Free Amp Vst For Reaper
Free drum vst and daw. Did you know that Reaper had electric guitar 'virtual amp' modelers? I didn't :-P. There are several and they are included with Reaper - in the collection of plugins it comes with. The effect is a 'JS' plugin (short for 'jesusonic'), which is a Reaper-specific plugin.
Anyway, someone on our YouTube Channel was asking if there was a way to plug his electric guitar into Reaper through a regular audio interface (such as a Focusrite Scarlett 2i2), and hear it sound like it was played through 'virtual amps.'
Amp Modelers In Reaper?
ReaPlugs VST FX Suite Want to use some of the comprehensive FX plug-ins that REAPER provides, but stuck in another host? Haven't made the switch yet? Fear not - you can download ReaPlugs, a package of FX that includes many of the plug-ins that come with REAPER, for free! Boogex is a guitar amplifier effect AAX, AudioUnit and VST plugin with a variety of sound shaping features for professional sound and music production applications. With Boogex it is possible to get a heavy distorted sound as well as slight “jazzy” saturation sound. Blue Cat's Free Amp is a completely free guitar amp simulation plug-in offering three amp models created with the acclaimed Blue Cat's Destructor amp simulation modeler.Inspired by legendary guitar amplifiers from the real world, the included 'classic clean', 'classic drive' and 'modern drive'.
At first I didn't know if you could do this with a standard interface. I use a specific interface - the Line 6 Pod Studio - for recording electric guitar. You use that interface (the Pod) along with the Line 6 software, Amp Farm, to access dozens and dozens of high quality virtual amplifiers. This is how I recorded 'That Thing You Do.' See our post 'Cover of “That Thing You Do” – Record a Rock Song on Your Computer' for more on that :-).
Guitar Amp Simulators in REAPER. ToneLib has released ToneLib GFX, a freeware guitar amp modeling suite in VST, VST3, and AU plugin formats for digital audio workstations on Windows, macOS, and Linux. ToneLib GFX is an all-in-one guitar amp modeling software package with a wide range of amplifier, cabinet, and pedal simulations. Its interface resembles popular commercial software like GuitarRead More. TSE X50 v2.4 is a complete suite for a quick guitar tone setup for rock and metal. It's using one of the most advanced modeling algorithms presented in a commercial plugin to this date, offering a real-time simulation of the electrical network in the stompbox/amp with acceptable cpu usage for modern processors.
For the kind of quality of amp models you get with Line 6, you obviously pay (gladly, in my case). But it turns out that Reaper has some amp models (in the effect, 'Convolution Amp/Cab Modeler') that are FREE! I was shocked. And as I said earlier, it's already part of Reaper out of the box (virtually speaking :)).
How Good Are These Virtual Amps?
Are they as good as the Line 6 ones? No they are not. But they are pretty cool! For one thing, they are free (I did mention that, right? :-P). But technically the Reaper amp modeler does not try to model the actual physical amplifier. The reason for the name 'convolution amp/cab modeler' is that it is really an 'impulse' of the the amp in a space, rather than trying to make everything sound like it was run through the amplifier.
What does that mean? Well, probably the best way to learn what that means is to check out the article here from Sound on Sound. The point is that the Reaper 'virtual amp' effect is more of an approximation than an attempt to sound exactly like a real amp.
That doesn't mean it isn't cool! See the video below for how to do it and what it sounds like:
Free Amp Vst For Reaper Plugins
As I show in the video, you can add distortion to the sound by loading another JS plugin (called 'distortion,' oddly enough).
Reaper Vst Plugins
Also, you can 'play live' by loading the effects on the track and arming it to record. You will have to switch on the 'record monitoring' button. All that is shown in the video.
Free Reaper Vst Instruments
So you do not necessarily need to have a paid virtual amp program or a specific guitar interface in order to record a cool electric guitar sound using Reaper. Have fun!