Real world Mic positions on the ox

[Lore.M]

Hi there,
greetings from Italy!
I've bought my second unit after a couple of years and I'm here again playing with the OX.
Usually I play and record my guitars through an Iso box miked up with some good mics (sm57, md421, e906, oc18, delta2) and through my preamps (capi vp28, chandler germ and tg2, heritage 73).
As a "home player" I needed a totally silent setup and, after several loadboxes owned, I got back to OX.

What I found is that my usual setup sounds quite different, generally with the OX I lack bottom end and warmth, maybe that's because OX is meant to be used in professional production and the speaker emulation are just tailored to sit in the mix without messing around with other frequencies. I tend to keep the mics pretty close to the cone, maybe exagerating the proximity effect, if that makes any sense.

Anyway, let's come to the original question.
The ox (what a pity!) only offer two positions for each mic: on and off axis. Do you know how this position were modelled? center cone? cap edge? how far from the cone? This would help me a lot to organize a real comparison among ox and my analog setup.

Imho OX has three big limits I really wish they could solve with a firmware update (if the hardware would allow it):
1) mic positions: for guitar nerds like me it would be precious to have more control, maybe not a complete model like celestion dsr but... well, why not?
2) only one speaker at a time: I'd love to mix cabs and speakers, yeah I can route one mic to direct and then use IR on the daw but this won't work without a pc.
3) sample rate: I always work at 48 kHz but I found my ox sounds better if connected through optical spdif to my rme ucx2 and that oblige me to set the project to 44.1.

Thanks If you've made it this far!

Cheres!

 

[Ron76]

Hi Lore.M,
don't be too optimistic about future updates, it's been a while since this has gotten an update and many people here (and elsewere) claim to have an update for a long time.

In general, it makes sense to use the master EQ on OX, especially if you would like to fine-tune low frequencies and mids. The proximity effect can also be achieved by tweaking the EQ. You are probably more flexible with this and the microphone choice than using flexible microphone positions. The master EQ is a mighty tool. Of course you can also blend the sound of two identical microphones in two different positions to find a sweet spot. I guess the two positions are just in the nature of the OX, but there are many other ways to tune your sound.

The sample rate had been a hardware decision. Try recording the symmetrical (analog) outputs, they sound very good, and running your projects in 48 kHz.

Speaker combinations: From my experience, IR's of cabinets with mixed speakers are always compromises and did not exceed the single speaker ones. It is possible to use re-amping to get different speaker sounds through OX, using also its room mics and those things. I would do that post-production with re-amping rather than in 1 step.

This leads me to: We really need OX Stomp or OX as a plugin...!!!

 

[Lore.M]

Hi buddy, thanks for your reply!
Well, yeah, it's just a wish that I'm aware won't come true, eheheh Such a pity, let me say. Of course Ox software is stable but it's gross this lack of updates, compared to kemper (just for instance) which has an older hardware but keep on being updated.

The eq block is something I need to dig in, generally I'm not a post eq guy and, anyway, I prefer to subtract than add something in terms of equilisation.. anyway, I'll try though I'm not sure I'll be able to achieve what I'm looking for.

As for sample rate and output, I used for a while the analog outs the thing is I prefer way better how it sounds throught the optical output, eheh.
Next time I'll try to feed the ox to one of my preamp, I'll lose the stereophony (as I don't know a pair of equal pres) but it's worth trying.

Going back to the question, have you ever heard of the exact placement of mics modelled by UA in the ox box?

I must be onest, I was looking for an ox stomp this time to put in chain with a torpedo captor, then a good offer showed up and here I am again, eheh

 

[Ron76]

You're welcome!

I prefer to subtract than add something in terms of equilisation.

Haha, yeah, cutting frequencies is the key to a better, transparent mix, not adding them! Try to get used to it, use small steps of attenuation or amplification, this will allow you to shape the sound as you like it. It is not witchcraft!!
Btw., same with understanding the controls of the 1176 which can also help you cutting through in the mix. Read the manual and understand what the dials are doing, it's worth it!!

For the placement of the mics: Sorry, I don't have any information other than the manual:

Cabinet Microphones
The six close mics (and one DI box) used on each of the speaker cabinets are listed below. The close mics can be individually accessed for any cabinet within the OX software app. Dynamic Speaker Modeling allows any single close mic, or any two different close mics, to be used on any cabinet. The close mics can be panned for stereo captures. Additionally, because Dynamic Speaker Modeling allows each close mic to be individually positioned on or off axis, an extraordinarily broad sonic pallet is available.

from: https://media.uaudio.com/support/ox/OX+Amp+Top+Box+Manual+210811.pdf

In general, the sounds are tuned to match the sound of close miking, so a massive EQ to boost depth / bass and warmth / mids surely is not required. Be careful to use neutral monitors / headphones when dialing in the sounds, maybe compare it to samples or use a frequency analyzer to get used to where you need to go.

Greetings from Germany, Ron

 

[Lore.M]

Yup, in my home studio I already use calibrated headphones and monitors (beyer DT880pro and Adam A5X, through sonarworks sound id reference).

Is there any chance to contact UAD directly? I could only chat with a bot, eheheh

Mic positioning is an "art", you can really obtain various sounds just with a single microphone and not only using it on axis or off axis. Above all I found this to be the major nuisance while I can pass on all the others.
Maybe that's because I'm used to real mics, I don't know. I can see the point of UAD, keeping it simple and as it should work but... I like systems that would allow me to make mistakes... an "advanced" panel would have been nice with more options. Sounds a little bit to me as the android vs apple world, eheheh...

Anyway I'll definetely give it a try to the eq block, who knows...

 

[Ron76]

Yeah, I know about the nuances of moving the mic slightly.
As the two positions in OX are both quite useable, I suppose they are rather based on in-between positions "close" to center cone and border instead of two extremes. I could not find any pictures of the OX development / behind the scenes.

 

[Lore.M]

Yup, what made me wonder was the 57 which is damn bright... off course it's not a dark sounding mic overall but really sounded thin...
I wanna try with the cab linked too, maybe I could get different result with a real impedance load instead of the one mimiked by the ox

 

[Ron76]

If your amp head / combo has 2 speaker outputs, you can also connect OX in parallel to the cabinet. Be sure to set the impedance correctly then.
I doubt this will make a difference in sound...

 

[Lore.M]

Well, not every amp I own has multiple output, some have one outlet and a selector. By the way I'll try both solution (through amp and through ox).
I should have read a long discussion on tgp (if I'm not mistaken) about impedance curve, I'm curious to experience with my very ears instead of reading graphics.

 

[devanbumstead]

I'd still love to know where exactly the mic positions were modeled. I, too, feel like SM57 was placed perhaps a little too close to the center of the cone for my taste. I've had to rely on other mic choices rather than use what's initially intuitive for me.