Recently it seems that the way to sell music recording software is to add stuff for guitarists. Before that it was pianos, before that drum samples and before that as many synths as possible. At this moment in time, right now, it must be guitarists that need to buy DAWs!

Digi added their cut down Eleven version to Pro Tools bundles. Apple recently added their take for their Logic 9 release. Cakewalk’s Sonar had already come bundled with a cut down Revalver since version 2 (I think) and now comes with a cut down Native Instruments Guitar Rig LE. And now enter VST Amp Rack, Steinberg’s effort to give a recording musician a one stop solution bundled with the DAW software.

As I recently upgraded to Cubase 6 I thought it might be useful to do a quick review for guitarists. After all, this isn’t something you can simply pop to the shop and buy on it’s own. You have to buy Cubase to get it. So if you’re thinking of getting Cubase and you’re curious about the VST Amp Rack, read on!

Overview
Using VST Amp Rack is a total breeze. It follows the paradigm set by the majority of other guitar software products out there. Amps, cabs, pre-effects, post-effects, miking etc. are all on their own pages and you select what you want by clicking on the picture of what looks like what you have in mind. It really couldn’t be any simpler! Even us guitarists understand. I guess that was the idea. I’ll do a quick rundown of each section.

Pre-Effects

This is where you’ll add up to 6 of the included 12 stomp effects. You can order them however you like. If you do happen to use up all the slots with effects that have bigger graphics the far right effect can get hidden outside of the window so you can’t adjust it’s parameters. Or I just haven’t found out how to scroll the window.

Amps
VST Amp Rack provides seven amp models. And, these are of course seven of the go-to amps that have proven to be hugely popular throughout the last 50 years or so. A little feature I stumbled on that I really liked is that when you set up an amp tone stack and switch to another it remembers what you have on each amp. That is cool.

Cabinets
There are 6 cabinets which match up with the amp models. You can mix and match amp and cabinet however you like or link them together so they always match up.

Post-Effects
This is the same as the pre-effect section but comes after the pre-amp and cabinet modelling stages.

Microphone Position

There are seven of the most commonly used mic positions and you can choose between condenser or dynamic microphone configurations. Or, alternatively you can blend between those two mic types to find somewhere sweet in the middle.

So come on, how does it sound?!
I’m pretty difficult to please in the digital domain. If there’s something crappy to be found in amp models I will definitely root it out very, very quickly indeed. I have been pleasantly very surprised with just how much effort Steinberg must have put into the VST Amp Rack.

The models are, to my ears, quite convincing and definitely have bundles of the character you want to hear from these amps. They are nice and crisp right the way up the spectrum and have plenty oomph where you need it. This isn’t just a “quick, throw an amp model together” type scenario, they really have worked hard and the results are pretty impressive indeed.

The stomp effects are definitely good but for me appear functional rather than inspirational. To us guitarists the idea of stomping into our chain elevates us into nirvana, we have high expectations and whilst these stomps are good they won’t be sending us into ecstasy. The flanger and chorus are sweet, the tape delay is nice and it’s great they added a ducking tape delay.

However, Cubase does come with plenty of other effects apart from VST Amp Rack. I definitely had more fun inserting other effects from the Cubase bundle, such as the amazing Mod Machine. Now that was a lot of fun! Maybe version 2 will add a bit of sparkle to the effects selection.

What I am really very impressed with is the microphone section. Whilst it isn’t as feature rich as other software may be the impulses used here are really good. When moving to different mic positions I get exactly what I’m hearing in my minds ear before switching. It’s good enough to confuse me into thinking I am moving a real microphone around. And that speaks volume when you consider how much I dislike speaker emulation! As with all other modelling software the speaker sims do sound stiff and lack a lot of the active dynamic feedback a real speaker adds but these really do sound very, very good indeed.

Overall
Steinberg have done a very good job with VST Amp Rack. It sounds as good, sometimes better, than anything else out on the market, it’s very simple to use and it’s pretty CPU efficient. The amp models are good and the mic positions sound awesome. Overall this first iteration of VST Amp Rack is impressive and has amazing potential.

On the downside it is lacking some “magic sparkle”. That little razzle dazzle that gets us all excited about guitar rigs is missing. And that’s a shame. Alternative products do have plenty of that magic dust on offer for VST Amp Rack to genuinely be a one stop solution.

What if you have already spent your cash on one of the big boys then where does VST Amp Rack fit into your world? In all honesty, it can and will sound better some of the time! Steinberg really have put the hours in to deliver these impressive sounds.

Will it replace said other product? Not with this version but if Steinberg continue to develop this, potentially, it actually could!

Have a nice weekend,
Paul.