
- Marshall 1960B K120, microphone C414B-ULS, position Cap at 4", pan 25% left (RedWire impulse)
- BasketWeave G12M25, microphone SM57, position Cone at 3", pan 25% right (RedWire impulse)
- Vox AC30 Silver, microphone SM7, position CapEdge at 2", pan 60% left (RedWire impulse)
- Engl Pro V30, microphone 409, position CapEdge Grill, pan 60% right (RedWire impulse)
- Peavey 5150 Sheffield 1200, microphone R121, position CapEdge at 4", pan 95% left (RedWire impulse)
- Fender Twin D120, microphone 421, position CapEdgeOffAxis at 3", pan 95% right (RedWire impulse)
Download Lepou LeCab 2 from the official site and make a donation if you like it!
I give the possibility to download it from here neverthelesse, but I strongly encourage you to support LePou and visit his website: LePou LeCab 2 (Poulin_LeCab2.rar, 844 KB)
LEPOU - LECAB
LePou, which makes very good amplifier simulators, has also made this cab simulator. It can be used in mono or stereo, so you can load one or two impulses and pan them independently at your convenience. LeCab comes with 3 different interfaces to choose from, A, B or C. The one shown here is interface C.
Download Lepou LeCab from the official site and make a donation if you like it!
I give the possibility to download it from here neverthelesse, but I strongly encourage you to support LePou and visit his website: LePou LeCab (LePou LeCabv1.0.rar, 1.95 MB)
KeFIR
Mono or stereo versions (graphically identical), this virtual cabinet is very simple to use. However, I prefer LeCab 2 or SIR, which in my opinion sound better. keFIR tends to sound more metallic and low frequencies are not well rendered. Check the comparative test on top of this page.
Although this plugin is mostly used for reverb purposes (see here), you may also use it to simulate speaker cabinets, as it also uses convolution sound impulses, just like KeFIR.
You want to get the sound of an Orange PPC412, a Fender 1965 Super Reverb, a Marshall 1960A, a Mesa Rectifier, a Vox AC30, a Roland Micro Cube, an Orange Micro Crush...? You can!
YES YOU CAN!
For each sample:
* 1 rhythm guitar on the left
Amplifier simulator Aradaz Crunch
Cabinet simulator LeCab, with the following impulses:
1 cab 80% left (microphone Royer R-121), 1 cab 60% left (Shure SM57)
* 1 rhythm guitar on the right
Amplifier simulator Aradaz Crunch
Cabinet simulator LeCab, with the following impulses:
1 cab 80% right (Royer R-121), 1 cab 60% right (Shure SM57)
* 1 solo guitar in the middle
Amplifier simulator LePou LE456
Cabinet simulator LeCab, with the following impulses:
1 cab 10% left (Royer R-121), 1 cab 10% right (Shure SM57)
This configuration is always the same, only the cabinet changes
(Orange, Fender, Marshall, Mesa, Vox, Roland)
The only exception is the Orange Micro Crush sample: I used a combination of a dynamic microphone Shure SM57 and a condenser microphone Rode NT5.
The impulses come from the commercial package Recabinet Complete 2.0. Except for the Orange Micro Crush: I used impulses that I created myself (download them here)
As you can hear, even when always using the same amp head, the final sound will change a lot depending on the cabinet and the mike used, which is completely logical. You must find the right combination between the head and the cabinet. You can even use the head only if you wish. All of this is virtual, you may do things the way you like them!
FREE IMPULSES
On the Internet, you can find impulses made by people and freely distributed. Unfortunately, their quality goes from excellent to very poor. The only way to know is to try them. I gathered some impulses from various cabinet brands (Mesa, Fender, Marshall, Vox, Orange, Soldano, London City...) right here, so you can have something to play with. That will be a good start. The microphones used to make these impulses are classics from Sennheiser, Shure, Rode, AKG, Neumann...
For free, you will have something to make some good mixing.
I add two zip files containing a total of about 950 more impulses. It's a wide collection, but the file naming is somewhat messy. Some names are crystal clear, some others... you'll have to guess...
You can also buy professional, high-quality impulse packages. They sound really good, because the designers of these impulses have access to a lot of hardware and can provide us with a wide range of impulses. With each cabinet, several microphones are used, and each microphone is placed at different places before (or even behind) the cabinets, so you get nuances that will enrich the sound. Users can then combine several impulses for each guitar or bass take in order to get THE sound they're looking for.
Each cabinet offers a minimum of 550 impulses. The whole collection costs 121 dollars (about 90 euros), which is OK considering the number of impulses and the amount of work put into it. And good idea: you can buy each cabinet impulse collection separately. You get the first cabinet collection for 10 dollars (about 7 euros) and the next cabinets will grant you volume discounts.
I bought their "Recabinet Complete 2.0" collection, and I'm quite happy with it. There are impulses from the following cabinets:
- "Modern 1" series: Line 6 Vetta 4×12, Marshall 1936 2×12, Genz Benz G-Flex ported 2×12, Mesa Standard Oversize 4×12, Krank Krankenstein 4×12, Carvin 4×12 British Series, Ampeg SVT 8×10 Bass Cabinet (for bass guitar), Marshall Hand Wired 4×12, Roland Micro Cube
- "Modern 2" series: Marshall 1960AV 4x12, Randall RS4 12XLT 100 4x12, Mesa Engineering Standard 4x12, Orange PPC412-C
- "Vintage" series: Fender 1965 Super Reverb 4x10, 1970s Marshall 4x12 with Celestion Greenback Speakers, 1960s Ampeg Portaflex B15N (for bass guitar), Vox AC30, 1953 Fender Deluxe 1x12, Selmer Zodiac Twin 30
The sound of each cabinet is reproduced through the following microphones, placed at different distances and axes from the cabinets:
Shure SM57, Shure Unidyne III 545, Royer 121, Sennheiser MD409, Sennheiser MD421, Audix i5, Audix D6, Neumann U87, DBX RTA, Audio Technica 4060
In total, there are 1959 impulses. A large choice that is difficult to sort out at first, but I gradually spotted combinations of impulses I find quite satisfying to my taste. I chose this collection because user reviews were enthusiastic and it is very affordable: 15 dollars for the whole collection. At this price, I did not hesitate for long: spend 15 dollars for quality impulses or spend hours to find good, free impulses without any guarantee to find something useful, it was an easy choice...
Unfortunately, they have released a newer version of their impulse collection, Recabinet 3, which costs about 130 dollars (or 60 dollars for the upgrade version). New impulses, new more convenient interface, but at a much higher price than before. I haven't tested it, but users seem to be satisfied with the obtained quality. I won't upgrade as I don't need the new fancy interface (I use an external cabinet simulator, LePou LeCab 2) and I tend to slightly prefer the Redwire impulses anyway, which I find a bit cleaner and more accurate. Now that prices are more or less equivalent between the two brands, I'd recommend Redwire... personal choice!
COMPARISON BETWEEN RECABINET AND REDWIRE
I compared Rewire's Marshall 1960A cabinet, equiped with Celection G12M speakers (available as a free demo here) to Recabinet's Marshall 1960AV cabinet, equiped with Celestion G12T speakers. Here are comparative samples with 7 different microphones. I used the same microphone positionning for RedWire and Recabinet impulses. Warning: I am comparing two collections using only one type of cabinet (and it is not exactly the same for both brands). Furthermore, Recabinet's complete offer costs 15 dollars, whereas RedWire complete offer costs 121 dollars. Is the difference in quality in proportion with the difference in price? It's actually pretty hard to tell. I guess it is also a question of taste.
CREATE YOUR OWN IMPULSES
Why not create your own impulses? It isn't hard to do, although it isn't easy to do well. It will take tries/errors, it can be time-consuming, but it isn't complicated.
// I'll give you the procedure with a concrete example. I created impulses from my miniature amplifier, the Orange Micro Crush (demo here).
It's a very small amp, very convenient as a traveling tool, or even for playing in the street, while walking! The sound is a bit small, yet nice in spite of a lack of bass frequencies.
I used 2 different microphones: a Shure SM57 dynamic microphone and a Rode NT5 condenser microphone. I placed each of them alternately in front of the speaker at about 2 mm from the grill, dead center. I made several takes, turning the tone knob on the amplifier in order to get sounds from bass-dull to treble-bright.
Eventually, I created 12 impulses that sound pretty well.
You will need:
- An audio file called "Test Tone", sweeping all frequencies from 20 Hz to 20 KHz, and a duration of 10 to 12 seconds,
- A deconvolving software,
- At least one microphone,
- At least one amplifier, speaker, or any device that can reproduce sound, and that you want to get an impulse from,
- A recording software (any D.A.W. will do),
- An audio interface that allows simultaneous playing and recording.
GENERATE A TEST TONE
First download and install this deconvolving software: Voxengo Deconvolver (voxengo_deconvolver.zip, 324 KB). This is the demo version (the full version costs 40 dollars and can be bought here if you wish). The demo only allows the creation of 3 impulses per session, and one impulse at a time, but all you need to do is close and re-open the software to create more impulses. So it isn't really bothering, unless you spend your days creating impulses...
With Deconvolver, you can generate a Test Tone. Start Deconvolver, click on "Test Tone Gen" at the bottom (#1 on the screenshot), select the Out Bit Depth (2) and the Sample Rate (3) you usually use in your D.A.W., select Mono in Channels (4), leave the default duration on 12 seconds (5).
Note that after several tries, I didn't notice any difference in quality between the default 12-second Test Tone and a 3-second Test Tone. So now, I use 3-second Test Tones, which allows me to work faster and leave my neighbor's ears in peace... and mine!
I unchecked the "Apply fade-in and fade-out..." box (6), but you can leave it checked if you wish. Finally, click on "Generate" (7) and choose the out-folder (8) for your Test Tone file. You will get a WAV file sweeping all frequencies from 20 Hz to 20 KHz. Not very musical, but very useful!
Now that you have created a Test Tone, you can use it to record impulses.
STEP 1
Open your D.A.W., create a mono audio track and place your brand new Test Tone file on it. Your recording will have to be slightly longer than the length of the Test Tone file. Create a second mono audio track. This is where you are going to record your take. You will then create as many mono tracks as you need for your takes.
STEP 2
Here's what I did to record the Orange Micro Crush amplifier:
I connected a microphone in my audio interface. I connected the output #3 from the audio interface to the Input of my amplifier with a mono Jack cable (guitar jack), so that the Test Tone sound will go through the amplifier. I set the audio track with the Test Tone in such a way that the sound goes through the audio interface output #3. When I play the Test Tone, the sound thus goes out through the Orange Micro Crush. My microphone is connected to the Input #1 of my audio interface. The blank audio track is set to record sound from input #1, so it will record the sound from the microphone.
I placed the microphone in front of the amplifier. Where exactly? Well, you have to try various positions, depending on the amplifier, on the microphone, until you get a satisfying result. That is the hardest part: find a good positioning for the microphone. Considering the size of the Orange Micro Crush, I took the simplest option: dead center, very close to the grill.
STEP 3
Connections are ready, the microphone is in place... Now you have to test the sound volume. Be careful, Test Tones are pretty uncomfortable to listen to and can be pretty nasty for your ears, use ear protection, especially at high volume levels! If you do this in an appartment, do not do this at night, unless you hate your neighbors of course.
Play the Test Tone and:
- Adjust the amplifier volume in order to have sufficient volume level to record,
- Adjust the recording volume on the recording track. Your recording must not clip. Use the entry level of your audio interface and the amplifier volume button so that the record level does not go above -6 dB, and never ever above 0 dB in any case! It's best to vary the recording volume than raise the amplifier volume. Believe me, once you have heard a loud Test Tone, you'll never want to hear it again!
STEP 4
You're good? Levels checked? So start recording the Test Tone. Record all the Test Tone duration (3 seconds if that's the duration you chose), and most importantly: let the recording last longer than the Test Tone (one extra second is enough). Of course, you must not make any noise during the recording, in order to avoid recording any unwanted noise.
Now, export the recorded file in mono. Only export the recorded track. Mute the Test Tone track to avoid exporting it!
STEP 5
Open Deconvolver again. On top, in Test Tone File, click on Browse and get your Test Tone where you put it. Then click on the next Browse button in File Folder, and get the WAV file you exported and shortened in Step 5. Deconvolver will now compare your file and the Test Tone, and through complex mathematical convolution calculation, it will generate an impulse...
For the other options, check MP Transform, which is supposed to enhance the quality, although I am unable to tell you why. Check Normalize to -0.3 dBFS, which will automatically raise the volume of your impulse at a level of -0.3 dB.
Now click on Process at the bottom to start calculation. Depending on your computer, the calculation time will last more or less. It took less than 1 second in my case... pretty fast. Deconvolver adds the generated file in the same folder as your exported file. The file name is the same, with "_dc" (DeConvolver) added at the end. And we're almost finished.
That's your impulse. Rename the file to give it an explicit name. When you have created many impulses, it will be easier for you to know which is which if they have a good naming.
STEP 6
Retrieve your exported file and open it with any audio editor. You are going to delete the end of the file. As you should see, the generated file has a big curve at the beginning, then the rest of the curve is almost flat. There can be peaks farther in the waveform, due to the fact that the recorded file is longer than the Test Tone. These are interferences created during the deconvolving process, and you don't need those. The impulse does not need to be longer than 50 milliseconds (0.050 seconds)... That's very short. So the resulting file will be about 2 or 3 KB, sometimes a bit more, depending on the type of sound you want. Save your file without changing its attributes: if you had a mono 24 bit, 48 KHz file, you should keep it like that. Be careful however, some impulses need to be longer. Only cut the end of the waveform starting where it becomes flat, that is to say when its volume level is null. When recording impulses that have long reverb trails, you can get impulses that are much longer than 50 ms. Some impulses can last several seconds.
Here are the first 12 milliseconds of an impulse waveform. The rest is pretty much flat...
Voilà! That's your impulse. Rename the file to give it an explicit name. That will make it easier for you to know what it is when you have created many impulses.
For instance, a file name could be: Peavey - SM57 Edge 05 cm.wav.
This means: Peavey amplifier, SM57 microphone, position Edge, distance 5 cm between amp and mike.
If you share your impulses with other people, it will also be easier for other users to know what your impulses are.
Now you can test your impulse and see whether it meets your expectations... and create some more, with more microphones, various positionnings, other amplifiers. You can also create stereo impulses with two microphones, stereo audio tracks and a stereo Test Tone. Experiment!
EXAMPLES OF PERSONAL IMPULSES
For these demos, I used the NRR1 head amp simulator by Ignite Amps, and SIR Convolution as an impulse loader. The guitar is a Fender Stratocaster American Deluxe.
Moi j'aimerais savoir quel logiciel tu me recommandes pour créer des mix plus dans la hard tech, de préférence un logiciel simple avec des sons pré-enregistrés et des petit truc drôles (voix de dessin animé, bruit, etc.)
Merci d'avance
Cyril All You Bring,
2012/05/10
Hey !
Je suis déjà venu te poser quelques questions il y a quelques temps, et comme tes réponses sont pertinentes, je me permets de t'en poser de nouvelles !
J'ai un enregistrement batterie enregistré en studio (en une seule piste, c'est pour une démo), donc un son brut sans aucun traitement...
Si j'enregistre mes guitares et basse à la maison via un UX2 de chez line6 et POD Farm, le son de celles-ci sera pré-traité non ?
En gros sera-t-il possible de réaliser un petit mixage et mastering correct en alliant les 2 procédés ?
Pourrais-je avoir un résultat homogène ou suis-je contraint d'enregistrer mes guitares en studio également (ce que j'aimerais éviter !) ?
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Bonjour Cyril,
Sur le principe, je ne vois pas d'empêchement à mélanger les 2 procédés : enregistrement de la batterie en studio, les instruments à la maison...
Inconvénients prévisibles :
- "L'atmosphère sonore", c'est à dire l'acoustique de la pièce où la batterie a été enregistrée, sa réverbération naturelle qui a forcément été captée par les micros (si on parle bien d'une batterie acoustique). C'est ce qui sera sans aucun doute le plus difficile à rendre cohérent avec le reste des instruments. Il va falloir faire en sorte qu'on ait l'impression que les guitares ont été enregistrées dans le même espace que la batterie en jouant avec des réverbs bien choisies. Si la batterie enregistrée en studio a un son vraiment brut, sans réverb naturelle trop audible, ce sera d'autant plus simple et tu pourras alors appliquer des réverbs batterie et guitares qui iront bien ensemble.
- Une seule piste pour la batterie. Si c'est une piste stéréo, les éléments de la batterie sont déjà positionnés dans la panoramique. Mais comme c'est une piste unique, il sera un peu plus compliqué de la mixer. Difficile par exemple d'appliquer une compression globale, puisque la compression de la grosse caisse n'est pas la même que celle de la charley par exemple. Idem pour l'égalisation : on ne traite pas de façon identique une caisse claire et une ride. Il faudra donc appliquer une compression et une égalisation "moyennes" sur la batterie dans son ensemble. À moins que la prise de son ne soit nickel, qu'il n'y ait rien à retoucher au niveau compression/égalisation. Dans ce dernier cas (idéal), il ne restera qu'à trouver une bonne réverb à appliquer, qui se marie bien avec le reste des instruments.
Dans tous les cas, il s'agit d'une démo, donc le but n'est pas de proposer un morceau parfait, prêt à passer à la radio ! L'objectif est de faire au mieux, avec les limitations inévitables, pour obtenir un morceau agréable à écouter qui donne envie d'écouter le groupe en live par exemple, parce que la prestation est convaincante.
D'autre part, le problème de cohérence ne vient pas du fait que la batterie ait été enregistrée en studio. C'est même plutôt positif car les studios ont généralement une acoustique sensiblement meilleure que d'autres lieux. Ça pourrait être plus problématique si elle avait été enregistrée dans un garage ou le salon d'un pavillon qui résonne de partout !
C'est aussi un problème qu'on peut rencontrer avec des logiciels de batterie. Les samples utilisés sont enregistrés en studio, et même s'ils sont aussi bruts que possible, il n'empêche que la prise de son est effectuée ailleurs que le reste des instruments. C'est ce que j'utilise moi comme méthode, et ça ne m'a jamais posé de problème particulier. La différence est que je traite indépendamment chaque élément de la batterie pour l'égalisation et la compression, ce qui apporte un surcroît de contrôle sur le son. Est-ce que j'obtiens pour autant un meilleur son, je n'en sais rien, mais j'ai la possibilité d'influer sur tous les éléments, et c'est ensuite mon talent (ou mon absence de talent) qui va me permettre de faire la différence entre un son pourri, un son correct, ou un son qui déchire sa maman :-)
En résumé, vas-y, fonce et fais-nous partager ton morceau quand il sera terminé (si tu le souhaites) !
Grebz
lgwn,
2012/05/08
Merci pour tout, super boulot.
Malandain,
2012/04/24
Bonjour,
J'ai un dr4d akai qui enregistre en 16 bits (44/48khz).
Je relie numériquement mon dr4d à ma carte son (spdif) qui est reliée a mon ordi en usb. Ma D.A.W. est Mixbus qui enregistre en 32/24/16 bits.
Pour un bon enregistrement, faut-il mieux mettre tout en 16 bits ? (dr4d + carte son + D.A.W.)
Peut-on enregistrer le 16 bits du dr4d en 24 bits carte son + D.A.W. ?
Ou 16 bits du dr4d vers 16 bits carte son et 24 bits Mixbus ?
J'ai l'impression que tout en 16 bits, c'est mieux.
Merci d'éclairer ma lanterne.
A. Malandain
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Bonjour,
Bienvenue sur mon site !
Puisque le dr4d enregistre en 16 bits, il semble logique de penser que tu ne gagneras a priori pas en qualité en réglant carte son et séquenceur sur 24 bits.
C'est vrai si tu te contentes de "transférer" les sons enregistrés avec le dr4d vers ton séquenceur sans les traiter ensuite.
En revanche, si tu fais du mix depuis Mixbus, en utilisant des effets, là il vaut mieux être en 24 bits, car les calculs effectués par le logiciel seront plus précis.
Il est très probable que la différence sera imperceptible, et travailler en 16 bits de bout en bout ne va pas dégrader le son obtenu.
Je ne pense pas que beaucoup de gens soient capables d'entendre la différence entre un traitement effectué en 16 bits et le même traitement effectué en 24 bits.
Néanmoins, la différence existe au niveau de la précision des calculs, et l'accumulation des effets sur différentes piste peut entraîner en 16 bits un risque (très faible) d'avoir quelques petites approximations qui vont se traduire par une légère dégradation du son. Encore une fois, c'est théorique, ça peut arriver, mais ça ne sera pas forcément quelque chose qui va s'entendre.
Donc si tu es pointilleux, je te conseille de régler ta carte son et ta D.A.W. sur 24 bits.
Grebz
Franck,
2012/04/02
Bonjour Grebz,
J'ai vu que tu utilisais Sonar X1 Producer.
J'aimerais bien si tu veux que tu me donnes quelques truc pour ce logiciel car sur Internet, il n'y a que des vidéos anglo et je ne les comprend pas toutes.
Merci d'avance.
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Bonjour,
Pour ceux que ça intéresse, j'ai fait ce petit guide rapide pour savoir comment intégrer et utiliser un VSTi (synthé virtuel) dans Sonar X1. Ce ne sont que les bases, mais ça pourra servir à ceux qui sont perdus.
