Darkglass Anagram Multi FX Announced

[silky smoove]

Is it easy to create a NAM from your own equipment, wihout being a recording guru? I have an SWR Basic 350 that sounds awesome with a 4x10 Hugh&Ketner cab. If I could put THAT sound in a box, I'd really have to consider doing it.

What you're describing is an impulse response. I don't believe a NAM captures the sound of a speaker cabinet in a space, only the electrical output of a device. I've never used NAM before, but that's my understanding of it as it compares to IR. If I'm wrong about this, someone please correct me.

 

[BrianVengeance]

Is it easy to create a NAM from your own equipment, wihout being a recording guru? I have an SWR Basic 350 that sounds awesome with a 4x10 Hugh&Ketner cab. If I could put THAT sound in a box, I'd really have to consider doing it.

The overall premise is pretty simple. You'll need to capture two parts to anything you want to model - an unaffected "before" signal (e.g., just your bass) and the affected "after" signal (e.g., after the pedal / amp). Both of these are loaded into a piece of software that learns how to take the "before" signal and create the "after" signal, which results in your neural amp model.

How easy this is depends pretty heavily on what equipment you have, what you are looking to capture, and how familiar you are with recording. It isn't complex per se, but there are a few moving parts. You'll at least need an audio interface to capture the two signals, and if you're trying to capture an amp + cabinet you'll need microphones and preamps (the ones in your interface would be fine). Beyond that, just basic understanding of how to set up the computer and a few basic DAW skills can get you going.

The intention (as I understand it) is to make the Anagram capable of performing NAM captures on it sown (e.g., use it as a USB interface and use its inputs/outputs), which will simplify a lot of captures for things that don't get mic'd up (e.g., your favorite dirt pedal).

 

[MrDinsdale]

What you're describing is an impulse response. I don't believe a NAM captures the sound of a speaker cabinet in a space, only the electrical output of a device. I've never used NAM before, but that's my understanding of it as it compares to IR. If I'm wrong about this, someone please correct me.

NAM can do cabinets too, there's a bunch of full rig captures on tone3000, same goes for the QC etc.

 

[silky smoove]

NAM can do cabinets too, there's a bunch of full rig captures on tone3000, same goes for the QC etc.

Thanks for clarifying. At this point I’m struggling to understand the difference between NAM and IR. Looks like I’ll need to do some digging before my Anagram arrives.

 

[BrianVengeance]

Thanks for clarifying. At this point I’m struggling to understand the difference between NAM and IR. Looks like I’ll need to do some digging before my Anagram arrives.

You’re not far off - IRs work they way you’ve described. Their goal is to capture how something sounds in a given space when passed through given system (e.g., an amp, cab, microphone, preamps). A snapshot, as it were.

NAMs model behavior - given an input, it will produce an output along the lines of what it has been taught.

Think of an edge of breakup overdrive where light touches yield clean tones, but heavier handling brings on a little bit of dirt. An IR would apply the same treatment regardless of the input, whereas the NAM knows that a light touch means to apply less gain and a heavier hit means to bring on the dirts.

By way of metaphor, an IR is like a still photograph. A neural amp model is more like a director on set creating a movie.

 

[Barticus]

I’ve shared my comments with Tone3000 support, here’s the answer:

So I’m new to the whole NAM thing and learning a ton through this thread and others.

So if I understand this, Tone3000 is a sharing site where anyone can upload captures?
Is there also a specific device associated with Tone3000?
What device are you using that leverages the captures from them?

 

[gtirard]

So I’m new to the whole NAM thing and learning a ton through this thread and others.

So if I understand this, Tone3000 is a sharing site where anyone can upload captures?
Is there also a specific device associated with Tone3000?
What device are you using that leverages the captures from them?

NAM is a free and open source solution to make amp and pedal captures.

If you have a computer you don't need a specific hardware to make a model: just record a clean and a wet files and upload them to Tone3000 or do the conversion on your computer directly (it's a long process)

You get a ".nam" file: it's a capture of your pedal, amp, or full pedalboard. It is considered today like the best sounding solution to make a digital clone of a physical device. It responds perfectly to the playing dynamics, just like the real amp or pedal. Basically if you do a blind test between the real amp and the nam file, you won't be able to tell the difference. But it's a snapshot of the pedal or amp with all the specific settings (gain, EQ etc.) when you made the capture. You can make several captures of the same pedal and amp with different settings, but it will not give you the intermediate settings between each snapshot (at least for now, this may change in the future, like with Kemper's "elastic profiling").

So you've got this .nam file which is a digital snapshot of a pedal and amp, how to you use it? You can use it on a computer, there's a free and open source plugin you can use in your DAW. That's what I'm using, for recording and mixing.

I haven't bought the Anagram yet, although I think it's the perfect pedal today (I've dreamed about it for a long time) in term of user interface and performances, because of its price and because I have 3 amps that I love already and Iove using them. But I've been passionate by the technology since it started to emerge a few years ago (and I was already following MOD devices, when they were making the MOD Duo and the Dwarf, the ancestor of the Anagram, even before NAM existed)

Also, an increasing number of pedals have a NAM player, including the Anagram. Anagram is the best NAM player right now, but there are more affordable solutions, including a $80 pedal. Some pedal are only NAM loaders, others like the Anagram offer a NAM player on top of other blocks like the Anagram.

I made a specific thread regarding NAM, because the technology is not only related to the Anagram, but I admit there is more discussion about NAM here than on that thread.

Tone3000 is a platform for sharing NAM profiles, but also Aida-X (equivalent of Nam but for lower CPU intensive devices), and Impulse Responses (IRs).

 

[pfschim]

well, I went ahead and "bought" an Anagram from Sweetwater (placed an order anyway ) They are saying "June" delivery, so we'll see how that goes.

while I wait, I'm still very interested to hear from any of you using a tube DI on the end of the signal chain (like @IvanBassist ). I'd love to know if adding a tube output adds anything great to the Anagram.

 

[silky smoove]

well, I went ahead and "bought" an Anagram from Sweetwater (placed an order anyway ) They are saying "June" delivery, so we'll see how that goes.

I spoke with my Sweetwater rep earlier today and he said mine should ship out next week. Fingers crossed.

 

[Taustin Powers]

This may be a stupid question, but can you use the Anagram in place of a preamp? Hook it up directly to a poweramp, or into the effects return of another bass amp?

 

[kombinateur]

Can someone please tell me if looper in Anagram supports recording multiple loops? I use Ditto+ with this function on my pedalboard and it allows me to record an idea at any time and later transfer it to the computer. It actually works like a constantly ready recorder. I'm considering the Anagram, and if it had this feature built in, that would be another plus.

 

[geowis]

This may be a stupid question, but can you use the Anagram in place of a preamp? Hook it up directly to a poweramp, or into the effects return of another bass amp?

Yes, that’s how I am using it.

 

[Mojo34]

The two Anagram discussions are fascinating, and certainly providing tons of useful information. Is there any way to merge the two threads so we wouldn't have to keep checking both? I absolutely LOVE the fact that this high-end pedal is designed for bass, and had been considering a Quad Cortex...

 

[geowis]

There's a new update available, Version 5.6.0

 

[viobass]

This may be a stupid question, but can you use the Anagram in place of a preamp? Hook it up directly to a poweramp, or into the effects return of another bass amp?

This is how I am using it as well. I'm plugging it into the effects return of my bass amp.

 

[Barticus]

Yes, that’s how I am using it.

Same here

 

[Barticus]

The two Anagram discussions are fascinating, and certainly providing tons of useful information. Is there any way to merge the two threads so we wouldn't have to keep checking both? I absolutely LOVE the fact that this high-end pedal is designed for bass, and had been considering a Quad Cortex...

Yep that’s why many of us questioned why we would start another thread just for the sake of a club since this discussion is so rich.

Maybe @BrianVengeance can look into asking the mods to combine the threads since he started the other one after this thread was many pages deep??

 

[gtirard]

Yep that’s why many of us questioned why we would start another thread just for the sake of a club since this discussion is so rich.

Maybe @BrianVengeance can look into asking the mods to combine the threads since he started the other one after this thread was many pages deep??

I doubt the moderators can technically merge the content of 2 threads (I'm a web designer pro).

But, a mod could rename this one (for example "Darkglass Anagram main thread" or wathever), and close the other one (if @BrianVengeance agrees). The other thread would end by a link to this one, to continue the conversation.

Then, the members who wrote the most interesting contributions in the other thread could probably copy them into this one.

I think that would be the most realistic way to simplify everybody's life, a kind of compromise.

 

[BrianVengeance]

If folks are fine with this one taking on the "club stuff" I can just post numbers here instead and ask that the other one be deleted or archived - I had initially hoped to not clutter this one with fluff, but don't have any real religion around it.

 

[gtirard]

If folks are fine with this one taking on the "club stuff" I can just post numbers here instead and ask that the other one be deleted or archived - I had initially hoped to not clutter this one with fluff, but don't have any real religion around it.

Let's create a third thread with a poll in order to see what everybody thinks