GR2 Demo impressions

I only played for 1.5 hours with GR2 but here are my reactions:

Sound
I have no idea. I briefly listened to some of the new components. I heard some cool sounds but I don't know about the accuracy of the models. I pressed the 'high res mode' or whatever it is but I'm not sure what it does other than double the cpu usage. I assume this is oversampling but I couldn't tell the difference with the earpieces I was using.

MDF
There's potential here.
Deleting targets by double clicking them or setting them to 0%? What?
Targets disappear if you change the target's preset??? I hope that is fixed soon b/c it makes it very difficult to test different component presets withough losing all of the targets.
Triggered LFO is missing. The envelope and input level MDF's are excellent additions.

I wish an autowah was attached to the regular wah component instead of using the autofilter or the wah+MDF... but maybe the wah+MDF is better than a simple auto-wah.

Crossover mix will come in handy but it will take a lot of tweaking to get all of the components right in order for the crossover to work effectively.

The Looper is disappointing. Live is probably a better option for serious loopers. It took a little while to realize that you have to put the looper at the end of the chain in order to record the output signal instead of the input signal. Multiple loopers can be added and triggered with the MDF's so that's cool. I don't know, maybe it's better than I think but I still wish it had a better interface and better integration with the footpedal.

This version does support GR1 pedal. I didn't actually try it b/c I just noticed the option now in the properties. I guess both can't be used though.

Still missing 1 Ctrl-> Many targets

It pauses when changing presets and sounds like it accesses the disk at that time. I don't like this new transition. It's abrupt... definitely not good when using the looper.

The pedal lights in the UI do not light up when pressed.

I think the description for the Crywah is wrong. It was copied from the Wah b/c it does not have extra settings like the Wah does. It just as one slider, no resonance or hi/lo settings. I was kind of expecting some control for pot quality b/c we all know there are Crybaby wahs and then there are Crybaby wahs.

I think this will be worth the upgrade cost for the new components. Don't get too excited about the looper though.

 

A GR2 wish that I have is for convolution reverb just like in Kontakt 2. Right now the room model controls are limited by the "air" setting on the cabinets. I know we could use a plugin outside of GR but it would be nice to have cabinets set up in different rooms via convolution reverb. I suppose this is more of a GR3 wish.

 

As well as this, i would like to see GR as a multi out AU/VST/RTAS plug,, that way i could set up multi amp rigs and have them appear on there own channels in Logic or PT for further mixing. i.e.. to send to a reverb bus.

 

So far I cant get the demo to work with my RG 1. The new modifiers are cool but I doubt I will use them much. The new stomp compression and noise gate are pretty good. I'm not too thrilled with the new Marshall- sounds like the old one with more gain. A-B'ing the HI-Res- it does sound better with it on, bumps up usage to about 30%. These are very early initial impressions, once I get the full set-up I'll give a more complete review.

 

The new models are hit and miss, one thing is for sure, they don't sound anything like the mp3 demos on the NI front page (and I own several very different guitars to try it with!), would be good if they could post those presets and details of any external processing that was added. I have owned real versions of most of the amps modelled, and the only one that comes anywhere near close is the Fender from GR1.

one dissapointment is that there are no new midi options in GR2, my Line 6 POD XT live outputs CC on/CC off msgs alternatively on the same midi CC number which means that to turn an effect on or off using the XT live as a midi controller, you have to tap the button twice for it to have any effect in GR2. Would be great if you could add the same midi CC twice:- once for an on msg and once for an off msg, or have an option to alternate on/off in GR.

 

For one, the noise reduction module works like a charm, cuts the noise out right where I want it to. Then there's the stomp compressor, which feels way more funky than the tube compressor. The modifiers are just the sickest tools I've ever laid my hands on.

I also compared the Cry Wah with my Cry Baby, and it sounds damn close if not completely identical. By the way, I have the "Original" Cry Baby with no extra settings, so I wasn't missing anything. But it is true that including it as a separate module, rather than a new preset on the existing wah module, seems more of a gimmick.

I don't share hooray's views about the looper. I found it very easy to use and sorted out pretty easily what does what. I especially like the "Autostart" function, which works well and is darn useful in a live situation.

I did hear a significant increase in sound quality using the high res mode, but it loads my CPU like crazy (it went up to 90% on some presets). Transition from one preset to another also slowed down considerably. I experienced no problem in transition when using the "normal" mode.

I like the new Marshall and Fender emulations, but I'll obviously have to see what they sound like in a mix. I think the Lead 800 is a pretty good approximation of the original.

 

I can't comment on the accuracy of the new models, but I think the tweedman and Jazz models sound great - just the kind of sounds I was looking for. I agree with DAV-OR on the Marshall - with the gain up it sounds similar to the plexi. The in-between sounds on it are good though.

I like the auto-wah and the MDF (medium density fibreboard? ;-)) will allow me to create a swell effect. Since these are the only two effects that I missed from GR1, these are a great addition for me and combined with the new amps make buying the upgrade a foregone conclusion. I also like the Crywah for cleaner sounds - the old wah is better at distorted sounds IMHO.

I'm not sure how much I will use the other MDF effects - I can't see a regular application for the type of music I play - but I'd rather have then than not (the synth sounds you can create are fun if nothing else). The noise reduction is an improvement on the gate, but it's not all I hoped it would be. I would have liked to see a Guitarport type listen and then extract type of filter. I agree with hooray, the description on the Crywah is wrong.

The Hi-Res button does make a difference on certain effects. Check it out with the pitch shift - markedly improves the sounds you're getting.

I need more time with the looper to evaluate it, but the whole thing worked fine with my GR1 pedal rig, so that was a relief.

All in all, good job NI. No useless overly gimicky additions - solid useable improvements. I'm a happy customer.

 

Like I mentioned in another thread, if I try and use another midi controller(FBV Shortboard, UC33e) My system freezes and I have to restart. It cuts off my inputs/outputs of my Delta 1010 as well. Anyone else have issues with other midi controllers?

 

I spent a few hours with the demo yesterday, and found a few things I'm really excited about.

In particular, I like the bass amp and cab models. So far, I greatly prefer the "VT" cabs over the "WR" cabs (interesting since the one cab I do actually own is an SWR 15"). I also love the addition of a DI box selection, for nice blending between DI and cab.

The tweedman model also seems very promising, although I haven't worked with it much yet. I also haven't gotten around to the Jazz model yet.

I messed around with the looper only very briefly, but it looks hopeful.

As a Chapman Stick player, I'm always searching for a nice distortion side for my melody strings that won't bleed over into the pickups for my bass strings. Most of the distortion sims in GR have such a high gain that even at their lowest settings the sound crosses over into my bass pickups. I would love to see a few lower gain distortion sims. Right now I'm mostly limited to the overdrive unit, and the overdrive channels in the Gratifier (which I love).

I experimented a bit with running both the melody and bass strings through only the bass amp with a few bass cabs and DI box, plus separate effects chains for melody and bass sides. I think this is going to work out very nicely.

I'm really looking forward to working with the Rotator and leslie speaker cabs next.

 

I would think that the new Crossover mix should help you there.

 

Yes, I'm looking forward to messing around with the crossover a bit tonight. I tried it a bit last night just for sending higher frequencies and lower frequencies to different sets of cabs, but the demo shut down before I could really tweak a setting that was noticeable. That's a good idea about using it to help solve some distortion crossover problems. Thanks.

 

Impressions - TransAmp, Tweedman, new Rotary cabs. WOW! I'm so impressed w/ the software upgrade I'm even willing to throw the dice and buy the new footcontroller, just on the off-chance that NI addresses the MIDI shortcomings at some point in the future.

 

I'm a Stick player too (hi ramuji!) and I was playing around with the envelope stuff and getting a fantastic "pad" synth-like sound with the volume pedal and the Pro-53 filter cutoff triggered by an envelope. This is the first time I've come across an effects setup that can exceed what I've been able to do on a Boss SE-70 for years. Excellent!

My update is supposedly on the way soon so I'm a bit reluctant to dig too deep with the demo since I can't save anything...

 

hmmmm.... all the stories are making me wish I could keep GR1 and get GR2... At least until I know I am comfortable with everything about it..... e.g.. the abrupt patch changes. Otherwise it seems ok.... Yet again, I wish there were more amps. I guess I'm greedy - lol

 

New amps are very nice, particularly the Tweed Bassman. AutoWah and Compressor pedals are spot on as is the CryBaby. Definite quality improvement with the double rate sampling - I tried my interface at 96kHz WITH the double rate button and it brought a Dual G5 to its knees (is it multi-threaded NI? Probably not). Sounded good though and is certainly more stable at the higher sampling rates than GR1. New rotary speakers sound brilliant (as they do with the new B4)

Negatives - 1) there is a bug with the double rate (hi-res) button. Open the no 40 'The Real Rotator" preset and switch on HiRes, switch off one of the speaker sets - horrendous low frequency feedback.
2) Can we really not control more than one parameter with a MIDI or keyboard control? NI include a bunch of LFO's and envelopes and yet we STILL cannot do this simple and vital thing. The ideal method would have been another 'tool' that allows the scaling of multiple outputs from a single control input - very frustrating. 3) The Tuner response has been speeded up - but unfortunately so has the damping - the damn thing now jiggles all over the place - still not a patch on a cheap hardware tuner.

In conclusion - sounds great and I'll certainly be getting the upgrade but there is still alot of room for improvement in routing and control (and global parameters)

 

I'd be surprised if it's dual processor friendly; NI apps usually aren't (or at least, none of mine are).
As to multiple destinations for a common cc, the reason why's in the original GR manual (page 44). There's some popular hosts that don't allow multiple destinations for a single cc, so GR's designed with that in mind.

ew

 

Ouch! Only one destination per modulator?!?
(With all those spiffy new mod devices, there should be a complete mod matrix, with multiple destinations, mods modding mods, etc....) Boo.

...But I guess you can have multiple iterations of any given modulator, right?

 

Yep, David.
Multiple modulators are the way to go...
ew

 

Hi,

I just wanted to comment on some of the comments -

This is incorrect. GR2 does allow multiple controller destinations from one source - but it works a bit differently than assigning a standard remote control. When you right click (ctrl-click on Mac) a knob or button, you get a list of options for assigning controllers - use the modifier feature, instead of remote control. You will see a list of available controllers, and a slider for percentage which scales how much a particular controller will affect that knob. Now go choose another controller you want to assign - repeat the process - notice the graphics knob(s) being modified show the range of control. I don't know if there is a limit, but I've got patches with 4 or 5 destinations linked to one controller.

I created a number of the demos for GR1/1.5. They had absolutely NO additional processing on them. I don't know about the GR2 demos, I was too busy at the time to participate, but I'm sure the policy hasn't changed - these demos are an accurate representation of what Guitar Rig can do. A high-quality audio interface is critical to getting the best results.

Not the case on a dual-processor Mac

As for High-Res mode, in the right environment you WILL hear a difference. it is worth the extra clock cycles if you can spare them. Think of it like doubling the pixel resolution in a digital photo. Makes things smoother and silkier.

My favorite new model is the Tweed amp...spend some time with it and you will learn to love it. Try putting the gain booster or treble booster in front of it for some very dynamic crunch and lead sounds.

-B

 

Guys,

As far as I can see multiple modulators have been implimented in GR2.

I've just taken a patch from the demo presets.(Doubler). Inserted an LFO to automate the Crywah then applied a midi foot controller to the Crywah. This works, so we've got two controllers merging over one target.

I've then targeted the LFO rate with Controller one which allows it to be controlled by the same pedal at the same time but to a different degree! So one controller to two locations has been implemented.

I'm still working on LFO's modulating envelopes etc!

Note the trick is not to try and set up a second identical controller under the foot controller section. You simply right or control click on the second target and select the existing controller you have set up.


Barry