VANDAL survey (win a Samplitude 11 Pro copy!)

Preparing the coming VST version of Vandal here currently (and perhaps Mac AU if we got resources), we’d like to gather more feedback and information from potential users on what they expect from a good amp-simulation product.

Help us to make Vandal the best native amp sim! Just answer a couple of questions (which popped up during development), send them in and – with a bit of luck – win 1 out of 3 copies of the new Samplitude 11 Pro (the current Vandal version already included )!

These links take you to the survey (choose your language):

English

German

Don’t hesitate. Even if luck isn’t on your side, there’s at least the chance to apply for beta testing through the survey, so that we perhaps get back to you sooner than you think

Bass Amp Redesign & Sound Clips

We’ve made some slight changes to Vandal’s bass amplifier recently.
It’s still an all-tube design, coming with 3 tube gain stages in the preamp section and delivering a fat tone through the push/pull pentode power amp stage.
Here’s the new pot layout:

So, we’ve changed the preamp a bit: Now, the signal first enters the first gain stage, then can be shaped via the ‘contour’ knob (kind of loudness / lower mid dip; an interactive / passive filter network), then gets some compression.
The compressor is a FET-based feed-back model, similar to some stomp designs or vintage studio rack gear. It’s ultra-transparent and musical; you can kick it hard and it still doesn’t do strange things.

The ‘drive’ control feeds an extra tube stage for extra harmonics and extra oomph

The EQ section is a split design: a passive low/high baxandall network followed by an active 2-band mid control. All filter slopes are 6dB/oct, which in our opinion is the best compromise between being versatile and retaining the character of your bass guitar.

Here are some audio clips:

basstest_dry (VANDAL completely disabled. A bit of silly & aimlessly fingered playing)

basstest_vandal (the amp setting from the picture above)

basstest_vandal_chorus (VANDAL’s stomp guitar chorus in front of the amp)

basstest_vandal_tubedrive

Here’s a clip by Dimi, certainly in a more sensible context:

vandalbass

Coming next: Vandal Bass Amp

This morning was the birth of Vandal’s 2nd amplifier. The bass amp is currently being added to the plugin’s main architecture. This is how it will look like:

Although it already pops up on the screen (upon choosing it from the ‘amps’ list), there’s currently not much coming out of it. It’s work in progress. Soldering lots of wires here…

The architecture we’ve set up the last couple of weeks allows for ‘amplifier mainframes’, which means a generalized architecture of amps that have to be specified in detail. That was quite a bunch of code lines, lots of coffee and headaches… but now we’re prepared for a new beast

The bass amp is designed to serve a broad range of players and music styles. It’s an all-tube design, btw., housing a highly-interactive passive filter circuitry. The amount of knobs might appear limited at first sight, but we’re certain this baby becomes at least as versatile as the guitar amp.

We’ll see within the next couple of days. Stay tuned.

It’s all about the crunch tone

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.

Here’s the current status, a video by Dimi Nalbantov:

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

New Vandal Guitar Amp videos

Our tester Dimi has published a few videos where he’s getting serious with our software. Have a look:

Guitar amp circuit revision

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:

VANDAL demo video

Sit back, grab some popcorn, and get familiar with VANDAL’s guitar preamp & power amp modes, stomps, post fx (delay, reverb) etc.

Our current development state, brought to you by Dimitar Nalbantov:

done

Listening tests – part I

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):

Simulating speakers & cabinets – part II

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.

Simulating speakers & cabinets – part I

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…