Unable to match BigMuff tones with BIAS Pedal
-
Hey there,
Last night I tried to tone match one of my hardware muffs. That was a rather annoying experience I‘m afraid.I took the one Muff model which is already included in the BIAS Pedal Distortion pack and went from there. First I changed the topology to silicon (was Germanium by default, wtf). I took the MeldaAutoEQ to see exactly what frequencies I have to dial-in in BIAS Pedal. I used the parametric EQ in both instances and got the curve more or less matching with the original - at least in the frequencies which are available in BIAS. Unfortunately it has some massive resonant hp and lp filtering going on, which makes it impossible to get a BigMuff‘s massive low end. And it makes it impossible to get a natural high end. The high frequencies are simply cut. If I try to add some hf with an eq, I only get tinny and resonant tones :/ And to be clear: All high and low pass filters which were accessible in the modules were switched off. There is some massive filtering going on anyway.
Last I tried the automatic matching function. Forget it - it made everything much worse. I can‘t believe this was thrown on the market.
This was my first experience with making a new pedal model. I really hope that other overdrive and distortion styles are less problematic with BIAS than BigMuffs are. But really... Muffs are not at all some rare exotic beasts. PG should do their homework ASAP and offer a tool to make proper BigMuff models with their software. At least let the users deactivate the filters.
[/rant]The amps I actually do like. So not everything is bad. I was willing to spend the cash for most of the PG desktop and mobile software, cause for the most part I‘m really liking it. A rotary model in BIAS FX wouldn‘t hurt though. Add a dry/wet knob and a couple of peeps will kiss your feet :D But really the fixed filtering in the distortion pedal is a Mega bummer.
-
Have you been having problem getting other pedals to sound like the originals? Like I am really interested in the Metal Muff, heard a demo of it the other day thought if would be in Bias FX for sure seeing as it's a standard, but, they don't even have a solitary distortion/metal pedal in the whole program, not even a clone of the Metal Zone (wtf) and my jaw fell to the ground. Heard a Metal Core as well like it too, I have been looking at the $80 pedal expansion just to get a couple of metal pedals but I have no pedals to match anything to and wondering if it's just a waste of money.
I'm really interested to get your thoughts.
Cheers.
-
I have an update. Tried again last night and found out something weird.
Inserted my muff made in BIAS Pedal the other day in BIAS FX... and there were my high and low ends :) So, the filters (steep 100Hz HP and steep 5K LP) are only within the BIAS Pedal interface - and only in the distortion one. The modulation and delay pedals are fine (btw. please add a multi delay*).
I needed to re-tweak my muff a good bit. Measured the sound put out by BIAS FX... returned to BIAS distortion pedal and tweaked the EQs accordingly (without listening)... saved the patch... inserted it in FX (it wouldn’t update by itself)... measured... returned to BIAS pedal... and eventually matched the complete curve after an hour or two :) And most importantly: matched the sound.
So apparently there is a bug in the distortion pedal interface. Gonna contact the support.
@Vaughan
Haven’t had the time to check any other distortion types. What I can tell is that with EQ matching it is possible to replicate most driven tones in a convincing way. iZotope Ozone does this quite well. For my muff project I was using the analyzing and matching functions in MeldaAutoEQ. It shows you the frequencies you have to adjust in order to match a certain curve. I needed to adjust these frequencies within the BIAS pedal, cause I want to use this tone with BIAS FX on my mobile :)@Support/Devs
A multi delay would be very welcome. Ping pong delay doesn’t always do the trick, since both delays have the same level, which can quickly lead into a tabby mess. I am thinking of a delay with at least two tabs, where each tab has a feedback control and (most importantly) pan and level controls. -
And again an update. The support got back to me. Apparently there is an amp room section in the distortion pedal plugin, which I wasn’t aware of and which was having an amp model loaded all the time, when I was thinking I was hearing my pedal model only. That would explain the filtered frequency response within the plugin. I hope that I will have time in the evening to check this and to check if the sound is as expected if I deactivate that amp. But from a logical point of view that was my mistake.
Sorry for the rant... typical user error :/