We’re currently about to finalize the code for the upcoming VST version of the Vandal plugin and managed to include a couple of new stuff. Here’s a pic of what recently was added to our effect pedal collection:
New modulation effects, dynamics, filter stuff, delays, etc.
These stomps are as thoroughly modelled and programmed as every other part in the plugin, so not just a bunch of cheap off-the-shelf algorithms. Each of them is capable of recreating the naturalness and unique sound texture associated with stomp box fx as usual.
Since a few days, we’ve been tweaking Vandal’s guitar amp tube stages for the ability to deal much better with slight overdrive. That’s a tough one, but I think we’re close to getting that nailed. We’re aware of the fact that delicate, responsive crunch is what divides a good amp from a bad one.
What we did is basically fine-tuning the biasing of all affected preamp tubes (2 in ‘classic’ mode, 3 in ‘british hybrid’, 4 in ‘modern high gain’) as well as changing the tube character in particular.
We now have different models of tubes stuffed into the virtual circuits. In some stages we got more or less 12au7 behaviour and 12ax7 tubes when more gain is needed. Apart from ‘mu’ (amplification factor) and characteristics, each tube got implanted its own tonal response. We now got even more degrees of freedom than before, yabbadabbadoo…
It should be audible that we progressed somehow. The whole amp is now more responsive to volume change on the input and reacts a lot nicer on slight overdrive settings. It ‘breathes’ more, hopefully.
We still got stuff to do soundwise… so check back often
Now, this might sound strange…:
Even when you’re developing a software guitar amplifier, you still have to get to know the beast yourself! Our model has gotten pretty complex and so close to the real deal that we have to play with it for longer than initially thought. Otherwise you’re tempted to stick to first-sight impressions and perhaps go on into false directions.
So we’ve done even more intensive listening tests at the beginning of January, after an ear-recalibrating Christmas break. This immediately led to some changes under the hood of VANDAL’s guitar amp: Read the rest of this entry »
Of course, development went on in December. We almost had daily builds of the VANDAL plugin that went out to the test team. I’ve got a feeling the sound of the whole software is getting more mature recently… hopefully.
Here are a more audio snippets of VANDAL, once more played by Dimitar Nalbantov (http://www.nalbantov.com):
We could have long and exhausting talks over guitar amplification and such. But that’s pretty pointless if one doesn’t hear how things do actually sound.
Here are a few snippets of ‘VANDAL in action’, played by the brilliant Dimitar Nalbantov (http://www.nalbantov.com):
In the VANDAL cabinet simulation, we divide the process into speaker and enclosure, and model both parts seperately. This is a flexible approach that lets the user choose even untypical combinations of both components.
But this calls for all kinds of interaction and is asking for trouble, as we will see.
In this section, we’ll talk about ‘impulse responses’ as the hottest shit on the market. But we’ll also get our feet wet, wading through Physical Modelling Land, trying to understand what all this blahblah has got to do with recreating guitar tones. Roll up your sleeves…
Although we’ve planned to offer a guitar amp AND a bass amplifier, only the guitar amp is currently implemented. Unless we’re sure we’ve nailed it, all talk here remains highly guitar-biased for the time being.
If you’d unmount the case of a VANDAL guitar amp, you’d notice it contains typical tube circuitry to some extent and is in many ways comparable to popular designs known from famous stuff. But we’ve also thought of going an own route whereever it seems worth it, in order to create new tones or expand the amp’s flexibility.
Of course there’s no ‘case’, there are no ‘tubes’, no ‘circuit’ and other things we could touch (or burn our fingers at). This is all virtual. This is analog modelling.
Taking measurements on a THD Flexi-50
While these days, everybody’s claiming to do such kind of DSP wizardry, we’ll hopefully manage to prove that we are serious here, by presenting the underlying technology in its whole beauty. Let’s hope this doesn’t get too boring…
The reason why we only concentrate on one amp currently is that we want to get its interiour right.
The main concept of the VANDAL guitar amp is a virtual circuit that models 3 different preamps and 2 different power amps, accessible via mode switches and a single clearly laid-out front plate: Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by vandaldev 
Posted by vandaldev 
Posted by vandaldev 
