Hybrid Workstation for Next-gen Music Creation. Native Instruments' Maschine Studio is the next evolution of a breakthrough hybrid music-production platform that.Native Instruments Guitar Rig 2. With version 2 of their Guitar Rig, Native Instruments are taking amp modelling into the realms of modular synthesis. In the decade or so since Line 6 launched Amp Farm, software amp modelling has come a long way in both quality and diversity. Get the guaranteed best price on Effects Plugins like the Native Instruments Guitar Rig 2 at Musician's Friend. Get a low price and free shipping on thousands of items. Browse Native Instruments products and enjoy free shipping on thousands of Native Instruments gear & 30 day returns. Native Instruments creates innovative hardware and software for music production and performance - for producers, guitarists, sound designers and DJs. ALL of the Instruments, Processors, and Effects You Need! NOTE: This crossgrade offer allows registered owners of specific Native Instruments products to receive. ![]() Among the many high- quality packages now available, Native Instruments' Guitar Rig stands out as the only truly modular system there is. Its free- form interface allows the user to choose any number of elements from a list that includes amps, speakers, stompbox and studio effects, and arrange them in any order to create their own guitar sound. NI also broke new ground by making a hardware unit integral to their software package. Guitar Rig came with Rig Kontrol, a floor unit that didn't act as an audio interface, but served both as an impedance- optimised DI box and a foot controller for the software. Time marches on, and NI have produced a thorough overhaul of both Guitar Rig and Rig Kontrol. The software now includes numerous new amps . Questions about software or hardware activation, serials, license transfer and Service Center. Native Instruments Kontakt 5 is a software program developed by Native Instruments. The most common release is 5.3.0.6464, with over 37% of all installations. Get perfect custom tone with a complete guitar studio in your computer. Stunning amps and effects – exquisitely modeled in a powerful and intuitive virtual effects. The hardware is now not only a controller and DI box, but also a USB 2. MIDI interface, meaning that you no longer need a third- party soundcard to use Guitar Rig on your Mac or PC. With so many new features to talk about, I won't go into detail here about the modules that were already included in version 1, and I suggest that anyone unfamiliar with Guitar Rig should read Paul White's review in SOS September 2. The new Rig Kontrol is a smart- looking beast with a reassuringly thick metal skin. It could probably survive being run over by a car, and should certainly be robust enough to stand up to stage use. It terms of the control it offers, it's similar to version 1 except that there are now six rather than four independent footswitches (plus the switch built into the rocker pedal). Like the original, Rig Kontrol 2 transmits its control messages to the computer not as MIDI, but embedded inaudibly in the audio signal from your guitar. The difference is that this signal is converted to digital within the Rig Kontrol 2 and sent to the computer over a USB cable with no need for a separate soundcard. This will be a boon for many people, but particularly for those using Guitar Rig live. The new Rig Kontrol handles all audio inputs and outputs and puts them at your feet just like a conventional multi- effects board, cutting down clutter and reducing the number of ways for things to go wrong. Guitar Rig 2 in action, showing the versatile new Tweedman amp, the modelled Sansamp distortion box and the noise filter. As an audio interface, the Rig Kontrol 2 is pretty well specified. There are two high- impedance inputs, each with its own gain control, so you can connect two guitars at the same time, with their input levels matched; again, this will be handy for live players who switch guitars for different songs. There are left and right stereo outputs on balanced quarter- inch jacks, with an associated button that switches the output level between high (for connection to keyboard amps, mixers or powered monitors) and low (for output to guitar amps). There's also a headphone output, with a level control that I found to be a little on the sensitive side, plus inputs for two expression pedals, and MIDI In and Out. A large two- digit LCD shows you the current patch number, and four LEDs show the presence of signal at the input and output, MIDI data activity, and the on/off status of the foot pedal's switch. What's more, the Rig Kontrol 2 is powered over USB, so there's no need for a separate power supply (and, in fact, no input for one). Live players rejoice! USB 2. 0 has been standard on new computers for the last few years, but as yet, most audio interface designers have chosen to support Firewire or stick with the low- bandwidth USB 1. I've talked to several manufacturers about this, and have heard some tales of woe about how hard it is to write a good low- latency USB 2 driver. I guess Native Instruments haven't listened to these tales, because the Rig Kontrol 2 connects via USB 2 and offers buffer sizes down to 1ms (which equates to a 2ms round- trip latency). The Rig Kontrol 2 has the simplest installation procedure I've ever seen, and its ASIO Configuration page offers just a few simple controls. You can set the buffer size and sample rate, from a choice of 4. Hz. I started with a 4ms buffer size, giving a round- trip latency of 8ms which I found comfortable for playing. Initially this seemed to work, but after a while, I began to notice the odd click and splat . Unfortunately, the next lowest buffer size is 8ms, with a round- trip latency of 1. After hours of testing and many emails to NI, we couldn't detect any CPU spiking or throttling going on, and were forced to conclude that this was just the best setting that could be achieved on my computer. In fact, Native Instruments told me that only the fastest computers will be able to handle the 4ms buffer size, and that most guitarists are happy with a 1. This raises a couple of questions. If a newish 2. GHz Centrino laptop isn't fast enough to run the Rig Kontrol with 4ms buffers, then what is? And if NI believe 1. In the end, I chose to keep the buffers set at 4ms and put up with the clicks, which were not very frequent. My machine doesn't perform any better with other USB interfaces, so I don't want to be too gloomy about this . The first is that you'll need a recent operating system: on the PC, Windows XP Service Pack 2 is required, while Mac users need OS 1. The second is that you can't just use the analogue circuitry of Rig Kontrol 2 as a DI box for another interface, as you would with RK1. The third is that its qualities as an interface are not a lot of use to Pro Tools users, since PT doesn't support open driver standards such as ASIO. You can, of course, still use Guitar Rig as an RTAS plug- in, but you'll need to input your guitar via some Digidesign hardware. There are, however, Direct X and MME drivers for those running non- ASIO programs, and Core Audio support for the Mac fraternity. Finally, I came across a couple of minor problems with the Rig Kontrol 2. There were times when I started my computer up to use it and the pedal completely failed to work. Guitar Rig 2 's Pedal Calibration function always got it working perfectly, so in practice it's only a problem if you forget to do this. I also found that the stand- alone version of Guitar Rig always crashed if I switched to a different program when its ASIO Configuration page was open, not that this is something you'd often want to do. The new Loop Machine module is a sampling delay along the lines of the Lexicon Jam Man and Akai Headrush, designed to allow the guitarist to build up a layered texture by repeatedly overdubbing loops. As you'd expect, it offers buckets of recording time, and there are some nice additional touches such as the ability to A/B two separate loops, reverse the loop, overdub a longer part onto a shorter loop, and vary the recording level and pan position at each pass. However, what's really impressive about the Loop Machine is the way Native Instruments have integrated it into the Guitar Rig environment. It appears as just another module in the Tools section, and it can be installed as either the first or the last module in the rack, enabling you to loop either 'dry' or 'wet' sounds. The really neat thing about it, though, is that once you've dragged it into the rack, it sticks around when you switch between different Guitar Rig patches and banks, so you can build up a multi- layered loop that incorporates any number of different GR sounds. You could, for instance, begin by laying down a rhythmic bed in one of the step sequencer- based patches, before using an octaver patch to add a bass part and others for more conventional lead and rhythm guitars. What's more, if you assign Rig Kontrol buttons to the Loop Machine's Play/Record and Stop controls, Guitar Rig will remember these assignments when you change patch, even if that means over- riding the control assignment that's built into the new patch. This is exactly how it should work, since the Loop Machine is only really useful with a foot controller attached. Another really cool feature is the ability to export the resulting loops as audio files. Not only can you export the bounced loop that you hear from Loop Machine, but you can also export every layer as an individual file. If you export the bounce, you get to name the file and choose WAV or AIFF format; layers are automatically saved as WAVs called 'Layer 1', 'Layer 2', and so on. It's also possible to save an entire Loop Machine setup as a single '. LS' file. You can't import other audio files into Loop Machine, but GR2 's tape modules can do that. As with every major software update, there are plenty of utilitarian enhancements in Guitar Rig 2 that make it easier to work with, but could hardly be described as exciting. For instance, the browser structure has been changed to improve preset handling . The original Fender Twin, AC3. Plexi and 'Instant Gratifier' models have been joined by no fewer than four new amplifier modules, beginning with Tweedman. Based on a '6. 0s Fender Bassman head, this is one of those models that will find uses in numerous different styles of music. It can, of course, be used as a bass amp, but it's also a very versatile tool for recording electric guitars. With bright and warm channels that can be blended to taste, Tweedman is ready for pretty much anything from clean country picking to clanging power chords. It has nice response to playing dynamics and a sound that sits somewhere between the ringing clarity of a Twin and the rasping distortion of an AC3. Tweedman is definitely my favourite of all the amps on offer here, and is a real highlight of Guitar Rig 2. The new Rig Kontrol 2 is a USB 2 audio and MIDI interface as well as a guitar- optimised DI box. Jazz Amp gives you a virtual Roland JC1.
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