Positive Grid BIAS Desktop (PC/MAC) announced, has 'amp matching'

guitarfishbay

"Positive Grid announces BIAS Desktop (PC/MAC) with Amp Matching.

With Amp Matching, you will get any possible tone from any mic'd amp or audio source in just a few seconds. "

stickyfiddle

So Kemper for Mac? I'm in

ThePrettyDamned

Whaaaat.

If this works, it's amazing.

ThePrettyDamned

I'll just take a laptop and mic to my local music shop for an hour and boom, triple rec owned!

guitarfishbay

Well it should be noted that this is about as much as anyone seems to know, as things stand.  Just a brief announcement and a notice about signing up to the explorer program which looks like a beta thing http://www.positivegrid.com/bias-explorer/

"The Explorer Program is designed for people who want to get involved early and help shape the future of BIAS. We’re expanding little by little, and experimenting with different ways of bringing new Explorers into the program.

If you are interested in joining, you can sign up here and we’ll let you know if a spot opens up. Please note that, while we’d like to invite everyone, we can’t guarantee invites right now."

dampoldman

I've signed up, this looks like great fun. Amplitube is great n' all, but this could be a whole other kettle of fish. 

stickyfiddle

Bias for iOS is really good, as is Jamup, so I have total faith this will be a good product. If it's reasonably cheap it'll be an amazing proposition

digitalscream

stickyfiddle said:

So Kemper for Mac? I'm in

I don't think it's like that - a Kemper profiles the amp itself, whereas I think this is probably going to work the way the AxeFX II's tone matching does: it'll pick amp, cab and mic models it already has and tweak the settings to match the tone you feed in. Hence "matching" instead of "profiling".

I think it's great that they're adding this as a feature for the desktop versions and actually using the extra available processing power, as opposed to just directly porting the iOS app.

guitarfishbay

digitalscream said:

stickyfiddle said:

So Kemper for Mac? I'm in

I don't think it's like that - a Kemper profiles the amp itself, whereas I think this is probably going to work the way the AxeFX II's tone matching does: it'll pick amp, cab and mic models it already has and tweak the settings to match the tone you feed in. Hence "matching" instead of "profiling".

I think it's great that they're adding this as a feature for the desktop versions and actually using the extra available processing power, as opposed to just directly porting the iOS app.

That is what I'm expecting too, but I can't find any information about it to confirm just yet.  Either way it could be a great option for a lot of people.  Logic match EQ (and for that matter any match EQ) shoulbe be able to technically 'match' close sounds already, but I've never got around to doing it.  Regardless having that all within a single window and preset system would be a lot more user friendly.

digitalscream

You can sign up for early-access here:

http://www.positivegrid.com/bias-explorer

Seems basically like a private beta programme. I've done it...be interesting to test it against my 11R, if nothing else.

DaveMon

Signed up as well.

Bias on the iPad is awesome, would love to give it a go on the desktop as well!

stickyfiddle

From the exact wording on the website it sounds just like BIAS for iOS but on desktop but from the facebook post (ie the sentence in the OP) I read it as a Kemper-type solution. 

We'll see I guess but either way it sounds good.

guitarfishbay

Has anyone tried the acoustic pack for Bias iOS?  I've only just learned about it through reading up on Bias because of this announcement.  It has some specific stuff for magnetic pickups apparently which would make it an ideal solution for me for open mic nights.  I need something to run on batteries and an iPad mini is pretty ideal actually as it has good battery life plus I know what % I'm on so no surprises.  The interface should be better than any multi FX pedals too.  I'm getting a Sonic Port tomorrow regardless, pretty crazy to think my acoustic pre-amp could be a tablet.

ToneShackTrev

I've yet to check Bias out. What I've seen has been impressive. I'm away a lot so always looking for a good practice/ on the road recording solution. I love the sound of the new Revalver 4 though. It runs on windows tablet apparently but no sign of iOS yet. The ACT (Audio Cloning Technology) bit looks amazing. Looks like it's doing the Kemper thing but for guitars as well. Could be incredibly useful for a backup rig or session.

Grumpyrocker

Revalver 4 does sound really amazing. Am very tempted there.

guitarfishbay

I can't find a release date for Revalver 4, does anyone have any idea?  I could be interested depending on how good it is, how good Bias is, and whether I go down the Axe FX route or not.  Otherwise I need to stop buying stuff like this.   )

digitalscream

Honestly, I'm starting to believe that Revalver 4 is just vapourware. Sure, they've done a bit of a demo of it, but let's face it...if you have a fully-working version of the software at NAMM in January, and most of the distribution is online, then there's piss-all reason it should be nowhere to be seen by June (it's worth noting that I've asked them several times when it's going to be released, and they've completely ignored all my messages - excellent customer service there, fellas).

Drew_TNBD

The Revalver guy used to be really communicative. Hooked me up with an NFR a few years back, and I beta'd Revalver 2.5. Since Peavey bought them, he's basically been AWOL.

stickyfiddle

Looks like this new BIAS thing is at least halfway to Kemper. They don't seem to have described exactly what it's capable of or how it works, but the video suggests it'll match a reference amp tone pretty well.

digitalscream

The fact that you have to select an amp and get it "in the ballpark" suggests I was right - it tweaks an amp's parameters to match the source as closely as it can, so it's not really Kemper-like.

I suppose this could save time...I once spent a couple of hours tweaking stuff in Amplitube to get it to sound properly like my Jet City, and the difference by the end of that was about the same as the difference between BIAS and the Randall in that clip. It's definitely not as precise as the Kemper, though.

guitarfishbay

It just looks like a match eq. So in that respect your results will also depend on how close you can get to begin with.