Amplion 2

[bayswater]

Has anyone tried this new version of Amplion from Audified? Any thoughts?

http://0wxo.mj.am/nl2/0wxo/mixy1.html?m ... I4l52hovnk

I've been looking for something that does a clean Fender sound. Everything I found so far is too dull when clean and too dirty when bright.

The 30 day demo comes with three emulations for Fender, Marshall and Vox, some cabinets, mics, and pedals. I think the Fender is OK, but the Vox and Marshall didn't sound that usable to me. It has a nice delay, although the one I'd use gets placed after the amp in the signal chain. I don't remember my grandad ever putting a delay after the amp, but it sounds OK.

The mic and cabinet options didn't sound like much -- to me the DP live plugins sound more like a room. On the plus side, very low latency, and a simple user interface.

The price is OK, but after an hour or so, I didn't hear much my ancient POD 2 doesn't do, other than a more usable Fender emulation.

[mhschmieder]

Hmm, I didn't know about this, so re-signed up for their newsletter today. I have the first version but never use it. It was done under their previous aegis of Audiffex, and wasn't iLok protected (and also can't be transferred, unlike the newer Audified iLok products). Not sure if there's upgrade pricing available. Or if the update is really huge or motivated mostly by getting their legacy products onto iLok.

They do say it's a new virtual analog modeling engine that took a few years to build, so that's probably a good sign that this effectively a completely new product and that it shares no lineage with the old one at all other than for product name. It's such a flooded market now. But if there's no trial available, at least it is likely transferrable if you don't like it.

[mhschmieder]

From the initial audio demo, they picked the right close mics (though I now use Beyerdynamic M88TG in the role of the Sennheiser MD421 mk II for the close-miking role, but they are similar sounding mics and mostly that's so I can leave both setups without having to duplicate either mic). The other 9 mics are also excellent choices. That's a good start right there. And the timbre sound accurate and well-balanced. But VERY two-dimensional!

I don't personally use amp modeling as the main track; I'll sometimes capture a DI track and then feed it to another amp or to an amp model, having learned that trick from The Who and Queen. It can help fill out the sound. But if you were to go 100% ITB with an amp modeler such as this one, it might work quite well in conjunction with some ambience for the room sound; either a cabinet convolution or a room convolution or both.

As there's still some time before the introductory sale ends, it might be best to wait for more audio demos, to hear it in context where it is combined with a live amp and/or mixed with some delay, convolution, etc. to make it a bit more three dimensional (while remaining tonally focused, which it already is).

Not sure I'll bother, as I rarely ever even use AmpliTube anymore, and it's a crowded field, but I do find these audio demos quite pleasing and absent the metallic artifacts of so many other amp modelers. This one sounds natural to me other than for being a bit "flat" in its spatial presentation.

[bayswater]

No, I wouldn't want to use this or another modeller for a main track either. But I don't have ready access to Fender amps, so reprocessing a secondary track through this might work. It's still seems weak on Marshall though. Didn't sound even vaguely familiar to me.