Im currently experimenting a lot with my neural dsp plugins and im curious which Impulse responses you guys would recommend.
Mainly writing modern metal music so something more "modern" would be welcome.

Also which IR loader is your favorite one ?

 

Bogren is good, 85% of them
Nembrini audio is now $19 on sale with coupon code, ive used all if them and it seems to be solid, great eq, just wish ir loaders had eq matching..using code IRLOADER1999 at checkout
https://mixdownmag.com.au/news/nembrini-audio-drop-new-ir-loader-plugin/

 

Last edited: Aug 26, 2022

Most of the times I just use the cabs that are available in my Neural plug-ins, and if I need to load an external IR I just use the load custom IR feature.

If I use an amp sim that doesn't have external IR loading I mainly use Audio Assault's aIR Impulse Rack. It's super cheap (like $5) and you can edit and save impulses with it. There are other IR loaders that let you mix a bunch of IRs and then save as a new one, but aIR has EQ's, filters, and other effects as well as the option to mix a bunch of IRs so it's great for creating your own custom IRs. They just released v2 today as well and now it comes with a deconvolver module so you can create your own IRs from scratch by recording your own cabs. https://audioassault.mx/collections/plugins/products/air-impulse-rack

For great IRs I mostly use Ownhammer, but like Mike said; Bogren is also great for metal. York Audio also has some great ones that are a bit less processed than the ones from Ownhammer and Neural DSP.

 

I'll check out Ownhammer and Bogren thanks.
Im just curious how my Neural DSP AMP Vst's would sound with different quality IR's

 

They are not so good cause they where tweeked to work with ndsp sims, the plugin alliance irs are very good if you dont want the bogren, download the friedman etc demos then find their irs, if your on mac they can be found in several places.

Ownhammer are decent but way too many choices as the it loaders such as Nembrini’s rewirez and even stl’s ignote libra (the best one) all have eq and all types of positions for mics…you can tweek a single ir and get most of ownhammers tones

 

I would say, Bogren or York Audio (they even have a cab with Mick Thomson's Eminence DV-77 speakers).

 

JZ-IR is pretty cool if you're lazy and just want to grab someone else's tone.
He uses some kind of automated process to IR-match a song's / album's tone to ~150 amp sims.
You get ~300 IRs per album as wavs and only pick the one matching your amp and leave your amp settings at default unless the file says otherwise.

He's IR-matched like 550 albums by now, lots of freebies (enter 0 as max price) to try with too.

https://jzir.gumroad.com/

List of all IRs he's made

 

With this type of match-one-song-tone IRs I've always wandered if anyone has also released the EQ profile (like the one you use to create IRs by EQ-matching) of the guitar.
Because obviously it has a huge impact on the tone and while far from perfect an additional guitar-EQ-matching can improve quite a bit how close you get.

Wishes, wishes. Am I what they call a pipe-dreamer...?

 

That'd be cool, yeah! I guess BlueCat's 'Re-Guitar' could be of interest if one were to attempt to completely nail the tone. Let's you change pickup type and body type before going into your amp, no idea how good it is though.

 

I want to test that plugin. Seems cool.

 

I never tested blue cats myself, been holding off hoping it appeared out of magic but their fake feedback is identical to Softube's acoustic feedback., Bluecat is supposed to be one of the best sim developers but I have yet to see a demo that impressed me.

 

The Neural DSP IRs sound great for use with any amp sim, not just for Neural plug-ins. I've captured all the IRs from every Neural plug-in (except for Petrucci and Rabea) so you can download them from the sister site and test for yourself.

You will never get an IR captured from dead center of the speaker to sound like one captured from the edge of the cone just by using the EQ that some IR loaders have. Companies like Bogren Digital only give you the IRs that they themselves find the best, and that's okay for some, but I much prefer to have every single speaker position and distance so you can choose for yourself what you find sound the best. Ownhammer also give you a summary or quick start folder containing 15-20 IRs that they think sound the best out of the pack, so you don't have to browse through all of the IRs if you don't want to. In the end you get much more value for your money when you buy packs from companies like Ownhammer and York Audio. If you think the IR packs are too large in size you can just delete the IRs you don't want.

 

Thanks for the tip Mike! Just picked up the Nembrini IR and the coupon still works. Been wanting this.

 

just found another code from a website, IRLOADEREX again like $19 instead of 75, the graphic EQ is the first of its kind as far as I know, took me seconds to tweak a IR into a mix using it.

 

I have used all own hammer, etc etc in studios before, even the PA IRs found in your system after installing demos have some of the best V30s, Orang, Wizard and boogie IRs., free!

The Nembrini IR loader and Libra to me seem to be the best you can get, RedWirez would kill if it worked flawless but its a memory hog and slugging, and for libra ? I never got their demo to work, all kinds of iLok BS on my end that I had to solve due to upgrading a computer, but it seems cool and so does their free version which is great and all you have to remember is that its tweaked by default and you need to reset the filters to hear the actual IRs.

regardless, I went for the Nembrini

 

York Audio are my IRs of choice for literally 95% of all gtr parts I track, regardless of genre.

Justin really knows how to get the best from a cab, and his stuff works equally well in the studio or live. I’ve been using IRs forever, and own pretty much all of the usual suspects, but very rarely fail to find what I want with the York stuff.

I mainly use them with my Helix (rack and Native), sometimes a Kemper, and with real amps via a loadbox - they sound great with everything.

For metal, I’d recommend checking out the DV77, Mesa OS and/or 212, York Custom Creamback, and 5153 cabs to begin with, that’ll give you a good cross section of tones and speaker types to cover most bases.

Bogren Digital are also great for anything heavy - all 3 packs he’s put out are really good quality, the downtuned pack in particular has a lot of clarity that works great for modern metal stuff.

They’re not as versatile as the York stuff, because they’re very processed, and metal-focused, but when you’re working within their intended genres, more often than not (and assuming you know how to properly dial your amp in!) you’ll quickly be able to find something that sounds very close to a finished tone.

(Also, if you haven’t checked out the Bogren Ampknob plugin, do! It’s amazing for when you need that classic boosted dual rec metal tone fast)

 

Last edited: Aug 31, 2022