Today PreSonus, the makers of Studio One, released several of their new State Space Modeled plug-ins in VST, AU, and AAX formats. This release includes the newly revamped Ampire guitar amplifier simulator and effects suite. Production Expert was given early access to Ampire, we took a close look at in our Everything You Need To Know About Studio One 4.6 video.

New Plugins For Other DAWS Like Pro Tools, Logic Pro And More

Presonus also made its Channel Strip plug-in collection and Fat Channel XT plug-in available in VST, AU, and AAX format.

These plug-ins are the first State Space Models ever released for use outside of Studio One for use in other VST, AU, and AAX compatible DAWs. These sort of releases don’t come around too often, we can recall only a couple of releases similar to this. The first being AIR Instruments VI and plug-ins, once exclusive to Pro Tools, were re-released in VST and AU formats. More recently, the release of the Reason Rack Plugin, which enables users to get the best bits of Reason in their AU or VST supported DAW of choice.

What Is State Space Modeling?

The latest version of Ampire is built around State Space Modeling, which Presonus say is a mathematical method of transferring each component from an analog circuit into the digital domain whilst maintaining the unique sonic characteristics of the original hardware. Ampire includes five new State Space-modeled amplifiers, 13 effects pedals, and 16 impulse response-based cabinet models, plus a user model to load in custom IRs.

The new amp models include:

• The MCM800 1980s-vintage British high-gain amp

• VC30 1970s-vintage British amp with signature tremolo/vibrato

• Blackface Twina 1965 American amp known for its clean sound and spring reverb

• Dual Amplifier, a heavy metal standard for high-gain sounds

• Amp STV, a model of the legendary late 1960s bass beast.

In addition, Ampire introduces an updated pedalboard featuring State Space Modeling re-creations of several classic pedals along with a handy precision tuner that can be set to either a standard or strobe mode.

Pricing

Ampire is available in VST3, AU, and AAX formats priced at $59.95 from the PreSonus Shop.

Note that Studio One 4 Professional users receive a complimentary license for Ampire in VST/AU/AAX formats.

As stated earlier, PreSonus has also made its Fat Channel XT plug-in and Channel Strip Collection available for the first time in VST3, AU, and AAX formats. Additional Fat Channel XT compressor and EQ models are available as Add-ons for Fat Channel XT.

Fat Channel XT and Channel Strip Collection are available for a U.S. street price of $59.95 each. Please visit the PreSonus Shop for Fat Channel XT and other Add-on bundle options and pricing.

Studio One 4.6 Pre Release Launch Party - London

On 4th December 2019, Presonus hosted an event at Red Bull Studios London showing off the new features in their free release of Studio One 4.6. This was a well-presented event with an excellent range of talented creatives who showed how they use Studio One. One of the presentations was a slick demonstration by Paul Drew showing off the powers of the newly redeveloped Ampire.

The event was well-received with a strong turn out of attendees. It’s worth going to events such as these as you get the opportunity to learn cool production techniques and, most importantly, get to mingle and network with your peers.

First Impressions Of Ampire - Dan Cooper

I attended this Studio One event, which previewed the next generation of Ampire. I was very impressed with how it sounded. Not being a Studio One user I did feel as though I was going to miss out on Ampire in my Pro Tools world as I naturally assumed this would be an exclusive plug-in for Studio One. A member of the Presonus team whispered in my ear and swore me to secrecy that this, along with the Fat Channel XT, were going to be available for other DAWs which was great news to hear.

I’ve had a prerelease copy of Ampire running AAX in Pro Tools for a few days now. For me, the mark of a well-engineered guitar amp plug-in is in its ability to faithfully reproduce the vibe and sound of a Vox AC30. Many other guitar amp sims produce this sound but lack the feel and realism of playing through a real AC30 amp.

Vox AC30s have a particular sweet spot in which they really sing. Irritatingly this perfect tone is found at quite high volumes as that’s how you get that big saturated sound out of them. My test, to find out if an AC30 emulation in a guitar sim is any good, is to crank my studio monitors loud enough to encourage feedback through the guitar’s pickups. My monitors have to be set at a level similar to what an AC30 can pump out in a room and loud enough to make me feel as though I’m physically being pushed back by a wall of sound.

A neat touch found in the AC30 model is that users can jump channels via a virtual patch cable which is a technique many AC30 users do with their real amps. This is a great technique that helps boost gain in the amp further and, to our knowledge, isn’t featured in this realistic way in other guitar amp sims that have AC30 models.

I can happily report that Ampire absolutely nails the feel and response of an AC30. I’m going to go as far to say that it could very well be an Avid Eleven Rack killer in the AC30 emulation department, which is high praise as at Production Expert we regard the Avid Eleven Rack as one of the best tools for reproducing that Vox AC30 magic. Ampire, from PreSonus, feels more grown-up and more considered overall than Eleven. It’s well worth checking out if you are serious about getting great guitar tones quickly via modelling technology.

In our tests, we encountered a few issues with Ampire which caused Pro Tools to crash but, as stated earlier in the article, we were working with a prerelease copy of Ampire.

Visit Presonus for more information.