New stomp pedals under construction

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.

More news coming soon.

VANDAL starts shipping (partly)

The VANDAL Guitar & Bass Software is currently bundled exclusively with Magix Samplitude 11 Pro & Sequoia 11, which were released in Germany a couple of days ago. International versions of these products will appear in late summer / early autumn (TBA).

A seperate/standalone product release is being evaluated at the moment. At this time, we can’t precisely say when or whether it’s VST, AU, or both, a boxed product or download-only. But we’ll let you know ASAP. As this blog is development-only, decisions are up to teams other than ours.

In the meantime, we continue developing the software further. We’ve recently refined the amp & cabinet parts, tweaked the stomps and fx, and we’ve also concentrated on gathering presets and templates (the latter serving as a starting point for new amp & cab endeavours on the users’ side).

Here’s how VANDAL sounds in its current state (courtesy of Dimi Nalbantov):

---

• Magnetic Storm
• BritCrunch
• CleanClean

---

Small snippets of audio fed through various parts of the plugin:

• Unprocessed
• Small Cass-A Combo + 1×12 Vintage
• Small Brit Combo, Crunch Channel, 2×12 Vintage
• Small Brit Combo, Lead Channel, 2×12 Vintage
• Modern HighGain+4×12, stereo miking (real-time movement of the virtual mics)
• Modern HighGain+4×12, distance miking (turning the ‘distance’ knob on the CabSim in real-time)

---

Some of the stomps:

• Clean Amp, no stomp
• La Crema Overdrive in front of Clean Amp
• Halvar Preamp/Overdrive + Amp
• Hellfire Distortion + Amp
• Fuzz + Amp
• Guitar Amp in ‘classic’ preamp mode + Chorus stomp
• Chorus more extreme
• PhaseShifter/Tremolo: Phaser 70%, Tremolo 0%
• PhaseShifter/Tremolo: Phaser 0%, Tremolo 70%
• PhaseShifter/Tremolo, both dialed-in

---

Some rack-unit FX (behind the CabSim):

• Phaser
• Room Reverb
• Hall Reverb
• Hall Reverb, long + modulated

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.

Vandal stomp box collection

We haven’t had much going on here for a month. During that time, the main architecture of the Vandal software has been developed futher. That’s a lot of stuff under the hood that might be of minor importance for users, but it’s very important for all coming features that we equip this thing with.

One of these features is the ability to deal with user-defined stomps setups. Currently, our arsenal is planned to offer between 18-20 different stomp boxes, of various type and origins. Here are some that are already working:

The LaCrema Overdrive manages to recreate the famous mild crunch tones associated with famous blues/rock-type pedals, like for instance the TS9.

HALVAR was inspired by the DOD250/308 Distortion/Preamp Booster stomp, which allows to tighten up the signal when doing shred and heavy riff-working, cleaning up the bass & such.

Hellfire is a no-compromise attempt at high-gain sounds, features a classic (passive) tone stack and multiple gain stages. Max gain is ~70dB

Fuzz has that certain sound: ‘muff’, Jimi, Satisfaction, you name it. A love/hate thing, as usual.

CHORUS is, well, a chorus. A typical stomp pedal unit, rich, colorful, distinctive, analog.

The phase shifter is pretty unique. Actually a phaser and a tremolo (can be both simultaneously). Allows for subtle washy phasing, wah-type resonating as well as sounding completely ill-psycho-something.

The CheWahWah is pretty traditional; characterful, rich, screaming. A wah like one would expect but is rarely offered in the digital realm.

All stomps incorporating distortion/overdrive are oversampled (4x at 44/48k). We want them to not behave like digital zombies just because you’re doing a bending in the 24th fret…

To do: adding Midi CC to all controls. As with all Vandal knobs/buttons, Midi messages (from pedal boards and such) can be used to drive various units and their parameters. We will explain the concept in detail as soon as the time is right.

Here are some audio snippets of the OD/distortion stomps, courtesy of Dimi Nalbantov:

vandalcrunch

vandalhalvarcrunch

vandalhellfirecrunch (featuring Vandal’s internal delay + reverb)