Review: Native Instruments Guitar Rig 2
Pages: 1, 2, 3, 4

And, in the End

I guess the bottom line here is: how does it sound? To give you an idea, I recorded a short piece I call "WaddaWadda":

First I took one of the short drum loops bundled with the program and ran it though a couple of different effect chains. Then I grabbed one of the audio clips from the first batch of tests. After that I kinda went nuts. Except for the bass lines, I played everything on my slab guitar, even the parts that sound like synth pads. This tiny taste gives you an idea of the vast amount of sound-shaping potential waiting for you in Guitar Rig 2 (see Figure 9).

The Whole Schmear

Figure 9. Amazingly, this rack of doom doesn't even show Guitar Rig 2's amps. Click here to see the whole schmear.

All of this power comes at a price: you'll need a very fast computer. NI suggests at least 700MHz, but my 2.1GHz PowerMac G5 sometimes bogged down when I ran the software as a plugin in Digital Performer. Granted, I had some pretty huge effects running, but still.

Guitar Rig 2 is a solid contender for recording, particularly if you have an alternate way to get audio in and out of your computer. As I said earlier, if you can't find a satisfactory tone, you aren't trying. The interface is clean and easy to use, but huge amounts of tweakable control lurk just under the hood. I truly love the Loop Machine—rarely have I had so much fun testing software.

NI is committed to upgrading the product and has posted info on achieving the proper latency settings and system tune-ups that make a significant improvement in the audio behavior of the Rig Kontrol 2 interface. After following their tips, I was able to improve performance to where I might even consider using Guitar Rig 2 in a live situation. For an old tube dog, that's saying a lot. Download the demo and check it out.

Native Instruments Guitar Rig 2 Specifications

MSRP

 $579

Software

  
  8 guitar and bass amp models
  15 guitar cabinet models
  6 bass cabinet models
  4 rotary speaker models
  9 microphone models, plus DI emulation
  35 modeled effects
  Metronome & tuner
  Loop machine
  2 virtual tape decks for playback and recording
  Synth-style modulators
  Stand-alone or plugin operation (VST, Audio Units, RTAS, DXI)

Hardware

  
  Rig Kontrol 2 foot controller with 7 switches and assignable rocker pedal
  USB audio interface (ASIO, CoreAudio, Direct Sound)
  Up to 24-bit, 96kHz audio
  2 Hi-Z inputs with individual volume
  Balanced stereo audio out, switchable Hi/Lo-Z
  Headphone out with volume
  MIDI In/Out
  2 expression pedal jacks

System Requirements (Windows)

  
  Windows XP
  700MHz Pentium (1.4GHz recommended) or 1.4GHz Athlon XP
  Windows Service Pack 2
  USB 2.0

System Requirements (Mac)

  
  Mac OS 10.3 or better
  733MHz G4 or better
  Minimum 512MB RAM
  USB 2.0

Mark Nelson is both an acoustic musician and the author of Getting Started in Computer Music (Thomson Course Technology). He oscillates between Oregon and Hawaii, where he co-produces the Aloha Music Camp.

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