Guitar Rig 5

A rack rather than a fixed amp strip

GUITAR RIG 5 combines individual Components in a top-to-bottom signal chain. Amplifiers, cabinets, distortion, dynamics, filters, modulation, delays and reverbs can be reordered or replaced, while splitter tools enable parallel paths. It can therefore serve as a conventional guitar rig or as a more general audio effects environment.

The cabinet is part of the sound

Adding an amplifier can also add its matched cabinet. Beyond that quick route, cabinet and microphone components offer different degrees of control over the recorded result. Matched Cabinet blends two microphone perspectives; Control Room provides multiple microphone channels; Control Room Pro extends cabinet, microphone and placement selection. These choices can change a driven tone as substantially as the amplifier's gain settings.

Studio and performance workflow

The Component Pool supplies building blocks and component presets, while rack presets recall entire chains. Global input, gate and output controls establish level discipline before individual processing. Rack tools support tuning, metronome timing and recording, and Live view prioritizes preset selection and controller assignments. Build a reliable core amp/cabinet sound first, then add effects and performance mappings.

Source: Manual, Application Reference: “User Interface,” pp. 9–15; “Components and the Rack,” pp. 19–23; Components Reference: “Control Room,” pp. 32–33; “Matched Cabinet,” pp. 34–35.

Global input and output

Use L/R to choose the active input channels. For a single guitar, selecting only its channel distributes that mono input appropriately instead of treating silence on the other input as a stereo source. Set IN below overload. Enable Gate for residual noise and adjust its threshold; double-clicking the threshold knob runs Learn while you leave the instrument quiet. OUT sets final level and Limit protects against excessive peaks. HI enables higher-quality oversampled processing at additional CPU cost.

Build and edit the rack

Open Components in the SideKick and drag a component to its desired position. Signal normally flows downward, so a distortion before an amp behaves differently from the same distortion after cabinet processing. Select a module before hot-swapping it with another component or component preset. Use the toolbar's Save as for a new complete rack preset; component presets affect only their individual building block.

Amplifier example: Jump

PRE-AMP increases drive and edge; BOOST raises available preamp gain. MASTER controls the amp's master volume. BASS, MID and TREBLE shape the broad frequency regions, while PRESENCE emphasizes the upper midrange. Establish gain while playing both soft and loud passages, then use tone controls to fit the part rather than compensating only at the final output.

Cabinet and microphone choices

In Matched Cabinet, the Cabinet selector chooses the speaker model, A/B Mix blends its two fixed microphone sounds, and DRY/AIR adds room reflections. VOLUME, Volume Learn and STEREO handle level and processing format.

Control Room offers microphone-channel faders, pan, mute and solo, with master AIR, BASS, TREBLE and VOLUME. Balance microphones as a mix rather than maximizing every channel. Control Room Pro additionally lets you select cabinet, microphone and placement, giving more detailed recording-tone choices.

Tools and live control

The toolbar reveals Tapedeck Pre, Tapedeck Post, Tuner, Metronome, Preset Volume and Master FX. Use pre/post recording positions according to whether you need an untreated source or the processed result. Preset Volume helps compare complete rigs without unwanted level jumps. Live view presents presets and the virtual Rig Kontrol assignments more prominently, with optional tuner/metronome/loop tools. Map the few changes needed during a performance instead of navigating the full rack live.

Source: Manual, Application Reference: “Global Header,” pp. 9–11; “Live View,” pp. 12–13; “Components and the Rack,” pp. 19–23; “The Rack Tools,” pp. 41–47; Components Reference: “Jump,” p. 20; “Control Room,” pp. 32–33; “Matched Cabinet” and “Control Room Pro,” pp. 34–36.