Native Instruments GUITAR RIG 3 Software Edition Reviews

[brandondrury]

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Native Instruments GUITAR RIG 3 Software Edition Description
GUITAR RIG 3 lets you get a combination of stacks, cabs, and effects you can always rely on without ever leaving your home. If you're looking for the sound of vintage cabs and amps for your bass or guitar but don't have the time or money to go searching the local equipment stores Native Instruments Guitar Rig can set you up and help you avoid what may possibly be unreliable used equipment. The new version of this popular software delivers 12 amps, 17 guitar and 6 bass amps, 4 rotary speakers, and 9 microphones with adjustable positioning and 44 effects via your computer.

Four of the new amp models worth mentioning are the Ultrasonic, Citrus, High White, and the Tweed Delight. Ultrasonic is a two-channel amp with a more modern sound, ultra-high gain, and a range in tonal qualities from clean to extreme metal. Citrus gives you the sound of the 70s, British invasion-style, offering full, **** sounds to "granular" distortion. The virtual 100 watts of the High White will have you playing in the sonic vein of David Gilmour (Pink Floyd), Pete Townsend (The Who), and other British lead guitar stalwarts. The delight of Tweed Delight is it's simplicity. Despite having only three knobs, this amp, inspired by an American legend, runs the gamut from glass-clear to wailing blues.

The six new effects you 'll get are Sledge Hammer, a hammering overdrive/distortion-effect; Ring Modulator for the classic Ring-Mod effect; a Custom EQ and Vintage EQ; RealWah which emulates a modern wah-wah pedal; TapeEcho which gives your sound that left-field, outer space feel; and Delay Man, a delay effect with built-in chorus and vibrato. There's still 38 more time-based, modulation, distortion, overdrive, filter, and volume effects to play with, as well as a split module, crossover mix devices. You also get five modulators, a loop machine, and virtual tapedecks for helping you work on song ideas.

An on-board studio-quality soundcard routes the signal to your speakers where the drag-and-drop rack format and enhanced preset management system allows you to discover what combination works best for your sonic needs. There's no sound engineering experience necessary. This latest offering of GUITAR RIG comes with a "Matched Cabinet" feature that offers tried-and-true, classic combinations of amps and cabinets to make finding that "one sound" stress-free. The software's Dynamic Tube Response Technology recreates the various amps, cabs, mics, and effects in exacting detail, delivering perfect custom tone in seconds.

[Metaltyme]

Quote:
Originally Posted by fortyseven
"Its all about opinion and personal taste in the end. Ive used Revalver MkII and MkIII, however I got my hands on Guitar Rig 3 and comparing the two, in my opinion, Guitar Rig kicks way more ass than Revalver could ever dream of. I also find Guitar Rig more user friendly and easier to record."

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I second this...I've tried Revalver MkIII and Guitar Rig 3 at a buddy's house who owns both software modellers when I was shopping around. I actually spent most of that day comparing both of these programs a/b style and fell in love with Guitar Rig 3. The sounds of both were pretty impressive, but I was able to come up with a little more authenticity in the tube-type sounds with Guitar Rig 3...it really boils down to using the tools within the app to custom-build your own sounds. Guitar Rig 3 seems a little more user friendly in this aspect. I'm sure, with the two apps, one can create comparable, like tones. But seems to me that it's easier and quicker to get there with Guitar Rig 3. So, that's what I went with. I guess it boils down to personal preference though.

[TonyB]

Quality: 10
I never used Revalver MkII and MkIII. Guitar Rig LE came with my upgrad to Sonar Producer 8. I started using it to see what it can do and was very impressed. So impressed that I went ahead and purchased Guitar Rig 3.

While I'm not ready to give up my real Fender Strat, Les Paul, and Marhall amps, Guitar Rig 3 comes in handy when recording alot of the young bands who come in and expect it (just like they expect Autotune).

I should know. My sons' band doesn't work with real instruments, except for the drums (although the Kick and Snare are supplemented with Drumagog). So to get a real instrument guitar sound, Guitar Rig 3 works the magic.


Reliability: 10

I haven't had any problems with it. The only negative side is that IT IS A RESOURCE HOG! If you use three instantiations of it in a song, then your Intel Duo Core CPU will come to a grinding halt. I used it on a song: one for lead guitar, one for rhythm guitar, and one for the bass. Guitar Rig 3 has some good bass simulations as well.

Overall Rating: 10

I definitely recommend it to be included in your bag of tools.

[uab9253]

I noticed the same CPU usage with Line6 Gearbox and POD Farm. After about three tracks with it, I have to freeze them to keep from frying my CPU

[kerman]

yeah guitar rig 3 is great, but it's slow on start, high cpu usage... they have to optimize this, because other plugins like amplitube starts quickly and don't use so much cpu as guitar rig!

[orb451]

Hey guys, I too use Guitar Rig 3 and agree that it's a CPU & RAM whore. I find I get the best sounds from it by using it ONLY for amp modeling. In Cubase LE 4 I start with a blank In/Out and just add whatever amp model I'm shooting for in GR3. Then I disable the cabinet altogether so I've got just the amp head running. On that track I'll then add another insert effect like Voxengo's Boogex and use an IR file. And then for delays, reverbs, etc I just have separate FX tracks which I send the original GR3 track to.

Works pretty well for me that way.

orb.........

[millionvalve]

In my experience, Guitar Rig 3 is very economical to run, both in and of itself and as compared to Amplitube 2 as inserts in Live 6.

I have run the Revalver MkIII (stand alone/demo) mode on and off for several months, so I can't compare it to the others in Live, but it *seems* a little hungry--but that's just an impression I've gotten and I don't remember why (been a while since I ran it).

I run a Mac (dual 2.7G PPC, 4G RAM) and record using Live 6--frequently Re-Wired to Reason. (I pretty much gave up on Cubase SX several years ago, though I still use it very occasionally.)

It's also worth noting that Guitar Rig is (and has always been, v.1 thru .3) much more stable than Amplitube (1 &2). Guitar Rig has *never* crashed Live, but Amplitube does on occasion (say 2 to 5% of the time).

Bottom line is: you can't really lose with any of them, and like anything else, and they all have certain strengths and weaknesses.

I will post more in-depth thoughts in the near future.

I hope this helps and adds to the discussion!

BTW, on top of the many amps I have tested, tried, auditioned, and borrowed over the years, I have owned Solid State amps (Peavey, Dean Markley, Roland JC-120), and my current amps are tube: a THD Flexi-50 (Holy God this is a gorgeous amp), and a reissue VOX AC30cc2; both are run thru the VOX cabinet, but with replacement speakers: one THD Longhorn and one THD Classic.

[mjaquiery]

Dont complain about Guitar rig hogging CPU. It hogs for a reason... beacause its a beast! It delivers the highest quality of sounds because it is a beast.... because it requires a lot of CPU. If it didn't require a lot, quality would be sacrificed... Quality or quantity, i know what i'd prefer and if it was the latter, then I would be running amplitude.

[eduardoxm]

guitar rig III is awesome. but if you have a slow machine, forget about the live play with no lag.