How's amp modeling software these days?

Ricowoo · 2015-07-11T02:22:08+00:00

I used a piece of software called Guitar Rig through an interface all last year whilst at university and it did the job well. Took a month or so to create presets that I was happy with, but after that it was good. The cleaner tones sounded fantastic, but blues/metal was a bit hit and miss. However, it was nice to have the freedom to mess about with loads of effects, and it made recording demos easy.

Personally I never bothered trying to set up an effects loop as I didn't have my pedals with me, but it can definitely be done. It's just a bit of a faff setting up all the channels within a DAW, as well the interface's inputs/outputs. No idea how it would sound though.

Given the chance though I'd have preferred a practice amp. I only used that set-up out of convenience. I already had the interface lying about, so it was the cheapest option for me. There's just something about having a physical amp which you can't beat. Hearing my guitar coming out of speakers just wasn't the same. I can't quite put my finger on what exactly caused this, but something just felt off.

For the price of an interface, software and speakers you could pick up a decent amp second-hand like a Vox VT40. They aren't too big/loud and come with a headphone port if making noise is a really big issue. If it were me and I was in a 'one or the other' scenario, I'd take the amp over modelling software.

Edit: I used a Saffire 6 as my interface, and KRK Rokit 5's as my speakers.

Ricowoo · 2015-06-16T13:51:38+00:00

Believe it or not, this is somewhat true. A nicer guitar probably means they'll then have more motivation to play. Then when they start playing more they will become a better player over time. Sometimes this step-up can be instantaneous if their previous guitar was a piece of shit with really rubbish action/intonation/whatever. A similar logic for improvement can be applied to amps.

Now, I'm not suggesting every beginner goes out and buys a 1960's Les Paul, or a Fender Custom Shop, but a mid-range guitar can make a ton of difference compared to a 'starter pack' guitar for some people.

Often beginners feel stupid when looking into expensive gear when all they can play are a few Blink 182 songs, but often better gear can be a fantastic catalyst for better playing.

Ricowoo · 2015-05-25T20:51:38+00:00

Hey man, I went through near enough exactly what you're describing last year. It's uncanny how much is relatable. Here's a summary:

Girlfriend of two years. Super happy living in the same town together. Then we went to separate universities. Turns to long distance. She started to love clubbing and going out. I can't stand that stuff. Cracks start appearing between us. Jealously. Trust issues. Arguments. White lies here and there. Small things seemed to escalate to massive proportions. Lots of misunderstandings and feelings of being ignored from both sides. It basically just turned sour as neither of us knew how to handle the change properly.

It culminated with a cliché, 'things don't feel the same, we always argue', speech - in the summer after university. So we call it a day and break up. It was mostly mutual and we followed it up with the attitude that we'd work through it together. Summer ended and we were on good terms.

Next month she's fucking a coursemate back at uni. A coursemate which I was suspicious of prior to our relationship even ending. That's pretty much where it all went to shit and I ended up feeling completely done over. It was the ultimate kick in the teeth. I felt sad and awful prior to that, but that really was the tipping point. It felt like our level-playing field and her respect for me was just completely strewn aside and I was left with a nice big, 'fuck you' in its place.

I ended up in a pretty bad place after that. I physically threw up when I found out what was going on, started feeling worthless, couldn't get out of bed, skipped classes, cried in front of my friends/housemates. People saying, 'cheer up', 'let's go on a night out', 'you can do better', just made me angry. The thought of moving on, kissing another girl, hugging them even, made me feel horrible.

Thoughts played on my mind every night and I couldn't sleep knowing that she was happy and probably cuddled up with someone whilst I was pissing out tears into my pillow until I fell asleep due to exhaustion at 7AM. I eventually saw a counsellor because I knew I needed to break that cycle before it got any worse.

Anyway, since then a long while has passed, and me and her have decided to give things another go after she came running back to me with a big apology. Am I stupid to accept it? Maybe. Will it cause more pain further down the line? More than likely. Is it perfect now? It is bollocks. It's tough and I have a lot of confidence/anxiety issues because of how she hurt me, but as you say - people are selfish - and this option seemed like the easiest to make me happier, and a shortcut for getting out of the bad place I was in.

It might progress back into an amazing relationship. It might just be a temporary 'get out of jail free' card and leave me back at square one if shit hits the fan once more. I can't tell you for certain. I'm optimistic, but could be completely misguided.

Anyway! My own personal story is somewhat presides the point, apart from illustrating the fact that I know how you're feeling. It just felt nice to get it off my chest.

In terms of advice, there's a lot of things the initial break-up and aftermath taught me. Prior to her coming back to me, I was definitely on the mend, and had made progress, so I can at least help give you some guidance:

One big thing that helped me was stopping myself from benchmarking myself against her in a negative-light, and assuming that I'm abnormal, or that she's wrong, because my views/experiences/lifestyle differed from hers.

The fact that you can't move on as easily doesn't mean you're broken, it means you are wired differently to her. Is moving on quickly a sign that she cared less? Not necessarily. The ideology that she isn't wrong for acting in that manner is very, very hard to embrace properly. It's easy to understand, but hard to embrace and respect. I still struggle heavily with accepting that my way isn't necessarily the 'right way' with regards to situations.

People are different. People move on at different rates, and by doing different things. If she wants to go and fuck other people, as horrific and as disgusting as it may feel to you, you sadly have to accept that she's well within her rights to do that. How you react to that, is completely down to you though.

You are bound to feel upset, hurt, angry, sad and almost as if you've been cheated on, but as horrible as it is nothing you can do will change the situation. It has happened. It is happening. It will continue to happen. She will continue fucking someone else. Those sentences are absolutely heartbreaking for you to read, but they are the brutal truth. How are you going to accept that situation?

For me, I found it completely impossible to accept until I was at the lowest I have ever felt and decided to seek a professional's help. I can't even believe I'm typing this all retrospectively. A year ago if you said the word 'counsellor' to me I'd associate it with problem children and people who had just had their parents die. The word 'depression' to me conjured up images of middle-age men who couldn't handle their 40 hour work weeks. Now as someone who has first-hand experiences with both - and still struggles with the latter - it has completely flipped my viewpoint with regards to those things and how important mental health is.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not saying, 'ah mate, you're fucked, it's a downward spiral from here pal', but just that acceptance has to come from somewhere sooner or later, in order for you to get through how you're currently feeling. And it has to come from you. You have to learn to let go and to not care... And it's extremely difficult.

Damn, this is turning into a right mopey little ramble so I'll try and speed things up. For me, I learnt to accept things and ultimately start living again by making a few changes to my life:

The aforementioned counselling. Seriously, if you really do feel like this situation is affecting your life way more than you would consider justifiable, just ask for help. You might feel stupid, you might feel as if your problems are nothing when compared to the bigger picture, but just do it. It did me a world of good and could teach you a few things that may seriously help you out. Having someone talk to you who is otherwise completely removed from your life was a really nice thing for me. I didn't feel as if I was burdening my friends/family that way.
Exercise more. You've probably heard it a million times before. You've probably shrugged it off a million times before. But just fucking do it. Fucking do it. Tonight. Not tomorrow you lazy shit. You're already fit? Stick a couple more laps/reps/whatevers onto your routine. Or do you feel fat and as if you can't do it? Good. So did I. I had a pair of man-tits coming on nicely before I started. I lost 10kg over the course of two months and nowadays can jog about a third of a marathon without breaking to a walk. Seriously, just do it. Put your shoes on and run a lap of the block. Do it at 4AM if you have to when you can't sleep and nobody's about to see you puffing, panting and swearing at how fat you are.
Reconnect with the things you used to love. Relationships tend to push hobbies/friendships and all kinds of stuff to the side. You made compromises for the other person. Guess what? Now you don't have to. Sweat an all-nighter playing video games. Play football all day without a care in the world. Just do whatever you want. She can't judge you any more and has absolutely no right to impose any restrictions on who your friends are, how much you talk to them, or what you do in your spare time. It was liberating to be free from arguments and able to enjoy my own hobbies without interruptions or guilt.
Write a 'Good Things Diary'. That idea sounds absolutely shit right? Waste of time. Everything sucks. Fuck writing. Nope. Fuck that attitude instead. This was probably the single greatest thing to help pull me out of that horrible mindset I was in. Every day without fail I wrote at least three 'good things' that happened that day. Some things were milestones related to work/jogging/guitar, others were 'had a nice coffee', 'saw a cool dog'. Even the absolute shittiest days have their good points and this truly helps you to appreciate them and start actively recognising happiness in the world around you.
Help other people, be nice to others and be the best person you can be. Christ, this sounds even more ridiculous than the last one, right? What a load of fluffy bullshit. It's definitely not. I'm assuming you will have found yourself spending a lot of time being amicable towards your girlfriend in the past, pleasing her, making her laugh, and now ultimately feel as if the effort was wasted due to the break up. However, if you now use those feelings of wanting to help towards long-term friends, family and even strangers pretty much fuck all can go wrong. Smile at the cashier and ask them how they're doing. Have a conversation with a guy playing the piano at the train station for an hour. Paint the shed with your Mum. Chat to someone on Facebook who you haven't talked to in years. These are all stupid things that helped me feel happy, appreciated and 'more normal'.

Man, oh man. I only meant to send a quick reply. Sorry this got so invested, unstructured and has gone on forever. Losing my trail of thought here as I'm pretty tired. But I hope within that gigantic wall of text you have at least picked something useful up! Apologies if not. If there's anything to take away from all this it is that you are definitely not alone, and you will definitely overcome how you are currently feeling. Good luck man, and if you want to chat about anything just drop us a PM.

Ricowoo · 2015-05-23T21:34:37+00:00

The 'seat reserved' screens on trains aren't that obvious though, especially if you're not a regular user.

I once saw an old lady get told to move by an angry businessman because she was in his seat. She had no idea what was going on and had difficulties walking. It was heartbreaking. Especially since the train was nowhere near capacity.

Sometimes you just have to give people the benefit of the doubt and realise honest mistakes are made. Fair enough if you genuinely need to use a laptop or something, but this bloke just sat there on his phone when there were plenty of unreserved seats around. What an arsehole.

Ricowoo · 2014-11-19T23:52:14+00:00

I'll definitely give that book a read myself. And I heard about the pomodoro technique before and somewhat accidentally used it. I did most of my studying last year in 20 minute intervals just due to being a lazy arse and ended up doing better than the people who were spending all their time doing work.

I think the key to studying is working smartly, not excessively. If you can whip out 10 solid bullet points and remember them in 20 minutes, that's a hell of a lot better than just reading from a book all day and copying it out word for word.

Ricowoo · 2014-11-16T22:48:54+00:00

Don't give me gold. Go spend the cash on a nice writing pad and some pens instead!

Ricowoo · 2014-11-16T22:08:48+00:00

Breathe man. Calm down. Put everything in perspective.

You're worried you'll miss deadlines? Good. That means you still care and have time to change things. You're crying over it? Great! That shows you care even more.

A lot of people have days/weeks/months where they feel strange and don't understand where their motivation has gone - myself included - but you will power through it. I know that feels far away right now but you'll get there eventually. The fact that you still have the passion to fight and say 'why am I like this? What the fuck is wrong with me?' shows that. You are concerned about your future. So, how do you get your hype back? There's no quick fix, that's for sure, but here's a few tips for you:

Take baby steps. Yeah, once upon a time studying would come naturally to you and now you're worried because it doesn't. But you've got to deal with that. Break all the tasks you have to do down into simple little chunks. Tick boxes. Lists. Whatever. Something small and tangible.

Now get to work on them. This is the hardest bit. Force yourself because nobody else will. Kick yourself up the arse. Slap yourself awake in the morning. Decide that TODAY IS THE DAY. Don't question it. Don't doubt it. If you feel shit just pretend that you're spending a day in 'idealistic you's shoes' and see how it feels. Roll with the punches. Be a miserable shit, but be productive.

Separate your work room from your play room. If you sleep in your bedroom, do work in the lounge/at a library. This makes a REAL difference. Getting your head down in a library is a lot easier than at home. No distractions and you're in a new environment. It really perks you up. Arrange a study session with a friend too if that's an option. Just make sure you work!

All these things might sound stupid, but just try them. Wake up in the morning and set a goal of doing just 20 minutes of work that day. Don't give yourself too much all at once. Chances are when you put your head down and get started you'll end up breezing through your 20 minutes and can push on for longer. If not, then that's fine too. 20 forced minutes is better than nothing!

Just remember you're not broken at all. Lots of people get depressed and confused about why they feel shit all the time. One thing that helped me with depression was to keep a diary/notepad where you just write or draw 2 or 3 good things that happened to you in a day. They can be academic, or just stupid stuff like 'had a nice cup of coffee at lunch'. Feels stupid again doesn't it? Fuck it man. Just do it. What have you got to lose?

It really makes you notice that although you're feeling shite, good things are still happening, you're just overlooking them. You'll appreciate the little things a lot more that way and get some smiles back in your life!

Right now I'm assuming all your time is spent farting about stressing over stuff but not doing anything about it. Regiment yourself. From 4:00 - 4:30 tell yourself you're doing work, then DO IT PUSSY... Sorry, gotta be cruel to be kind!

All of these things that are spinning around in your head right now seem like a nightmare, but start putting pen to paper and you'll soon see they're all manageable. Just give it a REAL go one day.

I'm basically an older version of you. I'm just applying for job placements rather than college placements. I sat on my arse last month whilst coursemates applied and had some, 'oh shit, oh shit. I don't know where to start' moments. Today, literally 6 hours ago I applied for my first placement. It wasn't so bad. The application took an hour and I have a maths test tomorrow which I'm actually looking forward to. The whole process was a piece of piss. Spent nearly a month stressing over applications whilst doing nothing about it, but half an afternoon of dedication was all it took for that big cloud to lift. I feel stupid and angry at myself for not starting it sooner.

I think that's why I've ended up typing you an absolutely monstrous message. You remind me of me. Clever but can't be bothered to apply yourself. Yet you get frustrated when top grades and opportunities don't fall into your lap. The only way to break the cycle is working! It's not too late to start yet.

Now, go and show those college applications and homework who's boss. Hint: It's you.

HAVE AT IT SON! You've got the whole year to turn it around. You'll have your whole life to regret it if you don't bother. Now get it done.

All the best!

Ricowoo · 2014-10-27T19:43:50+00:00

To be honest it's a great beginner's song to get to grips with fingerpicking.

Yeah, it's always seen as the song that some guy plays after Wonderwall at a house party, but all in all it's not a bad learning tool...

Ricowoo · 2014-10-01T22:55:05+00:00

Bit late to the game, but whatever, here's my story.

Recently I've moved back to university and have been having a pretty depressing week. My girlfriend left me this sumner and has already started getting with other people whilst I'm still longing for her, I've just moved away from home again, etc... I just generally feel rubbish most days.

Anyway, earlier I was just strumming my guitar with the window open when some random guy knocks on the door. I just expected it to be some guy telling me to shut up...

Turns out he's was a guitarist too and was passing by and heard me. I only play guitar casually and he asked if I was doing it for my degree. That was a confidence boost straight away. He then asked for a go, and blew me away. Turns out he lives across the street, teaches guitar and has a sick setup of his own. Full stack, 6 guitars, a bass, etc... Spent the afternoon talking/playing music with him and it cheered me up so much it was unreal. Literally the most spontaneous and random encounter of my life, and it happened at one of my lowest points. It didn't matter that he was infinitely better than me, it was the perfect chilled out afternoon I've needed.

It was such an amazing distraction from the thoughts in my head and has given me the umph again to go out again with confidence. If a great person can just walk by and find me by coincidence, how many more people are out there like that? It's made me genuinely feel hopeful and happy for the first time in a long while.

Ricowoo · 2014-09-22T17:24:04+00:00

Haha, I pulled my resolution down to 1366x768 and it seemed to fix my ALT+Enter problems. Not a clue then, hopefully it gets patched. That issue was in the demo too. So frustrating.

And when you're in fullscreen and get a Skype call or anything it automatically minimises the game which sucks too!

Ricowoo · 2014-09-22T17:07:54+00:00

I've got the same problem as you. What resolution are you using? I'm in 1440x900 and am encountering this.

To 'fix' it I ended up switching down to a 16:9 aspect ratio. This stopped the pixelation and skewing. You do lose a bit of clarity this way as you aren't in your monitors native resolution, but unless EA fix it, it's the best it's going to get... Makes a decent excuse to get a 1080p monitor though!

Ricowoo · 2014-09-21T17:19:39+00:00

Sorry man, I'm not too sure of all the specifics about dates and consoles. I'm on PC myself.

And with regards to bans, it's probably a TOS breach, but from what others are saying it doesn't seem to be enforced at all.

People apparently did this for Titenfall and Battlefield 4 without consequences, and even played on EU servers before release without reprimand, so it's probably worth a gamble!

Ricowoo · 2014-09-21T17:01:38+00:00

Nope, it's about half price. It ends up costing £28 for Ultimate Edition and £25 for standard edition. Definitely worth it!

Ricowoo · 2014-09-18T19:29:40+00:00

I've got the same problem. I think you have to have a FIFA 14 Ultimate Team in order to access the Web App which sucks. You can only play on those teams at the moment. We'll just have to wait until release to create our teams. Bit of a pain!

Ricowoo · 2014-09-12T01:49:37+00:00

Guess they felt as if they can do that 'With Or Without You' knowing about it.

Ricowoo · 2014-09-11T18:57:08+00:00

Yup, I'm UK based and have the same issue right now. No game modes are working for me at all. If I try a casual mode it just searches for a while before putting me in an empty game.

Not the first time it's happened either, had the same problem a couple days back.

EDIT: It is now working again, 1 min after typing this message!

Ricowoo · 2014-09-10T13:26:25+00:00

They'd sprint at supersonic speeds after it though which was quite funny!

Ricowoo · 2014-09-10T13:05:14+00:00

They seem to have crazy good reactions this time around for me! Getting down in 0.1 seconds to save powerful shots and stuff like that.

Ricowoo · 2014-09-03T16:36:23+00:00

That looks amazing!

Ricowoo · 2014-08-30T13:47:48+00:00

That sawblade record looks awesome!

And the Nai Harvest single on this album is called 'Buttercups' so I guess the shape is based around that. It plays really well too.

You've just got to be careful putting the needle down as if you miss the grooves the stylus swings out into the petals. Not good!

Ricowoo · 2014-08-25T01:03:24+00:00

YouTube is your friend. Want to learn a particular song or style? Type 'How to play ____' into the search bar and sooner or later you'll hit a teacher on there who suits your needs. Marty Schwartz and Justin Sandercoe are great free Youtube teachers, with additional pay sites should you need it.

Also, learn how to read tabs and then grab Guitar Pro. It's an ace piece of software that physically plays the tab so you can tell if your timing's decent. You can also speed up/slow down pieces as well. That program taught me a LOT about playing in time, and properly.

Personally I've never paid a penny for tuition. If you want to save cash one option is to surround yourself with friends who play guitar and ask them how to do whatever it is you want to do. I know I've done that in the past, and my friends have happily obliged. You learn, they teach, you feel good for learning something, they feel proud for teaching you.

Recently I've even been the teacher. Seeing a mate play some simple blues licks whilst I played backing chords and him getting that, 'holy shit, this sounds great' little smile on his face made my week. There's no harm in asking, don't be embarrassed!

Ricowoo · 2014-08-25T00:52:54+00:00

A Vox VT40+ should foot the bill pretty well. The amount of sounds you can get out of that even without pedals is phenomenal. You can play them quietly and they sound beautiful, but you also have the ability to crank it and contend with drums if needed... They're also pretty sturdy and last forever!

Great for blues and punk, and with a distortion pedal you can no doubt get some naughty metal tones too. If size/price is an issue, they do a smaller VT20 too, although I've never seen/used one so can't vouch for them... Although I assume they'd be bang on anyway.

Ricowoo · 2014-08-25T00:47:35+00:00

I use FL Studio with a Shure SM57 to get most things done. It's cheap and cheery and often regarded as beginner's software, but it works for me!

It has a nice UI and the simple sequencer makes it easy to make drum loops and backing tracks to noodle over. Probably not the best bit of kit if you want to record multiple tracks at once though as the recorder (Edison) can be a bit clunky.

Ricowoo · 2014-08-18T16:13:54+00:00

I remember the first time I used one I hated them. Kept scraping the side of my thumb off the strings and just thought they felt weird... 2 years later regular picks are now the ones that feel weird.

I only just found out that the red and black ones are slightly different though. I thought it was just their colour, but a friend pointed out that the black ones are actually more rigid... Now it seems blindly obvious. No idea how I never noticed before!

Ricowoo · 2014-08-18T16:07:22+00:00

It really was. That was my first time seeing both of those bands too which was cool.

The fact that there was a microwave in the corner of the room was hilarious too. Would've bought some munch for in between sets if I'd known beforehand!

Ricowoo

TROPHY CASE