“when you first plugging your jack into your audio interface, you will soon play with a great sound without further tweaks….”
About ten years have passed since the first time I’ve tried my first amp modeling VST. I always dreamt of software capable to reproduce the accurate sound of a real amp. Back then, there were not too many amp modeling VST ten years ago and the technology have not matured yet.
Today, the game has changed and you can choose from many selection of amp simulator VST. We have loads of softwares capable to reproduce the sound of vintage amps, stomp effects, or every kind of reverbs that suit your taste with much higher performance than the first batch of amp simulator VSTs I’ve tried 10 years ago.
But how the digital sound of this softwares come close with their analog counterpart? In recent years I have tried most softwares for the reproduction of real amps and effects in my projects. Some of them, have more or less features than the other, but only very few of them performed well from my point of view, and to be honest, the one of the amp simulator that convinced me much than the others, is from the company called Kuassa, Inc, with their software product: AMPLIFIKATION ONE.
FEATURES
Kuassa Amplifikation One are able to reproduce the sound of a real amp very well. Their tones are really clear and powerful. It’s exceptional when it comes to the way they capture the dynamics of a real amplifier, cabinet or distortion. All in a simple but performant interface where you can edit everything for your personal tone. You can choose from 8 head amplifiers (that sounds all brilliant!) and 5 cabinet models with the possibility to use two simultaneously. You also have 5 types of microphones to amplify the cabs with the possibility to adjust the distance between the cab and the microphone in the way you want. A dedicated input and output control for the volume. High quality saturation and output limiter that really works! Amplifikation One supports up to 96.000Hz sample rate, and available for common Operating Systems.
THE INTERFACE
As you can see, the interface is very simple but performant. In the upper part you can choose one of the overdrive effects and adjust the noise-gate. In the middle part, you can choose from one of the 8 amplifiers. My preferred amp was SUNBURST that can reproduce great clean tone. And the exceptional CUSTOM, a fully customizable amp with 3 channels,19 tone stacks and 4 power-amp types. In the lower part you can choose the cabinet, the microphones or a quad impulse loader. If you need only the FXs interface, you can toggle the others with a simple click on the toggle interface that is located in the upper part of the interface. There you can also find the input meter, switches, and the name of the preset that you are using or creating. Clearly each preset can be saved and loaded as you want.
FINAL WORDS
What more to say about this great amp simulator software? Some may complain that there are too few selections of amps, cabinets, and overdrive effects than other competing softwares. But, if you are working in the music industry, do you prefer a program that have few amplifiers that sounds good or a program that have tons of amplifier models? Amplifikation One won’t need that much features since it can reproduce the tone with exceptional quality and every cabinets, amps, overdrives on it are sounded like how it should in the real world. The presets that you will find all great immediately when you first plugging your jack into your audio interface, you will soon play with a great sound without further tweaks.
Kuassa Amplifikation One works well with all common DAWs without problem. If you have some problem with latency, you can always choose the normal quality by turning off the HI-Q button. I have used it for months, and I will suggest everyone to buy it or at least try it first before deciding to buy. I think that is a great amp modeling VST, so I would definitely recommend anyone playing the guitar or recording studios that needs reliable software to simulate guitar miking. I used Amplifikation One extensively in lots of recording sessions, and trust me, this software is remarkably stable!
How much does it costs? Amplifikation One is available for 49.95 USD from their website. Some people may think that 49 dollars is a lot to spend for a VST that not presenting a great range of effects as compared with other softwares of different companies. But I think it’s pretty fair that a great software like this should have a good price range (however, it seemed very affordable and cheaper compared with the quality it has for me). Kuassa, Inc. has definitely creates a huge software for music production.
If you’re still not convinced, why don’t you try? Go check the sound samples on:
kuassa.com/products/amplifikation-one
or
soundcloud.com/ludovico-reale/sets/ludovico-reale-audio-samples/
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