What’s new at Zystrix? Read on… March 3, 2025 Impulse Response Pedals for the Metal Guitarist In the last issue we looked at reverb pedals (click here for a refresher) and in this issue we’re going to look at the most bang-for-the-buck budget impulse response pedals for the metal guitarist. In my opinion there aren’t many awesome options, but we’re going to try to narrow it down, and also find the best honorable mention pedals. And IR work-arounds. And speaking of impulse responses, there’s a download of never before released Djammincabs Super Maxxx 4x12 impulse responses. And back by popular demand (and because gear has improved) some of the best old stereo cabinet files are included too. So sit back and relax. Welcome to Zystrix, the heartbeat of the universe. Where creativity and free-thinking have more value than conformity. Background Artwork The colorful artwork that surrounds the edges of this website is invisible to many cell phone users. It’s included here for your enjoyment. Multiple copies are tiled together for a cohesive and seamless background seen all around this page. Enjoy. Impulse Response Pedal Introduction It’s so nice to have your personal guitar cabinet sound in a portable and small space, and that’s the beauty of an impulse response pedal. Maybe you’ve captured the sound of your cabinet, or maybe you bought an impulse response pedal you like, or maybe you need to download some of the many excellent free and paid ones (see free offer below). And the impulse response that creates your speaker cab sound is your sound pinnacle (often the last leg of your pedal-board rig before reverb). I can’t say I’m sold on any of the impulse response files available anywhere, but they are slowly getting better as design and manufacturing improves. Please don’t misunderstand me, I like impulse responses, but unfortunately they don’t capture the other aspects of a roaring cabinet nearing spontaneous combustion. At least not yet. However, those sympathetic live sounds are relatively easy to manufacture and can be artificially added into your guitar DAW using microphones or a synth. Anyway, this list is about pedals, not direct or load boxes. The item has to be able to be used on a pedal-board and not plugged into an amplifier output. Comparing direct or load box types is for another day. Another thing the pedal has to do is be affordable, and for this list the cutoff is about $150.00 USA. Other nice features in an impulse response pedal may include stereo and mono input and output, the ability to store larger user specified impulse responses, a power tube or power amp emulation section, a microphone emulation section with placement, and at least one XLR output. Not all of the pedals below meet that, but this list has some of the best Impulse Response pedals for the metal guitarist available now. So let’s move on to some IR answers review... What is an impulse response? It is a static digital “snapshot” of a small moment in time of the EQ waveform of (in this case) a guitar speaker cabinet. These “snapshots” can also include the waveform of the power amp (or whatever amplified it), the microphone type and placement, the sound of the pre-amp, the surrounding ambiance and/or room sound, and so on. Some people use a sine wave for a capture and some people use a pink noise pulse, especially for reverb. What is an impulse response loader? In this case it’s a pedal that can mostly replace the sound of your (or someone elses’s or an imagined) guitar cabinet by imitating the EQ curve of the cabinet. However they cannot (at least not yet anyway) imitate the roaring cabinet air and surrounding materials sympathetic vibrations that give the feeling of concert loudness. I’ll bet they could if the pedal could accept longer impulses. To my ear 200ms should be the absolute minimum. However, the nice thing about a pedal form of impulse loader is the fact that they are very portable compared to a speaker cabinet. How do I use an impulse response pedal? Impulse response loader pedals are mostly plug- in and go, and all I have seen have their own cabinet imitations. The cool thing (with some of them anyway) is the ability to load your own choices of impulse responses (the more the merrier to me) to create a cabinet sound that’s individual and truly yours. Other nice things that some impulse pedals offer is stereo or mono input and output, impulse response mixing or layering, power amp emulation, and XLR output(s) for the PA (front of house speaker system). There are many variables in creating a superior guitar sound, and the nice thing about an IR pedal is you can decide on your personal tone at home and take it with you where ever you perform or record. This eliminates many annoying tone variables. Imagine no more dopey live sound- man hanging a cord over your cab and pointing the guitar microphone at the ground. It’s a beautiful thing. How do impulse responses work? An impulse response imposes the real or imagined speaker EQ curve, the cabinet response, the waveform of the power amp (or whatever amplified it), the microphone type, placement, and pre-amp, surrounding ambiance and/or room sound, and so on, onto the guitar signal to make it sound as close as possible to being played through a real speaker cabinet. Like I said, it’s a beautiful thing. THE FINE PRINT: We never use affiliate links to monetize this website. Unlike most music websites, Zystrix never receives any commission on any gear or software you may purchase via a link on this website. Ever. This keeps our reviews dead honest, removes financial conflicts of interest, and also helps keep your price of gear lower. Impulse Response Pedals for the Metal Guitarist Leo Jaymz IR Cabinet Simulator Surprisingly this well built, inexpensive, mono input and output IR pedal comes with 32 built-in presets including 25 electric guitar cabs and 7 bass cab simulations. It has a superior signal to noise ratio of 103dB, but it can only use samples of 44.1kHz at 24 bit. This means you may have to re-sample your IR collection to conform to 44.1K at 2048 sample points (200ms), but I couldn’t tell by the software description. You can even install your own impulse responses using the PC software (via the included USB cable) or the mobile phone app. It is possible to tonally adjust the IR by using the built-in 9-band EQ (20Hz-18kHz, ±12dB range) for fine-tuning, and if you turn off the impulse response the pedal acts like an EQ pedal. The latency is less than many pedals at only 1.5 milliseconds, and it supports ¼ inch guitar output, XLR balanced output for professional setups, and a 3.5mm headphone output for personal practice. And it also supports USB Audio for direct connection to a computer. That’s a lot of features for only $37.99 USA and free shipping. Heck, buy two for stereo operation. Click here to learn more or to order the Leo Jaymz IR Cab Simulator. Flamma Cab FS07 This amazing sturdy mono or stereo input and output IR pedal comes pre-installed with 11 IR cabs slots and has the ability to store consumer IRs too. Each storage spot can have stereo impulse responses for a total of 22 cabs. There’s a micro USB port for loading IRs, and free software from their website for easy editing of the presets. The cabs included sound believable, and it’s nice to be able to change impulse responses via the footswitch. There isn’t a power supply included so you’ll need one with 9V and 300 mA output. Unfortunately there isn’t an XLR output so to use it for front-of-house you’ll need a flat-EQ type passive or active direct box or a pedal-board friendly stereo mixer with XLR outputs to utilize the stereo option. I wish it had a tube power amp section for added sonic realism, but for $75.99 USA and free shipping that’s a minor complaint. Click here to learn more or to order the Flamma Cab FS07. Mooer Radar The Mooer Radar comes with 30 pre- installed speaker cab models, 11 microphone models, and 4 power amp models. Nice. It connects to the PC editor via a USB port for IR uploads and software updates (cord not included), and there’s also a 3.5 mm headphone out jack. The latency is an impressive 2 milliseconds with a signal to noise at 100 dB. Unfortunately the IR length is fixed at only 23.2 milliseconds at 44.1K and 24 bits, but that’s good enough for some great sounding close microphone sounds. Unfortunately this means many great IRs must be truncated and their bit rate changed. The three equalizers available are a guitar graphical equalizer (5 bands), a bass graphical equalizer (5 bands), and a parametric equalizer (4 bands). Many artists use this pedal as part of a compact no-amp pedal-board for live or studio. However, be aware it doesn’t offer an XLR output, The power requirement is 12-volts DC at 300 mA and the pedal does include the power supply, but if the transformer (wall wort) poops out or gets lost this may present a future power-matching problem. This pedal offers a lot of features in a small space, although I wish there were more options for larger and different IR types. Stereo and XLR output would be nice too. Click here to learn more or to order the Mooer Radar $119.00 USA. TC Electronic IR Loader This is a great sounding, intuitive, affordable, compact, and well made mono impulse response loader. You can install up to 74 of your favorite impulses (99 if you erase theirs), and up to 200ms IR length at a sample rate of 44.1, 48, and 96kHz support at 16, 24, or 32 bit. That means you can load your favorite 200ms Ownhammer or Djammincabs IRs without truncating or changing the bit rate. Excellent. The pedal also comes pre-loaded with 12 Celestion IRs, 8 of their TC Electronic Pedal IRs, and 5 acoustic guitar IR choices. The acoustic guitar impulses make a built-in piezo type pickup (like an Ovation or Gibson) sound much more natural. It runs on standard 9-volts DC at 100 mA so power is never difficult to find. It comes with a USB cable for loading your IRs or software updates, and their free software, TonePrint, is used for loading. I just wish it had a stereo power amp emulation. Click here to learn more or to order the TC Electronic Impulse Loader $99.90 USA. Mooer Cab X2 This is the other Mooer IR box with slightly different features. The Mooer Cab X2 IR Loader has stereo inputs and outputs, and offers the flexibility to run mono, dual mono, or stereo cab sims. It also has the option to load your own professional length 200ms IRs (2048 pts) from third-parties like Ownhammer or Djammincabs using their free Mooer Studio software via USB. Impressive. There are 11 pre-installed factory cabinet simulation files included in the pedal, and 14 user preset slots that can store two different cabinet simulation settings each. That gives a total of 22 user slots using mono or dual mono, or 11 stereo cabs. Nice. This one costs more than their Mooer Radar (see Radar above), but stereo use and longer sample lengths in this one is handy. So between the two pedals you can have more sounds in short mono (Mooer Radar) or less sounds in stereo without the power amp emulation (Mooer Cab X2). Unfortunately it doesn’t offer an XLR output, but a cool workaround would be a small pedal-board friendly stereo mixer with stereo XLR and unbalanced outputs. Then the user could run parallel amp models for a complex stereo super- massive guitar sound and double XLR outputs. Now you’re talking my language. I also wish it offered a power amp emulation to help warm up amp-in-a-box pedals, but there’s a workaround for everything (like add tubes from the free Ignite TPA-1 to your IR in your DAW, if desired). This pedal also offers a headphone jack for practice or silent file management. The two foot- switches can be configured as a typical on/off switch or to cycle through presets. And the 5 knobs are for High Cut, Low Cut, Latency, Level, and Cabinet. Click here to learn more or to order the Mooer Cab X2 $199.80. Joyo Cab Box This one brings a wonderful power amp warmth and realism to digital amp modelers and analog amp-in-a-box pedals, and it’s easy for XLR stage and recording use. Just plug in your favorite amp-in- a-box pedal and go – instant portable amp. This pedal has a sturdy feel and build quality, and it operates on 9-volts 300mA DC. The power supply is not included, but the Caline CP-205 does the job perfectly at a very reasonable price. Although this mono-only pedal looks complex, all the internal adjustments can be accessed easily via the front panel. It also features a large color screen for visualizing the settings. It also offers eleven microphone models that can be moved forward, backwards, and side to side for dialing in a speaker sound. There are three separate equalizer modes, a graphic EQ for guitar, a graphic EQ for Bass, and a full four-band parametric complete with Q controls. There is an XLR output with a ground lift switch, a USB port for importing impulse responses, a headphone output for privacy, and a MIDI input for using a midi program changer or linking to a DAW for changes. It comes pre-loaded with 20 Impulse Response files, and the IR Sample rate is fixed at 44.1KHz at 16, 24, and 32 bit WAV for installing your third party IR files of a length of 1024pts (or about 100 ms), and you can load up to 10 of your favorite impulse responses via the free software. There are 128 cab memory slots to save all of your edited presets. Click here to learn more or to order the Joyo Cab Box $179.00 USA. Honorable Mention IR Pedals Like I said earlier, these pedals are not for the budget-minded musician. However, they sound great and, depending on your anticipated needs, may inspire you to spend a little more for something to grow into. Engl Cabloader For the person who wants an easy mono simple design in an IR loader, the Engl Cabloader may be for you. It offers power amp sims, various microphones emulations, and Engl only cab sims. Unfortunately it only has four user IR slots and cannot accept impulse responses longer than 23.22 ms, so it lacks flexibility in IR regards unless you enjoy only close mic’d cab sounds. This makes it more designed to use ENGL’s own speaker cabinets. But in their defense, the sounds are very professional and flexible for recording straight in or live. There are 12 pre-loaded cabinet settings, all from ENGL with 1x12, 2x12, and mostly 4x12 variations of Celestion-only speakers. There are ten microphone emulations to choose from, and four different power amp models including EL34, EL84, 6L6, and 6V6 tube types. The 9V DC 300mA power supply is not included. Click here to learn more or to order the Engl Cabloader $349.00. Torpedo C.A.B. M+ This glorified direct box (a speaker must be connected to your amp) offers EQ, power amp emulation, reverb, and mic settings with distance and axis. The sounds are realistic, and can also import your favorite third party IR (200 ms) via the software via USB port. I feel this would be a great part of a small setup with your favorite amp-in-a-box pedal-board. It is also Bluetooth enabled to do sound tweaking on the fly. This pedal doesn’t really go on this list, but the excellent sounds (I like the reverbs) make it noteworthy. Click here to learn more or to order the Engl Cabloader $299.99. Boss IR-200 This mono input pedal has a steep learning curve, and has many more options than are required to be a great cab IR box. It does amp sims, cab sims, ambiance, lots of routing options, and it has a stereo output. Basically it’s a stage rig in a box. I love the ambiance feature because it adds a natural depth to what could otherwise be a sterile digital emulation death. It also features a hefty 154 IRs from both Boss and Celestion, as well as eight guitar amps and three bass amp models. You can also load 128 of your own or third party mono or stereo IRs from 200ms up to 500 ms long (oh yeah baby), and it has 128 user memory slots for storing all your configurations. Use a stereo 500ms IR for your cab space, and the Boss ambiance after that for super realism. And I’ll bet this pedal could do a pretty good acoustic guitar IR. There’s a micro USB port that’s used for firmware upgrades, loading IRs, and for the audio interface. It also has a jack that can take an expression pedal or two foot-switches. And the 9-volt DC 300 mA power supply is included. Yes. If you are looking for a smaller stage rig or want to record at home easily this pedal will do it. Unfortunately the MIDI in/out jack is not the conventional type, so if you do MIDI then adapters are needed for a typical hookup. The only real fault I could find is it has only a mono guitar input, so your favorite stereo pedal has to be plugged in mono or into the ¼- inch TRS stereo return, or if you do stereo parallel amping then this pedal must be configured for pre-cab return (if your two external IRs are off) or after EQ A and B if your two external IRs are on. You’ll need a male TRS adapter with two mono ¼- inch female jacks. However, for general sonic abilities, features, and routing capabilities the Boss IR-200 is hard to beat. Click here to learn more or to order the Boss IR-200 $299.99 USA. Inexpensive IR Pedal Workarounds #1. A multi-band EQ pedal will get you most of the way to a good IR sound with a steep roll-off at about 4K. For EQ curve examples read HOW TO EASILY DESIGN YOUR OWN PERSONAL GUITAR CABINET IMPULSE RESPONSES on the free IR page. #2. Use a multi-pedal and turn off the amp sim (Tonex, Mooer GE-200, many others). #3. Use a Red Cab Direct Box for the comb filter tone output. #4. Use a digital amp with cab sounds built in and bypass the amp sound or test the loop input. #5. Some amp-in-a-box pedals (like the original Sansamp) do a great job of smoothing out the offending frequencies. Impulse Response Pedal Conclusion What I tried to do here is compile a list of my favorite impulse response pedals at budget price points. These pedals should be viewed as recommendations because only you know your needs and only your ears can hear the real value to you, and if you know where you are going it’s much easier to get there. IR pedals continue to get better, but I don’t feel they are quite there yet, at least not for what I look for in a pedal. And here’s a little secret, if you roll off 0-1000Hz off the cab IRs you are testing you’ll find your favorite cab much faster by listening to the remaining frequencies. Then simply roll back on the low end frequencies you rolled off. I hope this adventure in Impulse Responses has been an inspiration to listen and learn more. Djammincabs Super Maxxx 4x12 Guitar Cab IRs If you like the sound of a roaring 4x12 guitar cabinet nearing spontaneous combustion then give these impulse responses a try. There are over 1600 cab IRs in beautiful 48K Wav at 200 milliseconds. That means they’ll work in the best impulse loaders. And all of them are artificial cabinets. I can hear it now, “What? Artificial? I can’t use a fake cabinet IR because I can hear the difference. Besides, those aren’t the famous (fill in brand name here) speaker IRs that I like.” Well, get over yourself. If you close your eyes I’ll bet you can’t tell the difference. I dare you. And to my ear these sound better anyway. And for extra OOMMFF all were recorded with a power amp emulation using EL34 tubes in the output section. Most are mono, and (back by popular demand) a few are even stereo (the last 68 IRs), and all of them rock. If you seek a big sound (and who doesn’t?) give these 4x12 IRs a try. Grow some nuts. Kill your competition. Djammincabs Super Maxxx 4x12s. Don’t touch that dial… Stay tuned next time… Don’t forget daylight savings time and Saint Patrick’s Day. And as you probably know, a higher priced piece of gear doesn’t necessarily mean more value. So let’s go for the most bang-for-the- buck possible. Well, at least on this website. Next time we’ll look at the best guitar straps. Maybe I’ll see you then. Until that time, from our family to yours, Happy Saint Patrick’s Day. Other than that, Mrs Lincoln, how was the rest of the play? Knowledge, art, and music for all.
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ZYSTRIX POPULAR FREE DOWNLOADS The Best Free Synthesizers of 2024 It’s another epic issue, and there’s lots of FREE downloads here. And the Honorable Mention Synthesizer List might surprise you. This list is long, so prepare yourself. And if it seems like too much to take in, I warned you. Click here for the official list of The Best Free Synthesizers of 2024. The Best Free Mastering Plugins Your DAW (digital audio workstation) will be so happy. And so will you. Here are the best of the best for EQ, compression, limiting, tube and tape emulation, reverb, delay, and honorable mentions. This list is a must have with lots of downloads. Check out The Best FREE Plugins for Mastering 2024. Here’s a free download of almost one and a half hours of original neo-classical solo piano by Dangerous Neighbors. This full length album called Piano Top to Bottom consists of 18 original piano pieces with the final piece in two movements. There is a bonus track making 20 files total. This download comes in three format options: the first option is a single file MP3 containing all the tunes in one chunk similar to tape recordings. The second download option is a folder with all of the separate MP3 piano pieces named and arranged in album order similar to a CD or MP3 player. The third download option is similar to videos found on “ZooTube” with the names and times on the screen. There is also a fourth surprise version made only for “ZooTube” and it is edited down to less than 15 minutes long because of their telephone number required rule. Basically it just guides the listener here. To download any or all of these options simply click here. Enjoy. Free Guitar Cabinet Impulse Responses Introducing the next generation in guitar cabinet impulse responses. Try the new Djammincabs Maxxx 4x12. All of these cab IR files are based on old, new, and boutique 4x12 cab curves. All are recorded in beautiful 24-bit 48K mono and will work on most free and paid digital convolvers. Hear the guitar IR breathe fire with pure attitude. Don’t be suckered in with high-dollar sales pitches, there ain’t no guitar IR downloads better than these. Choose from many cab sound recording styles: cone, edge, angled, arm away, inside cab, back of cab, or back of room. Djammincabs is the world leader in guitar cab IR invention -- no other guitar IR company can imitate these. Djammincabs Maxxx 4x12 makes it easier for you to design your own personalized sound -- even your own Metal IR pack. If you can’t find a cabinet or combination you like here, then you don’t like 4x12 cabinets. This guitar IR download also includes a Tactical Munitions Manual with suggested uses and detailed cab combinations. This is the best free guitar impulse download available anywhere. Djammincabs Maxxx 4x12 “Murder Your Competition.” I feel brave. I want to try them now. Here’s my email... Djammincabs for Guitar Free Guitar Impulse Responses This is the original Djammincabs guitar cabinet impulse response collection that started it all. Click here to download over 200 Free Guitar Cabinet Impulse Responses. Djammincabs for Bass Guitar Download Free Bass Impulse Responses Click here to download over 200 Free Bass Guitar Cabinet Impulse Responses. Best Free Guitar Impulses. The Top 11 Best Free Guitar and Bass Cabinet Impulse Responses for 2022 (in alphabetical order…) Find, download, and test the best free guitar cabinet impulse responses for 2022. FREE BASS LOOPS SAMPLES DOWNLOAD ROYALTY FREE BASS LOOP SAMPLES FREE BASS LOOPS Over 200 samples are included in the collection Download the complete collection of 24-bit bass loops here. NOTE: This download size is approximately 369 Megs. 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Download over 50 Reverb Relics from the past including oil cans. Click here to download free reverb impulse responses. Free Drum Samples Only Available from Zystrix Free Gong Samples and Sounds Free Snare Drum Samples and Sounds Free Bass Drum Samples and Sounds Free Oriental Cymbal Samples and Sounds Free Oriental Bells Samples and Sounds The Ultimate Original Drum Sounds List Download over 2000 original slammin’ rock bass drums. Download original Gongs, Cymbals, Broken Cymbals, and Bells. Download Over 200 Free Original Bass Drum Sounds and Samples. Download over 200 Original Free snare drum sounds. Click here to download Drum Kit Sounds. Dangerous Neighbors The SW Michigan Rock Band Power Trio. Free Rockin’ Music Downloads Download tunes from the 80s to today. Use the special codes on the Embalmed for Life page (see the DOWNLOAD FREE AUDIO BOOKS link below) and get free downloads for the complete album and the free horror audio book The Fluid - Embalmed for Life. Click here to download various music from the rock band Dangerous Neighbors. Download Free Synth Samples for Intros, Interludes, and Endings Listen to example #01 by clicking here (MP3 Sample) Download FREE professional quality stereo sample packs that slowly evolve over time. All samples are in 48K 24 bit WAV format and are about 20 seconds long or more. If you like suspense, psycho, outer space, or terror then this collection is for you. These range from paranoia to sci-fi, cinematic gore to strange industrial horror, and creepy creatures to insane laboratories. Click here to download all the synth Intros, Interludes, and Endings. DOWNLOAD FREE AUDIO BOOKS The Fluid, Embalmed for Life There are Free Audio Book codes for Audible downloads (must sign up). There are also free sample downloads of the book reading. There are free downloads of music samples. There is a free “Look Inside” download of the paperback. 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