These days the amount of software out there for guitarists is pretty mind boggling.
The variety in sound and the varying cost can make it pretty difficult to decide what is right for you and your setup.
There are decisions to make when it comes to choosing what you want.
It cand come down to space, cost and reliability.
The free effects available here are all well and good and most of them are really good.
But they don’t have the power or support that the big boys have – and I’m sorry to say they just can’t compete.
If you’re a novice do you really want to or have the patience to mess around with your pc or would you rather spend money and have an instant, plug and play system?
In these articles I’m going to run through some of the commercial software available, the relative interfaces or alternative interfaces and the idea of using hardware instead.
——-
Native Instruments – Guitar Rig
Guitar Rig is probably the most well known, and it is expensive but is it? Native Instruments have developed this great software to be practically faultless – lets’ be fair with stuff like this you get what you pay for.
And Guitar Rig is cool – really cool.
And now they’ve taken into account the budget market with their Guitar Rig Mobile.
The nice thing about Guitar Rig is that it has always tried to keep it;s roots with the guitarist by having foot switch controllers. And it works great.
I’ll be honest I’ve only tried the foot rack once before and yeah its good it works, much like most midi based foot pedal switch controllers.
Not really the best judge – I have a rack unit that I use all the time – foot switches tend to break because I’m heavy footed – and if your the same maybe you should give it a miss and stick to the software.
That said it was a while ago that I tried that out – best to get down to your local store and try one out.
As with anything like this you’ve got to investigate what your looking at, make sure it will work on your system.
Read reviews, forums and other articles.
You’re always going to get conflicting views on this kind of thing so it’s best to way up the pros and cons.
And be sensible – do you really need it – do you need both the controller and the software?
Are you looking at just the interface? If so can you cope with just the light version of the software?
Answer these questions before you part with your cash.
Below are some examples of Guitar Rig Products available in the USA and UK
NI GUITAR-RIG-3 Guitar Amp / FX Modeling Software $299.99 @ Guitar Trader
Complete Software Equipment to Produce High-end Guitar and Bass Tones
Treat your studio to the ultimate solution for creating perfect guitar and bass tones- at an unbeatable price. GUITAR RIG 3 Software Edition contains all the features and functionality of the GUITAR RIG 3 Kontrol Edition, with the exception of the Rig Kontrol foot pedal. Now featuring authentic emulations of 12 amps, 17 guitar and 6 bass cabinets, four rotary speakers, nine microphones and 44 effects – the multi award-winning guitar studio sets the tone for excellence.
Top Features
* Twelve supreme-sounding guitar and bass amps, all perfectly emulated in stunning detail
* New matched cabinet module provides tried and true classic sounds in seconds
* 44 effects: meticulously modelled stomp boxes, distortion and volume pedals, as well as other popular units
* 18 guitar and six bass cabinets, four rotary speakers and nine microphones – all based on popular vintage gear
* Highly flexible, intuitive and easy-to-use “rack“ concept with drag & drop operation
* Intelligent preset management for fast access to a huge selection of ready-to-play sounds for all styles
* Essential tools: Integrated tuner, metronome and two tapedeck modules for easy recording
* Premium special features include a loop machine for on-the-fly jamming, plus modifiers such as LFOs, step sequencers, envelope followers and multi-step envelopes for dynamic signal modulation
* Dedicated “Live View”for instant parameter assignment overview
* Dynamic Tube Response Technology® delivers a profound sonic quality
NI GUITAR-RIG-3-K Guitar Software with Controller$499 @ Guitar Trader
NI GUITAR-RIG-3-K Guitar Software with Controller £333 @ Dolphin Music
NI GUITAR-RIG-SESSION Software W/ Audio Interface $199
Native Instruments GUITAR RIG 3 KONTROL Edition Standard $399
Native Instruments GUITAR RIG MOBILE Audio Interface $99
Native Instruments Guitar Rig Mobile £80