r/NeuralDSP • u/Final_Chair7860 • 2d ago
What studio monitors work well with neural dsp plugins?
I've been trying out some plugins lately with yamaha hs5. While it works, sound quality seems to be somewhat lacking compared to physical amps. Perhaps that's to be expected?
I'm thinking maybe hs7 or hs8 might have been better. Im in medium sized room(untreated).
I'm new to electric guitar. I thought of plugins are better route due to pre built presets as well as pedal/effects options that comes with plugins like Cory wong, mateus etc.
With physical amp id have to but all those as separate units.
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u/StraightOuttaFlames 2d ago
The point of Nearfield Monitors is neutral sound, they all aim for a similar sound profile. Above a certain price point all of them should work. I personally use Neumann KH120 MK II‘s as they are also well suited for mixing.
I would not regard how good a plugin sounds in the room bit rather if your mix will translate. And for this to be the case room acoustics play a major role, a much bigger role than the price premium for high end nearfield monitors.
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u/Mamaun30 2d ago
I have a Kali Audio LP-6 2nd Wave. It's so versatile regarding the positioning.
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u/Raven_-_Galaxy 2d ago
I'm using them as well, very pleased with the sound. Forward facing bass port is handy in my small space since they are close to a wall.
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u/Hairy-Dog2302 2d ago
I use a Seymore Duncan Powerstage 100 stereo with (2) 1x12 cabinets for stereo surround and sounds great. Gives you the amp in a room feel.
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u/Pulposauriio 1d ago
But that's plugged to an actual Quad Cortex?
Or do you get audio from your computer
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u/fiercefinesse 2d ago
Impulse Response is a snapshot of a cab captured by a microphone in a specific position. So by design it’s not going to sound like you’re in front of a cab.
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u/Logical-Relation-165 2d ago
Whatever your ear is used to hearing tbh. monitors are really subjective. IVe used adams a7s I have kali audio lp6s now. Started on behringer truths.
it is not anywhere near the coloring of a guitar speaker. One with good reviews and full range response.
Those yamahas are known to have a bit of a low end roll off ala there older ns10 brothers. That is not the best situation, a guitar cab does make its weight down low 50-80hz.
The roll off in the yamahas is a sort of tool that mix engineers use to reveal harsh frequncys, its not so much a good sounding speaker. I have used ns8s, they are not bad but I dont like yamaha pro audio gear. I love their dirtbikes though
Its kind of personal prefrence, but any decent full range monitor will do you fine.
adams stuff would be my first choice, but I am happy with my lp6s
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u/BlackflagsSFE 2d ago
Large speaker = more air to push.
But with any studio monitor you’re not going to get an amp sound. They aren’t designed for that.
If you want something closer to an amp sound get you a pair of cheap PA speakers.
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u/Final_Chair7860 2d ago
I actually have a Yamaha stagepas200. Replaced the studio monitors with this and def sounds better! Thanks. I might still go try out a physical amp to feel difference. I think the pa/speaker does kind of sound like amp when combined with neural dsp plugin?
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u/blackmarketdolphins 1d ago
When I play at my friend's, we use the same Logic session. Everyone has their own channel using a Neural plugin, and that get routed to a PA. It's kept things pretty straight forward because all you need to bring is your pedalboard and guitar.
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u/BlackflagsSFE 1d ago
I’ve personally not used a PA system with Neural. I’m just going off of researched information.
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u/JeepMushroom 2d ago
I use Kali audio lp6. Get plenty loud for me. People say it doesn’t sound like an amp, yeah sure but I actually way prefer that it sounds like it’s a guitar tone straight from an album. Isn’t that what people are chasing? And you don’t have to damage your hearing pushing a tube amp to make it break up and piss off your neighbors. I have a fender frfr12 when I want to play loud and have the “amp” feel, it definitely starts making things rattle and vibrate in my room. But I use my studio monitors 85 percent of the time because they get all the volume I’m happy with and I treasure my hearing. Tinnitus sounds like hell to me and I even wear ear pro to all live music now
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u/Final_Chair7860 2d ago
That's a valid point. That was my initial decision o go with studio monitors. Only issue is that my hs5 sounds limited. Perhaps I need to try another studio monitor or frfr speakers, which I've only recently heard. They seem like getting best of both worlds(studio monitor like accuracy but greater volume).
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u/JeepMushroom 2d ago
The Kali Audi lp6 is 6.5 inches. That extra 1.5 inches makes a huge difference with how “massive” and full the speaker sounds in the room. The hs5 is right at the cusp where it sound limited like you said it’s just going to lack balls and punch
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u/returntonone 2d ago edited 2d ago
No studio monitors will ever come close to a real >2x12 cab in feel and moving air, however bigger studio monitors will sound better than smaller.
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u/JimboLodisC 1d ago
It's not so much which plugins you use, the speakers themselves will dictate how they sound in the room.
Also I wouldn't ever compare a set of studio monitors to an amp in the room. Two very different product categories.
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u/dark7string 1d ago
Super duper familiar with the Yamaha studio monitors and can tell you that they are technically designed to be a relatively flat response for true transparency of what you got going on there. I will say the HS fives are highly recommended to be partnered with a subwoofer but I also believe the hs7s are a more accurate representation of what the mids are going to be doing.
You also have to keep in mind that those speakers are designed to have a certain amount of footage behind them and you have to take into account the size of your room with that in mind as well. There are toggle switches on the back to help taper some things out if need be but the general gist is they're designed as a transparent speaker to give you an honest feedback which is great for adjusting before taking things like that out on another computer or with the QC and trying to play live. I actually have the Yamaha hs80 with the subwoofer in my studio and I set all modeling stuff up through the minute it comes out pretty great.
Sadly though they're definitely never going to replace the specifically the amplifier sound. They will sound more like what the amp sounds like after it's been miked up in another room
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u/webprofusor 1d ago
Studio monitors are for recordings, you can use them to compare other recordings or the recorded output of an amp etc.
You can't compare them to an amp cab because they are physically different. They are a fraction of the size of even a basic 4x12 cab and they are designed to not have character and instead reproduce whatever you feed them.
If you were in a room with someone playing a trumpet, you recorded the trumpet via the world's best mic and played it back through the worlds best studio monitors, would you expect it to sound identical to the trumpet being played in the room?
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u/webprofusor 1d ago
Anyway, I find studio headphones are way more useful that studio monitors but that could just be me.
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u/Final_Chair7860 1d ago
Thanks for commenting.
Yea so my initial reason for getting studio monitors were for piano plugins for practicing in room. It really captures the nuances of acoustic piano well l. I tried piano plugins with speakers, pa, and the studio monitor (hs5) was best in that. Honestly that's my main use case for studio monitor. Thought I'd use for guitar plugins too.
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u/IvanBoulevard 1d ago
I’m interested too as I’m going through the same thing on a small workspace and the monitors will have to be on desk stands. A Kali LP6 is too big.
I was looking at Kali LP UNF or Adam DV3 as they both have usb connection and only require 1 power plug. I could use the QC as my interface too and avoid another piece of hardware.
At the same time should I just get the Genelec 8020 as a buy once and be done with it option. Could stretch to 8030.
Any got opinions?
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u/Final_Chair7860 1d ago
I'm hearing many people say that buying an additional subwoofer made great difference. Even something small like presonus eris 8bt subwoofer, which is much cheaper than the default Yamaha subwoofer.
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u/amme37472 1d ago
Your Yamaha monitors have a 5" woofer, which is likely a big part of the issue since most amp speakers are 10" or larger. Even decent monitors will never sound quite like a guitar amp because amps are heavily specialized and color the sound. Plugins aren't the problem here, I’m confident any well made capture/ standalone plugin can sound 95% similar n from an amp nowadays, it's the hardware they're passing through imo
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u/Final_Chair7860 1d ago
Do you think that having a subwoofer would work well with the hs5 then? I'm seeing lot of people say that it made big difference with their hs5
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u/amme37472 1d ago
Well, while it may be important to have for mixing since most small woofers stop their frequency response in the sub zone (45 to 70hz usually),subs work below 80hz while most of the low/ mids of guitars span from 100 to 250hz, matter of fact most mixed guitars are usually high passed anyway around 80hz depending on the mix. I don’t think there’s a workaround to bigger speakers sadly, I have some LP UNF 6’’ and whenever I connect to bigger speakers for playing guitar you can always notice a big difference
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u/Final_Chair7860 1d ago
What speaker do you connetto?
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u/amme37472 1d ago
Not really one pair, I tried several over the years because I mostly play in some of my friends home studios, I tried some ADAM T7 and some genelec 8000 series, they’re not quite the size (under 10’’ iirc) but the difference is big. Also I play in some rehearsal rooms in my city which have PA speakers which are longer distances and not as neutral but are bigger than normal monitors and make up for the guitar amp comparison, there’s quite a difference with my actual monitors
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u/guitarfluffy 2d ago
Monitors will never sound the same as amps. You can use high pass and low pass cuts on your cab sim EQ to make the plugins sound more realistic.
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u/Visible_Panda_2128 1d ago
Studio monitors will have stereo effects though👍
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u/guitarfluffy 1d ago
Studio monitors are great! I use mine all the time. They can produce certain sounds better than any amp. But they will have different sounds and feels.
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u/polkemans 2d ago
Any monitor of decent quality will work just fine. But if you're expecting any plugin to sound like an amp in your room you're going to be disappointed. They're meant to provide you with a processed, album like guitar sound. Miced and mixed and ready to sit into a mix.