ParametricOD Is A FREE Distortion Plugin Based On Neural Amp Modeler

Steve Ack, the developer behind Neural Amp Modeler, released ParametricOD, a freeware guitar distortion pedal plugin for Windows and macOS.

Neural Amp Modeler has proven to be a popular piece of software with guitarists. I’ve seen all manner of gear, from boutique amps to studio outboard processors, captured.

One of the dreams, so to speak, for any of these amp capture plugins is the ability to tweak controls as you go.

Now, I’m not a mathematician by any means, nor am I a programmer. If you’d like to read more about what Steve Ack has accomplished with ParametricOD, I highly encourage you to go through the blog post detailing its release.

ParametricOD uses Neural Amp Modeler as a backbone but gives a complete and accurate capture of Steve Ack’s own overdrive pedal.

According to the info on the developer’s website, ParametricOD is “a plugin that uses NAM’s parametric modeling capabilities to give you a model of my overdrive pedal that is accurate across the full range of the pedal’s knobs and switches.”

This is a proof of concept that accomplishes what it sets out to do. The implications of this for future software are pretty exciting, especially if it means I can get genuinely accurate fuzz pedals in software form.

You’ve got a few controls to take notice of with ParametricOD, but these should be familiar to you if you’re a pedal enthusiast.

The input and output function is as you’d expect, and it works just fine. Drive and tone are where things get really interesting. Previous NAM captures of pedals are frozen at a single snapshot.

You don’t get to tweak settings in the slightest. ParametricOD lets you tweak to your heart’s content.

The controls are rounded out with a tight and clipping toggle, which makes quite a difference in the sound to my ears. All said I’m excited about what the future holds for software like ParametricOD.

With any luck, this might result in future amp and outboard captures that more accurately respond to knob adjustments. It would be fantastic to finally have the sound of captures coupled with the flexibility of an emulated algorithmic amp sim.

ParametricOD is available for Windows and Mac computers. While you’re downloading it, you might as well grab NAM to have some amps to play around with, too.

I’d snag NadIR for your IRs, and then you’d have a fully free amp setup!

Download: ParametricOD (FREE)

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