Poulin LeCab 2

All hail LePou again ! We have the new version of guitar and bass impulse loader LeCab which features now 6 slots, input channel, low cut, high cut, phase inversion, panning, and - what makes a real difference - convenient browsing thru the impulses with "back" and "forward" buttons as well as drop-down menu with directory contents, and proud to mention design by Requietus. Get the LeCab 2 here, on LePou's site (~2 MB).

LeGion from LePou

Another great VST amp sim from LePou. This time it is completely original design, not based on any hardware gear. This high gain amp does not require any booster before it in the sound chain. GUI by Requietus. Download it here.

Floyd trem mods

A couple of neat mods to floyd rose equipped guitars - Ibanez Edge Pro arm torque and Schaller SureClaw replacement for conventional spring claw.

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You might also like the article about tremolo stabilization tools.

Ibanez Edge Pro arm torqueThis is a neat mod to Ibanez Edge Pro tremolo unit I find very useful. As we know the tremolo arm uses two bushings for arm torque which wear out very fast. And the time isn’t weeks or months, but hours or minutes, and the included extra bushings aren’t of great help here. So this is what we do to tighten the arm torque.
For me, I use D’Addario strings for many years and the cellophane (?) packaging helps here.
Tear off a small bit of the cellophane and
twist it clock-wise around the tip of the tremolo arm. More towards the bottom end. Hold it very tight.
Then insert the trem arm into the baseplate also turning the arm clockwise. You need to keep the cellophane very tight around the tip as you sink it into the hole.
And then you’re done. You’ll get the technique as you do that again and again. For me, this wrap works for months. Keeps the arm very tight, perfect for flutter, for example. The main reason for me is that I like having the arm fixed at the point that I want it to be (for easier grab), not just hang and roughly gravitate.

And by the way. These pictures are Ibanez RG350 which originally had Edge III trem which had this arm torque control with the hex screw (very handy) like Gotoh units have but it is very cheap materials, wears out very quickly and you’ll need to change it to, say, Edge Pro, which is an excellent trem. BUT, be sure to change the Edge III trem posts to Edge Pro trem posts as well, because that is at least 80% impact on stability. It will require body routing, so bring the axe to a trusted luthier but I really stress that changing Edge III to Edge Pro without changing trem posts might ruin your impression of the latter trem. I’ve read a lot of forums that guy here and guy there is exchanging the trems but not a word about the trem posts. Just pay attention in this case.

Schaller Sure Claw

I am in no way connected with Schaller Electronic GmbH but this is a very handy little thing to maintain your floyd rose equipped guitar.
It installs in the spring cavity to replace the traditional spring claw which. SureClaw mounts with two screws vertically into the body. (Please note that this is Ibanez RG350 and SureClaw might not work for many guitars, please do the measurements yourself. The reason is that on the other side might be pickup. For example, Jackson Dinky bodies do not allow this to be mounted)
The convenience it gives is that you can tighten or loosen the springs with a hex screw.
You just put your deadening porolone and
put the trem cavity plate on. Drill a circular hole in it and you’ve got access to your SureClaw without having the need to remove the plate to make any adjustments. Turn the screw clockwise to stretch the springs or counter-clockwise to loosen.
This is how SureClaw looks far clockwise turned.
And far counter-clockwise turned.

Hope you find this useful. SureClaw retails at 25EUR.

LeXTAC from LePou

Inspired by a great Californian boutique amplifier, LePou has made another vst amp sim masterpiece. Check out the new LeXTAC at his website. GUI by Requietus.

LE456 from LePou

I am proud to announce that there is a new amp sim from mister LePou called LE456, for which I was doing the skin. The first guess would be probably correct about what gear it emulates.

AcmeBarGig Preampus Metal - cont'd

Two more plugins released by AcmeBarGig - Series 60 and C-15. Both are high gain at its most. GUI by Requietus.

AcmeBarGig Preampus Metal - Razor

I am lucky to have designed some plugins for a VST plugin company AcmeBarGig. The first in the series is Razor. Check back soon because the "Preampus Metal" line will feature more amps.

Updates for stereo

I have received many requests to update some of plugins here with stereo capabilities. The background is of course the extended routing possibilities, for example, it's convinient to feed a stereo bus with two separate channels and to have a single plugin on insert, for double-tracking. Thus, we very much appreciate stereo plugins nowadays. But, please be warned, these are more CPU-intensive since there are two instances loaded with each.

update: Simulanalog Guitar Suite Stereo

update: TSS GUI Wrapper Stereo

Nick Crow Tube Driver 1.0

May I present an alternate GUI version for Nick Crow's Tube Driver which is devised to enrich your audio with warm tube saturation. Check out other Nick's classics and perhaps consider donating if you find these plugins useful. Now get your copy of TubeDriver1-Req.rar (5 MB).

Nick Crow 8505 Lead

I am very proud to co-announce the release of Nick Crow's 8505 Lead (make a wiiiild guess what it's been modelled after and modded) amp sim. Download it from Nick's page. There is also a non-SSE2 version available for legacy CPUs.

Nick Crow 7170 Lead

7170 Lead is the latest plugin (probably modelled after some Peavey head) from our beloved amp sim godfather Nick Crow, with GUI version by Your Requietus. Available for download from Nick Crow Lab page. Santa comes more than once a year, doesn't he? ;-)

SoloC by LePou

Ladies and Gentlemen! Mesdames et Messieurs! May I present my personal favorite of freeware amp sims in a long time: SoloC - masterfully written by LePou, and obviously based on Soldano. By the way, LePou is the guy who wrote that superb tutorial at guitarampmodeling.com about skinning the GUIless plugins using Synthedit, and whose instructions your servant Requietus has been patiently and hopefully creatively following :-) Visit LePou's blog for the latest version of SoloC and I also encourage you to donate him if you find the plugin useful. However, you can get an old version of SoloC 1.02 here (640 KB).

The Last Word In Tremolo Stabilization

I was just about going to write some review-style article of my own observations about stabilizers (not blockers!) for floyd rose systems when I stumbled upon this set of reviews at http://joe.emenaker.com/TremStabilizers. I would agree with it at some 95% except for the Tremol-No part, however, I would have given 100% the same score for each of the product reviewed. Thus, thanks to this Joe guy for having it written :-)

Simulanalog Guitar Suite GUI

I've been using SimulAnalog's Guitar Suite for quite some time, especially its JCM900, recorded one full length album ("Life After Life" in 2006), even with the interface of this VST plugin being GUI-less. And I've always thought it'd be cool to have it with GUI, and as close to its hardware prototype look as possible. Download Simulanalog.Guitar.Suite.GUI.rar (7,8 MB)
stereo update: Simulanalog.Guitar.Suite.GUI[stereo].rar (6,5 MB)

Juicy GUI Wrapper

Here is one more VST plugin I've skinned. It is Juicy77 from BTE Audio. It actually has a skin of its own, yes, but it doesn't really look like (probably) the purple Soldano SP-77 (II) that it has been modelled after. But this wrapped GUI tries to look like rackmount SLO 100, also all in purple. Download Juicy.GUI.Wrapper.rar (6,5 MB), a GUI shell that wraps the Juicy77.dll of BTE Audio. Check out also the GUI wrapper of their TSS.

TSS GUI Wrapper

TubeScreamer's Secret from BTE Audio has a GUI of its own, but it kinda doesn't really show what an actual beast this three-knob unit is, so this GUI wrap was an attempt to visualize it, dressing it into Ibanez TS-9 style casing. I've never owned tube screamers hardware stomps, but if this is what they sound like... I might be going for one. Download TSS.GUI.Wrapper.rar (6 MB) a GUI shell that wraps the TSS.dll of BTE Audio.
stereo update: TSS.GUI.Wrapper[stereo].rar (3 MB)

GUI for Soldano CM SLO-X88 plugin

I also made a GUI version for Soldano SLO-X88 which is commercially available in CD with Computer Music magazine issue. If you are the happy owner of that CM issue, download the Soldano.CM.SLO-X88.rar (1,5 MB)

Nick Crow Wagner Sharp MKII GUI

Merciless high gain and vital responsiveness describes Nick Crow's Wagner Sharp MK2 the best. This GUI has animated tubes which gleam based on volume of the incoming signal. Download wagner.sharp.mk2.GUI.rar (2 MB) Be sure to check out also from Nick Crow the amazing Simple Guitar Combo!

Green PreXpression (based on Green Gate and Green Wah)

If there is a freeware vst gate and/or wah on inserts on any of my audio channels, those definitely are Green Gate and Green Wah, developed (my guess is in SynthEdit) by Wurr Audio Engineering. The Green PreXpression merges these two but goes a little further: an incoming volume swell pedal has been added (responds to MIDI CC#7), an output pan knob for more routing possibilities, a wah pedal of course (responds to MIDI CC#11), and the wah module fx mix knob. Watch the pedals in action as you step on your MIDI foot controller! You do have one, don't you? If necessary, you can always disengage the wah module. Download Green PreXpression (5,2 MB).

MXR EVH phase90 GUI

A tribute to Eddie Van Halen community. This is another vst made by Antti, this time it's a recreation of classic guitar pedal MXR Phase90, and dressed after its EVH version. Note that the hardware prototype has only "speed" dial, but this simulation has also subtle "drive" and "feedback" dials. Download MXR.EVH.phase90.GUI.rar (860 KB)