Home Studio Help. Options

[Sickz666]

Hey people.

So i'll get right to it, i have been working since this summer to get a homestudio set up and i need some advice on how to get the best quality sound as possible.

I currently have:
Macbook pro with garageband as recording software.
Apogee one audio interface. (So i can plugg my guitar directly into my computer)

I am also planning on getting EZ drummer.The basic package, Drumkit from Hell and Metalheads.
And i'm soon getting a MIDI keyboard.

But what im not sure of is what software to get guitar tone.
There are so many softwares and i don't know wich ones will fit me best. And since i'm 16 and don't have any real income it can't be too expensive either.

I am thinking about the Line 6 POD farm software, but im not sure if it is the best tone i can get for the price.

I'm looking at getting as good distorted tone as possible for pretty low tunings. Tunings like Drop C and B Standard. And it will be used to record Djent/Progressive metal kind of songs. Aswell as pretty good clean tone for clean parts.

I want to be able to record with good demo quallity at home.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Cheers
Sick

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This post has been edited by Sickz666: Oct 22 2011, 07:00 PM

[Ivan Milenkovic]

Well, there are several options available for higain guitar plugs, most important ones that you should try (I think all can be downloaded as demo versions) are:

- Peavey ReValver MKIII
- Softube Metal Amp Room
- Amplitube 3 (there is a free version as well, you should try it)
- Overloud TH2
- Guitar Rig 5

Try them all, see what tones you like, and decide to purchase depending on the budget.

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[JamesT]

Sounds like you have a pretty good setup. You will be able to get some great recordings with the equpment that you have.

There are several really good guitar amp sims out there today and each of them has their own strengths and weaknesses depending on the sound that you are looking for. I've used Pod Farm, Guitar Rig 3, 4, and 5, and also several of the free downloadable VST plug-ins that are out there. All of the ones I've used have good distorted sounds and pretty good effects. To me, it's harder for a simulator to recreate cleaner, less overdriven sounds with good dynamics and articulation. I guess my fav so far is Guitar Rig. I got it pretty cheap too $89 as an upgrade to the LE version that came for free with my DAW software (Sonar). I'm not sure how much the full blown (non-upgrade version) costs, but it's a good modeler. I've read that some modelers are a little weak in the "high gain" area for metal and such. I'm not too much of a conneseur of high gain stuff so I can't comment, but I've heard a lot of good about the OverLoud amp sim for it's high gain models. Check out the reviews of all the ones out there including Pod Farm, Guitar Rig, Overloud, Amplitube and others. I don't think you can go wrong with any of them really though as you're going to be able to get a good recorded tone and the best part is that if you record dry, you can tweak the model later during mixdown to find the tone that's best for that particular take.

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[Todd Simpson]

Well, there are several options available for higain guitar plugs, most important ones that you should try (I think all can be downloaded as demo versions) are:

- Peavey ReValver MKIII
- Softube Metal Amp Room
- Amplitube 3 (there is a free version as well, you should try it)
- Overloud TH2
- Guitar Rig 5

Try them all, see what tones you like, and decide to purchase depending on the budget.

Well said Ivan! That pretty much covers the field. Downloading a DEMO is a great way to test thing out before you buy. Always try to hear software before you put money down.

If you are recording direct, some sort of tube pre-amp wouldn't hurt. I"m actually using a solid state direct box with wads of gain but tube pre's sound a bit warmer. You can get by without it, but eventually it would make a good investment. Sometimes, it's hard to get enough gain in to the system when going direct but that depends on how much gain you want.

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[Gabriel Leopardi]

I agree with Ivan too. The best would be to try the different demo versions and choose the one that sounds better with your guitar & fingers. I used Guitar Rig and it's good but I heard good things from some of the others too.

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[Adrian Figallo]

I used to use guitar rig 4 a lot, it is very good and sounds very clean and profesional, but now i'm into the overloud TH2, they endorse me and i think the software rocks.

I can't say one is better, but both sounds very good, guitar rig is more pre processed and the overloud is pure raw tone.

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[Cosmin Lupu]

Mate, I for one agree with the advices above and if you have the opportunity, try out the POD Farm! One of my band mates has vast experience with it and he managed to create the tones you may find in the thread below - suited for djent and low tunings!

https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/guitar_fo...showtopic=41250

Hope this helps!

Cosmin

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[VilleFIN]

Hey man

Nowdays you can get ezdrummer + expansion (dfh) for cheap.
Also you should think about which guitar software has biggest userbase, cos people are tweaking lots of those presets and then You can find the tone you're seeking easier.
I would recommend GR or Pod farm.

Also consider a pair of monitorspeakers (there are many topics about these) but ask from instructors (ex. Todd) for better info

Cheers

-Ville-

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This post has been edited by WeePee: Oct 23 2011, 09:20 AM

[Ivan Milenkovic]

Yeah, I agree with Ville, getting a good pair of monitor speakers will be the most important investment you make.

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[Sinisa Cekic]

A lot of good recommendations here! I also use a lot of these plugins, GR4,Amplitube3...

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