Bias FX 2 Vs ? | The Gear Page

Có thể bạn quan tâm

Supporting Membership
Home
Forums New posts Trending Search forums
What's new New posts New media New media comments Latest activity
Media New media New comments Search media
Merch Shop
Members Current visitors
Newsletter

Search

Everywhere Threads This forum This thread Search only containers Search titles only By: Search Advanced search…

New posts
Trending
Search forums

Menu Log in Register Navigation Install the app Install More options Change style Contact us Close Menu

Home
Forums
The Gear
Digital & Modeling Gear

You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.You should upgrade or use an alternative browser. Bias FX 2 vs ?

Thread starter CarpathianWhips
Start date Apr 18, 2020

Next 1 of 2

Go to page

Go Next Last

CarpathianWhips

Member

Joined Jan 19, 2013 Messages 2,687 Reaction score 3,828 Hi everyone. I need to upgrade my home recording set up. I was planning on going with a modeler, possibly with a Kemper floor or some sort of AXE FX. Possibly with a Strymon iridium for a simpler set up. I do have a pedal board with a bunch of pedals and two H9’s, so I was leaning Iridium..however I am now leaning toward software I can just run in my MacBook, for under $300, and maybe forgo a physical unit for now. I’m very intrigued by what I see with the Bias FX 2, especially given the price. I’d probably opt for the professional version for $199. Any feedback from PG users about this software? Do I need to up my price and go with the Elite? Any latency issues with a regular MacBook Pro? I’m using GarageBand right now, and will go Logic later this year most likely. Lastly, what other product should I consider? I am mainly looking for Fender tweed and blackface tones, Vox and early to 70’s Marshall tones, and maybe some Live At Leeds HiWatt tones. Oh and how do these desktop units do with pedals, taking them and reproducing them, especially fuzz? Many Thanks.

slugworth

Member

Joined Sep 1, 2011 Messages 2,852 Reaction score 1,496 Location ConUSA Positive Grid has a long track record of overpromising and underdelivering. I own most (maybe all?) of their software licenses. If you are serious about it, PM me, I'd let you buy mine at a huge discount (they do allow transfer). I recommend Helix Native or Amplitube instead.

PhilBeau

Silver Supporting Member Joined Oct 16, 2019 Messages 308 Reaction score 396 I got on the Bias train. It was all flashy and everything...but then the honeymoon period ended and I was still searching for better tone. Now, I either reach for S-Gear or Archetype Plini.

madbanjoman

Member

Joined Aug 19, 2014 Messages 501 Reaction score 681 TH-U or S-Gear P

primemover12

Member

Joined Jun 2, 2013 Messages 898 Reaction score 1,960 My general evaluation is that Bias FX 2 is a bit better than the original Bias FX. In particular, the amp tones are more competitive. In Bias FX 1, I'd dial up a patch that sounded ok to my ears, only to have it immediately embarrassed by comparisons to S-Gear, ReValver, or Helix. With Bias FX 2, the gap is much closer. Still, Bias never wins when I compare it side-by-side with anything. It always sounds brittle and compressed. There are a few things that still really annoy me about Bias FX 2, though:

Unlike the iOS apps, the Bias Amp and FX VSTs still do not integrate in any kind of a seamless way. If you want to tweak under the hood of an amp you're using in FX, you have to close it, open Amp, make your changes, and then reopen the amp in FX. This is dumb. And it speaks to the larger dumbness of their ecosystem--why do you need three separate plugins (FX, Amp, and Pedal) to do this? Why not have one plugin suite, and then just sell separate activations for the different pieces? Just dumb.
Some of the effects don't behave in any way like they should. A good example here is the LA Studio Compressor, which is an LA-2A clone. At even the highest levels of peak reduction, the gauge registers 1-3db reduction; swap it out for the Waves or IK version, and you'll see it chopping 10db or more off.
The Marshall tones did not inspire. What appeared to be a JCM800 was notably underpowered, especially compared to the competition in Amplitube, Spark, or Helix.
The Tone Cloud feature is a good idea, but it's still so hard to separate the good from the mediocre. To be honest, I've rarely ever downloaded a patch that sounded even in the same area code as I would have expected.

In the end, FX 2 is fine. I think you can probably make respectable tones of all kinds with it. But as someone who's already got many other good options, I just rarely ever turn to FX 2 as the best one. Better options:

Mercuriall Euphoria
Neural DSP Plini
AMR ReValver 4
Line6 Helix Native
Scuffham S-Gear
Mercuriall Spark

CarpathianWhips

Member

Joined Jan 19, 2013 Messages 2,687 Reaction score 3,828 Thanks for the candid opinions everyone. I shall look up all of your alternative sugestions. Tim Z

Tim Z

Member

Joined Mar 8, 2004 Messages 489 Reaction score 197 Location Victoria BC, Canada I just went through the same thing myself. I downloaded the demos for TH-U Full, Mercuriall Euphoria, Bias FX 2, Blue Cat Axiom, Helix Native & S-Gear Scuffham Amps. They are all good in their own ways. I was somewhat set on getting TH-U Full, until I tried Scuffham Amps. I have been running my own studio and recording since the early 70's, and to my ears, Scuffham Amps just sounded the best. Mind you I am looking more for good cleans to overdriven sounds, I wouldn't much ever use Metal type sounds, but S-Gear can do that. Scuffham Amps may not be quite as full featured nor as fancy as the others, but it really does sound very good. I would be hard pressed to ever tell if it was a real amp or not in a recording. Anyway, do what I did and try the demos for a few days, I suspect you may agree, especially after I see that you are looking for similar tones as I was. 1

162799

Guest

Joined Feb 27, 2015 Messages 11,337 Reaction score 9

PhilBeau said: I got on the Bias train. It was all flashy and everything...but then the honeymoon period ended and I was still searching for better tone. Now, I either reach for S-Gear or Archetype Plini. Click to expand...

I agree. BIAS isn’t that great on iOS or desktop.

the swede

Member

Joined Aug 3, 2017 Messages 5,444 Reaction score 8,861 I tried amplitube, bias and Overloud th-u today... have Native since long. Cant say wich had the best amptones... but overloud ”felt” better than bias and amplitube. Bias was the better user interface, with overloud after, didnt like the amplitube interface at all. one thing i do prefer with Native is that it acts very much like the hardware with delay and reverb trails when switching off effects.... wich i find strange that the others dont do even though they advertise the capabilty of midi switching and everything... maybe ”trails” is a thing you get when you buy the full versions? i have only tried the Plini from Neural. Just by the looks and name, you instinctively might think it should be pure bliss of amp modeling. But to me the Plini plugin is more like a tailored amp sim, all three amps are good but nothing fantastic imo, they provide a solid foundation for Plini to do his thing with, and thats all him. Im nowhere near his style or skill. And thats why i think its to easy to put plugins like that on a piedestal, it must be awesome if Plini designed it right?

But the delay and reverb in Plini is really nice, no trails there either though. But very nice midi and preset changing capabilites though. i believe more in Nolly plugin for a more diverse and ”do it all” plugin, the IRs should be very good at least. menawhile Native feels like home to me. Just a lite sad they wont do a standalone as sometimes i would like to just open my MacBook and play as quick as possible. J

JPPFM

Member

Joined Mar 8, 2020 Messages 28 Reaction score 39 Definitely and surely Line 6 Helix Native is the most versatile and great sounding ,check it! D

Dickie Fredericks

Pounds.of.Sounds

Silver Supporting Member Joined Jan 26, 2006 Messages 12,261 Reaction score 4,864 Location Florida, right near da beach! Most of my last recording was done w/ BIAS. It does what its supposed to and I think the sounds are good. Got a Fractal right after the recording was released. I also own Helix Native. Cant say I like one over the other. They both work. Frank67

Frank67

Member

Joined Jul 27, 2014 Messages 2,765 Reaction score 4,788 Let me share my experience here .... I recently dabbled into plugins and got some results that I consider to be pretty stellar from sknoteaudio and Audiority plugins paired with Two note Wall of Sound cab sims using IR’s from Ownhammer and the Amp Factory. once there are good IR’s, I found the Logic Amp sims to be quite usable (without an IR loader not so much). Since I wanted to rebuild my entire epic rig digitally, there a few pedals and things that are still missing. Given the huge discount week, I jumped on the special offer for Bias Fx 2. here are my impressions: - it looks good and intuitive. - the workflow is quite nice but the constant adds that pop up are pretty annoying. - the amp models dominantly sound harsh, digital, compressed and fizzy just as in the early days of modeling. Replacing the cabs with the torpedo plugin improves it tremendously, but then I might as well stick to the Logic amp sims. - the amps do not sound particularly realistic (IMHO). For example, they have a Hiwatt DR 103 model from which you can not get a clean tone at all. But these amps are well known to be high headroom clean platforms. Very underwhelming. - the Bias Pedal looked cool. I was excited to see that they have PowerBooster and TubeDriver models since these were exactly the ones I was looking for. I was so disappointed to see that these are just generic three knob pedals that sound nothing like the pedals that they imply. The Tube Driver has very little gain and sounds nothing like a real TD should. The Powerbooster does not have that glassy clean to almost silicon fuzz gain range that one loves about it. Both only feature a generic tone knob rather than a two band eq - a complete failure in my book. - the bias Fx has a Tube Driver model that also graphically resembles the BK Butler model. It vaguely resembles the real thing but even with gain at 0 it does not give the sweet low gain sound that the real thing is famous for. The higher gain tones are in the ballpark though. - if anyone wants to get tweaking individual components of pedals - great, but for me that is too much fiddling. - the drive pedals sound in the ballpark of the things they are implying, but none of them really delivers. Check out the Muff for example. A rather pedestrian emulation that does not live up to any good real Muff. The Audiority one on the other hand sounds really good. - the reverbs were an absolutely joke. Sounded terrible and anemic. - the delays are a mixed bag IMHO. The EchoRec emulation sounded pretty good, but not as good as the one from audiority. They advertise „ultra realistic“ sounds but in my opinion definitely do not live up to it. I had a similar experience with Amplitube that I also found quite underwhelming. Am I missing something? Will the Helix native be a real step up? A Kemper Plugin would be really nice. I very much like the ability to go back and tweak after recording when the whole mix is coming together. Last edited: Dec 6, 2020

Senor Blues

Member

Joined Oct 13, 2004 Messages 502 Reaction score 558 Location Los Angeles overloud thu kills Bias on both desktop and iOS Frank67

Frank67

Member

Joined Jul 27, 2014 Messages 2,765 Reaction score 4,788 I asked for a refund and they did honour it immediately, which is a a nice gesture. Bias Fx just isn‘t for me but I cannot complain about how they treated me.

CarpathianWhips

Member

Joined Jan 19, 2013 Messages 2,687 Reaction score 3,828 I somehow lost track of this thread. Thanks a lot y’all for the great input. I highly appreciate you! I ended up just deciding to wait until I get a more powerful machine before I go native style amp plug ins. For now I’m running my pedalboard into a DSM Simplifier which allows me to go stereo, and mono direct (all at the same time), into my interface with good results, especially for the edge of breakup, moderate gain and fuzz tones I typically use. I am also contemplating getting a modeler to cover all of my potential recording needs. Thirdly, I need to upgrade to Logic Pro and get a more powerful machine! rolandk

rolandk

Silver Supporting Member Joined Jul 13, 2015 Messages 968 Reaction score 2,168 Location Out to lunch If you buy a Helix floorboard (Stomp, LT, etc), Native is only $99. I really like having the same system for live and recording. 1

162799

Guest

Joined Feb 27, 2015 Messages 11,337 Reaction score 9

rolandk said: If you buy a Helix floorboard (Stomp, LT, etc), Native is only $99. I really like having the same system for live and recording. Click to expand...

It’d be nice if they port it to iPadOS, now that they’re strong enough to run it, and they’ll have to port it to ARM anyway for Mac M1’s. T

TonyCass

Member

Joined Oct 26, 2015 Messages 1,486 Reaction score 1,843 When I play "in the box" I prefer S-Gear over everything else. I like the simple approach the plugin takes. It responds like a real amp and does not overload me with options. I can get everything I need from the Duke, Custom 57, and Wayfarer. I went down the Bias FX 2 and THU rabbit hole for a bit and just got frustrated. rd2rk

rd2rk

Silver Supporting Member Joined Nov 16, 2013 Messages 3,663 Reaction score 4,775 Wasted a bunch of money on BIAS AMP and FX. Agree with all the above criticisms, so I'll add one not yet mentioned. BIAS FX has the absolute WORST MIDI implementation of any major sim, and I have most. Ridiculously convoluted, and the "manual" is no help. Instead of using latching CCs for Bypass, you assign an effect's Bypass to a CC and whatever value is sent on that CC flips the Bypass status. This makes any controller that uses LEDs to indicate an effect's bypass status essentially useless. Since I'm not going to upgrade to FX 2, I don't know if they've improved that but, based on my experience of the products, I have no reason to think that would be the case. Recommended in alphabetical order - Amplitube 5, Native, S-Gear (best MIDI implementation), THU Last edited: Dec 26, 2020 T

TonyCass

Member

Joined Oct 26, 2015 Messages 1,486 Reaction score 1,843

rd2rk said: Wasted a bunch of money on BIAS AMP and FX. Agree with all the above criticisms, so I'll add one not yet mentioned. BIAS FX has the absolute WORST MIDI implementation of any major sim, and I have most. Ridiculously convoluted, and the "manual" is no help. Instead of using latching CCs for Bypass, you assign an effect's Bypass to a CC and whatever value is sent on that CC flips the Bypass status. This makes any controller that uses LEDs to indicate an effect's bypass status essentially useless. Since I'm not going to upgrade to FX 2, I don't know if they've improved that but, based on my experience of the products, I have no reason to think that would be the case. Recommended in alphabetical order - Amplitube 5, Native, S-Gear, THU (best MIDI implementation) Click to expand...

I wish TH-U would allow you to assign more than one thing to a midi CC. For example if I want to engage an overdrive and delay at the same time with one switch. I think S-Gear takes the cake for best midi implementation. They offer global assigns and you can assign anything.

Next 1 of 2

Go to page

Go Next Last You must log in or register to reply here. Share: Facebook X (Twitter) Reddit Pinterest Tumblr WhatsApp Email Share Link

Search

Go to page

CarpathianWhips

Member

slugworth

Member

PhilBeau

madbanjoman

Member

primemover12

Member

CarpathianWhips

Member

Tim Z

Member

162799

Guest

the swede

Member

JPPFM

Member

Dickie Fredericks

Pounds.of.Sounds

Frank67

Member

Senor Blues

Member

Frank67

Member

CarpathianWhips

Member

rolandk

162799

Guest

TonyCass

Member

rd2rk

TonyCass

Member

Go to page

Trending Topics

Liên Hệ