IR loaders

IMPULSE RESPONSE LOADERS

LECAB 2 - NADIR - Mix IR 2

A cabinet simulator is made of 2 things:
- An IR loader, which is a plugin with various options,
- An IR, which is an audio file. This audio file is the sound print of the gear you wish to emulate. The IR is what will allow you to simulate the sound of the chosen cabinet, so its quality is essential if you want a good result. In fact, your cabinet simulator is merely an IR loader. Then you choose what type of cabinet you want to emulate.

How to use it?
That's simple. You pick one of the plugins below, for example LeCab 2, then you place it after your amplifier simulator, and you load an IR in it.

The cabinet simulators you can download below are provided without any IRs, so you have to find or buy them and load them in your cab simulator.
You may download free IRs, below, find some on the Internet (free or not), or make them yourself...

LECAB 2

LePou gives us access to no less than 6 IR slots simultaneously! For each one of them, you can invert the phase if needed, set the delay time, configure a lowpass and a highpass filter, and of course you can set the pan and volume. You can also solo each slot, link the loaded IRs of 2 slots (but other controls remain independant). You can also control the latency. The lower it is, the more CPU-consuming it becomes and vice-versa. Last but not least, the graphic interface is nice and clean!

But why would I use 6 cabs at the same time?
Well, with only one guitar take, you can get six differents sounds, which allows you to get a bigger sound, or to obtain sounds that are impossible to achieve with only one cab, by using various IRs, modifying the panning or the other settings... You don't have to use all six available slots, but if you wish to experiment, you can. I usually use two IRs of the same cab but with different microphones, so it will simulate the sound of a real cab recorded with two microphones. And if I want a bigger sound, I can add more IRs. Very convenient.

One nice improvement over the previous version of the plugin, it now remembers the IRs' folders of origin. So you don't need to scratch your head anymore if you don't remember what IR was used when the IR name is not explicit.

Download: LeCab 2 (Rev1)
(Poulin_LeCab2_Rev1.rar, 849 KB)

NADIR (web site)

NadIR is a free plugin from Ignite Amps. This Italian company makes and sells real guitar amplifiers, and they develop excellent amp simulations (demos on this page). NadIR allows you to load an IR in either available slots and modify the settings as you see fit. You can pick a mono, double mono or stereo signal, set the processing quality depending on your computer ressources, use high-pass and low-pass filters, set the delay and panning of your IRs.

Downloads

Please use the (official web site) to download the latest version, or download the older versions below.

PC VST 32 bits (Ignite Amps NadIR 1.0.2 VST PC x86.zip, 3.41 MB)
PC VST 64 bits (Ignite Amps NadIR 1.0.2 VST PC x64.zip, 3.45 MB)

Mac VST (Ignite Amps NadIR 1.0.2 VST Mac Universal Binary.zip, 6.65 MB)
Mac AU (Ignite Amps NadIR 1.0.2 AU Mac Universal Binary.zip, 6.73 MB)

MIX IR 2 (web site)

This plugin was offered to anyone who bought the complete collection of Redwirez impulses. It's now been replaced by Mix IR3 that you can buy for US$ 52.95.
Please also note that Redwirez Impulse Responses are among the best on the market. Not free, but excellent.

MESSAGES

Nico
le 16/03/2020 à 01h12

Bonjour,
J'ai essayé de me créer des IR avec Voxengo Deconvolver mais je n'obtiens que des fichiers de 1K qui sont vides.
Avez-vous une idée du problème ?
Merci par avance.

Peekup
le 22/02/2020 à 08h47

Bonjour, j'ai testé récemment une simu d'ampli. Il me semble qu'on pouvait changer le skin des amplis (skaï revêtement, boutons contrôle).sauriez vous me dire le nom de cette simu ?
merci d'avance et félicitations pour le site, une vraie mine d'or.
Thierry

billynilly
le 18/01/2020 à 18h08

Whatever happened to the Cranked AC plugin? I've been looking all over for it but can't find it anywhere.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Sorry, I never heard of this plugin. If it's an old plugin, chances are it's also a 32-bit plugin, which may not work properly on modern systems, but anyway I couldn't find it either.
Grebz

Kovrm
le 12/01/2020 à 23h06

So the chain goes:

DAW > Audio Interface Out > Amp > Speaker > Mic > DAW

This is correct based on my understanding from what I've read, and the few videos I've watch on creating IRs. My question, then, is when I plug into the Amp I've seen people say plug your Interface out into the FX return, but you say the guitar cable jack. What is the purpose in doing one or the other?

Side questions:

What channel should my amp be on? I'm assuming the clean channel.

What should my Amp settings be (EQ, Gain, Channel Volume, Presence, Master Volume)? I can't find a clear answer anywhere.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Hello,

About plugging into the FX return or the guitar jack, I don’t know. Actually, the amps I’ve used myself to make IRs don’t have any FX return, so I didn’t have a choice and had to plug into the guitar jack. I guess there’s no harm trying both (not at the same time!) and comparing if you have that possibility. Chances are there’s not much of a difference, but again, I may be wrong as I have not tried this myself.
About the choice of a channel, and the settings: the channel doesn’t actually matter. You’re not capturing the amp sound, but the speaker sound.
From what I’ve experienced, the EQ and Presence should be neutral, the gain/saturation should not be engaged (or set to a level where no distorsion can be heard). As for the volume, set it to a level that’s high enough for your microphone to be able to pick up a good signal (no need to record higher than -6 dB, by the way, give your signal a bit of headroom).
But you should also be careful not to set it too loud to protect your own ears. It doesn’t need to be pushed too high. I think a level high enough to cover your own conversational voice should be enough. I tried various volume levels, and it did not affect the results notably. I did not get better results with very high levels than with normal, humanely bearable levels. Don’t set it too low, though, because it’s better if your speaker does move some air.

Experiment, try different amp settings and see whether that changes the results.

Grebz

William
le 20/10/2019 à 17h06

Hey, I downloaded the plug-in and extracted it. Then put it in the plugin folder but it is not working. C:|Program Files|Common Files|Avid|Audio|Plug-Ins. Would this be the right steps? Please let me know thanks!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

As you explained it to me by e-mail, you were using Pro Tools First, which doesn't support third party plugins. The solution is then to either upgrade to a paid version of Pro Tools, or use another free DAW, such as Cakewalk by Bandlab (Windows only), or use Reaper, which is not free, but can be used freely without constraints. These DAWs do support third party plugins.

Grebz