Why Is The ToneX App So Bad

[@rectangulardots]

It really is super frustrating. I still use it, because to me it‘s the best sounding digital amps but I hope some competitor comes up with something as good. Other nerve-racking things: - Cabs have weird names, not resembling what they are - Cabs you don‘t own are mixed in there, slightly greyed out, so you can barely see it and if you click on them an annoyingly loud noise plays every 5 seconds or so - input levels are off, like you said but to make it worse, on IOS they didn‘t add that input gain slider - there‘s a mix knob in the eq-tab but it mixes the amp sound but not the eq and it misses a phase invert button, because lots of distortion swap the phase - you can‘t import captures on IOS, I mean wtf? - All the stuff you said and the list goes on I really can‘t understand how a company can come up with such great software and then ruin it like that. As if they were just evil people ;)

[@ampspedalspickups]

Yeah 1000000% I could honestly make an hour long video on what's wrong and how to fix it. I've thought about doing this multiple times but A) I dont work there B) They wont listen or change things anyway I just have to vote with my time and energy and avoid using it. Ontop of this the captures I'm getting out of NAM are a lot better, like its not even close how much better NAM handles high gain tones. I've mentioned this to IK and posted on forums and I got a bit of a snide attitude from the IK rep and other users so..... I'll happily support them when the software is usable and captures are as good as the competition, until then I'm not really interested in what they're offering unfortunately.

[@rectangulardots]

Yeah it seems like they don‘t listen a lot. I just wrote on the forum topic about importing presets on ios, because to me that‘s the most annoying thing. The topic started more than a year ago - the IK-guy said that it has been relayed to the team but mostly he says that you should use tonenet. But that‘s obviously not an option with third party bought profiles. So they want you to buy those only through tonenet, where they are more expensive, because IK wants to earn some extra cash with it. About sound quality, I only listened to some comparisons with NAM and couldn‘t hear a drastic difference, actually - can I listen to yours anywhere? I also tried NAM a bit on my PC and liked it but noticed that it‘s also a lot more CPU hungry. Apart from that, I‘m currently trying to built my rig around an ipad, because it‘s now the most powerful „modeller“ (you can build some crazy multi amp setups with high quality reverbs and everything you could need) and it’s still to me much more practical than using a laptop. So NAM isn‘t an option for that unfortunately.

[@-Tepp-]

I'm laughing so hard watching you frustrated... All of your complaints are legitimate.

[@ampspedalspickups]

So painful honestly it’s by far the worst UI of every single amp sim I’ve tried

[@nomadicrecovery1586]

@@ampspedalspickups Also sounds like garbage

[@iRemainNameless]

@@nomadicrecovery1586 Feel the same. Not happy with the distortions. Not to mention the UI is complete garbage. Trying to figure out how to change settings and why the pedal is being activated when I'm connected with usb to upload new ones. It's so frustrating. I'm picking up my quad cortex tomorrow I think.

[@marcelmiagi4579]

With IK, I like how their models sound, but I’ve always despised their plugin menus. At least their install/activate process has been improved recently

[@ampspedalspickups]

I use a lot of IK stuff and somehow ToneX is especially bad even for them. The whole thing feels like a rush job which is somewhat understandable since they were the first commercial profile at home guys, but they literally haven’t fixed or updated a thing on the gui so it’s inexcusable. Even amplitube is a touch more usable and that’s not something I thought I’d ever say, such a shame

[@brucehanby2156]

I am glad I stumbled onto this video. I bought the app and I even purchased some captures from a vendor that I trust. I can't get ANY sound I truly enjoy. It's "OK" but never really gets to where I want it. Maybe it's the frustrating interface. It could be! I keep going back to it and spend time with it and end up never getting something I would actually use.

[@ampspedalspickups]

Without hearing what’s “wrong” with it I’ll say tonex tones for medium to high gain generally benefit from driving the input gain more than you’d think. Try giving the input a solid boost inside the app and see how that goes. Also using 3rd party IRs are way better than the stuff IK provides

[@nj1255]

The ToneX app is first and foremost a control software for the pedal and is mostly intended for capturing the amps, downloading new captures, modifying patches and transferring them to the pedal. When it comes to recording and mixing I always load them in Amplitube 5 so that I have access to routing, effects, tuner, better gate and other essentials. It's much easier to use it this way.

[@ampspedalspickups]

I didn’t plan to make this a tonex bashing video I had intended on grabbing some top captures and showing off amplitube. I know tonex has its quirks but after playing around with 20+ other amp sims this month using tonex was just so unintuitive I couldn’t get over how bad it was. All I was trying to do here was checkout tones and you basically have to flip between the app and the tone net website and question every click you do cause their software just doesn’t work like anything else. It’s all simple stuff they could fix, impressively clunky. I want them to do better so maybe if others made noise about this they’d spend more time fixing it up. It’s been a year so I doubt they will but I just can’t leave it unchecked, it needs to be said how horrendous it is.

[@scentia_est]

@@ampspedalspickups This sounds like Quad Cortex. I will grab a FM3 from Fractal. More expensive but you get a whole package of cool stuff without these problems.

[@notalkguitarampplug-insrev784]

The main thing I don’t like with ToneX is the lack of gain and push, the lack of lows and harsh highs. And has a lot of aliasing too…

[@ampspedalspickups]

Have you tried NAM? If so do you find it much better?

[@geoazakura9297]

What tuning are you using in your white Solar guitar? Sounds great!!!

[@ampspedalspickups]

Just drop D, sounds monstrous! Just grabbed another Evertune and it’s in drop C, I’m an Evertune convert for recording it’s just so good

[@IainFrame]

Got myself a Tonex pedal the other day, so not quite completely au fait with it yet. Hoping to use it as a backup for small gigs and hopefully as a DI interface for home recording. Probably now time to sell my second Kemper.

[@ampspedalspickups]

The pedal is where it all shines. For rehearsal and gigs you can be 5-10% more forgiving on tone unlike the studio and they’ve priced the pedals very well

[@IainFrame]

@@ampspedalspickups Great. Question from a noob (me) to someone more up to speed with it (you). If you were in that live situation, and wanting a range of settings (e.g. rhythm, slightly louder for choruses, guitar solo), would you just set and activate multiple options on a bank of presets, or would you go back to having additional pedals for those? Thanks.

[@drewwebsteraudio]

IK spends too much time on making the amp heads and cabs look pretty in their guitar plug-ins and not enough time making the GUI intuitive and useful

[@ampspedalspickups]

I will say that’s actually their biggest asset lol. I actually do like the design on a lot of those, pity the other 99% is painful 🙃

[@-Tepp-]

side note. I'm personally offended that you didn't try my ENGL or one of Ed's amps ;) (that fireball is horrendous)

[@ericdahlman3354]

I just got a Tonexone pedal, with hopes to integrate it along with my helix. But figuring out this software is just terrible. I felt like I was doing something wrong cause it seemed like no one was talking about that but it's just embarrassingly confusing and so unnecessary. How can a company be a software company and make something so unorganized?

[@ampspedalspickups]

Only nerds like us complain, everyone seems to give it a pass because it’s amazing tech at an affordable price…. But man it could be 100x better, it’s so weird

[@dfifty2]

what frustrates me the most is that the interface mode is catastrophically bad compared to the live setup. Not usable as an interface at all

[@ampspedalspickups]

So annoying, wish they’d fix this stuff up over time

[@mrchrisbeaver]

I know my way around the software quite well but that said, I agree with most (not all) of what you're saying. It really needs a complete overhaul IMO. A new workflow that would make it more enjoyable to use but from what I've seen of IK representatives they don't seem to see anything wrong with it. It baffles me that a company could make such an awesome product only to let it down by its work flow. That said, i have no regrets in buying it warts and all

[@ampspedalspickups]

Yeah I know its actually crazy. I understand them rushing everything to get first to market but it reminds of pre windows xp level UI like worse than an old Sierra PC game... its just so clunky and weird. When youre "offline" searching works one way but when youre in ToneNet the seemingly same filters work differently... Trying to import and export things when you havent done it before is pure madness. The actual graphics and sounds are fine... I can't even imagine how good it would be if the NeuralDSP UX team had a crack at redesigning things for IK, would pay itself back in dividends imo... we can dream cant we :)

[@thomasdavid2951]

The Tonex app is the only thing that can make my Fender CS strat sound bad. It’s awful. Positive Grid Bias sounds way better to me. It’s super frustrating to use Tonex. I wasted my cash on Tonex. Great video mate highlighting the clunky and poorly thought out software.

[@ampspedalspickups]

It’s honestly terrible and so many just let it pass, crazy

[@mathewworkman1625]

I agree with you.

[@mattpearce79]

I’m a UX/Ui designer and the app deserves all the criticism you give it. It’s so unintuitive, and needs a redesign.

[@ampspedalspickups]

Oh man if it drives me nuts I can only imagine for you 🤣🤣🤣

[@dewil7313]

It just got an update, a good one.

[@Keplerf-vn2ld]

That's a cool 1997 GUI

[@VRainier]

The pedal was a huge disappointment for me, I couldnt dial a decent tone, had to watch a lot of config videos to set de correct parameters and just couldnt make it sound like it does in the videos. Maybe I did something wrong but I think the experience should be straightforward for any kind of user. I sold it like a week later, and bought a QC. Totally different story, the tone from the presets were perfect without dialing nothing, just plug and play like it should be. I still have the tonex max software though, I hope it get better someday and can give it proper use.

[@mostlypostie1]

A huge problem, is that the Tonex software adds your dry signal to the output, so it always changes what it sounds like out of the computer! (In the pedal itself it sounds fine). Hence when you said it sounds like there's not enough gain... It's because of the dry signal in the mix. Also the saved pedal tones, can be mixed with the selected software tones without you knowing it. It's an absolute joke and for hardware that sounds so good, The software is close to useless.

[@hodshonf]

I have ToneX MAX and spent weeks with it. There are some great bass tones, but navigating the UI is garbage. Version 1.5 is better. Two Notes Genome supports NAM and Proteus captures. Once Genome came out i haven't touched IK

[@icksbocks]

IK also has shit support that simply does not answer. They do not even respond to Thomann support.

[@ampspedalspickups]

I see them responding in forums here and there but that sucks to see. All I know is that tonex has been out for a year and they added a few things like the tuner and minor updates, still ghastly.

[@unhookedunhooked3219]

I just got the Tone X. Absolutely lost with the software. Its back in the box and I using my Boss GT 1000 core for live gigs.

[@ampspedalspickups]

That is not an uncommon experience. Boss stuff is also great!

[@therichardnogginproject9012]

I just got this pedal and trying to figure out how to use it with studio one. It's showing in the DAW. But idk. ... The pedal itself sounds good

[@jimihendrix4376]

You did go into options, audio setup, audio device and set it to the unit right?

[@themacpcguysappleauthorize5601]

Agreed, but the tones are great.

[@DavidJosephBoth]

Bad app, dang good sound. i think they updated their app a lot recently.

[@otter5555]

my tonex pedal is great. the software is like something written by a 12 year old. horrible!

[@ampspedalspickups]

I’ve even thought about getting the pedal as well, such a great platform attached to the worst software. At least once you get it going you don’t need to touch it really, the only saving grace 😂

[@PippPriss]

@@ampspedalspickups The pedal is awesome (once set up). I'll be making a video soon on the ToneX Pedal and how I use it for live use. I just would hope for IK to add support for running one output with cab block, the other output without cab block. If they'd then go ahead and add maybe a delay and eventually change the noise-gate behavior into that of a noise surpressor, it would fully replace evry single component of my current pedal-board rig. But as it stands, it's "just a nice preamp pedal".

[@arpitsave1089]

NAM imo is amazing! So much better sounding.

[@ampspedalspickups]

Simple user interface as well!

[@bonafideguitar]

I bought the tone X pedal that’s the last I will ever hear from IK multimedia

[@ampspedalspickups]

Rip, very hit and miss

[@mrnorbotron3308]

I find the app perfect and so easy to use? Maybe you have look in the manual.

[@ampspedalspickups]

😂🤣😂

[@mcadder]

The GUI is awful. I hate it. I still use it though cause the sounds are good.

[@PickcutStudios]

under gained?

[@ampspedalspickups]

Yes

[@PickcutStudios]

@@ampspedalspickups i beg to differ

[@edneyhelenedossantos1875]

I can't make mine sound so good ever 😢

[@ampspedalspickups]

try running a hefty amount of clean volume/input gain into it... "might" help

[@nomadicrecovery1586]

Bought it 1 week ago, after daily efforts for a week, this is going on resell, NOW, or, if I ant sell it, Id probably be happy too burn it, just too feel better TERRIBLE piece of gear, sounds like garbage for the most part, the apps are even worse.

[@ampspedalspickups]

The app has been updated and is mildly better but hot damn it’s still pretty bad

[@Airtrooper719]

I was going to buy this, until I also "felt" and heard the undergain problem. It made me feel like I was playing a cheap $50 guitar with $2 chinese pickups installed, thats the best way I could describe it.

[@ampspedalspickups]

Its crazy honestly. The thing with IK is their input gain stage is all over the place so you basically need to put a boost going "into" the plugin... if you fish around you can guess and probably find the right amount of DB to boost things by.... but why should we have to do things like this, crazy. Classic IK... the technology is there but they fall short of the basics, such a shame.

[@agusg.t.8950]

Sounds good? Yes But my 65 JMI AC30 sounds better

[@ampspedalspickups]