4 ms·

What a clickbait title. Sounds (to whom?) like a $600 (which one?) amp using deep learning (why does it matter?). To expand on this: -$600 tube amp is not de

What a clickbait title. Sounds (to whom?) like a $600 (which one?) amp using deep learning (why does it matter?). To expand on this: -$600 tube amp is not description of a sound. And a plug-in is not something you plug your guitar into to make enough noise for 300 people. "A plug-in sounds like a $600 speaker" makes almost as much sense as the title; by the sound of an amp people often mean the sound of the combo box which houses an amp and a speaker. -If this emulates a particular amp, the title should say which one -If it does a good job at emulating a particular amp, where's the side by side comparison? The video demo only shows the plug-in. -There are plethora of guitar amp plugins. What makes this one any different or better? -What's the significance of deep learning here? Plenty of ways to make this plug-in without deep learning. Why use deep learning? Etc, etc, etc. "An open-source guitar amp VST plug-in made with deep learning" would be a better title, even though the article leaves much to be desired.

sbilstein 6y ago
Don’t know why you are getting downvotes; these are exactly the questions any one with domain knowledge of playing electric guitars would ask.
tgv 6y ago
Come on... > (to whom?) Objectively. > is not description of a sound It is, as much as "piano" is a description. People are interested in emulating hardware in their audio software, and this emulates a guitar amp, and the price tag claims "it's a decent sound". > If this emulates a particular amp, the title should say which one No. > If it does a good job at emulating a particular amp, where's the side by side comparison? The video demo only shows the plug-in. Perhaps, but the article is about getting a free plugin. > There are plethora of guitar amp plugins. What makes this one any different or better? Nothing per se. It's just a new one. And it's free. It's an announcement. > What's the significance of deep learning here? That it's an uncommon way of modeling hardware, with its own merits.
ysw0 6y ago
It's based on a Fender Blues Jr according to the vid. It sounds pretty good for a free plugin, but as you said there's tons of free VSTs and cheap solid state amps that can do better. I think it sounds good for a hobby project though!
- romwell 6y ago
  >It's based on a Fender Blues Jr Oh, a $350 amp?[1] then? Linking a store page just to illustrate that price tags are pointless when you talk about musical instruments, and also to give people who don't know an impression of what these $$$ go for. You still need a sound system to get the sound out of a plug-in, and PA systems certainly aren't free. The cost of a comparable PA system + free plug in will easily exceed the cost of this amp. This is why talking about $$$ while comparing a plug in vs. speaker hardware is kind of silly. >I think it sounds good for a hobby project though! And it's great that we have this project! The project is great, the documentation is lacking, the title is not good at all. [1]https://web.archive.org/web/20201010183759/https://www.guitarcenter.com/Used/Fender/Blues-Junior-15W-1x12-Tube-Guitar-Combo-Amp-116423692.gc https://web.archive.org/web/20201010183759/https://www.guita...
  - keyth72 6y ago
    Ok ok, used it's $350, but mine's the Tweed version. MSRP at $600. But yes all good points and further proves that more money does not mean better sound.
    - fuzzfactor 6y ago
      Either way it can cost $600 just to replace the tubes with hand picked vintage NOS, which usually does mean better sound and response.
- SubiculumCode 6y ago
  What free vsts for guitar amp sound better? I'd like to know
keyth72 6y ago
Absolutely it's clickbait, I'm trying to get some visibility on my open source project. To answer the question of why it's $600 specifically, it's based on a model of a Fender Blues Jr. Tweed, msrp $600. The models are evaluated to have a 1.5% error to signal ratio, meaning it's 1.5% different from the actual recorded signal, coming from an SM57 microphone. I really do appreciate the constructive criticism, and well observed points. I'm new to promoting a project and also this Hacker News site. I'm actually floored it's getting this much attention. The fact it uses deep learning doesn't make it better than traditionally modeled amps, but it does mean that someone with no domain experience for amp modeling (like me) can come in and make a good sounding guitar plugin.
- ethanwillis 6y ago
  Yea this is the only reason you're getting some negative feedback. You should read the guidelines and interact with some submissions elsewhere to get a feel for the community. That stuff aside, good work, and I starred it on Github.
  - keyth72 6y ago
    Thank you and much appreciated, will definitely do that before posting again. I probably shouldn't have internetted today.. closes computer sheepishly
    - romwell 6y ago
      > I probably shouldn't have internetted today.. Well, you did get the attention :) Now that you are here, you can update the project description. I feel like the point that this way of making a plug-in allows anyone with the hardware to easily create an emulator for it is not really coming through. That's the selling point of deep learning.
      - keyth72 6y ago
        Opens computer back up Excellent point, and it looks like my title was corrected, thank you for fixing it and not deleting it, whoever that was. What I'm really aiming to do in the long run is to get other musicians and machine learning enthusiasts to train and share models that will work with these plugins for a variety of hardware. It's very much a new technology to me and I'd like to figure out what all it can do.
magicalhippo 6y ago
Based on the title alone, I'd expect it to emulate the sound of a specific amplifier. Using deep learning for this makes sense, play a lot of tones and music through it, adjust the knobs, train AI to reproduce the transfer function. If that's what they've done they should have had comparisons etc though.
dkersten 6y ago
So, if I play my guitar through a $5 speaker, but I use this plugin, it will sound like a $600 tube amp :)
- fuzzfactor 6y ago
  You're gonna need all the help you can get.

sbilstein 6y ago

Don’t know why you are getting downvotes; these are exactly the questions any one with domain knowledge of playing electric guitars would ask.

tgv 6y ago

Come on... > (to whom?) Objectively. > is not description of a sound It is, as much as "piano" is a description. People are interested in emulating hardware in their audio software, and this emulates a guitar amp, and the price tag claims "it's a decent sound". > If this emulates a particular amp, the title should say which one No. > If it does a good job at emulating a particular amp, where's the side by side comparison? The video demo only shows the plug-in. Perhaps, but the article is about getting a free plugin. > There are plethora of guitar amp plugins. What makes this one any different or better? Nothing per se. It's just a new one. And it's free. It's an announcement. > What's the significance of deep learning here? That it's an uncommon way of modeling hardware, with its own merits.

ysw0 6y ago

It's based on a Fender Blues Jr according to the vid. It sounds pretty good for a free plugin, but as you said there's tons of free VSTs and cheap solid state amps that can do better. I think it sounds good for a hobby project though!

romwell 6y ago
>It's based on a Fender Blues Jr Oh, a $350 amp?[1] then? Linking a store page just to illustrate that price tags are pointless when you talk about musical instruments, and also to give people who don't know an impression of what these $$$ go for. You still need a sound system to get the sound out of a plug-in, and PA systems certainly aren't free. The cost of a comparable PA system + free plug in will easily exceed the cost of this amp. This is why talking about $$$ while comparing a plug in vs. speaker hardware is kind of silly. >I think it sounds good for a hobby project though! And it's great that we have this project! The project is great, the documentation is lacking, the title is not good at all. [1]https://web.archive.org/web/20201010183759/https://www.guitarcenter.com/Used/Fender/Blues-Junior-15W-1x12-Tube-Guitar-Combo-Amp-116423692.gc https://web.archive.org/web/20201010183759/https://www.guita...
- keyth72 6y ago
  Ok ok, used it's $350, but mine's the Tweed version. MSRP at $600. But yes all good points and further proves that more money does not mean better sound.
  - fuzzfactor 6y ago
    Either way it can cost $600 just to replace the tubes with hand picked vintage NOS, which usually does mean better sound and response.
SubiculumCode 6y ago
What free vsts for guitar amp sound better? I'd like to know

keyth72 6y ago

Absolutely it's clickbait, I'm trying to get some visibility on my open source project. To answer the question of why it's $600 specifically, it's based on a model of a Fender Blues Jr. Tweed, msrp $600. The models are evaluated to have a 1.5% error to signal ratio, meaning it's 1.5% different from the actual recorded signal, coming from an SM57 microphone. I really do appreciate the constructive criticism, and well observed points. I'm new to promoting a project and also this Hacker News site. I'm actually floored it's getting this much attention. The fact it uses deep learning doesn't make it better than traditionally modeled amps, but it does mean that someone with no domain experience for amp modeling (like me) can come in and make a good sounding guitar plugin.

ethanwillis 6y ago
Yea this is the only reason you're getting some negative feedback. You should read the guidelines and interact with some submissions elsewhere to get a feel for the community. That stuff aside, good work, and I starred it on Github.
- keyth72 6y ago
  Thank you and much appreciated, will definitely do that before posting again. I probably shouldn't have internetted today.. closes computer sheepishly
  - romwell 6y ago
    > I probably shouldn't have internetted today.. Well, you did get the attention :) Now that you are here, you can update the project description. I feel like the point that this way of making a plug-in allows anyone with the hardware to easily create an emulator for it is not really coming through. That's the selling point of deep learning.
    - keyth72 6y ago
      Opens computer back up Excellent point, and it looks like my title was corrected, thank you for fixing it and not deleting it, whoever that was. What I'm really aiming to do in the long run is to get other musicians and machine learning enthusiasts to train and share models that will work with these plugins for a variety of hardware. It's very much a new technology to me and I'd like to figure out what all it can do.

magicalhippo 6y ago

Based on the title alone, I'd expect it to emulate the sound of a specific amplifier. Using deep learning for this makes sense, play a lot of tones and music through it, adjust the knobs, train AI to reproduce the transfer function. If that's what they've done they should have had comparisons etc though.

dkersten 6y ago

So, if I play my guitar through a $5 speaker, but I use this plugin, it will sound like a $600 tube amp :)

fuzzfactor 6y ago
You're gonna need all the help you can get.