Chatting with Steve Atkinson, creator of NAM (Neural Amp Modeler)

I had the chance to sit down with Steve Atkinson the creator of NAM (Neural Amp Modeler) and ask him about the origins of the project, where it's headed and what success for an open source, free amp capture technology looks like.

[@RunawayThumbtack]

It was a pleasure to sit down and talk with you. Thanks so much for doing this!

[@ToneJunkieTV]

My Pleasure Steve, Thanks for taking the time! Let's do it again soon!

[@dancrowell2933]

Steve, this is awesome. I would love to get this technology in a format I could use on my pedalboard. I hope you look into productizing this. There is nothing wrong with charging for the value you provide.

[@marceloSDMF]

Man, i would like to support your job with nam in some way, there's a way to do that?

[@pb25193]

​​@@dancrowell2933he has made it open so that anyone can support it. I think the business, ux aspect is where the innovation will happen next. Sounds have been solved officially.

[@FlyingCircusAct]

Thank you, Steve!

[@mattvdh]

NAM is going to take over the whole ampsim recording scene, it's at the right place and right time. The reason why there are millions of amp sims and they contnuously come out with new ones, is because people are unsatisfied with them, this is where NAM is different, it actually feels, reacts and sounds pretty damn close to a real amp that we already love, so there's no 'adjusting' to it required. Ampsims try to be emulate, NAM *replicates it to a very high degree. Thanks to Steve for making it free and open source, that's also why this is going to be a game changer, thousands of people will contribute to make it a beautiful experience.

[@ibanezman1025]

I have to agree, NAM feels and sounds like the amps it’s capturing better than any other plugin or modeler I’ve used, including the heavy hitters everyone knows. It’s absolutely incredible sounding and the fact that it’s free is nuts. I’m getting the best recorded guitar tone with NAM that I’ve ever had.

[@SomeDudeDan]

@RunawayThumbtack Thanks Steve! When I first discovered NAM I just couldn’t believe it, sat in front of my PC listening to my guitar and capture after capture just sounded unbelievable. It actually replaced QC and ToneX for me. Actually, I have captured my tube amps and I am using them in NAM, because the sound and the feel is just as good (in my opinion). Thanks again and you are a true mastermind! Keep on rockin’ 🤘🎩

[@jasonzdora]

Steve is so genuine and humble. What an awesome ambassador, along with being such a creative mind. His perspective is so cool to hear. Thanks for sharing this, brother! Great interview skills!

[@jjm9741]

gotta love American inqinuity

[@rethinktone]

This is the next step for an evolved society. He is proud seeing his work in the hands of humanity, without needing money to come along with it. The world would be a better place if everyone was like him.

[@matthewmp111]

Most people like the idea of feeding themselves and their families with their hard work.

[@1Rmusicfm]

@@matthewmp111 He's also an Applied Scientist at Amazon and has a PhD, I really doubt he's doing this for extra money LOL

[@rethinktone]

@MatthewDean I disagree. I think people feel like they have to work hard in order to feed themselves and their family not that there is a desire to. In the society we live today, yes we should want to earn money. An evolved society will eventually irradicate hunger and homelessness as we are currently moving towards. We are barely a stage 1 civilization. Once we've developed technology to do work that humans don't want to do like most minimum wage jobs, building houses, and farming. Society will eradicate the need for money. Why do you need money if you have housing, food and Healthcare? Eventually people will be participating in society in a way that is meaningful to them, whether that is art, science etc. That is under the assumption the earth is still habitable before we get to that point.

[@Dontloseyourlight100]

Great interview! To release such a powerful tool in open-source for our industry of musicians and technologist to have a "field-day" is a solid testament to his engineering craft. I would have never imagined how far technology has come for guitarists. What a brilliant scientist this young man is; I'm sure Steve is very excited to see how NAM will continue to "freak-out" musicians and tone developers in the coming future! Thank you "ToneJunkieTV" and Steve for sharing your thoughts.

[@flashbak01]

HW, you're killing it lately with these interviews (Christoph and now Steve). Great work!!

[@adam2178]

Steve will become a legend.

[@yunamadsimackomen881]

Already is

[@celticgibson]

Will?

[@StevenConverse]

Much love to Steve! Glad to be part of the community and hope to contribute more!

[@BobGuido]

He's a really interesting guy; very articulate and well spoken. Excellent interview and the right questions Jonathan. This doesn't seem at all like a guitar or music KZbin video interview. It's more like Piers Morgan interviewing Guido Van Rossum.

[@danthegeetarman]

Talking about NAM at NAMM then getting tacos after that is the most Californian thing ever, and I’m all for it! 😁 in all seriousness though NAM is so amazing and I’m all in on it 👍🔥🔥🔥

[@picksalot1]

Wonderful interview, and story how NAM came to be, and has rightfully generated so much enthusiasm and praise recently. Steve is clearly a smart guy with the technical toolset to make something useful and enjoyable for a rapidly growing community of musicians. The fact that he's made NAM free, and it not trying to monetize it, indicates the kind of quality person he is. Thanks Steve, and I wish you success in everything you do. 👍😎

[@resington]

The man himself! Thanks for doing this HW your efforts are appreciated.

[@WholeLottaBulldog]

What a highly intelligent and likeable guy. I really enjoyed this interview.

[@JayOneAlumni]

I like how it’s open source and free for everyone involved and that’s important

[@davelanciani-dimaensionx]

At first I couldn't quite figure the darn thing out, but once I did, I really grew to love NAM. I recorded most of the guitars on my last EP Video album with it. And yes, Steve, the knobs make it much more like a "guitar device". I think the POD and Helix editor "sliders" really are counter-intuitive. Your device really sped up my recording process. I will probably never profile anything ( I do not own any decent amps), but I'll keep using NAM. Thank you. Seriously.

[@Arthur_My_Dear]

Great interview and I could also feel your excitement when he said he’d want somebody to run with it and make a product

[@StrongBornBullies2]

Awesome interview! N.A.M is unbelievably good! Thank you Steve!!

[@neocampus9043]

Watching this video right now as I’m creating a new profile 😀. What a great and humble person Steve is!

[@GamasColorMusica7564]

We love you Steve, your creation is so wonderful and incredible

[@AkiraSpectrum]

Just discovered NAM--holy cow, I can't go back to my modeling vst's anymore. I hope NAM blows up, its 100% deserving.

[@iloveitall]

Steve Atkinson, you are a god amongst men! We owe you the world.

[@Airtrooper719]

Steve is such a humble dude, great interview

[@21stcenturymetal31]

I look at nam as a sleeper car. It looks simple but full of horsepower. Love it

[@brotherplucker2]

Line 6 hello! Are you listening? Someone in HR is asleep at the wheel. This guy should be in your labs and on the payroll.

[@stevenkambach]

Great interview! NAM is awesome. Steve is awesome. Looking forward to the future 😀

[@geeno562]

Steve Atkinson, God Bless u man. Many Thanks.

[@kane6529]

Damn dude your on your way interviewing some legends 🤩🤘

[@shadowm3ld]

Finally… been waiting for this. Great job HW!!!

[@shorerocks]

I'm genuinely impressed. Godspeed, Steve.

[@zhifeihuan8259]

how could some one be so genius and so humble,

[@drconflict629]

Such a wholesome guy! The future of NAM looks bright, that's for sure.

[@Akerfeldtfan]

What an absolute king. This guy could easily have made a career out of licensing this, and he just gave it away

[@percyplumlight1854]

This one is just wonderful. Thanks

[@ItaiIfrach]

Great interview ! just made a capture for me Plexi 93 for free ! sounds extacly live my amp is connected direct to a load box

[@lioneljean4233]

This guy is amazing! Thank you!

[@user-bp4ql1uq7c]

saviour for all the guitarist

[@borjar.6373]

Thanks guys ...great interview

[@falstaffjohn366]

In the GitHub repository, there is a build for Windows and Mac, for Linux, there is a link for a bare-bone LV2 repository, why there isn't a binary for Linux or even a possibility to compile the plugin.

[@rhitosparsha]

You can try using it inside the MOD Desktop environment from MOD Audio.

[@roscius6204]

Success has definitely already occurred. It's still the tip of a very cool iceberg though, well done.

[@Herfinnur]

Steve has the aura of a young, more relaxed John Carmack. Definitely not a bad thing

[@ahmedfaruquekhan]

Great vision.🙌

[@Ostin3232]

damn man how I admire such talented people incredible

[@scottakam]

It's a cool project for sure. It would be nice if it lead to some standardization of the capture file format.

[@johnnymoreira192]

Revolutionary.

[@notalkguitarampplug-insrev784]

Nam is the best digital tool for guitarist❤

[@Rqmod]

Dudes the Dave smith of the guitar commjnity

[@joejohnson8966]

The GOAT. Both of them.

[@pb25193]

This guy is gonna become the next rupert neve / leo fender. Without the marketing fluff.

[@PASHKULI]

ToneX (IK Multimedia in general) rely on visuals. Same about STL Tones. They are all just rebranded Ignite AmpSim (when it came out also for free), post BIAS Amp\FX hype. There was also LePou and VadimT who basically created the algorithms late 2000. Then it was just rebranding and photorealistic UI. NAM is a modeler. Kemper was just a hardware with stacked IRs also a modeler. NAM is not an AmpSim, so you have to capture Gain steps and such real amp tweaks and then reiterate the capturing process and save as a new profile. And no body complaints, because it works… and it is free.

[@DomMcsweeney-DoomPlugs]

Awesome! 😎😎😎

[@ramspencer5492]

Do you think it might might be possible to create a convertor to upsample the captures up to 96K? That's my preferred samplerate. Awesome project BTW!

[@vaughanmacegan4012]

Thankyou!!!

[@davidjoel111]

I didn’t know Hank Green played guitar!

[@marceloSDMF]

this man is a genius!

[@MrRioso-ry1hb]

what a great guy !

[@spraypainter7953]

When will nam work on OS X monterey please

[@tamasvarga9206]

10.2K right now!!! Supercool

[@wriglarzzz]

Next step would be to make it a pedal and charge money as a true product, BUT keep it open sourced

[@fin.d7725]

This is the guy from the first season of White Lotus, right?

[@georgecaraballo]

Amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@rudycastillo6369]

whats the website for this and the tones u can download

[@RecordingStudioLoser]

Oh heck yes.

[@jimmcdougall9973]

He initially wanted to see how Kemper have been doing it for years. Then took it apart and reverse engineered it.

[@cliverkay]

A genius !!!

[@peterdentremont7296]

Man you should have a forum with the creators of profile capture like christoph, Steve the guy from fractal , the guy from quad cortex and the guy from toneX.

[@dylanjastle]

I don’t know if those guys want to give additional attention to NAM haha. They all have expensive paid hardware and software that does what NAM does

[@daleschimpf]

Makes one wonder if the companies behind Kemper, Helix, Quad Cortex, etc. are upset/concerned/wary about this whole thing?

[@blakeoms]

I cant get audio from the program, straight into my audio interface but my DI guitar on my monitor speaks my guitar but not with the program, anyone have the same problem

[@DEADMEDIC]

Gg man

[@Francisco17Berrios]

Only 22 minutes???

[@ToneJunkieTV]

We were hungry and wanted tacos. 😂

[@Francisco17Berrios]

@@ToneJunkieTV I really hope theres a second part :(((

[@sacredxgeometry]

you've probably heard of NAMM! North American Music Merchants hahahahahaa

[@Shred_Rocket]

Not the interview I expected. The content was not to the point of why NAM is successful, considering the accuracy of the trainer to that of commercial products that are commanding $$$ from consumers that are hungry for tones that at least meet those of real amps. I really believe your interview missed an opportunity to define what is at stake and the potential benefits to the community of modern musicians.

[@moroboshidan7960]

I wonder if patent trolls are aiming at him.

[@gerrykavanagh]

This is often a concern with open source projects, since they generally have no financial backing. Often a patent troll will go after someone without merit, but without funds to defend in court, the US system favours the complainant.

[@lordgraga]

Not a concern. NAM is a very thin layer of software running on top of Anaconda, Scipy, Numpy, etc which are MASSIVE projects whict have a ton of commercial and academic applications. Trolls would have to fight very hard against a very broad range of economically strong stakeholders.