NI Guitar Rig 4 - What do you think?

mikeyb26 · #1 02-01-2010, 07:17 PM

Hola!

Considering trading my board in for one of these bad boys, anyone have any input or real world experience behind one?

I got a chance to play with it for a bit, and from what I could tell it sounded great!

http://www.native-instruments.com/#/...tar-rig-4-pro/

Thanks for the input!

dave_bass5 · #2 02-02-2010, 02:02 AM

I use GR4 (without the pedal) for my practising at home. Its got some great sounds in it and i love the strobe tuner.
I play through my PC in to a set of headphones so probably not what you are asking about.

I did use it once with my Netbook as a pre amp, straight in to my MB head and it worked really well but that was just an experiment and i wouldn't do it again.

mikeyb26 · #3 02-07-2010, 11:53 PM

That does help some.

I'm considering this for live applications, just wondering if it sounds like I'm using a multi effects pedal or if I can get the really good tones.

cheapbasslovin · #4 02-08-2010, 12:05 AM

I had some NI plugins that came with my interface anything high gain-ish was riddled with noise. I could record direct with the same interface and not get that much noise, but not with those plugins.

It may have been user error that was the problem, but it is something to look into.

Dirk Diggler · #5 02-08-2010, 10:08 AM

I've been using Guitar Rig since version 1, 4 is a great improvement and I got rid of most of my rack gear in favor of the soft solution.

By the way used them live since then too, didn't care for Rig Kontrol I tried all hardware versions 1, 2 and 3, never could get them to cooperate with my laptop. They would work but just clicks and pops drove me crazy.

I ended up using an M-Audio firewire 1814 interface and used a Behringer FCB1010 for switching presets and tweaking.

Hey they give you a 30 day trial, why not check it out yourself.

Personally I believe software is now, and will be THE way in the future.
Dirk

ba55i5t · #6 08-25-2010, 03:24 PM

I've been using GR 4 Pro just recently and it blows everything out of the water. I have Guitar Rig Mobile and it is the smallest interface I have ever used. I'm getting no clicks or pops and using my i3 core laptop. It's great. I'm a total control freak when it comes to tone and this $130 experiment has saved me tons of money. I'm looking to use it as my head and use either a powered speaker cabinet or combo with it. Lightweight and soft amping ftw.

dave_bass5 · #7 08-25-2010, 03:55 PM

Does anyone know how to make a custom preset rig the default one? It's a pain having to always load the same one each time I open GR.

fasto · #8 08-25-2010, 04:33 PM

Guitar Rig is getting better and better each version jump, BUT still sucks, it does not show much love to us bass players, not many virtual amps & cabinets in the presets included. I tested AmpliTube 3 by IK Multimedia .... little better but i still prefer "Ampeg SVX" VST plug-in. Just my 2 cents. Will get deeper in this thread later ....

gastric · #9 08-25-2010, 05:53 PM

I could never get truly good sounding amp sounds out of any of the software amp sims with the surprising exception of Waves GTR. They all seem to push the bass and treble too much without any mids. Yes, there are EQs and different cabs and mics you can choose but if you A-B with a genuine hardware amp you enjoy you'll find the sims lacking.

However, if you never A-B with a real amp you will probably think they sound pretty good. Which they often do. They just never sound great IMO. Maybe live in a mix they'd be fine, I don't know. Locally there was a guitar player I was in periodic contact with that went pure GR4 and a Behringer FCB1010 and he said he was totally satisfied. Reminds me to contact him to get an update from him.

The best part about software solutions are the effects. If you branch out of locking yourself into Guitar Rig or some other all-in-one solution and investigate using a VST host app like Bidule you can then effectively use *ANY* VST software in your signal chain. The sky is now the limit. There's so many truly awesome modulation and sound crushing effects in software it's not even funny.

bassandsurf · #10 09-08-2010, 09:26 AM

I'm searching for bass distortions that don't sound like a guitar distortion, I play covers and need to emulate bass sounds and I find it quite difficult to find a set that matches the sounds I seek. I use GR4 and will get the FCB1010 from behringer. But I wish I could get bass effects that are made for bass guitars and not guitar fx used in basses.

Does anyone knows a soft with bass distos, not amplitube 3 nor gr4.

the GR4 has a micro syntethizer similar to electroharmonix one that works awesome!!! i love it and had saved US$450 of buying the pedal in a local store in argentina.

Cheers!

g&lplayer · #11 09-08-2010, 11:35 AM

Honestly, having tried the software route I personally think that distortion is one of those things that is farthest away from being emulated well on software. Digital just doesn't sound like the analog counterparts yet...

gastric · #12 09-08-2010, 03:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by g&lplayer

Honestly, having tried the software route I personally think that distortion is one of those things that is farthest away from being emulated well on software. Digital just doesn't sound like the analog counterparts yet...

Ditto. Never found a genuinely good sounding "normal" fuzz/distortion in software no matter where you stuck it in the signal chain.

Now, if you want crazy, outlandish, and weird dirt there's a lot of good options. Go check out Ohm Force's offerings.

bassandsurf · #13 09-14-2010, 01:50 PM

Awesome I will definitly try Ohm Force's products, and first I will set up as much bass settings as I can match and then I will evaluate if I need the pedal board. But I did find some nice gain fx that give warm distortion to the bass in guitar rig.

thanks for the quick answer!

cheers