RigSculpt field guide

Conversant Soundworks · RigSculpt 1.03

Start with the amp you want to play

You can play a neural amp model or an Artificer amp, then build the rig around it. Both have cabs, effects and performance tools at hand.

I use RigSculpt every day for playing, recording and live streams. I built it around the sounds and workflows I needed, and your feedback helps it serve other ways of making music. Start with one sound you enjoy, then explore when a musical idea takes you there.

In RIG VIEW, open AMP and use the MODE selector. Here are the two ways in:

Play a neural amp model

Choose NEURAL AMP MODEL to load a .nam file. Each NAM represents a recorded signal chain at one setting. Browse for a sound you like, then adjust its input drive and the rig around it.

Load and adjust a NAM · Browse by sound

Play or design an Artificer amp

Choose ARTIFICER AMP MODEL for an amp with its own adjustable circuit. Play a house amp from its front panel, or press DESIGNER to change its parts and build your own variation.

Choose an amp or starting circuit · Open the chassis

The same Lancer amp, inside the chassis

In DESIGNER > CIRCUIT > CHASSIS, switch between TOPSIDE, UNDERSIDE and REAR. Select a valve, board or supported rear control to open its editor. These are views into the amp you are playing; you can change its parts while you listen.

Learn how to explore the chassis · Find your way around the Designer

Put the rest of the rig around it

RIG VIEW brings the playing panels together. CHAIN VIEW > FIXED shows that same rig as blocks. Both let you select a part of the signal path and adjust it while you play.

1. Set the input and amp. Calibrate your input, choose the amp sound and set a comfortable output level. Input tools handle noise and pickup voicing.
2. Choose the cabinet and effects. Choose or blend cab IRs, then add drive, compression and EQ or movement, delay and reverb.
3. Make the signal path your own. FLEX is a separate rig where you can move effects, repeat them or build parallel paths. Use COPY FIXED when you want to start from your fixed rig.
4. Keep it ready to play. Save presets and snapshots, or record a loop. MIDI puts controls under your feet. Send and return connects the rig to external gear.

Use Search or the chapter list whenever you need a particular control. The product filter narrows the guide. Turn on Technical notes for more detail. Click a screenshot to enlarge it. The guide and its images work offline. These pictures show a Windows session; your models and settings may differ.

Install and open the programs

Get the package for your operating system from the official Ko-fi page. The 1.03 packages are available for Windows, macOS and Linux. Check platform availability and the download page before installing.

Choose your platform

The current public release is 1.03 for Windows, macOS and Linux. The standalone app lets you play without a DAW. These package choices are available:

• Windows: choose the VST3 plug-in package or the package with the standalone app. Workshop has its own installer.
• macOS: choose the VST3 and AU plug-in package or the package with the standalone app. Workshop has its own disk image.
• Linux: the Artificer package includes the VST3 and CLAP plug-ins and standalone app. Workshop has its own archive. Linux installation covers the 64-bit x86 requirements. Please report any desktop, audio-device or DAW problems.

On Linux, NAM GPU and the Workshop's Analysis on the graphics card use Vulkan when a suitable driver is present. The card must pass a check against the processor before use; otherwise analysis and playback use the processor.

1. Extract the whole download. On Windows, right-click the ZIP and choose Extract All…. On macOS, double-click it in Finder. Run installers from the extracted folder. On Linux, extract the ZIP, then each application's .tar.gz archive with your file manager or tar -xzf.
2. Save your work and close both programs and your DAW. Close background REAPER processes too, so the old plug-in can be replaced. Back up important presets and projects before updating.
3. Install each program you want. Artificer's bundled sounds let you play immediately. The Workshop measures and organizes your own collection.

Windows

Use the 64-bit package on Windows 10 or 11. Artificer needs an AVX-capable processor; its installer checks this.

• Artificer: run the installer and approve the administrator prompt. It installs for all users, with the plug-in in the standard VST3 folder. Open RigSculpt in your DAW's effects list.
• Workshop: run its separate installer, then open it from the Start menu. If offered and you have administrator access, choose Install for all users. A per-user installation also works.

If Windows says “Windows protected your PC”

The Windows installers are not currently code-signed. Microsoft Defender SmartScreen may call them an unrecognized app or publisher. If you downloaded directly from the official Ko-fi page and see that notice, choose More info, check the installer name, then choose Run anyway if offered.

If the message names a detected threat, or offers no Run anyway option, send the exact message. These steps apply only to the unrecognized-app notice. Microsoft explains the notice here.

macOS

Artificer is universal for Intel and Apple Silicon and needs macOS 12 or later. Workshop needs an Apple Silicon Mac (M1 or later) with macOS 14 or newer. The packages are signed and notarized.

• Artificer: open the .pkg and enter your administrator password when asked. It installs VST3 and AU plug-ins. Choose the package with the standalone to add the app to Applications.
• Workshop: open the .dmg, drag RigSculpt Workshop into Applications, then open that copy. Eject the disk image afterward.

On macOS, the standalone menu bar holds RigSculpt, File and Window. File > Mute output shows a check mark while output is muted. The About page carries the support links; there is no Help menu.

Linux

Use the 64-bit x86 download. Both programs need glibc 2.31 or newer (such as Ubuntu 20.04 or later) and X11 or XWayland. Artificer also needs AVX and zenity or kdialog for file dialogs. See each archive's README for the full library requirements.

• Artificer: close the app and DAW, then run bash install.sh from its extracted folder as your normal user, without sudo. It installs ~/.vst3/RigSculpt.vst3, ~/.clap/RigSculpt.clap and the standalone. Open RigSculpt Artificer from the applications menu or run ~/.local/bin/rigsculpt. Rescan plug-ins in your DAW.
• Workshop: run bash install.sh in its extracted folder, without sudo. Open RigSculpt Workshop from the applications menu or run ~/.local/bin/rigsculpt-workshop.

Keep the VST3 bundle installed: the CLAP plug-in and standalone read their artwork and factory sounds from it. Update all formats from the same package. Save a RigSculpt preset to move a rig between VST3 and CLAP projects.

After installation

Reopen your DAW. If RigSculpt is missing, rescan plug-ins; Logic and GarageBand may also need a restart. Check About for the expected version. If an update looks unchanged, check for a background DAW process before reinstalling.

The plug-in uses your DAW's audio settings. In the standalone, output stays muted until you confirm your devices. The question names the interface and channels in use, including any SEND and RETURN routes, and comes back when they change. After Apply, a new device stays muted until you close the audio settings and confirm it; on Windows, a change of buffer size or sample rate alone comes back with a short fade while the settings stay open, and the title bar says when the output is held. Choose your interface, guitar input and outputs in the app's audio settings. Open the standalone from Applications on macOS or the applications menu on Linux.

On Linux, File > Audio and MIDI settings selects ALSA, JACK or PulseAudio. On a PipeWire desktop, choose JACK (provided by pipewire-jack) or PulseAudio; ALSA lists only cards PipeWire is not using. JACK uses the server's sample rate, shown in settings. File > Mute output mutes or unmutes the app.

On macOS, Report a bug on the About page opens your mail app with a draft, or copies the report template or address. Nothing is sent automatically.

Continue with your first sound or Workshop library setup.

Get your first sound

1. Connect your guitar to the interface's instrument input. Insert RigSculpt on the guitar track and enable input monitoring in your DAW.
2. Open the preset-name menu and choose Angelic Clean. It includes a complete rig.
3. Open the gear, then Setup & display > AUDIO SETUP > Find Interface Input Level…. Choose your interface to fill in its input level and switch on Calibrate Input. Use the calibration for your input configuration. Revisit it if you change the interface gain, pad or instrument/line setting. Calibration cannot fix a clipping interface input.
4. Return to RIG VIEW. Choose a target peak in the output column, press SET OUTPUT TO TARGET, then play a passage played as hard as you expect to play while PLAY NOW listens.
5. Open the amp, EQ or an effect from the signal strip. Make a change, then use Save Preset to keep it. About > Tutorial can guide your next steps.

The standalone uses its own audio settings. After choosing your devices there, follow steps 2 to 5.

Play a rig and adjust a NAM

FIXED is a complete rig, with input tools, amps, cabs and effects already connected. RIG VIEW gives it larger playing panels; CHAIN VIEW shows it as blocks, with the selected block's controls below. Changing views does not change its sound. In CHAIN VIEW, MAKE STEREO, RIG FIT, DOUBLE TRACK and NOISE GATE sit above the board; point at one for its help on the board's bottom line, where longer notices appear too.

• RIG VIEW: use the larger playing panels.
• CHAIN VIEW > FIXED: see and adjust the same signal path.
• CHAIN VIEW > FLEX: play a separate rig with your own effect order and parallel paths. Choosing FIXED or FLEX changes which rig you hear.

In RIG VIEW, open UTIL for input cleanup and pickup voicing, AMP for the amp and cab, and EQ for the parametric equalizer. Open other effects from the signal strip. Supported effects can move before or after AMP; delay and reverb can swap order. VIBE, CHORUS, PHASER and FLANGER can also be reordered in the fixed rig.

The sidebar keeps the input tools and tuner above the listening-level and output controls. Click the pickup pictures to open their editor. Below MASTER, CABINET SEND opens the cabinet-send setup page; the power-amp picture opens the conditioner's TUNE panel. The pickup and conditioner shortcuts each have an adjacent ON/OFF switch.

Choose NEURAL AMP MODEL to play a NAM, or ARTIFICER AMP MODEL to play an Artificer amp and open its circuit in the Designer.

Adjust a NAM

The NAM panel pictured at the start shows these controls together.

Choose NEURAL AMP MODEL in the amp MODE selector. Open the filename to browse, use the arrows to step through models, or open NAM LIBRARY. Check the target slot before loading. When a preset you load leaves a slot empty, its loader reads Select model... or Select IR....

Input drives the NAM harder or more gently. Turn it up for saturation, or down for a cleaner response where the model allows it. A NAM represents one signal chain at one setting; Input does not recreate the original amp's knobs. With valid NAM calibration and input calibration enabled, 0 dB uses the NAM's reference level. Calibrate your interface first.

Gate quiets pauses. Raise its threshold, then check soft notes and sustained endings. It has a separate power switch; UTIL and the NOISE GATE inspector offer Attack, Hold, Release and Floor.

In mono FIXED, Output mirrors the final output control. With stereo amps, Out A / Out B set the separate paths and MASTER sets their combined level. Compare NAMs at similar loudness after changing Input.

ARCHITECTURE shows A1 or offers A2 Full / A2 Lite. Lite uses a smaller network. Each amp saves its own choice. An amber Full-to-Lite indication means Settings > Performance is temporarily overriding Full.

AMP STEREO, STEREO IN, pan and INPUT LINK are covered under two amps. TAME and NAM EQ are separate from the PARAMETRIC EQ. Missing calibration or analysis does not prevent playback.

Find a NAM by sound

1. Open NAM LIBRARY. Add your folders through Folders > Add folder…, or choose Scan Workshop User Library. RESCAN refreshes the list.
2. Choose All models, an archetype, Favorites or Recent. Search or use the author, amp and pack groups to narrow the list.
3. Switch the explorer between ATTRIBUTES and FOLDERS beside the search box. ATTRIBUTES groups by author, amp and pack as before. FOLDERS shows where each file lives: the Workshop's own copies under Workshop library, each folder you added under its own name marked On your drive, and the bundled set under Factory NAMs, with subfolders in alphabetical order and a count beside each. Click a folder to list its NAMs; a search shows only the folders that hold a match. RigSculpt remembers the view you chose. A folder containing only copies of NAMs already in your library or the factory set adds no group of its own; the library keeps one entry per file content.
4. Check the loaded-slot strip, then play a model. Use the explicit A/B actions to choose a side. In FLEX, open the library from the NAM block you want to change.
5. Star models you want to keep. EXPLORE shows their available measurements.

Workshop analysis adds tonal comparisons and plots of response to drive. Unanalyzed NAMs still play; an amber information badge explains what is missing.

Search also checks available maker, model, author and pack details, the original filename and source-folder text. Those details do not need Workshop analysis. Try part of a folder name to narrow a large collection. When sorting by brightness, NAMs without a usable brightness measurement follow the measured models.

Hover an author, amp or pack for S (show only this group) and X (hide it). These choices also narrow comparison results. If models seem missing, clear this scope as well as the search. Removing a browser source does not delete files.

Compare related sounds

• Similar: find models with similar measurements.
• Partner: find a complementary stereo model. It loads the other slot, which is not always B.
• MORE LIKE THIS, BUT…: ask for a brighter, cleaner, fuller or otherwise different sound using the offered directions.

These comparisons describe differences, not quality. Directional search favors the starting model's family and marks more distant alternatives. Missing or incompatible analysis can limit results.

The pinned REF row keeps your starting sound close. In Similar and directional results, click it or press R while the browser has focus to hear the original. In Partner results, REF opens details instead, and R is inactive. Up/Down plays models in the focused list; Enter opens details.

Play two amps together

In RIG VIEW, switch on AMP STEREO. In CHAIN VIEW, MAKE STEREO starts an eligible single NAM or Artificer amp with a matching second amp. It keeps an existing pair as it is. This is separate from BUILD STEREO, which finds a different NAM from your library. In FIXED, leave STEREO IN off to feed both amps from a mono guitar; turn it on to feed the left and right inputs separately. AMP A PAN / AMP B PAN place the paths. The A / B view badges change the controls you see without soloing an amp.

On a stereo NAM head, INPUT LINK moves both inputs by the same dB amount, keeping their existing difference. Cab blend and pan are separate.

Press MATCH B TO A and play to bring B's loudness closer to A. It changes only B's output trim, leaving A, MASTER and polarity alone. SET OUTPUT TO TARGET sets the combined peak instead. In FLEX, balance with lane levels and amp outputs.

Choose a partner

BUILD STEREO finds a measured partner for a supported NAM. Right-click the button to change the preference for a different amp, or choose a model yourself from the library's Partner results.

In FIXED, it loads the pair, sets wide pans, engages Synergize, then asks you to play for balance and output adjustment. Follow PLAY NOW with attacks played as hard as you expect to play and read the report.

In FLEX, it starts from the selected NAM block. It may add a Y branch if the other NAM slot is absent; an existing slot keeps its position. Check the graph and balance manually. FLEX does not run FIXED's listening sequence.

Bring the voicings together

SYNERGIZE adjusts the pair's input drive and output voicing from Workshop measurements. Both NAMs need suitable analysis and comparable types, such as two amp-only models. It does not pair Artificer amps. With an Artificer amp, the output EQ that carries its voicing, that EQ's loudness hold and TAME stand aside; they shape NAM amps only. SYNERGIZE's drive trims and its loudness compensation stand aside too, so a stereo pair of Artificer amps plays as it does with SYNERGIZE off, and they come back when the NAM amps play again.

Start with the tilt centered for a shared voicing. Tilt toward A to keep more of A's character and bring B toward it; tilt toward B for the reverse. Pan and blend remain separate. Switching Synergize off removes its drive trims and restores the previous NAM EQ. Your manual Input changes remain.

The amp panel and SYNERGIZE INSIGHTS control the same pair. LINKED confirms engagement; CHAIN's linked markers show the voicing relationship, not another audio connection.

Read the curves

The graph strip switches between EQ CHANGES and MEASURED + EQ. The first shows NAM output EQ. The second adds EQ to the stored measurement: grey is the reference, color the predicted result. It spans ±12dB and is not a live analyzer or a view of the whole rig after cabs and effects. Input readouts separate effective level from Synergize's trim.

Set up measured NAMs with RIG FIT

Open RIG FIT from the amp page or CHAIN VIEW. In RIG VIEW and FIXED, it uses NAM measurements to set supported drive, compressor and ambience controls, then asks you to play for level setting. Include your loudest passages and read the changes before adjusting further. Effect power switches stay yours to choose. A NAM without embedded analysis gets more limited level adjustment.

The fixed rig fit includes its own stereo balance and leveling. In FLEX, RIG FIT checks the audible board and adjusts eligible effects from the measured NAMs feeding them: delay tone, ducking and mix, plus reverb mix, decay, predelay and its low and high cuts. It then asks you to play to set MAIN level. It leaves DRIVE, compression, effect switches, voices, delay timing and feedback, pans and amp settings as you set them. It skips paths it cannot read reliably, including Artificer amps, external returns and amps placed in series, and leaves convolution reverb alone. Read the report for what changed or was skipped. Some controls change before the listening window, so canceling that window does not undo the whole fit.

Give two amps room around one performance

I wanted two amps to feel less identical without putting a constant chorus wobble on held notes. DOUBLE TRACK leaves amp A in place and plays the finished sound from amp B a little behind it. VOICE B changes what enters B before it distorts, so you can change how the second amp breaks up as well as where it sits in time.

Start with fixed spacing. In the fixed rig, VARY and AUTO TIGHT can look for suitable moments between picked notes to change it. Timing stays put when the signal leaves too little room. You are still playing one performance; this is not a replacement for recording another take.

Open DOUBLE TRACK on the amp page in RIG VIEW, or use the DOUBLE TRACK button in CHAIN VIEW. In the fixed rig, turning it on with one amp makes a matching second NAM or Artificer amp and spreads the pair. An existing stereo pair keeps both of your chosen amps and their settings. Keep STEREO IN off: Double Track starts with one performance. Its drawer explains when the current rig cannot use it, and the line under its knobs says what switching it on will do. In CHAIN VIEW the drawer opens under the DOUBLE TRACK button.

If Double Track made a second amp for you, switching it off in the panel returns the fixed rig to one amp. Your second amp remains available in B. If you load your own NAM into amp B, the pair becomes yours and stays stereo when you switch Double Track off. If you started with a stereo pair, both amps stay active. To keep a pair that Double Track made, choose MAKE STEREO in CHAIN VIEW before switching Double Track off. WIDTH remains available while AMP STEREO is on.

Start with POCKET at 12 ms, VOICE B at the centre, and VARY and AUTO TIGHT off. Spread the pans, then hold MONO CHECK. Delayed signals can reinforce or cancel parts of each other when summed, so choose the spacing with both versions in mind.

• POCKET sets B's nominal delay from 8 to 24 ms in 0.5 ms steps. It comes after B's amp, gate and EQ. A manual change waits for a quiet opportunity or blends in shortly after you stop turning the knob. The delay is intentional musical timing, not extra latency reported to your DAW.
• VOICE B makes B's input fuller to the left and brighter to the right, by up to 2.5 dB. At the centre it adds no coloration to B's existing input. It can change distortion and level as well as tone.
• WIDTH moves Pan A and Pan B apart or together around their existing midpoint, keeping their left/right order. At zero they meet at that midpoint. An off-centre pair has less room to spread. Double-click requests 75%; the existing pans store the result.
• MONO CHECK folds the live main output to mono while you hold it, in the fixed rig or FLEX, including effects, tails and the looper. Recording that live output while held records the fold too. It does not change SEND or an offline export. Release it, close the drawer, change view or close the editor to return to stereo.

When to try VARY and AUTO TIGHT

VARY can make small timing changes between detected picked notes, around POCKET. AUTO TIGHT can shorten the spacing during faster picking. Both start off. They look for room to make a change and hold the current timing when the signal is too strong or rising. They do not continuously wobble a ringing note.

Try one option at a time on a part with clear spaces between notes. High-gain sustain often leaves little room for changes. AUTO TIGHT has more room with a longer POCKET; at 12 ms it may do very little. Use your ears rather than expecting every note to move.

Starting or bringing the pair into FLEX

Select an amp on the FLEX board and open DOUBLE TRACK. Opening the panel leaves the sound alone. Switch it on to give a single NAM in slot A or a single Artificer amp a matching second amp. A compatible pair keeps its two amps. POCKET, VOICE B, WIDTH and MONO CHECK are together in this panel; the input shaping and timing stay attached to B without separate cards on the board. If another route uses the required NAM slot, or the routing cannot safely hold the pair, the message explains what to change. The fixed rig and FLEX share NAM slot B: when it holds a different NAM, Double Track and MAKE STEREO leave it in place. Load the same NAM into amp B to pair it, or, from the fixed rig, turn AMP STEREO on to pair with the FLEX rig's amp B. If SYNERGIZE is working on the pair, the message asks you to switch it off on the NAM LIBRARY page first. A lone NAM in slot B and older pairs that share slot A need independent A and B slots first.

Switching Double Track off in the FLEX panel returns a pair it made to the original single-amp route when that route is still simple enough to restore safely, unless you have loaded your own NAM into its amp B. Edits to A stay; UNDO brings the pair back, including edits to B. If you have added routing around the pair, it keeps both amps and switches the doubling off, with a message explaining why. MAKE STEREO keeps the pair intentionally. Existing stereo pairs and pairs brought across with COPY FIXED also stay stereo when Double Track is off. If a saved board holds a DOUBLE TRACK that cannot be identified, choosing FLEX removes it, keeps your amps and effects, and the page says so.

FLEX plays fixed timing only. Its panel says Fixed timing in FLEX; VARY and AUTO TIGHT remain in the fixed rig. COPY FIXED tells you when those options cannot be carried across. Use the stereo merge for the doubled pair, then check its mono sound.

The main Double Track controls support host automation and MIDI; both act on the fixed rig, and the MIDI targets are marked (fixed rig). Automation changes the doubling without adding or removing amps. Returning to one amp is an explicit panel action. Older saved pairs without a record of how they began stay stereo when you switch Double Track off. WIDTH operates the existing pans in FIXED and the pair's lane pans in FLEX; MONO CHECK is momentary. Older presets without Double Track settings open with it off. MATCH B TO A measures B before the delay. VARY's proposed changes stay within 8 to 24 ms; AUTO TIGHT can bring the spacing below 8 ms. A change still depends on the signal leaving room for it.

Choose and blend cabinets

I suggest finding one cabinet you like before blending several. Keep the amp settings steady while you compare; that makes it easier to hear what the cabinet brings.

Open CAB LIBRARY, add folders through Folders, then search or sort your collection. RESCAN refreshes it. Use the A/B load actions or drag an IR onto the intended cab slot. Adjust filters, blend and pan on the cab panel.

Analysis describes measured sound, such as the low corner and roll-off. Cabinet, speaker and microphone names are separate supplied labels, not hardware identification; provided means someone supplied those details. IRs still load without labels or measurements. If CAB LIBRARY has no readable Workshop measurements, follow the Analyze and Embed steps for that WAV.

The cabinet illustration follows the neural or Artificer amp feeding it. Use the loaded IR names to identify the cabinet sound; the illustration does not identify the speaker or microphone in an IR. RIG VIEW and CHAIN VIEW share the same cabinet artwork and leather surround.

A full-rig NAM already includes a cab. Full rigs bypass the cab automatically can switch off the extra cab when one is recognized. Check the cab switches when changing model types. You can change this setting or override the cab manually.

Set the cabinet sound

Load an IR through the cabinet loader or CAB LIBRARY. If your NAM already includes a cab, compare with the cabinet block bypassed before adding another speaker response. The cabinet IR and the Designer's electrical load settings are separate.

Turn on CAB STEREO to use two IRs. Blend moves from all A to all B; Pan A / Pan B place them. Start with one IR, add the other quietly, and check the result in mono.

IMAGE sets both pans:

• DUAL MONO centres both cabs. Each side carries the same A/B blend, like blending two mics on one cab. It also switches ALIGN on.
• SPREAD, the default, puts A 75 left and B 75 right.
• WIDE puts A hard left and B hard right.

The Spread knob moves both pans around their centre: 0 centres both and 100 puts them hard left and right. Double-click returns it to 75.

Try each cab's Ø key if two mics sound thin or hollow together; it flips that cab's polarity. ALIGN makes the earlier impulse wait up to 20 ms to align the main peaks, and gives B the same polarity as A. It measures every loaded cab and reports the change, such as B waits 0.42 ms. Switching ALIGN on resets both Ø keys; they then flip polarity from the aligned sound. Rigs saved before 0.99.2 open with ALIGN off.

Low Cut reduces excess bass and High Cut smooths the top on both sides. Fully lower Low Cut or fully raise High Cut to bypass that cut. Room adds small-room ambience after the cab.

AMP STEREO, STEREO IN and the amp pans are in the head's footer. Cab blend and pan stay here. The NAM head's INPUT LINK links its two input knobs, not the cabinet files or pans.

Choose or start an Artificer amp

Choose a starting amp

LIBRARY holds eighteen house amps and your saved designs. Browse the cards or filter with ALL, CLEAN, EDGE, DRIVE and HIGH GAIN. MY AMPS holds your named amps; LEGACY holds earlier house editions from 0.99 and 0.99.1.

Each house card names its circuit type and musical study. REFERENCE describes that character without loading the amp. Press CLOSE or click outside to return to the cards. The loader also shows the study, such as Solstice (Boutique Edge Study); hover over a compact name to read it all.

Clicking a card loads it immediately and starts both versions in COMPARE DESIGNS alike. PLAY THIS opens the panel; EDIT CIRCUIT returns to your last circuit view. Store an amp snapshot before browsing if you want a way back. UNDO also restores the amp before a library selection.

Keep a version you like

A house card loads its current recipe. Saved amps, snapshots and older projects keep their recorded recipe and settings. SAVE AMP puts your variation in MY AMPS without replacing the house amp.

A note from me. Artificer amps are new in 0.99, and I am still refining the engine. Their sounds will keep evolving, with each revision aimed at an improvement. I will aim to preserve the values in your saved presets and amps, though keeping those values does not guarantee an identical sound as the engine develops. Reselect a house for its current recipe, and save a copy in MY AMPS of anything you want to hold onto.

Start from a circuit type

NEW AMP offers seven starting circuits: CONFIGURABLE CIRCUIT, EARLY-STACK LEAD CASCADE, EARLY-STACK LEAD, PARALLEL PATH, DIODE-CLIPPED LEAD, COLD-CLIPPER CASCADE, OPEN-LOOP HIGH GAIN and BRITISH HIGH-GAIN CASCADE. Select one to read about its sound, parts and signal path. Your current amp keeps playing until you press CREATE AMP; UNDO brings it back afterward.

Each starting circuit is playable. CONFIGURABLE CIRCUIT starts with moderate drive and lets you choose its stages, tone network and power section. The others start from their house amp's sound with HOT INPUT off; COLD-CLIPPER CASCADE uses Lancer's earlier edition. Starting circuits stay the same when a house amp is revised.

For a copy of a house amp's current settings, or one of your own amps, use START FROM AN EXISTING AMP, choose it in LIBRARY and press USE AS STARTING POINT.

GUIDE walks through INPUT, GAIN, TONE, POWER, SUPPLY, OUTPUT and FINISH. It appears above any circuit view and tells you what to listen for. Use NEXT >, < PREVIOUS or HIDE GUIDE. The header's GUIDE returns to your last step; the final OPEN APPEARANCE step opens the panel and finish choices.

Shape an Artificer amp with its controls

Drag a knob, hold Shift for fine adjustment, or double-click to restore its loaded value. Hover for an explanation. Available controls depend on the amp's circuit.

Controls particular to the house amps

• Pinnacle adds GAIN FAT, DRIVE BRIGHT and PRESENCE SHIFT.
• Sterling adds LEAD MASTER and calls its output trim LEVEL.
• Lancer has LEAD MASTER, TREBLE SHIFT, BASS SHIFT, VOLUME BRIGHT, LEAD BRIGHT, DEEP, RECOVERY (TRIODE or FOLLOWER) and OUTPUT VOICE (LEAD or CLASSIC). Its output trim is LEVEL.
• Obsidian can place HIGH GAIN MOD before the first amp stage. It starts off. MOD DRIVE sets clipping, MOD TONE shapes the top end and MOD LEVEL sets how hard it pushes the amp. OUTPUT is the final trim.
• Scorch uses GAIN CHANNEL to choose standard or extended gain; STD GAIN and EXTENDED GAIN keep separate settings. GAIN STRUCTURE offers LOW, MEDIUM and FULL. The main row has STD GAIN, BASS, MID, TREBLE, PRESENCE, THUMP, MASTER and OUTPUT. THUMP is its resonance control; the named voicing controls sit below.

HOT INPUT starts on for Pinnacle, Sterling, Lancer and Obsidian. It adds level and a mid lift before the first stage. Compare it on and off in CIRCUIT, using SIGNAL PATH's first row or PARTS LIST's INPUT section. It is not a panel control. Amps saved before 0.99.2 keep their sound, and NEW AMP starting circuits leave it off.

GRAPHIC shapes five bands after the preamp and before the power section. Sterling, Obsidian and Scorch can add separate bell filters or an interacting inductor network. Pinnacle and Lancer use their circuit's own coil network. Matching slider positions across constructions need not sound alike. This EQ is separate from the rig's parametric EQ.

Keep an earlier amp or try its newer version

Earlier Pinnacle, Sterling, Lancer, Obsidian and Scorch designs keep their sound. When one enters the rig, Artificer offers its newer version. PREVIEW lets you compare EARLIER and NEW; KEEP THIS ONE lasts for that amp until the next load. On Pinnacle, USE THE NEW PINNACLE accepts it, and Don't show this again for Pinnacle stops that amp's offer.

The new Pinnacle keeps your knobs, graphic, pulls and power choices, but not earlier preamp changes from the Designer. For the other four amps, the new version keeps output level and power choices and starts its other controls at its own settings. The older editions remain in LEGACY, marked LEGACY ENGINE.

Sterling Legacy and Lancer Legacy offer TIGHTNESS. All five legacy amps offer ATTACK: CLASSIC keeps their earlier response; PRECISE reduces the softened attack under high gain. Earlier Pinnacle designs retain their own ATTACK behavior, where PRECISE drives the power section harder. Obsidian Legacy's MID SCOOP cuts 750 Hz between preamp and power; clockwise deepens it.

Scorch Legacy and older saved Scorch amps on the automatic panel use MAIN, GAIN and VOICING tabs. MAIN holds the active gain, tone and levels; GAIN holds channel, gain structure and saturation; VOICING holds Dirt Fat, Voice, Custom Voice, Response and Thump Frequency. Tabs do not switch the playing channel. Custom layouts keep their full face; AUTO ARRANGE restores the grouped playing panel after PLAY AMP.

Open an amp and change its parts

The Designer opens at CIRCUIT > CHASSIS > TOPSIDE. Choose PARTS LIST, SIGNAL PATH or CHASSIS in the VIEW row. AMP SECTION selects INPUT, GAIN, TONE, POWER, SUPPLY or OUTPUT. Changing views keeps the amp and your selection.

PARTS LIST

Select a stage, then use - and + to step a part or choice while you play. Pinnacle, Sterling, Lancer and its earlier edition, Obsidian and Scorch open into circuit parts such as resistors, capacitors, pots and supply rails.

CHANGED marks an edit. DETAILS shows the loaded and drawn values. INACTIVE means a panel switch has taken the part out of the signal path; you can still set it. RESTORE LOADED VALUES returns a stage to its loaded settings, and UNDO takes back a step.

Configurable amps also have choices for stages, tone network, clipping, power, supply and load. Open a choice's DETAILS, then ALL OPTIONS > to see its options together. Where an option has editable parts, they follow it in the list. Choosing a different option starts from that option's values. A stage left out of the selected gain cascade is marked.

SIGNAL PATH

Follow the stages in the order your signal meets them. Each row names its job and related panel settings. Switched-out stages are dimmed with a reason. Branches, supply and feedback have their own rows.

Select a stage for WHAT IT DOES, IN THIS AMP and LISTEN FOR. Where available, NOW shows how hard it is driven while you play. EDIT THESE PARTS, OPEN THIS CHOICE or SHOW ON THE PANEL takes you to its controls. AMP SECTION scrolls to that part of the path.

CHASSIS

Use CAMERA to choose TOPSIDE, UNDERSIDE or REAR. TOPSIDE shows valves, transformers and rear controls. UNDERSIDE shows boards and wiring, including the selected stage's connections. REAR shows the output assembly.

Hover over a part to name it. Click to open its stage or choice in the STAGE EDITOR beside the picture. CLOSE gives the picture its width back. Use STAGE LIST if you prefer choosing by name.

The layout follows the amp, so component positions vary. It is an idealized view, not a wiring or service diagram. Some assemblies explain their role without offering a sound control. Use SIGNAL PATH to follow the circuit.

ABOUT THIS CIRCUIT names the circuit, starting amp and your changes. It also explains how edits are applied: SMOOTH changes with a short fade; PREPARED FIRST keeps the amp playing while the change is prepared.

Choose the output load and supply

In CHASSIS > REAR, click either speaker outlet for ELECTRICAL LOAD. Both use the same load; they do not add an audio path or change cab routing. RESISTIVE, BROAD and PRONOUNCED change the output response and its interaction with feedback. Choose the acoustic speaker sound separately in CAB IR.

The power transformer opens SUPPLY CHARACTER; the rectifier opens RECTIFIER. The choke and output transformer explain their physical role and have no setting. OUTPUT BUILD, in SUPPLY, changes headroom and supply character. Its wattage labels describe design categories, not a measured electrical output.

See and restore your changes

ABOUT THIS CIRCUIT and the name entry in MY AMPS list what differs from the starting amp: panel values, switch positions, choices and parts. PARTS LIST marks an edited stage CHANGED. Use RESTORE LOADED VALUES or RESTORE THIS CHOICE to undo that portion of an experiment.

Arrange and finish your amp

Open APPEARANCE > PANEL LAYOUT. Select a control to RENAME, RESET LABEL or REMOVE it. Choose LARGE, MEDIUM or SMALL spacing, drag controls to empty positions or swap them, or use AUTO ARRANGE. Named circuit controls can move but cannot be removed. The arrangement also appears on the head in RIG VIEW and CHAIN VIEW.

REMOVE hides a control, not its circuit. Restore supported controls from the list; where offered, choose KNOB or SWITCH. PLAY AMP returns to playing.

Add a control and its circuit

Right-click the metal face for ADD. A plain item adds an existing control. + CIRCUIT also changes the amp: read the explanation before pressing ADD CIRCUIT & CONTROL.

Adding GRAPHIC enables its retained EQ settings. Adding CUT removes negative feedback and takes PRESENCE and RESONANCE off the panel. CANCEL leaves the amp unchanged; UNDO restores the circuit and panel together.

Choose the finish and badge

In APPEARANCE > FINISH & KNOBS, choose GRILLE, METAL FACE, CABINET & TRIM, MODEL BADGE and KNOBS independently. The preview follows each choice. ORIGINAL LAYER restores only that layer; DONE returns to PANEL LAYOUT. These changes do not affect the sound.

KNOBS offers thirteen shapes and finishes. The six new choices are SKIRTED BLACK, FLUTED IVORY, DOMED NICKEL, TOP HAT AMBER, FACETED GRAPHITE and DISH PEWTER. Choose a shape you can read comfortably against the face. The live head and saved amp use that choice in RIG VIEW, CHAIN VIEW and the Designer; it changes the appearance, not the control's range or sound.

For lettering, open APPEARANCE > BADGE, or press BADGE on the head in PLAY or PANEL LAYOUT. CUSTOM TEXT allows up to 32 characters; HOUSE BADGE restores the inherited artwork. Badge text is separate from the name you choose with SAVE AMP. The saved amp keeps its finish.

Compare and save your amp

COMPARE DESIGNS holds versions A and B of this amp. They start alike when you load a new amp. The A | B buttons choose which plays; they are separate from the rig's stereo amp paths.

1. Use COPY CURRENT A TO B to keep your starting sound in both versions.
2. Select B and change one thing. Switch between A and B while playing the same phrase; match listening levels with OUTPUT.
3. Keep the version you prefer, or use COPY CURRENT B TO A to copy it back.

The four AMP SNAPSHOTS keep checkpoints for this session, including panel and finish. STORE keeps the playing design, RECALL loads it, and REPLACE overwrites a filled row. UNDO can take back a recall. AMP-page and CHAIN-block control changes keep your comparison; Undo stays with the amp you are editing.

SAVE AMP asks for a name and keeps the design in MY AMPS. For an existing name, choose REPLACE, SAVE COPY or CANCEL. The amp keeps playing. Use Save Preset to keep the surrounding effects and routing too.

Build your own signal path in FLEX

You can stay with FIXED for a complete rig. When you want an effect somewhere else or two sounds in parallel, FLEX gives you that freedom. Start with one change and listen before adding another.

Shape the guitar before it reaches the room

In RIG VIEW, click UTIL, COMP, DRIVE, VIBE, CHORUS, PHASER, FLANGER, EQ, CAB IR, DELAY or REVERB on the signal strip. CHAIN VIEW shows the same rig as blocks. Use FLEX for a freely arranged path, repeated effects and parallel lanes.

CHAIN VIEW uses the same pedal artwork and controls. The lane decides where each effect runs, so some routing controls, such as the drive's ROUTE selector, are absent there. Bypass an effect to compare. RESET buttons generally restore the pedal's settings but keep its mode and power state.

Effects before the amp change what drives it. Effects after the cab shape the finished sound. Set the amp and cab first, then add compression or drive, followed by modulation, delay and reverb. Play the same phrase and add one effect at a time.

Clean up the incoming guitar

Use HUSH for steady pitched hum, NOISE FILTER for broadband noise, and GATE for the gaps between notes. Start with the problem you hear; combine tools if needed.

HUSH

Turn the guitar's volume up, still the strings and press LEARN. Stay quiet for about three seconds while HUSH measures the hum and its harmonics. Check the status for success, then set Depth. The result is kept between sessions. Learn again if the guitar, wiring or background noise changes.

NOISE FILTER

AUTO follows background noise in eight frequency regions as you play. Start there. For MANUAL, keep the input quiet and press LEARN, then compare quiet note decays. This learned profile lasts for the session. Learn again after a sample-rate change or if the status says no profile.

Hi Thresh / Lo Thresh limit the automatic cleanup; they are not gate thresholds. Depth limits noise reduction. A quick Attack preserves picking detail; a longer Release smooths abrupt changes. If soft notes lose detail, lower Depth and compare bypass before raising amp gain.

GATE

Set Thresh just above idle noise, then play your quietest notes. Attack sets how quickly the gate opens. Hold keeps it open after a note falls below threshold; Release sets the closing fade. Longer Hold or Release preserves tails; shorter settings tighten stops. Floor sets the level when closed.

A fixed stereo rig has separate A and B switches and thresholds. In CHAIN VIEW, press NOISE GATE for these controls, then BACK TO BLOCK to return. In FLEX they stay with the NAM slots. They are not movable effects and do not gate Artificer blocks.

DESCENT and PICKUP REVOICER

DESCENT is an experimental down-tuner, including an octave-down option. Choose your tuning and compare single notes with chords. Voicing keeps more or less of the guitar's original body. Stability trades quick tracking for steadier held notes.

PICKUP REVOICER changes the signal before the amp. In VOICE, choose the pickup character you have and the one you want. Amount blends the conversion; above 100% it exaggerates it. CUSTOM lets you change both designs through Wind, Aperture and Damping and cable loading. Save them in My Pickups. Explore the response by ear; it does not promise an exact copy of a physical guitar.

The sidebar shows the source pickup on the left and the target on the right. Click either picture to open UTIL in the fixed rig, or select the existing PICKUP block in FLEX. Its ON/OFF switch bypasses that revoicer. When FLEX has no PICKUP block, NOT IN FLEX and OPEN take you to the board so you can add one yourself. The shortcut does not add it automatically.

The pictures illustrate pickup families. For a custom design they show its basis families; hover to read the complete names and status. Dim artwork can mean the block's main path is inactive even while its switch is ON, so check the tooltip and routing before treating it as a bypass indication.

In FLEX, the suggested input order is HUSH → NOISE FILTER → DESCENT → PICKUP, ahead of other effects. A placement suggestion lets you accept it, keep your position or disable suggestions. Re-enable them from the IN chip's menu.

COVENANT

Start in Simple. Set compression with Amount and mix it with your dry sound using Blend. Speed changes attack and recovery together: lower settings leave more pick attack, higher settings sound more controlled. Watch the gain-reduction meter as you play.

Rig-Aware adjusts the target from the loaded amp's Workshop measurements, or leaves it alone without them. It reads the NAM in the amp slot; with an Artificer amp it stands by and its readout says NAM amps only. In Expert, adjust Threshold, Ratio, Attack, Release, Makeup and Mix directly. Ember and Oath keep a fixed Ratio. Play, then press FIT for a measured starting point.

In the fixed rig, Pre compresses before the amp; Post follows the cab, before delay/reverb; End follows the effects. Post controls the amp without compressing its reverb tail. Use End gently to make the whole sound move together.

CRUCIBLE

Start the three built-in voices with Drive, Tone and Level. Texture changes the saturation; Tight firms the low end. To tighten a saturated amp, try low Drive, more Tight and enough Level to push the amp. Compare at similar loudness.

Amp Match adapts the drive to the amp's measurements; Pickup Match uses the pickup character. Hold Level uses the amp's measured response to compensate for expected volume changes as you adjust drive. Both read the NAM in the amp slot; with an Artificer amp they stand by and their readouts say NAM amps only. Check the readouts for missing information. Use Amp Out for the final level.

In NEURAL, Input sets how hard you drive the pedal NAM; Level sets what it sends to the amp. OUTPUT CAL uses the NAM's available calibration data for that level. Check any missing-data notice beside the loader. Pedal NAMs have separate folders and a browser of their own. In a fixed stereo rig, ROUTE selects Both, A or B. In FLEX, put the pedal on the lane you want.

Choose the EQ for the job

The NAM panel's eight sliders work together from Sub through Air for broad voicing changes. Neutral clears your changes. Flatten counters the measured response when available; Accentuate emphasizes it. View: Changes shows your correction; View: Measured adds the measured reference. The graph does not show a live spectrum.

TAME separately reduces measured NAM resonances. Its power and depth apply to both NAM slots, but a slot with no measured peak stays unchanged. Use TAME for that resonance, then shape the voicing with EQ.

Output EQ holds your loudness, on by default in Settings > Workflow, keeps the level steady as you move the eight sliders. The output EQ, its loudness hold and TAME shape NAM amps only; with an Artificer amp they stand aside.

Open EQ for eight independent PARAMETRIC EQ bands. Bell shapes a region; Low shelf / High shelf shapes a broad end; Notch removes a narrow tone. Low cut / High cut removes an end with 12, 24, 36 or 48 dB/oct slopes.

Drag a numbered point for frequency and gain; scroll over it for Q. Higher Q is narrower or more resonant. Hold Shift for finer dragging. Right-click a point or band tile to bypass it. Double-click a value to type it, including 2.4k for a frequency. The graph previews the response even while bypassed.

In FIXED, AMP A and AMP B each have post-amp EQ; AMP B requires stereo amps. RIG shapes their combined sound before the cab. In FLEX, put a PARAMETRIC EQ block where needed, including on each amp lane. Start with one broad cut, match the output level, and compare EQ ON with BYPASS.

Read the live EQ spectrum

The blue trace behind the response curve shows the actual output of the selected PARAMETRIC EQ while you play. RIG reads the combined amps before the cabs; AMP A / AMP B read their own EQ outputs before pan and merge. In FLEX it follows the selected EQ block. It is a view of that point in the rig, not the final MAIN output.

Read the white EQ response against the left EQ dB scale and the signal against the right dBFS scale. SPECTRUM ON/OFF shows or hides the live trace. HOLD keeps the current picture still while the sound continues; press it again for a fresh view. Hover over the graph for frequency and level, or read its peak display. These display choices do not change the EQ or save into the preset.

Play a phrase that exposes the sound you want to change, then use HOLD to inspect it. A high peak may simply be a note or harmonic, so listen before cutting. With EQ bypassed, the spectrum follows the passing signal while the dimmed response curve previews your retained settings. The NAM panel's measured-response graph remains separate.

Add movement, echoes and space

Open VIBE for SÉANCE. Choose Mono for one swirling phase, Stereo for two across the field, or Rotary for rotation with gradual speed changes. Set Speed freely or use Sync with a musical division. Intensity sets strength, Voicing changes the sweep and Grit adds drive. Raise Mix toward vibrato. Use Spread / Width in a stereo position. V1 / V2 compares sweep versions without losing your settings.

Open CHORUS for CHIMERA and choose one of six characters:

Start with low Mix, then set Rate, Depth and Detune. Low-Keep leaves the bass dry. Character warms the sound; Tone darkens the wet signal. More Feedback brings flanging. Try the polarity switch and TZF for different comb and through-zero sounds. Shapes are Tri, Trap, Sine and Rand. In RIG VIEW, Preamp sends modulation into distortion; FX Loop puts it after the cab.

Siren and Maelstrom: movement shaped by your playing

I wanted more to play with than the speed of a repeating sweep. Siren is a phaser that sweeps notches through the tone; Maelstrom is a flanger that blends your sound with a short moving delay. Both let the accents in your picking move them through TOUCH. Use it alongside the regular sweep, or set DEPTH to zero for movement from your hands alone.

Try the same phrase with even picking and then with stronger accents. TOUCH responds to each pick compared with what you played just before. It listens to your guitar as it comes in, before compression, drive or the amp can even out your accents, so it moves the sweep the same way before or after the amp.

Open PHASER or FLANGER on the signal strip for the MOTION page. Both pedals start off; while a pedal is off its controls are greyed, and you can still set them. Turn one on, play a chord, and compare softer notes with a stronger attack before changing several controls.

SIREN gives you three voices. Vocal has four stages and sweeps two notches across up to five octaves. Wide has eight stages and four notches. Cross moves two groups of notches in opposite directions. Keep RATE and MIX the same while changing voices: you are hearing a different shape of movement, not just a faster or deeper sweep.

A flanger blends the original sound with a very short moving delay, for a sweeping comb of evenly spaced notches. MAELSTROM gives you three voices. Glass is clean and wide, with delays from 0.1 to 8 ms. Hollow reaches longer delays, up to 12 ms, with a darker tone. Metal is short, up to 4 ms, and gains a metallic ring as RESONANCE rises. Start with modest RESONANCE and listen to how each voice brings out different parts of a held chord.

THRU-ZERO, in MAELSTROM's header, lets the moving copy pass the original in time, as two tape machines do. On adds the two copies as they cross; Inv reverses the moving copy for a deeper dip at the crossing. How deep it becomes depends on MIX and RESONANCE. Switching it fades the pedal out and back in. While it is on, MAELSTROM delays its dry sound by 1 ms so the moving copy can pass it, and RigSculpt reports that 1 ms to your DAW: LATENCY lists it as MAELSTROM, and on a FLEX board the other lanes wait for it.

SHAPE sets the path of each pedal's sweep. Sine lingers at the top and bottom, Tri sweeps evenly and turns sharply, and Glide softens Tri's turns. Start with the slow, broad default sweep and listen through several cycles. For a closer comparison, try RATE around 0.15 Hz, DEPTH near 100 and MIX near 50. A change glides over 20 ms, so the sweep does not jump. A new Siren starts on Sine and a new Maelstrom on Tri.

Starting values and saved rigs

New fixed rigs and the bundled factory presets start with both pedals off. Newly added FLEX blocks are enabled. All use TOUCH 30%, MIX 30% and SPREAD 60%. The other starting values are RATE 0.20 Hz, POSITION 45%, DEPTH 70% and RESONANCE 25%, with the first voice and Free selected. SHAPE starts on Sine for Siren and on Tri for Maelstrom, with THRU-ZERO off. The fixed rig starts at FX Loop; FLEX follows the block's position on the board. The default Sync division is one bar.

RESET restores the seven knobs and Sync division. It keeps power, voice, SHAPE, THRU-ZERO, placement and Free/Sync as they are. Saved rigs keep their pedal settings; rigs saved before 1.03 open with both pedals off at these starting values. KEEP holds selected power switches when loading a preset, not the previous knob settings.

Placement, order and mono

In RIG VIEW and CHAIN VIEW's FIXED rig, Preamp puts the pedal before the amp. FX Loop puts it after the cab, room and post compression, before delay and reverb. That label describes this position in RigSculpt; it is not an insert between an amp's preamp and power section.

Drag VIBE, CHORUS, PHASER or FLANGER on the signal strip to change their order. Drag across AMP to move between Preamp and FX Loop, or use the pedal's placement selector. Siren and Maelstrom briefly fade out and back in when you change their placement or their order.

With AMP STEREO off, Preamp processes mono and SPREAD does nothing. With AMP STEREO on and one NAM amp, Preamp also processes mono and the knob reads Spread (mono); with two amps it processes stereo. FX Loop processes stereo even after a mono amp, so SPREAD still matters there. UTIL's MONO input setting does not make every later effect mono. Summing a stereo effect to mono can change its wet tone; check both.

In FLEX, add either pedal from the modulation category. Repeated instances keep independent settings, and their place on the board determines the order. A later mono amp can sum a stereo effect. COPY FIXED carries the modulation settings, order and mono Preamp behavior onto the board.

For MIDI control in FLEX, use the SIREN or MAELSTROM block targets for on/off, the seven knobs and Sync. Right-click the intended block and choose Use for MIDI when you have more than one. Targets labelled (fixed rig) control the pedals in RIG VIEW and the fixed chain, including SHAPE and THRU-ZERO. See MIDI assignments.

In a DAW's automation list the two pedals keep their development names: SIREN's controls begin with Eidolon and MAELSTROM's with Wraith, for example EidolonRate, EidolonShape and WraithThruZero. MIDI lists show Siren and Maelstrom, for example Siren shape and Maelstrom thru-zero.

Three things to try

• Pick the sweep. Set DEPTH to zero and compare positive and negative TOUCH. Try the same phrase before and after the amp.
• Keep a fixed colour. Set DEPTH and TOUCH to zero, then adjust POSITION and RESONANCE while listening to a held chord.
• Let two effects interact. Use a restrained MIX, change the order of Siren and Maelstrom, and listen before adding delay or reverb. Turn one off occasionally to hear what each contributes.

AFTERECHO and AFTERGLOW

Choose Sync for tempo divisions or set milliseconds. Start with Time, Feedback and Mix. Duck lowers echoes while you play and lets them return in the gaps. Tone darkens repeats; Mod adds movement. FIT sets Tone, Duck and Mix from available amp measurements. Tail Fit needs a measured convolution reverb to limit feedback against its decay.

AFTERGLOW

Play a chord and press FREEZE to hold a pad, then play over it. LEVEL sets its volume; SWELL sets its entrance and release. Vapor is airy, Vesper still and clear, Vault adds a lower foundation and resonant upper layer, and Waver drifts. SHEEN adjusts the upper layer where available.

SHIMMER and its octave/fifth/both selector shape the pad. Reverie's BLOOM shapes the live repeats. MELT / STACK makes new grabs replace the held pad or add up to four layers. The pad and its settings survive preset and routing changes. Release FREEZE or press CLEAR to finish. With a mapped footswitch, tap while held to re-grab; double-tap or hold to release.

RELIQUARY

Keep Mix low enough to hear the phrase clearly. Predelay separates the reverb from the first note; Duck lowers it while you play. Low Cut / High Cut shape the tail. The algorithmic modes have Decay, Size and a third control that changes with the mode.

Press FIT for a starting point based on the IR's measurements in CONV or the amp's measurements in other modes. It tells you if the data is missing. DUAL separates the left/right reverbs; off uses one stereo space. DUAL uses more processing, and changing it clears the tail. CONV handles its own channels and has no DUAL switch.

Save a rig and keep a performance going

Record a loop and keep playing

The LOOPER records up to 60 seconds of the finished rig. Record a rhythm, then change your sound and play a lead over it. Use the MIDI panel's looper controls or MIDI SETUP walkthrough. The on-screen pads follow your mapped footswitches.

Press REC to start, again to close and play the loop, then again to enter or leave overdub. STOP stops playback; its PLAY action restarts the loop. REC from stopped starts a new take. UNDO removes overdubs in reverse recording order, keeping four layers of history. CLEAR erases the loop. Record the output in your DAW to keep a take beyond the session.

Switching a time effect off can leave its tail ringing. An AFTERGLOW pad and a loop are separate from those tails. The delay's CLEAR silences its stored echoes and pad; the looper's CLEAR erases the loop. After a preset change, let the transition finish before judging the new sound alone.

Set your input, output and playing quality

Set the listening level and tune

Set up your outputs and Power Amp Conditioner

These output controls are new in 1.03. CABINET SEND 1 and POWER AMP CONDITIONER start OFF.

Open OUT on the RIG VIEW signal strip, or CABINET SEND under MASTER in the sidebar, to reach the CABINET SEND page. In CHAIN VIEW, use the sidebar button or select OUT and press OPEN OUT. Click the sidebar's power-amp picture to open the conditioner's TUNE panel directly; its adjacent ON/OFF switch controls the conditioner without enabling a send. Opening either page leaves your current sound alone.

Play a real cabinet while keeping the headphone sound

In RIG VIEW or the fixed chain, turn on CABINET SEND 1. It sends your amp and rig effects without the cabinet IR. MAIN keeps its cabinet sound for headphones, recording or full-range speakers. Send level controls this separate output; the MAIN level does not control it. The shared looper stays on MAIN.

Once you set CABINET SEND 1, changing presets or snapshots keeps its ON/OFF, level and MONO/STEREO setting. This lets you try sounds without resetting the feed to your cabinet. In Settings > Workflow > RECALL > CABINET SEND, KEEP WITH SETUP is the default. Choose FOLLOW PRESETS if you want each preset or snapshot to recall those three settings instead. Changing this choice leaves the current sound as it is.

With KEEP WITH SETUP, manual changes also set the starting value for that control in new instances. Instances already open stay as they are. Saved DAW projects and standalone sessions restore their own cabinet-send settings. Hardware output assignments remain separate.

SEND FORMAT starts at STEREO, which keeps the earlier send sound. Choose MONO for a cabinet feed with its own mono effects after the amp. This combines the left and right amp feed before those effects. Effects already before the amp are part of that feed; changing SEND FORMAT does not recreate them. MAIN keeps its own format and cabinet IRs.

For one power amp channel and one cabinet, choose MONO here and assign SEND 1 to one physical interface output. Signal format and hardware assignment are separate choices: a mono signal can also be carried on a pair of outputs. In the standalone, a mono device SEND mixes a stereo feed's two sides there; it does not change how its effects were made.

Choose the physical output

Standalone: open the audio settings and use Send and Return Buses. Assign SEND 1 to the output feeding your power amp. Choose a mono device SEND for one cabinet, or a stereo pair when you need two channels. The standalone has SEND 1 through SEND 4. The fixed CABINET SEND 1 shortcut supplies bus 1; use FLEX SEND blocks to supply the other buses. Assigning device channels alone does not create a signal.

The CABINET SEND page shows the current SEND 1 assignment reported by the app or host. This describes the route, not whether a cable or speaker is connected. In a DAW, you still choose the physical interface output in the DAW.

In a DAW: enable the plug-in's Send output, shown as SEND 1 in the rig, and route it to the required interface output or pair. The plug-in exposes one stereo SEND bus. Its mono cabinet feed can travel on that bus, but choosing MONO on the CABINET SEND page does not change the bus layout or the DAW's hardware routing. The plug-in cannot see that downstream routing. For a stereo feed, use the DAW's mono mix when you want both sides on one output; choosing just its left or right channel takes only that side. See Send and return in a DAW.

The fixed chain also shows a SEND block before CAB. Select it for a card that shows the current setting and an OPEN OUT button, or use its power dot. Effects placed before the amp are already in the tapped sound; effects after CAB run on their own cabinet-free route. This needs additional processing and memory for those effects, but does not run another amp. After you use the send, its effects keep running while it is off, until the audio restarts, so old repeats do not return when you turn it back on.

In FLEX, use SEND blocks with their own STEREO or MONO format. For a cabinet feed, place SEND before CAB, choose AT OUT and leave CAB IR out of THE SEND HEARS. Use bus 1 in a DAW, or any assigned SEND bus in the standalone. COPY FIXED copies an enabled cabinet send into FLEX with its format and level. That copy belongs to the board from then on. The cabinet-send recall policy does not change FLEX SEND blocks. The CABINET SEND page shows FLEX SENDS while FLEX plays; its blocks own the routing and the fixed send controls are hidden. With KEEP WITH SETUP, the fixed controls keep their current values for your return; the shortcut itself does not play in FLEX.

Try Power Amp Conditioner

A sound I liked through headphones could feel less full and responsive when I played it through a solid-state power amp and real cabinet. I also heard this with my real amp feeding a load box, then the solid-state power amp and cabinet, with no NAM involved. That experience led me to make POWER AMP CONDITIONER.

It is intended for a fuller, more responsive sound through a solid-state power amp and real cabinet. The conditioner adds a broad low-end lift around 110 Hz with a gentle reduction through the mids and top. As the amp signal rises toward its level reference, that whole shape eases back toward flat. This gives softer passages more body and louder passages less added weight. The factory reference is ready to use; LEARN LEVEL can set the response against your rig's own loud playing. Try palm-muted phrases, open chords and held notes, comparing at a similar listening level.

Turn POWER AMP CONDITIONER ON and play: ON, with one recommended sound, is the whole control. It works with NAMs and Artificer amps. TUNE is optional.

Under OUTPUTS, select each output you want to condition. The standalone offers MAIN and SEND 1 through SEND 4; the plug-in offers MAIN and SEND 1. Select either, several or none. Each selected output has its own processor history with the same tone settings. Selection does not turn on a send, choose device channels or remove a cabinet IR. Leave cab IRs out of the route feeding a real cabinet; keep them for headphones or full-range speakers. Use your normal output and send levels for listening volume.

If a saved rig includes SEND 2 through SEND 4 conditioner choices, the plug-in retains them for the standalone and explains that they are unavailable here. It does not move them to MAIN or SEND 1. With no outputs selected, the conditioner has no output to process.

TUNE is optional. AMOUNT sets how much of the recommended sound plays: 100% gives the full effect, lower settings reduce both its tonal shape and its movement, and 0% removes the shape. Trim adjusts the conditioned level for comparing ON and OFF by ear. Use MASTER and Send level for listening volume, and leave room for the added low end.

Once AMOUNT or Trim differs from the recommended setting, USE RECOMMENDED SETTING appears. It sets AMOUNT to 100% and Trim to 0 dB, and keeps your chosen outputs, ON/OFF setting and any learned reference. Opening TUNE changes nothing.

For an optional response matched to the rig's playing level, press LEARN LEVEL and play your loudest normal passage for three seconds. The countdown advances while you play. The conditioner then holds that learned level as its reference; it does not keep adjusting your volume. Press again during learning to cancel. The readout shows Reference: factory or the learned level; click a learned reference to return to the factory setting. If no signal is heard, the previous reference stays in place. The learned reference follows the same recall policy as the other conditioner settings.

By default, conditioner settings stay with you while you browse presets and snapshots. Manual changes also become the starting settings for new instances; instances already open stay as they are. For per-preset recall, open Settings > Workflow > RECALL and press CONDITIONER to choose FOLLOW PRESETS. Choose KEEP WITH SETUP to retain the setup while browsing. Saved DAW projects and standalone sessions always restore their own settings. CABINET SEND and TUNE show the current recall policy. This choice is separate from the CABINET SEND recall policy.

The conditioner works on the finished output, including its effect tails, across RIG VIEW, FIXED and FLEX. It adds no reported latency. This is a listening adjustment, not a measurement or correction of your hardware, a second power stage, or an output limiter.

In a DAW's automation list the conditioner keeps its development names: BallastActive (ON), BallastAmount (AMOUNT) and BallastLevel (Trim); its output choices are BallastDestination, BallastBoth, BallastPrimaryEnabled and BallastSend2 to BallastSend4. CABINET SEND 1 appears as FixedCabSendActive, FixedCabSendLevel and FixedCabSendMono. MIDI lists use the names on the CABINET SEND page, such as Conditioner amount and Cabinet send level.

The recommended shape includes a small fixed level adjustment to keep ON and OFF near the same loudness. The response moves the shape toward flat as the signal rises; it is not an output limiter. In the fixed rig, MAIN reads the calibrated amp signal before the cabinet, and SEND 1 compensates for its own Send level. In FLEX, MAIN reads its completed signal with MASTER removed; each SEND reads the signal on its bus, so its route level and effects can affect the response. With one amp, the stereo sides share a detector; with AMP STEREO, they respond independently. Their audio stays separate.

A mono source uses 0.5 times the sum of left and right. Duplicated mono keeps its level; opposing material can cancel. Mono post-effect adapters are specific to the effect: this is not one universal mono algorithm, and it does not remove stereo processing already in the source. Each SEND owns its format before contributing to a bus; there is no final fold of the whole bus that changes other SEND blocks sharing it.

The standalone processes MAIN and all SENDs separately before mapping them to device channels. SENDs sharing a physical output add there after processing. Mapping both MAIN sides to one channel gives their mono mix. Startup confirmation and MUTE cover every output, including SENDs.

The cabinet send leaves MAIN's effect route unchanged. It has independent effect histories, so removing CAB can change how those effects respond. Switching from FIXED to FLEX can carry outgoing delay and reverb tails; a fixed compressor at END prevents those ordinary echo tails from carrying across. Held pads have separate ownership. The cabinet send is not a second looper output.

KEEP WITH SETUP also keeps the fixed cabinet-send settings when you choose a new blank rig. Choosing KEEP WITH SETUP remembers all three current values for future instances. Later manual edits update only the control you change; automation and MIDI changes remain in the current instance. When you restore a full project or standalone session, or recall a preset or snapshot with FOLLOW PRESETS, older states without CABINET SEND 1 use OFF, 0 dB and STEREO. KEEP WITH SETUP still keeps your current cabinet-send values when you browse older sounds. COPY FIXED uses the retained setup in KEEP WITH SETUP; in FOLLOW PRESETS it uses the settings parked with the fixed rig. This recall choice does not change the amp, effects, Power Amp Conditioner or physical output assignment.

Choose amp quality

In Settings > Performance, ARTIFICER sets how much oversampling Artificer amps use on this computer. Each press steps through BALANCED, FULL and ULTRA, then back to BALANCED. BALANCED is the default. FULL doubles the oversampling. ULTRA doubles it again and costs about twice FULL's CPU. Both may change the tone a little; your parts choices stay intact.

A quality saved in 0.99.2 keeps its sound: Studio plays as FULL, and Performance as BALANCED. With no saved choice, Artificer amps play at BALANCED, the same oversampling 0.99.2 used when no choice was saved.

The caption shows the step and its factor at your sample rate, such as BALANCED 4x. A change applies at once, with a short dip in the amp's sound. While a change is on its way, the caption also names the step it is changing to; with your DAW's audio stopped, the change waits until audio runs. Artificer blocks in FLEX follow the change, and offline renders use the applied setting too. The press itself returns at once, and the window stays free while the new step is prepared; in FLEX the window can still pause for a moment while the board rebuilds. NAM Playback Mode, Render Mode and GPU settings are separate.

Connect a controller

Send and return in a DAW

Use these connections with FLEX, or with the fixed rig's CABINET SEND 1, which plays on the same Send bus. For the standalone app, go to its bus settings below.

Bring your library into Artificer

Start with the Workshop desktop app

I built the Workshop to help make sense of the sounds already in a collection. Start with a few NAMs or IRs you know well. Their measurements are easier to understand when you can connect them to something you have played.

Use RigSculpt Workshop to find out how your NAMs, cabs and reverbs sound, compare similar choices and send a choice to Artificer. Its measurements can travel with the files, so you can browse by sound in either program.

Add your files

Browse your NAMs

Read the gain and feel groups

Understand and compare your NAMs

Read the sound and response

Tone

Where the model is bright, dark, scooped or forward in the mids.

Gain

How much saturation it has and where it breaks up.

Feel

How it compresses, gives and responds to your touch.

Character

Its harmonics, clipping and chord clarity.

The drive-response plots show how output level and distortion change as you drive the NAM harder. Similar finds close choices in your library. Inspect refreshes after analysis and clears when you move to a bench that does not contain the selected model.

Compare two models

Press A/B… above the plots, or right-click a result in Similar and choose A/B overlay on plots. The second model appears in violet on the Frequency, Transfer and THD plots. Compare its EQ, breakup and compression with the current model.

The overlay stays while you select other NAMs, so one model can be your reference for a shortlist. The button shows its name; click it to clear the overlay. A model with summary analysis can show only the curves it has.

Edit the file information

You can edit the maker, model, author and other details. Hover over the calibration fields for their meanings: input describes the reamp send level, and output describes the recording setup's return interface.

File edits go only into the Workshop-managed copies made by centralizing. Your original folders stay untouched. The editor tells you when a file is outside that library; a bulk edit reports what it wrote and skipped. Reveal in file explorer opens the maintained file's location, or its containing folder on Linux.

Find related amps on the Map

The Map places analyzed amp and preamp NAMs near others that sound similar. Use it to explore families in your collection. Distance is a guide; use Inspect's Similar list for the exact ranking.

Layout starts with similar amps grouped together. You can instead choose two measured values for the axes, such as drive and brightness, or a linear projection with labelled axes.

Compare by changes what counts as similar:

• Balanced (equal aspects) gives voicing, EQ shift, gain and dynamics, and saturation equal weight.
• Universal uses the same weighting as Inspect's similar-model search and leans more toward EQ.
• EQ-focused, Saturation + EQ and Drive character narrow the comparison to those qualities.

Color by groups points by cluster, archetype, tone type, author or gear model, or uses one color. Click a legend row to hide or show it. Alt-click, or Option-click on macOS, to show only that group. Show all restores the others. Hiding points does not move the remaining points.

Cluster contents lists the models in each family. The Map updates after analysis or a deletion. If Computing the map appears, you can use the rest of the Workshop while it finishes. Recompute projection rebuilds the layout when you ask.

Choose and edit cabinet IRs

Add cabs and read their character

Use Analyze folder… on the Cab Bench. It counts IRs as it finds them, and Cancel stops the scan. Measurements describe brightness, body, low end, presence, high roll-off and resonances.

Library ▾ → Centralize IRs into library… copies cabs into the library's Cab IRs folder and shows progress from the start. Originals stay where they are.

Bring cabinet measurements into Artificer

Analyzing an IR stores its measurements in the Workshop. To make them available in Artificer's CAB LIBRARY, save them inside the WAV as well:

1. In the Cab Bench, choose Analyze folder… and let the analysis finish.
2. Select the IRs, then choose Library > Embed analytics into selected…. This writes the measurements into those WAV files without changing their audio.
3. In Artificer's CAB LIBRARY, press RESCAN and load the same WAV.

Centralizing is optional for this IR workflow. Cabinet, speaker and microphone labels are separate details; analysis does not identify that hardware from the sound.

Find similar cabs

Browse by Voicing, Cluster, Duplicates or Folder. Table (all) puts every IR in a sortable list. Right-click a cabinet and choose Find similar cabs… for a ranked list, then send a choice to Artificer to hear it.

Similarity compares the shape from 80 Hz to 8 kHz rather than level, so a louder copy can still match. Reverbs and files without a usable cab curve are excluded.

Check the file labels

Cabinet, speaker, microphone, author and pack labels come from file names, folders and WAV tags. You can correct them by hand or from a pack manifest. These labels are separate from the measurements.

Change the cab's voicing

• Drag EQ nodes on the response graph. Double-click to add or remove them.
• Borrow another cab's voicing moves this cab toward another's response by the amount and detail you choose.
• Alchemy / Transmute makes a variation. Strength changes how far it moves the cab's character; Chaos can introduce new peaks and notches.

Choose minimum- or linear-phase processing when exporting. The result keeps the source sample rate, channels and subtype. Save a variation and rescan it into your library.

Scrolling the control column does not change values. Click a control first, or hold Ctrl while scrolling over it, to adjust it with the wheel.

Hear the cab

Press ▶ Clean arpeggio to hear the selected cab, or the current edit inside the EQ editor. The phrase contains an amp sound without a cabinet, so the IR supplies the speaker sound. The ▾ menu also offers Clean chords, Lead, Rhythm chug and Gain staccato; your choice is remembered.

Use Audition in Artificer to hear an edit in the cab slot of your running rig.

Choose and edit reverb IRs

Read the reverb's character

Load a folder of reverb WAVs. The Reverb Bench measures decay time, length and channels, and describes the sound as Spring-like, Plate-like, Hall-like, Room, Gated, Reverse / swell or Echo / repeats. These are descriptions of the response, not claims about the gear that made it.

A four-channel IR is labelled true stereo. Artificer's convolution reverb plays its first two channels.

Change an existing reverb

Select a reverb and press Sculpt…. Simple opens with five sliders: Size, Dark ↔ Bright, Tight ↔ Bloom, Roomy ↔ Tight and Width. Borrow character takes tone and decay from another reverb by the amount you choose. Switch to Expert to see the same settings in more detail.

• Trim & taper: set length, fades and predelay.
• Decay: adjust the whole tail or its low, middle and high bands. Raise a multiplier and Extend tail to continue beyond the recording. The extension is synthesized.
• Reverse: turn the shaped tail into a swell.
• Hybrid: combine this reverb's early sound with another's later wash.
• Tone: borrow another tail's tone and, optionally, its decay by band.
• Layers: blend more reverbs with gain, delay and polarity. Match decay and Match level help them sit together.
• Stereo: change width, fold to mono or widen a mono source. Mono below centers the lows without changing the mono sum.
• Alchemy: try a variation and read what changed. Chaos can add a different character, such as ringing, echoes or a swell.

The plots and measured decay update as you edit. Scrolling the column leaves values alone; click a control first, or hold Ctrl while scrolling over it, to adjust it.

Centralize into library… copies the loaded reverbs into Reverb IRs, leaving originals in place. Save-As defaults there, and Artificer's convolution loader finds the folder automatically.

Recipe ▾ → Save recipe… keeps your treatment so Load recipe… can apply it to another reverb. Keep any borrowed or layered files available; the Workshop warns when it cannot find them.

Make a new reverb

New reverb… starts with Hall, Plate, Spring, Room or Ambience. Shape decay, bloom, early reflections, dispersion, ringing and stereo character, then send the result to the sculpting bench if you want to work further.

Hear the reverb in context

Press ▶ Clean chords in the list, sculptor or designer to hear it through a guitar phrase in the Workshop. The ▾ menu also offers Clean picking, Lead and Rhythm chug. Press ■ Stop to stop playback.

Send to Artificer or Audition puts the IR into the running plug-in's convolution reverb and switches it on. An audition plays the temporary edit until you save or close; closing offers to revert. Saving can include a description shown beneath the plug-in's loader.

Saved measurements also let FIT set Mix, Predelay and Low cut for the reverb, and let the delay's TAIL FIT limit repeats to fit inside its tail. TAIL FIT leaves the knob positions unchanged. These controls need measurements in the IR.

Keep measurements with your sounds

The Workshop can write its measurements into NAMs and cab WAVs. Artificer reads them to organize the library, find similar sounds and use the measured EQ and response in its rig-aware controls.

1. Library ▸ Centralize models… copies your NAMs into the managed library. Pedals go into Pedal NAMs; amps go into the managed amp folder. Your originals stay untouched.
2. Embed the framing writes the analysis into those copies. Artificer must load these copies to use the measurements.

The Workshop offers these steps after analysis and centralizing. An amber warning remains while models are not Artificer-ready. Click it to finish the missing step; it clears when the models are ready. If a later Workshop update changes their categories, it offers to refresh the affected labels.

Adding analysis does not change the sound. NAM model data and IR audio samples stay unchanged.

Re-embed after re-analysis to refresh what Artificer reads. Some added measurements need only a new embed of the analysis you already have.

Move the managed library

Use Library ▸ Library location to move the library to another folder or drive. Files are copied and verified before the switch. Nothing is deleted unless you agree afterward, and Artificer follows the new location.

To share an external-drive library with another computer, move it once, then choose Use existing library on the second computer. If the drive is absent at startup, the Workshop uses its default library for that session. Reconnect the drive and restart to return to your collection.

Send a choice to your rig

Find and back up your files

Back up your sounds and work

Find help when something goes wrong

A short glossary

Credits & license