Additions/Enhancements I would like to see..

Again, same page. I've been running my guitar rig in 4.0 to 8.0 since 1990! Great fun! Can't do without it! Can't do it with Guitar Rig. Ergo, can't use Guitar Rig. Sigh.

 

I think this has more to do with the fact that GR is primarly an insert FX and that most hosts don't pass midi onto audio tracks.so it's a host spec limitation rather than N-I wanting to buck the system. I'm sure they would much rather go with an accepted standard than have to re-invent the wheel just to be different.
Logic can get arround this by using side chain and GR caters for this by having a midi controlerble version of the plugin in the instrument list. You simply put the GR plug in an instrument channel and send your audio to it from an audio track. I'm not sure, but i think PT works much the same way.

 

I Agree with this. the looper in GR needs redesign. I would like to see it as a effect module placed among the other tools in GR instead of/ as well as a fixed component. this would let me use the RK controller to control the looper when i need this, and otherwise control other effects in patches i don´t need the looper in the patch.


Kind regards

Rune

 

-- A better studio reverb , with a "Time" Button !
-- the loop machine as a FX ,can place it everywhere with pitch and kill dry signal and the Pan rec that let pass the dry signal of the input that is not rec
-- a ring modulator
-- a roland GK input ( why not if it's possible)
--the possibility to choose the input ( A or B or the two) for the modifiers " input volume & enveloppe" ( stick player request)
-- a better latency with core audio

 

Yeah, a Roland GK input would be nice. I actually addressed this proposal with NI product development some time ago - even proposed a hardware solution for it (an item which has been developed by a university but has not gone into production) and, unfortunately, the idea went nowhere. I'm not sure NI sees the cost/benifit to doing hex based signal processing.

Oh well. I'm planning on getting the new Roland VG-99 since it looks like GR won't be supporting hex input anytime soon. I suspect that this will mean I wont be using GR much after that...but there is some possibility that I might run the VG-99 through GR (but why - modeling in the VG-99 looks pretty extensive).

Vance

 

Think I've proposed something along this earlier, but:
- A type of 'freeze' function would have been cool (freeze - cool, get it?). This could take several shapes: a kind of reverb 'wash' that goes on forever (as long as the user likes), a very short delay loop, so that you could have a single note or chord sustain 'forever', or an even shorter variant of the latter with probably some filtering, to create a kind of artificial feedback. I think all of these would be useful in my playing. Actually I had the latest variety in my roland GP100, named 'feedback'. It sounded artificial, but was useful still.
- To make this work well while playing, you do need a so called momentary switch, so please include one in the next RigKontrol, or if possible open up for some software control of the signals from RK2 that enables this. A momentary switch will kick the desired effect in at the moment it is pressed down, and cut it when the switch is released. An ordinary switch is press down / release, press down / release for on-off. Impossible to do that in rhythm, while with a momentary switch you can.
- A 'freeze' function (or 'sample' - call it what you like) should have all the above functionality and more, like the ability to bypass new notes or them mix in while the effect is engaged, and so on. This effect does not emulate any other effect that I know of (except for the 'feedbacker' mentioned above), but that should certainly not be any reason against it being developed. In many ways it is a micro looper, but it affects the sound itself more, and is applied in a different way. I can imagine it being used in for instance heavy metal where you can 'freeze' an especially heavy drone for a second or five, before you move on - like a time stop. Almost any genre could have some use for this.

 

an orange head and a customizable interface!

also a built in l1 ultramaximizer

 

+1 for the 4 way parallel splitter (even 8 way)

Also, a little module to delay the sound by a definable number of milliseconds to use in conjuction with the new 4 or 8 way splitter to use the Haas effect to get a MASSIVE sound.

 

"+1 for the 4 way parallel splitter (even 8 way)"

Not sure who you're quoting here, but on this same topic - GR's I/O interface needs to replace the L/R output paradigm with something that addresses ALL available hardware outputs. Rather than "routing" left and right to two outputs globally, in a "set and forget" fashion, it would be useful to be able to override this and assign any patch to to any output, or the outputs of a Split module to any output. One example of a practical application of this: running a multi-output soundcard to a small submixer to control your levels intuitively on stage, as you move between patches.

Similarly, it would rock if GR3 were a proper multi-output VST, so that different patches, or different Split outputs from within a given patch, could be routed independently to different channels of a VST host or DAW. But this is probably a bigger undertaking than what I describe above.

 

Surely that could be accomplished by having seperate Output Modules (or an Output Module with an output selector) that you could place anywhere in the rig which could stop audio passing further down the rack flow after sending it to its defined outputs, or have a Thru button to allow it to pass.

This, with the 4/8/whatever splitter would allow multiple sounds to go to multiple outputs.

 

BUMP!

I'm bumping this thread because it contains a heap of suggestions, many who are re-suggested one by one in single threads now. I guess this is unavoidable in a forum, sure, but perhaps it could save the effort for someone. I would encourage you to at least skim through this long thread, and append any new suggestions, comments and improvements to it.

 

Lots of good suggestions but I wonder if it would help the developers to see a community list that is more orderly? Having priorities might help, too.

Anyway, here are my takes on this list.

* Essential - I think better (more basic) delay support is essential. The quad delay is handy as a general solution but for many things is not configurable enough. I think it would be way more useful to have a very solid / configurable multi-tap delay. You should be able to specify the number of taps and adjust the timing and strength of each tap, minimum. I'd imagine the power of this coupled with LFO/Envelope modifiers would allow some amazing and unique delay based effects that would easily surpass the Psychedelay effect.

* Essential - RK controller switches should be assignable to multiple rig properties.

* Important - Ability to hand-edit parameters. The user interface looks great but precision editing of parameters is very tricky.

* Important - faster patch switching.

* Somewhat important - Better reliability/lower latency on pitch shifting effects.

* Not-essential - I would like a frequency-based splitter since the crossover splitter spills too many overtones into my high rig and makes it effectively useless for the bulk of what I want.

* Not-essential - Ability to chain in VST effects would be nice for those of us that like to use GR2 in standalone mode. Having a few more delay/reverb options might make this less important.

* Not-essential - Guitar Rig is a very *vertical* application. Any computer monitor is inherently much wider than it is tall so it would seem to make a lot of sense to reorganize the UI to move as much as possible off to the sides to reserve the maximum amount of vertical space for drawing the rack/rig section. Related perhaps,would be nice to be able to do some amount of resizing of the application. I guess the three preset window sizes are something.

 

NI can be proud of mostly all of their components, and how they emulate the real world effects. However I hope NI is not so 'proud' that they ignore that there still is some hardware components out there that they either haven't emulated, or that some of us have a piece of favourite hardware that just has a 'certain quality' we want to utilize. One example would be boutiqe / self made tube preamps. To release the full potential of these and other 'special' hardware in a modern setup, GuitarRig should have had an effects loop! This may sound like a backwards suggestion; isn't it GuitaRig that goes INTO such a loop! However:
- You could have the typical 'prepping' effects in front of the preamp, like compressor, EQ, wah, T-wah and Booster - all from GuitarRig.
- Then, in the loop, comes a hardware tube pre-amp.
- The output from this goes into GuitarRig again, where it is treated with more effects like chorus, phaser, pitch shift, delay, reverb...
- The output from GuitarRig goes either direct to a 'neutral' amplification or back to a guitar (tube) power amp (cab-sims will probably be disabled in this case).

An effects loop in GuitarRig makes perfect sense, and it can be acheived by using other software, and you DO of course need a soundcard with at least two independent inputs and outputs (this is what an amp with fx-loop has anyway):
- Route the input from the guitar (INPUT1) to one track in your sequencer. Insert GR as a plugin, and enable the pre preamp effects you want. Route the output from this track to OUT1 on the soundcard.
- Connect OUT1 to the input of the hardware preamp
- Connect the output of that preamp to INPUT2
- On a new sequencer track, choose INPUT2, and insert another instance of GR as a plugin. Add the 'post' effects you want, and route this track to OUT2, which will be the final mix.
There will be two different GR presets running, but the sequencer can keep these together in one 'macro' save.

This will of course not work with RigKontrol2, as it doesn't have independent outs. Using the setup above, there will perhaps be a problem with levels into the preamp, as this will actually expect guitar level and impedance, and not work so well with line level. I would wish RigKontrol3 came with an effects loop for this purpose (i.e. you could trim the send level), and that "External loop" became a component in GuitarRig. In a more ideal world it would be easy to integrate hardware and software, so please NI...

 

the problem with an effects loop is latency. it's another D/A and A/D stage. you can do this with the rig kontrol if you are running the program in a sequencer.

first

guitar into RK2

instance 1 of Gr2 set it so that it is only processing the left input

at the end of your chain put a split and have the outs panned hard right and left. send the signal only to the right

take the right output of Rk2 send it to your desired outboard gear

then back into input 2 of RK2

into instance 2 of Gr2 on a different track in your sequencer set the input on the track to the input2

in gr2 (instance 2) set the input to right only

effects chain

put a split at the end and pan blah blah blah


you get the idea.

 

Thanks: this doesn't have stereo out (final mix), but it is even more hackish than what I described - wow! Certainly, latency will be a challenge as it will be multiplied by two...

 

For me I consider this ABSOLUTELY essential. One of the issues in the past has been the amount of horsepower used by GR - having to run it in another host just to use something like Camel Phat or Space or even Vokator uses more horsepower then you should have to. If GR would host VST effects then then you wouldn't have to run something like Chainer, or Kore, or anything else.

Regrding the layout - there are monitors that allow you to rotate the screen if you need to...that proves to be nice. I do wish the fonts were a bit bigger too..

Dave
www.ambientstickist.com

 

Here are my personal wish-list in condensed form, in no particular order:

User definable layout. This will solve the width / height challenges, and I can view my own choice of panels - not NI's predetermined choices. Also user configurable font (size) etc. Cinema4d is my favourite program in this respect. It's also a German program, so why don't you just pop over to the Maxon offices for some hints? Oh, it's in Friedrichsdorf - but nevertheless.

Numeric input from the keyboard.

More than one assignment per remote button... - has anyone else mentioned this ;-)

Copy & paste components with settings across presets.

Improved pitch shifter engine (will improve a whole set of current effects)

Dedicated Pitch shifter effect, with scale based pitch shifting (aka Intelligent pitch shifting)

Ugly transistor fuzz (like overdriving a cassette deck input)

Bit-degrader 'fuzz' - this type of digital distortion (16bit -> 8bit-> 4bit...) is popular among some experimental DJs and synth-folks, and sounds cool

Really small speaker in cabinet sims, for 'practice amp' emulation.

TC electronics 'Sustainer' pedal emulation (really good compressor)

Tycho Brahe pedal emulation

Ring modulator

Surround; i.e. the possibility of routing to more outputs than two.

Sample trigger effect

Freeze effect

Feedbacker effect (two last reqests require support for momentary swithes)

More radical delay (Quad delay expanded) with longer delay times and more taps, and more radical Reverb; longer times (for 'infinite' reverb) but also wider choices, like a really bright plate reverb.
Optional lo-res reverb; sometimes I like the more dense sound from the reverb in lo-res, while some other effect should definetly stay in hi-res. If I could turn only the reverb down to lo-res...
Delay and reverb should be able to trail over to the next preset.

Some global effects like global EQ and global reverb/delay amount.

VST support in standalone.

The Looper - there's so many things that can be done to expand it, it's a whole chapter by itself...

 

this is almost line by line, how I feel so I can give you a hearty

+1!

 

+ 2

 

For anyone who doesn't know: Craig Anderton is the man. The guy has been around for many years now, and published great articles on almost everything about the instruments we use in modern music. He's a guitarist, but has also written lots and lots about keyboards and computers and not least effects. His review of the first line of PRS guitars made me understand that this is the guitar for me. And he was right :-D. He has also written a book on DIY effects, i.e. 'build your own fuzzbox', and this book has taught me almost everything I know about how effects actually work. Anderton's work is both deeply informative and fun to read.

He has compared the unholy threesome in guitar fx emulation - Waves GTR 2, IK Multimedia AmpliTube 2 and Native Instrumens GuitarRig 2 here: http://www.harmony-central.com/articles/reviews/review_ampsimulations/
On Harmony central you will also find a selection of other articles by the man. Recommended. In fact I recommend the entire website if you're not already a regular visitor: http://www.harmony-central.com

Now to my main point (at last!). His conclusion is that all packages are good, but have slightly different targets, and GuitarRig is for the most adventurous guitarists out there. Seems I've made the right choice for myself then. But: if NI decides to implement even just a few of the suggestions which have been posted here, the whole application may look very confusing and unwildly, and especially so for the 'traditional' guitarist. That's all of us BTW, when we want to create a 'bread & butter' tone. I therefore suggest that the un-traditional effects goes under their own label. Instead of filling up the Distortion label with new devices like 'bit degrader', this effect should appear under a 'SpecialFX' label or something like that. Under the Distorion label there would be only the traditional fuzz boxes. If you're only after traditional effects anyway, this makes for less confusion and faster building of new sounds. Several of the most modern effects are multi category anyway. For instance the new Guitar Synthesizer (which granted is an emulation of a box that was made in the late 70s, but it's not 'traditional' still) - is it a 'distortion' effect or what? The Psych Delay is an echo, pitch shifter, modulation and sfx unit in one. And so on. So it's just a suggestion on how to organize stuff. Leave the traditional stuff where it is, and move the unique, adventurous and crazy stuff into a treasure chest of their own. It would be a mixture of delay based, distoriton and modulation based components in one place, but I think it would be cool enough.

Anderton conludes that GuitarRig 2 is the most flexible and possibly 'creative' of the three products, but the downside is that it is (or appears) slightly more confusing to use than its competitors. With lots of new stuff thrown into the next version, beginners and prospective buyers may at worst feel intimidated ... and this is something NI can't ignore. I bet they don't. My suggestion aims to keep things simple and clean, while having easy access to more complex stuff.