Canadian Musician - January/February 2019 | Page 23

ROAD
TEST
STL Tonality Howard Benson
Guitar Plug-In Suite
By Dajaun Martineau
A
s soon as I plugged into STL Tonality, I instantly noticed how
responsive it was. Before I tweaked any knobs or even started
looking through the presets list, it gave me a tone that I just
knew I wanted to play with. I had my go-to ‘52 Tele guitar in
hand, plugged directly into an API preamp with the meters
barely moving and yet somehow the plug-in was already ripping hard!
One of my main issues with all of the software amp modelers I’ve used
in the past is that I always felt like I had to be redlining my preamp in order
to get the simulator to feel like a real amp. STL Tonality has made an amp
sim that feels like you’re plugged into a real amp off the bat.
In Use
While exploring the interface, one of the things that caught my eye was
that the tuner is always on. In the studio, I always have an old Korg rack
tuner sitting on top of the console during tracking so that I can always
monitor the tuning throughout the performance. On more than one
occasion, the tuner has helped me catch a lazy guitar player pulling strings
out of tune. Seeing a tuner running constantly in the software made me
feel right at home.
Right next to the tuner I noticed the gate knob and I flicked it on. That’s
when it really hit me: this plug-in is just begging for some metal! This is one
of the best-sounding and most responsive gates that I have ever used in any
guitar situation, be it analog or digital. I immediately grabbed my baritone,
ripped a few djent riffs, and was very impressed with what I heard.
The more I explored STL Tonality, the more my suspicions were
confirmed that this plug-in is right at home with metal and hard rock. All
of the tones are custom crafted by Howard Benson and Mike Plotnikoff.
Of course, Benson is best known for his work producing the likes of
Motörhead, Sepultura, P.O.D, My Chemical Romance, Papa Roach, Theory
of a Deadman, and many more. As I went through his discography while
plunking away at my guitar, I heard many of the tones associated with
some of the artists listed above coming out of my own hands. I quickly
flipped over to Plotnikoff’s discography and cycled through his presets,
hearing the sounds of All That Remains, Fear Factory, and Simple Plan. This
plug-in does a great job in recreating the tones that these two gentlemen
have captured and crafted throughout their careers.
The plug-in has a simplistic layout and really gets you to where you
want to go quickly. That being said, it does lack some of the diversity in
options that you see in other plug-ins. For example, there are only three
pedal effects: tube screamer, delay, and reverb. There is no tube swapping,
no adjusting the amp bias, and no profiling functions, but I realize that’s not
the purpose of this software. I wouldn’t grab this plug-in if I was trying to
build my own amp or craft some unique tone; however, I would drop in STL
Tonality if I needed a tried-and-true heavy tone that I could get working in
seconds and know with certainty that I won’t second-guess my decision.
The naming conventions inside of STL Tonality may take some getting
used to as well. Both the amps and cabs are just numbered with no clever
“off-brand names” like some other software companies use to avoid
trademark infringement. Despite the lack of descriptive names for the amps,
the graphical representations are all familiar sights and should give you a
strong hint of what you are plugged into.
W W W. C A N A D I A N M U S I C I A N . CO M
Another feature I found very interesting was that STL Tonality allows
you to load your own impulse responses or bypass the cabinet simulator
entirely. This feature got my engineer brain working. I started thinking
about sampling my own cabinets and the possibility of running audio
out of this software, out of my DAW, and into a power amp and cabinet
of my choosing. Running real cabs in the real world would allow me to
push some air in order to get those inconsistencies we love about the
analog world while still utilizing these presets. This allows you to stand
on the shoulders of these two tone giants.
Summary
Overall, I think STL Tonality is an excellent addition to my amp collection. What
you’re actually getting from this plug-in set is a collection of tones created by
the world-renowned professionals who’ve made some very special records
that a lot of us still look up to. While this plug-in is clearly aimed at the metal
and hard rock community, I could easily picture myself getting creative while
using some of these clean tones on pop or country records just the same.
Dajaun Martineau is a producer/engineer/writer based out of Toronto, ON,
who spent the better part of a decade as a Senior Staff Engineer at Phase One
Studios before going freelance. For his full discography and more information,
visit www.dajaun.com.
C A N A D I A N M U S I C I A N • 23