Skip to content

Blackaddr Audio

digital solutions for studio and stage

  • Products
  • Articles
  • Blog
  • Github
  • About Us
  • Contact
Expression pedal with Amplitube

Expression Pedals – Way More Than Just a Wah

February 10, 2017February 10, 2017 by Blackaddr
Blackaddr
Expression Pedals - Way More Than Just a Wah When you start getting into digital modelling of amps and effects, you will likely want to interact with them in the same way you would with conventional gear. That means stomp switches on the floor, knobs for tweaking parameters, and for…
Continue Reading
Man In The Box Signal Chain

Live Sound – Man In The Box

January 13, 2017January 15, 2017 by Blackaddr
Blackaddr
Live Sound - Man In The Box Welcome to the first Blackaddr Audio blog post! This post complements our first article. Software rigs let you do things that are impossible with conventional gear. An example is what I call Creative Dynamics. This means using MIDI to create the sound of…
Continue Reading
Blackaddr Audio ©2017
  • About Us
  • Articles
  • Blog
  • Build a LIVE Software Rig
    • Build a LIVE Software RIG Part2
  • Contact
  • Expression Pedal – Repair and Mods (M-Audio EX-P)
  • Landing Page
  • Past Products
  • Products
  • Signup
  • Sound Samples

Design by Smartcat
Digital Modeling Software

If you’ve got stand-alone modelling hardware, like a DSP-enabled amp or FX processor, then you probably have limited ability to change or upgrade the software running on your hardware. If you using a laptop or tablet for as your processing hardware, you have a massive amount of choice for software. Digital modeling software is often provided as both stand-alone (a single program) and as an audio plugin which you load in a host program. When running a stand-alone program, you are limited to what is available in that single program.

By selecting a plugin host, you have the freedom to mix and match models from different plugin algorithms (both free and paid for) and have access to utility and convenience plugins as well such as audio routing tasks and controlling external devices.

Digital Modeling Hardware

Digital modeling will always need some kind of hardware to run the modeling algorithms. If you’re using stand-alone hardware like a digital amp or FX-processor with built in models, you get the benefits of ruggedness and reliability from a self-contained purpose-built product, with commercial support. In exchange for that, you typically pay a higher overall price and have limited upgradability.

When running software based modelling, you typically buy a laptop or tablet and have complete control over what algorithms you run and have a wide selection of both free and paid-for software products. You also need an audio interface to get quality sound in and out of the device. A MIDI Foot Controller is highly recommended so you can interact with your digital gear just like real amps and pedals. In exchange for a significantly lower cost and complete freedom over algorithms and upgrades, you will invest more effort in getting everything working just the way you want it.

Tips and Tricks

Getting the tone you want from a digitally modelled amp or effect is easier than you think because you already know the process! When trying out a real pedal or amp for the first time, not every setting will sound good. You probably start with the knobs at zero or the middle and make small adjustments to start moving in the tonal direction you want. Within a few minutes, you’ll know whether this might be what you’re looking for, or it’s time to move on to something else.

You wouldn’t plug into a real amp, play for 5 seconds using whatever the knobs happen to be set at, and judge it as crap then move to another amp. This strategy will likely result in you judging every amp ‘sounds like crap’. Yet, this is what we have a tendency to do when auditioning digital because it’s so each to click a button and instantly have a new amp loaded.

Approach virtual gear with the same method and patience when you try real gear and you’ll get much better results.

Got MIDI?

MIDI has been around for decades and seen many uses across the sound industry. While commonly known for representing musical notes digitally (such as with digital pianos and synthesizers) it also has the capability for controlling hardware and software. A MIDI Foot Controller is an ideal piece of hardware for controlling digitally modeled effects and amps. It can translate the action of stomp switches, turning knobs and expression pedals movements into MIDI codes that adjust the parameters of your modeled gear. In a nutshell, it gives you a real switch or a real knob to interact which in turn drives the virtual control.