Nam: Neural network emulator for guitar amplifiers
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Re: Nam: Neural network emulator for guitar amplifiers
#2The amplifier models are put to use with https://github.com/sdatkinson/NeuralAmpModelerPlugin, which links to videos of demos: https://www.youtube.com/user/RunawayThumbtack
It's still pretty unclear to me what it can and can't do.
Re: Nam: Neural network emulator for guitar amplifiers
#3Is there an explanation of what this is, what problems it solves, etc?
Re: Nam: Neural network emulator for guitar amplifiers
#4Is there an explanation of what this is, what problems it solves, etc?
My understanding is that this is software using neural networks that can be trained to emulate any kind of guitar amplifier.
For a few decades now it has become popular to use software or electronics to emulate classic guitar amplifiers rather than having to own all the various large and expensive (and generally tube-based) guitar amplifiers of yore.
I believe this YouTube video is showing you how to use it:
https://www.youtube.com/live/KHIORngbzJE?feature=share&t=673
Another: https://youtu.be/PjgrYB-EPbE
This guy compares an actual amp with ToneX (a commercial amp modeler) and NAM:
Re: Nam: Neural network emulator for guitar amplifiers
#5Is there an explanation of what this is, what problems it solves, etc?
NAM lets you essentially copy the sound/tone of a guitar pedal (no time based effects like reverb) or guitar amplifier. This means I can share a copy of my $3500 amp to people for free.
Before this and a paid product called Tonex came out, it cost $1500+ to “profile”/copy digitally a guitar amp. The price floor for this stuff just became $0-400 depending on what solution you go with and what gear you have.
This will be highly disruptive to the market. People can also clone paid plugins with this software and share it on Facebook. This is like when mp3s came out, but for guitar gear.
Re: Nam: Neural network emulator for guitar amplifiers
#6Is there an explanation of what this is, what problems it solves, etc?
NAM lets you essentially copy the sound/tone of a guitar pedal (no time based effects like reverb) or guitar amplifier. This means I can share a copy of my $3500 amp to people for free. Before this and a paid product called Tonex came out, it cost $1500+ to “profile”/copy digitally a guitar amp. The price floor for this stuff just became $0-400 depending on what solution you go with and what gear you have. This will…
Is it fair to say this clones a device with one specific set of knob positions? So if I want to clone a 5 knob fuzz pedal in every possible setting, that’s a lot of cloning to do? I may have misunderstood.
Re: Nam: Neural network emulator for guitar amplifiers
#7Is there an explanation of what this is, what problems it solves, etc?
My understanding is that this is software using neural networks that can be trained to emulate any kind of guitar amplifier. For a few decades now it has become popular to use software or electronics to emulate classic guitar amplifiers rather than having to own all the various large and expensive (and generally tube-based) guitar amplifiers of yore. I believe this YouTube video is showing you how to use it: https://…
This is phenomenal. Thank you for the links with time stamps.
Re: Nam: Neural network emulator for guitar amplifiers
#8Earlier quoted context omitted.
NAM lets you essentially copy the sound/tone of a guitar pedal (no time based effects like reverb) or guitar amplifier. This means I can share a copy of my $3500 amp to people for free. Before this and a paid product called Tonex came out, it cost $1500+ to “profile”/copy digitally a guitar amp. The price floor for this stuff just became $0-400 depending on what solution you go with and what gear you have. This will…
Is it fair to say this clones a device with one specific set of knob positions? So if I want to clone a 5 knob fuzz pedal in every possible setting, that’s a lot of cloning to do? I may have misunderstood.
You understand correctly. All of the amp modeling and virtual analog stuff is still fairly limited and they largely focus on getting the stereotypical sounds of the source, not the full range. Modeling things more fully is not difficult but it is very processor intensive, many spice programs can do it quite well but are far from real time. So simple analog amp modelers like the sans-amp offerings still out perform the digital emulations in some ways, they might not be as accurate but they tend to be more versatile, which is best depends on what you are after.
I have been on again off again doing a fairly intensive write up on this topic going into all the technical details (primarily the hardware side) complete with a fairly full featured/accurate digital recreation of the original MiniMoog VCF in PureData but it is not exactly a priority and progress on that is rather slow.
Edit: I should mention that despite the models not providing the full range of the source they still do provide a full range of their own. You still have your volume and tone controls but they operate on the model, they are not part of the model. They have gotten fairly good at faking things and the tone controls do not sound so much like post recording EQ like they did in the early modeling amps but they also do not interact with the sound like they do in the real amps where changing the bass level does not only change the bass but also affects the gain/distortion/frequency characteristics of the tubes on either side of it as well.
Re: Nam: Neural network emulator for guitar amplifiers
#9This is cool, it's a little bit "batteries not included" so you need to get some Models for the amp part: https://github.com/pelennor2170/NAM_models and some Impulse Responses (IR files) for the cabinet emulation.
When you put them together you can get some good results, maybe a little bit noisy.
The important part is trying to develop a library of models for plugins to share and when paired with libraries of impulse responses and other FX you can build up common guitar tones. It's not especially user friendly, which is what you pay for with other commercial plugins
Re: Nam: Neural network emulator for guitar amplifiers
#10Earlier quoted context omitted.
NAM lets you essentially copy the sound/tone of a guitar pedal (no time based effects like reverb) or guitar amplifier. This means I can share a copy of my $3500 amp to people for free. Before this and a paid product called Tonex came out, it cost $1500+ to “profile”/copy digitally a guitar amp. The price floor for this stuff just became $0-400 depending on what solution you go with and what gear you have. This will…
Is it fair to say this clones a device with one specific set of knob positions? So if I want to clone a 5 knob fuzz pedal in every possible setting, that’s a lot of cloning to do? I may have misunderstood.
With the Kemper Amp (a profiling amp) it goes through a series of "noises" to get a profile: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iL7tWFhH8E8
But yes, you get the sound of a specific EQ settings.