Goodbye Helix Native.... Hello Neural DSP

PC_Dave

As per another thread on here, some people have been using the offerings from Neural DSP for virtual amps/plugins. I've been looking at them for a while, but nothing really appealed to me, but yesterday I saw the video Rabea and Danish Pete did for Archetype: Cory Wong. It sounded really good, so I had a look on the website and there is a 14 day free trial. Downloaded it, and BANG - that's all folks! It sounds absolutely incredible!! Of course there isn't as much choice in the way of amps/cabs and effects, but what there is just simply blew me away. I find myself using the same patch in Native anyway, which is a nice clean amp, several overdrives, some reverb and delays, and that is exactly what is offered with this software. The feel of the amp sims is the closest I've experienced to the real thing, and the ease of use and software interface have sold it to me. There is the option of loading your own IR's if that's what you need as well.

It's currently on offer for £87, and that will be money well spent in my opinion!

Stevepage

I love it, I found it much easier to use than Native too. Also love that you can use it as a standalone option too, just for jamming and not recording.

PC_Dave

Stevepage said:

I love it, I found it much easier to use than Native too. Also love that you can use it as a standalone option too, just for jamming and not recording.

Yeah absolutely! I used S Gear for ages and the standalone option was a great feature. I like Native, but it's just fiddly and nowhere near as easy to fire up as the Neural stuff. 

I'm even considering their modeller unit..... Bit spendy though.

fretmeister

And when the Neural Quad Cortex comes along... they are planning (not at launch, but later) that the plugins will be loadable into the QC by anyone who has already bought the plugins.

If that works as planned, then I may well have to get one.

jollygreengiant

I've downloaded the 14 day free trial of the Plini version after the positive reviews in the other thread.

Fantastic bit of software and much prefer it to helix and axe fx through the pc.

Minimal mucking about and really easy to get a great tone quickly.

PC_Dave

jollygreengiant said:

I've downloaded the 14 day free trial of the Plini version after the positive reviews in the other thread.

Fantastic bit of software and much prefer it to helix and axe fx through the pc.

Minimal mucking about and really easy to get a great tone quickly.

This is exactly it for me - just plugged in, and all the defaults and presets sound epic right off the bat. 

digitalkettle

I've just had a run through the 'Cory Wong' presets and I'm a bit underwhelmed (a couple of Rabea's sounded good). They certainly didn't have the effect that Plini had on me...that said, with Plini, I pretty much disregarded the presets and got straight to tweaking. I'll come back and do the same with CW at the weekend.

FarleyUK

Altered in light of requests...

Yay, go Neural etc.

fretmeister

BBQ rules the world.

fretmeister

Stevepage said:

I love it, I found it much easier to use than Native too. Also love that you can use it as a standalone option too, just for jamming and not recording.

you can do that with Helix - but you either need to launch the DAW or run it in a VST host.

I do wonder why L6 didn't do a standalone. Presumably Neural standalone is actually just  the plugin with a VST host that is active when needed?

Bridgehouse

I hope nobody is encouraging tax fraud here - as that would result in a thread closure, and either editing of posts or deletion.... 

Suggest folk have a review of their posts...

FreddieVanHalen

Does anyone know if there is a way of getting the Neural stuff more affordably, i.e. can you buy the whole lot as a suite or something?

I've got the UAD stuff and basically just wait until they do their holiday or annual sales - does Neural do similar?

Thanks!

fretmeister

Neural do sales every now and again. 20% off has been common in the past.

Once a year or so I think.

PC_Dave

Yep - they offered a bundle or 20% off a select few plugins the day after I bought two at full price....

FreddieVanHalen

PC_Dave said:

Yep - they offered a bundle or 20% off a select few plugins the day after I bought two at full price....

Aargh! I’ll definitely wait until the next sale then.

PonchoGreg

I really liked the Cory Wong standalone during the trial (very good for bass too). Great tones and the interface is excellent.

Sticking to s-gear for now but I must say the UX on the neural one made me think hard about switching...

digitalkettle

I've got Plini...it's pretty greedy.

FarleyUK

I've purchased Plini and Fortin Cali... and I've got to say, I'm not getting on with them. Seems to be either clean or full-on gain. I'm obviously not doing something correctly, but it's really fizzy as well

Oh well, back to the Kemper it is. At least I can use the plugins with the Quad Cortex when it's updated.

digitalkettle

FarleyUK said:

I've purchased Plini and Fortin Cali... and I've got to say, I'm not getting on with them. Seems to be either clean or full-on gain. I'm obviously not doing something correctly, but it's really fizzy as well

Surprised to hear that...I live on the middle amp in Plini: stomp on for moar, volume backed-off for clean-up...seems pretty responsive. I barely touch the eq or speaker sections.

PC_Dave

digitalkettle said:

FarleyUK said:

I've purchased Plini and Fortin Cali... and I've got to say, I'm not getting on with them. Seems to be either clean or full-on gain. I'm obviously not doing something correctly, but it's really fizzy as well

Surprised to hear that...I live on the middle amp in Plini: stomp on for moar, volume backed-off for clean-up...seems pretty responsive. I barely touch the eq or speaker sections.

Same as this - to me they're so responsive and "amp-like" it's amazing. Really enjoyed how good they sounded without actually having to do anything.