Guitar amp sims, explained properly
An amp sim is software that makes your guitar sound like it's playing through a real amplifier, in your DAW or standalone. But "amp sim" covers three very different technologies: captures (snapshots of a real amp at one setting), modeled amps (hand-tuned recreations), and circuit simulation (the amp's actual electronics, solved live while you play).
Which one you want depends on what you're chasing. These guides cover all three honestly, including the free tools we compete with.
Hardware amp modeler vs software amp sim, from a guitarist building one: what the box wins, what the laptop wins, and the design decision under both.
A plain-English guide to guitar amp simulators: the three ways software fakes an amp, the ceiling each one hits, and which one you actually want.
NAM is free, open-source software that captures a real amp and plays it back. How it works, what A2 changed, and the one thing a capture can't do.
A capture is frozen at the knob positions it was made with. Why a capture player's tone controls don't behave like the real amp's — and when it matters.
Eight free amp sims worth your drive space, ranked honestly by someone building a competitor — plus the two ceilings every free sim eventually runs into.
First note from the Cathode bench. What this devlog is, and what you get out of reading it.