{"id":1301,"date":"2023-10-03T10:39:55","date_gmt":"2023-10-03T08:39:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/heartelier.de\/?p=1301"},"modified":"2023-10-03T10:42:59","modified_gmt":"2023-10-03T08:42:59","slug":"attack-of-the-clones","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/heartelier.de\/en\/attack-of-the-clones\/","title":{"rendered":"Attack of the Clones – A new digital Era"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Attack of the Clones – This past spring, at the Kailash Mital Theatre at Carleton University<\/a> in Ottawa, ON, a young guitarist is performing his graduating recital (a requirement of the Bachelor of Music program). It is a program of various songs ranging from country music, blues, fusion and modern metal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The guitarist, however, is not using an amplifier onstage, but rather a laptop with a Neural DSP plugin for his sounds. Not unusual, since digital modelling has come leaps and bounds over the past decade. Those glorious, albeit expensive and finicky tube amplifiers that once powered guitar rock glory may become a novelty over their digital brethren.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Zero Before a One<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Digital amp modelling took a fair while to develop into something that can replace a player\u2019s rig convincingly. When Line 6 first introduced the Pod in 1998, it was a revelation! So many amp tones and effects in such a small package.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The results were less than stellar (to put it nicely). They were good for certain things, but could not replace the sound and feel of an amp in most cases. The same would also go for recording solutions by way of plugins by Line 6, IK Multimedia, among others. Guitar tones with no live amplifier, just by plugging your guitar into your computer (though the results were just… ok).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amplifiers were still a live staple and remained quite necessary; digital solutions were not ready for prime time yet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Soon, the technology got better. The sound and feel of digital versions improved. Recording solutions sounded better. On the live side, more players were switching from amplifiers to direct and digital guitar solutions such as Kemper, Fractal Audio (makers of the Axe-FX), and Line 6\u2019s Helix line of products (a stark improvement over the original Pod). Soon, bands like Coheed and Cambria<\/a>, Metallica to Rival Sons ditched their stacks of amps for modellers hidden backstage. On the computer front, entire albums are now being made \u201cin the box\u201d with plugins; no actual amplifiers are to be found.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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