
With a vertically scrolling interface, it only took five large components before it became difficult to keep tabs on essential sound-shaping parameters. One issue we had with past editions of Guitar Rig is how difficult it could be to manage parameters across large racks with many components.
#GUITAR RIG 6 PLAYER PRO#
The new Matched Cabinet Pro offers IR-based room responses to the Matched Cabinet amp and cabinet combinations that Guitar Rig Pro users will already be used to too, granting a remarkable sense of room and amp interaction for smoothing sounds. This is one of many new bundled additions to the package. Though not ICM-based, you’ll also find Rammfire’s plucky distortion amp and cab setup included in Guitar Rig 6. You can achieve musical and dynamic smoothing of your levels or just slam your signal path These first three ICM amps sound impressive and authentic, and demonstrate plenty of playing dynamics. This way, what it learns in the future and what it is able to recreate from hardware will be shaped by users, whose decisions will be factored into the regular software-update cycle.

The forward-thinking idea behind the ICM technology is that it will react to user requests. There are three new amps on offer via this ICM-based update: Bass Invader, based on a 1980s-1990s bass amp Chicago, based on 1950s fuzz effects and Fire Breather, based on modern British blues and metal legacy tones. Guitar Rig 6 Pro makes use of ICM, a new emulation of the circuit behaviour within specific hardware and broadly referred to by NI as based on machine learning. With Guitar Rig 6 Pro, we’re able to resize the display to have it properly conform to our review computer’s true resolution. Without realising it, Native Instruments has once again revealed one of the constraints of its prior version – it’s only by improving things that you recognise the faults of programs past. Guitar Rig’s entire window can now be resized globally and on the fly to best suit your DAW too.

Using this new and more intuitive method, you’ll get better results much quicker than you would’ve with Guitar Rig 5. The previous version of the platform had basic presets and individual selectable components, but now you can build your rig from the ground up according to what kind of sound you want to process, and narrow these parameters further by selecting from tabs that categorise the nature of the sounds you want to hear. One of the reasons we like the workflow of Native Instruments’ Maschine platform so much is that it encourages navigation and exploration throughout its library. The new library interface is another solid addition, making for an all-round better workflow for the eyes and the brain. With Guitar Rig 6 Pro, however, comes a modern new look that is cleaner less gimmicky. There are advantages and weaknesses to this setup – for all the quick and easy visuals, it can be tough to navigate the audio routing system. This is as much a work of art as it is a unique instrument with an inspiring tone.Similar to Reason and Native Instruments’ Kontakt, Guitar Rig Pro operates via a stacked drag-and-drop system meant to simulate a gear rack. Every piece of metal, from the pickup surrounds, knobs, tailpiece-even the heel plate and control cavity cover-have been intricately engraved by O’Brien.
#GUITAR RIG 6 PLAYER PLUS#
The controls are two tone dials with on-off switches for each, plus a master volume-with a missing knob-on the upper body.

Both the headstock and end of the fretboard are delicately carved into a crown-like pattern, perhaps drawing inspiration from mandolins and lutes of the previous century. The distinctive “suit of cards” inlays along the 32"-scale neck would become a signature of Ronnie Lane, but this is perhaps the earliest example of that motif on one of his instruments.

The hollow chambers on either side of the neck block were stuffed with cotton to eliminate feedback below a laminate-wood carved top. This instrument has a chambered body with a neck-through design and features a 6-screw heel plate purely for cosmetics. Though all of Tony’s designs are one-of-a-kind, this stands out as a bass guitar truly unlike any other we’ve ever seen. The bass pictured here was one of his earliest custom designs for Ronnie Lane.
