Plugins
Latest about Plugins

Steven Wilson reveals his go-to guitar plugin – and why digital can successfully coexist with analog
By Janelle Borg published
The highly-coveted plugin prides itself in emulating the full range of cheap tape sounds

Best guitar plugins 2025: my top plugins to level up your recorded guitar tones
By Matt McCracken published
Get better guitar tones for recording and practice with my pick of the best guitar amp plugins

"I'm not a big amp plugin user beyond recording – but my time with these three changed my playing habits": Universal Audio UAD Dream '65 Reverb, Ruby '63 Top Boost and Lion '68 Super Lead Amplifier plugins review
By Rob Laing published
UA's acclaimed amp modeling pedals are channeled into native plugins – is the recipe right for recording and more?

Sophie Lloyd shares her ambitions to make amp modelers “more accessible”
By Janelle Borg published
The guitarist is an avid proponent of amp modelers – and now has her sights set on a signature plugin

Universal Audio takes its Edge-approved amp sim pedals to the digital realm with $299 plugin packages
By Matt Owen published
The UAFX Dream ’65 and Ruby ’63 pedals – which The Edge used during U2's Sphere residency – have been digitized alongside the Marshall-inspired Lion ’68

“I hear so much that I don’t hear in the digital plugin”: Alex Lifeson explains why digital amps can’t match up to the real thing
By Phil Weller published
The Rush guitarist-turned-gear-manufacturer feels there’s one crucial element that plugins lack – and makes real amps sound superior

Joe Satriani devised the perfect amp to harness Eddie Van Halen’s greatest tones – and you can get a plugin version right now
By Michael Astley-Brown published
While 3rd Power’s Dragon 100 goes up for preorder, IK Multimedia has bolstered its Joe Satriani Amp Vault with models of the very amp Satch is using to shred EVH on the Best of All Worlds tour with Sammy Hagar

Waves just dropped loads of its plugins back to Black Friday prices – record better guitar tones from just $9.99
By Matt McCracken published
We've hand-picked 7 essential (and discounted) plugins that will massively improve your home guitar recordings

“Still the ultimate suite of software guitar tools”: Native Instruments Guitar Rig 7 Pro review
By Andy Jones published
One of the most versatile guitar plugins just got revamped – but is it worth the upgrade?

“The ultimate amp modeling software”? HeadRush revives the ReValver modeling engine for the first time in nearly 10 years – introducing seamless plugin and pedalboard integration
By Matt Owen published
After a few years in the digital wilderness, the amp sim software once created by Peavey returns to tackle unprecedented competition – and it's brought some serious upgrades
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