These four audio files demonstrate various elements of the Cubase VST Amp Rack that are described in the SOS February 2025 Cubase workshop. The examples within each file are described below.
www.soundonsound.com/techniques/cubase-13-clean-guitar-tones-vst-amp-rack
Cubase 13 VST Amp Rack Cleans Audio Example 01.wav
A solo guitar performance inspired by Stevie Ray Vaughan’s ‘Lenny’, with a combination of slowly arpeggiated chords and melodic lead lines. The part makes use of some performance dynamics, with some notes played softly and others somewhat harder. The performance is repeated four times, but using different settings in the VST Amp Rack plug-in, as follows:
- i. The amp, cab and mic settings in first screenshot on the main article are used, but both the Pre-Effects and Post-Effects sections are inactive. The intention is to illustrate how the amp emulation responds to the playing dynamics, with the softer notes sounding clean and those played harder introducing a little overdrive.
- ii. As (i) but with the delay and reverb Post-Effects contributing to a more ‘finished’ tone.
- iii. As in (ii) but with the amp’s Gain control turned down to shift towards a cleaner overall tone — it’s easy to dial in the sound to your personal taste this way.
- iv. As in (ii) but this time with the input level increased prior to the amp stage, so the amp is driven somewhat harder. You can hear an increase in the level of overdrive. An alternative approach is to place an instance of the Overdrive effect in the Pre-Effects section and configure it as a ‘clean boost’ (low Drive and high Level settings) to push the amp’s input a little harder.
Cubase 13 VST Amp Rack Cleans Audio Example 02.wav
This example compares VST Amp Rack with some third-party guitar rig emulation plug-ins. First, you hear the same phase the I used in Audio Example 01 through VST Amp Rack. Then you hear it again, three times, through Native Instruments’ Guitar Rig Pro 7, Line 6’s Helix Native, and Neural DSP’s Morgan Amp Suite (but not necessarily in that order; I’ll let those with guitar ‘golden ears’ see if they can guess!). Do you have a preference? I think the VST Amp Rack tone stands up pretty well against the various alternatives.
Cubase 13 VST Amp Rack Cleans Audio Example 03.wav
This example features the VST Amp Rack settings I used to create a guitar tone inspired by The Edge in U2’s ‘Where The Streets Have No Name’. It features a solo guitar performance containing a combination of rapid arpeggiated chords, similar strummed three- and four-note chords and, finally, similar chords played more aggressively and using some palm muting for a more rhythmic effect. The performance is repeated six times, using different VST Amp Rack settings:
- i. The amp, cab and mic settings shown in the main article’s second screenshot the are used, but the Pre- and Post-Effects sections are inactive, to make it easier to hear how the amp emulation responds to the playing dynamics. The response is particularly noticeable towards the end of the performance, where the playing is a little more aggressive.
- ii. As above, but with a compressor in the Pre-Effects section (the Post-Effects section remains bypassed). The change is subtle, but it evens out the performance a little, and adds a touch of sustain to the arpeggiated notes.
- iii. As in (ii) but with an overdrive pedal added in the Pre-Effects section. As you might expect, this adds some overdrive to the overall performance, but the level can be easily controlled by balancing the pedal’s Drive and Level controls.
- iv. As in (ii) but with the overdrive switched off and the first delay pedal (Tape Delay, with quarter-note repeats) in the Post-Effects section, and the reverb also engaged. The addition of this first delay obviously nudges the sound in the required direction.
- v. As in (iv) but with a second delay effect (the Delay pedal using dotted eighth repeats) added to complete the tone.
- vi. As in (v) but with the overdrive pedal added back in for a somewhat more aggressive tone. With the dual delays already creating quite a full/complex sound, it’s easy to push things too far with this setup if you overplay into the various effects.
Cubase 13 VST Amp Rack Cleans Audio Example 04.wav
The final example compares the VST Amp Rack The Edge ‘Streets’ inspired tone with similar tones created using three third-party guitar rig simulation plug-ins. First, you hear the same phase as used in Audio Example 03 through VST Amp Rack, with the two delays but not the additional overdrive. The three subsequent iterations use Native Instruments’ Guitar Rig Pro 7, Line 6’s Helix Native and Neural DSP’s Morgan Amp Suite. Again, they’re necessarily in that order as I want you to focus simply on how the first example compares with the others — feel free to make a personal choice but, again, I’d suggest that the VST Amp Rack does a perfectly good job in this role.