jeremyb wrote:In laymans terms you can record the characteristics of everything from amps, effects, speakers, cabs, rooms etc into a file that an IR Loader can then use to apply to an input signal and change it so it sounds like it was coming out of the real thing, it's magic!
It's neat really you could have an IR of a famous guitar cab in a famous studio room or similar and have it applied to your amp... neat really!
I agree, while I prefer the sound of real stuff for whatever reason, the software options are well up there nowadays.
The other night I got the Torpedo Wall of Sound running in SaviHost, a freestanding VST host, and with a guitar and overdrive/distortion pedal plugged into my cheapo USB mixer it sounded bad ass for home practice, yet perfectly silent. The ability to mic both the front and back of a cabinet in software and blend is awesome imo.