Please read this quickly before asking for help, the answer may well be here !

Now that ToneX got updated, my initial post has no point so let's sum up essential informations to avoid scrolling forever to find tips and tricks (I'm still mad that they didn't implement Stereo nor L/R pan ! nor combining stomp and amp+cab presets ). Hope it'll be useful for newcomers, feel free to ask for edits/adds/deletes of the following points :

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General informations :

• You DON'T NEED ToneX pedal to uses ToneX. It's a standalone and VST app, the pedal is useful only if playing through a power amp (real amp/cab at home, rehearsal, gigs)

• The various A/B comparisons between real amps and ToneX profiles found on YouTube are breathtaking, you can seriously consider doing something serious with this. NAM is said to be even better, but it hasn't that huge of a collection as of now (5th May 2023). But ToneX is said to be well above Kemper and Quad Cortex (reminder : ToneX pedal costs 4x less than a Kemper, 5x less than a QC). To my taste, there is no possible comparison with amp sims, profiling is the future.

• You can swap the cab when using an amp+cab profile or complex rig, but the result is rarely good. Remember these profiles are the result of a signal chain as a whole, not a sum of several elements.

• This one is a matter of taste : if you have good IRs you love and worked with, don't throw them to the trash. ToneX rigs are really good and will suit the vast majority of your need (and satisfation to play with $5000 of equipment on your PC), but amp-only or stomp+amp captures paired with (good) external IRs will open you another world of greatness.

• You unfortunately cannot combine profiles. There are stomp-only profiles, amp-only profiles, IRs (hidden from the profiles list), but no way to mix and match them... Looking at you, IK Multimedia !

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Profiles database and edition :

• Complete tutorial :

• A shorter version more adapted to sister site DBs moving :

• There used to be peeplinks of the whole database in here, but it became forbidden. Maybe we can hope to be provided with it again on sister site soon. Sorry. The following still applies for legit users and managing IK stock profiles

• The profiles are gathered into a database file which you can find in C:\Users\(you)\Documents\IK Multimedia\TONEX . When downloading a database, put it there and name it Library.db if you want to use it (remember backing up your previous version).You can easily edit this database with this awesome tool (thanks @zib for sharing !) https://www.codefn42.com/tonexdbexplorer/index.html . You will want to use SQLiteStudio https://sqlitestudio.pl/ as well to further optimize the database.

• Complete tutorial on how to use DB Explorer and SQLiteStudio : https://audiosex.pro/threads/ik-multimedia-tonex-working-with-db-explorer-sqlitestudio.70303/

• There are something like 8000 profiles as of 5th May 2023, which will result in a 2-3mn loading for each instance of Tonex in your DAW. Make sure to ruthlessly delete profiles you know you won't use (with ToneX DB Explorer you can sort the list by numerous criterias to help you choose). Check the tutorial link above.

Some essential informations though :
- PLEASE NEVER DELETE THE "BLACK ANGUS" PROFILE (default boot up profile) OR YOU WON'T BE ABLE TO START TONEX ANYMORE. (update : DB explorer refuses to delete it, but it's still good to know)
- There's no simple way to my knowledge to add a preset back, you will have to use SQLiteStudio for this matter (again... see tutorial).
- Removed profiles with DB Explorer don't free actual space in the .db file, thus wasting time when starting ToneX. So to further optimize your experience, I still recommend installing SQLite Studio to gain another 30-40% load time (with my 2500 profiles, 15s boot before SQLite VACUUM command, 9s after)

• If you're a standalone user, I suggest creating multiple databases, each with different kinds of profiles, to limit the number of profiles to load. It's valid for DAW uses too, but of course you'll be limited to 1 database per project and will have to swap current database for each project using another kind. So not ideal.

• There is a ton of profiles created from Kemper/QC (...profiles...) and existing amp sims. Some (few) are good, but it's mainly a waste of time. To be honnest, you'll have to dig quite a lot to find good profiles. There usually is a KPA or QC prefix on the profile name, or Fractal before the amp name, to identify these.

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ToneX DB Explorer refuses to delete profiles because they are part of a preset. What can I do ?

Just open ToneX, switch from Tone Model to Preset, and delete these or some of them. You're able to delete said profiles now !

What if I built a solid and pure database and want to update to the latest full collection ? I'll lose my favorites *sadguitaristnoises*

Follow my tutorial on how to use DB Explorer and SQLiteStudio, or if you don't feel like, do this :

Damn, when changing cabs in my amp+cab and complex rig profiles sounds like excrements. ToneX is really bad booh !

Remember profiles are the result of the signal chain as a whole, mostly 99% true to the original rig. Switching cabs is only a software process based on a guess from ToneX. Don't swap cabs, move on from this profile and find another one better ! Or couple a cabless profile with your favorite IR.

EASY. You can follow these steps :
- Rename you main database temporarily (like "main.db" for example)
- Then rename the db you wanna work on "Library.db"
- Then open ToneXdb Explorer (opens the file named Library.db automatically, without touching any other db in the folder)
- Do your exports
- Rename back your main db to "Library.db"
- Open ToneX and import your exported presets

I want to play live with ToneX or ToneX Pedal, how tf ? (works with any plugin really)

Not cheap, but here's how :
(if you don't have ToneX Pedal)
- Laptop
- Audio interface + reamp box (or IK Multimedia Axe I/O interface with an integrated reamp out, for 140$ give or take !)
(whether you have the pedal or not)
- Power amp (Harley Benton GPA series if you're on a budget, Seymour Duncan Power Stage series for a more serious investment)
- Your favorite guitar cab
- OR, you can grab an active FRFR (Full Range - Flat Response) cab to avoid the power amp + guitar cab setup (I can't advise a model though, I don't know s**t about FRFR cabs)

 

Last edited: Sep 27, 2023

It's a very interesting material, for sure.

There is a -24db input attenuation knob. Or are you speaking about the software?

 

R2R has released a new keygen, the old keygen was buggy.

IK Multimedia TONEX MAX v1.0.1 REPACK KEYGEN ONLY-R2R - Team R2R | 30 Sep 2022 | 0.3MB
REPACK: TONEX information data in the keygen was missing. It caused crashing.

 

Last edited: Oct 1, 2022

 

Last edited: Oct 28, 2022

@Olymoon Yes I'm speaking about the software. Most amp sims today have an input knob to adjust the gain before even reaching the stomp stage. Can't believe this feature is not in ToneX (or really well hidden )

@LordSin It doesn't appear on the start menu, but if you browse into C:\Program Files\IK Multimedia\TONEX you should find TONEX.exe !

 

I'm just trying it, difficult to give a review, since I need to test it more.
But, in a first impression it is clear that it is not like other guitar simulators, the tone and the "detail" when you play, can be appreciated more clearly. Also when you cover the strings with your hand and touch the strings. When you do that, it sounds very different from other emulators, this one makes it more real. Some presets are too noisy for my taste, but I would have to see it in action, in songs, maybe it will be ok.

But what most caught my attention of all, is that it consumes almost no CPU, I thought my PC was going to fly in my pieces, I had already tried other emulators that claim to be more realistic, and my cpu was at 50%, but with this vst, it seems that I had not put any insert. That's what amazed me the most

 

you can't run more than one instance of R2R version of TONEX. Not sure it is by default or the crack doesn't work that way.

I think the sounds are super good, been playing guitar non stop today since I installed it. Some of my favourite presets :

1. Thunder - JCM800
2. 40 rats - Fender Hot Rod DeVille
3. Crunch the Ville - Fender Hot Rod DeVille

Not a hi-gain player though can't say much about that. The Overtone Special also sooo goood.

 

same for me hope to se an update or fix soon

 

When I duplicated my instance in Studio One from one track to another it gave me an error located in AppData\Roaming. But both instances worked fine afterwards. Did you get a similar error ?

 

standalone works just fine, just have to run it from C:/Program Files/IK Multimedia/TONEX/Tonex.exe and create shortcut for it.

 

yeah, in Cubase, you can't save or recall it afterwards. It crashes something inside the DAW, and the program became unstable. In Reaper and Ableton Live, it completely crashed the DAWs.

 

Here the same (S1 5.5)

 

did you try running ToneX inside Amplitube 5.5 ? More stable here (sometimes Tonex standalone crashes)

 

Good news to hear about low CPU usage. I stopped using Amplitube 5 because of that, instead THU Overloud sounds better and consumes almost 0 CPU.

 

Clean to drive : amazingly realistic and dynamic
Crunch to lead : impossible to get a SINGLE chug from ALL profiles (and YES i tested them all)

They probably concentrated on this dynamic range.

Even Mooer MNRS 2 is better for crunch to high gain/Lead (GE Labs is almost free)
I don't even speak about Kemper/Neural DSP/THU Rig Player : they eat ToneX for breakfast on crunch/lead.

So basically :
Mooer MNRS GE200+/GE Labs covers well mid to high gain
Kemper/Neural DSP (plugins AND Quad Cortex) /THU Rig Player covers all
ToneX covers clean to drive well

As a side note : ToneX IR loader is crap, so use an external one
IK VIR is very good, like NDSP cabs

 

Last edited: Oct 1, 2022

Yes first time for me as well, felt so strange that I had to check at the source :p

BTW for standalone, if you have multiple interfaces installed on your PC, you first have to select the right ASIO on... Output device. If you want to set the Input device first, it's greyed out and nothing shows up. So dumb.

 

Being that ToneX is online, how are peeps getting to access presets?
Is there another way to grab them? My machine's always offline when my DAW is engaged..

 

Thx for the info.
Will eventually try it but my Headrush MX-5 handles the surgical, digital end although I can get it to go out of control sort of...
My EVH Iconic combo amp handles the crazy out of control stuff for real.
I can set it up to get 10 minutes of sustain at the fundamental without going into feedback.
At volumes lower than you might think
My fingertips get sore after awhile, holding that chord

 

i'm curious how this kinda thing works.... kemper, now this tone x thing or maybe some other products. say i set up my tube amp with a crunch or high gain tone, mic it up, and take a 'snapshot'', i think may be the terminology, of that tone.

is this like taking a sample of a sound whose tone then gets reproduced? iow, if i capture a high gain sound from a tube amp, is the resultant patch just high gain? or is that tone characterictic somehow able to be further manipulated to say, get a clean tone, or mildly over driven tone from it?

 

It will behave as if you create an amp channel. Meaning that if created high-gain, it will only be high-gain with control over gain, preamp EQ and presence+depth. It's just that the reproduction is infinitely more accurate that a modeled amp sim ! There already are some A/B reviews on youtube and it's astonishing