Product: Native Instruments Guitar Combos VST
Price Paid: US $150
Submitted
04/03/2006
at
10:10pm
by
Adam
Reviewer Background
:
Been playing for 9 years, recording for 8. This is the most current version as of Spring 2006. I use it both as a plugin and as a VST for Cubase SX. My computer is rather humble -- 2.7 GHz processor, 256 megs of RAM. I did crank up the virtual memory, and I'm running the KX with its associated ASIO drivers (it turns a so-so Soundblaster Live into a really nice sound card -- that's crazy Russian technology). It seems to be running just fine.
Generally I listen through headphones, sometimes via speakers. Blah blah.
Ease of Use
:
9
The interface is dead simple. Three amps, each amp with a few extra effects.
Sounds/Sound Quality
:
10
My two favorites are the Marshall (Plexi) and the Fender (Twang). The Vox is too noisy for me. Installing it was easy. Great sounds right off the bat, and easy to create your own presets. I'm playing a Fender Tele and Strat through some stomp boxes, into the computer. The Big Muff, the Rat, Tube Screamer the CE-1 Chorus Ensemble, Delay and Spring Reverb are all fantastic -- the only problem being the Muff, Rat and Delay are stuck in the Marshall, and the CE-1 and spring verb are stuck in the Fender. I guess that's where you are motivated to buy Guitar Rig 2. Anyway, this thing has some fantastic tones, very realistic. I was surprised -- I always expected these kind of things to sound like crap, but I was wrong. Gorgeous tones abound. The price isn't bad either.
The presets are mostly pretty good -- you will want to tweak them of course, and add your own.
Overall Rating
:
10
This was definitely worth the money -- much easier than miking a real tube amp, and I think the sound is comparable. Some of the high gain sounds are a bit noisy, but the noise reduction is effective. I would definitely buy this again.
Product: Native Instruments Guitar Combos VST
Price Paid: US NFR
Submitted
08/10/2005
at
06:37am
by
Scoops
Reviewer Background
:
I've been playing musical instruments for 40 years. I stared on violin as a youngster, then move to guitar, bass, piano, and even a little banjo.
I am using Guitar Combos as a VST plug in Mackies Traktion2. I have a P4 3.0Ghz, Gig of ram, and 2 SATA 7200rpm hard drives, XPsp2+. I use a Mackie Onyx with the firewire option, allowing me to record directly from my board straight to the computer. My monitors are Events 20/20bas
Ease of Use
:
10
The interface is extremely easy to use. I had no problems registering it. Automation and midi control within Traktion is available. It's pretty easy to get a good sound out of this software. It's so easy to use, the manual is almost unnecessary.
Sounds/Sound Quality
:
9
Again, sounds really good
Overall Rating
:
2
As good as it sounds, it's a real CPU hog. If I have a song with three instances in it, it will bring my computer to it's knees. If I have a project with Reaktor, Battery, Kontakt, and Guitar Combo's, Forget it!!!
With Amplitube, I can put in 10 instances before I start seeing any degridation in CPU performance. I had downloaded the Demo's from NI's site before I purchased, and I did notice the CPU hit, but with the full version, it seems worse
Because I got this on an NFR, I suppose it is worth it. If I paid retail, I think I would be dissappointed.
Will I be able to make use of it? Sure, as long as I use it sparingly. It does compliment my other plugs well.
