Digidesign Eleven Rack

Avid and Digidesign are proud to announce their first standalone hardware effects processor and Pro Tools® LE recording system designed specifically for guitar players – Eleven Rack. The goal with Eleven Rack is to solve many of the challenges that guitar players face when recording, and also to bridge the gap for guitar players between recording studio and live performance.

Avid/Digidesign is pleased to announce that Eleven™ Rack Firmware v. 1.0.1 is now available on the Digidesign Eleven Rack product page. 

Eleven™ Rack is a revolutionary new guitar recording and effects processing system designed to eliminate the challenges guitarists have faced in the studio and on stage. Say goodbye to the lackluster guitar amp “models” of yesteryear: Eleven Rack utilizes a unique tone cloning design and one-of-a-kind, custom-designed True-Z input to re-create the experience of playing through a full guitar rig.

By combining studio-standard Pro Tools® software with a DSP-accelerated high-resolution interface, Eleven Rack puts professional recording into the hands of every guitar player. Whether you’re tracking in the studio or playing on stage, Eleven Rack delivers fresh, mind-blowing, hyper-realistic guitar amp and effects tones that will inspire your best performances.

Eleven Rack in the Studio
Eleven Rack combines studio-standard Pro Tools software with a high-resolution, dual DSP-powered audio interface so you’ll never have to worry about latency when recording with its built-in amp/effects tones — nor will your computer have to carry the processing burden. Eleven Rack also takes re-amping to the next level by recording both dry and processed guitar signals simultaneously, allowing you to re-amplify later without patching a single cable. We even found a way to embed the Eleven Rack amp and effects settings into the audio tracks you record, enabling you to automatically recall those settings from your audio files on any Pro Tools system with Eleven Rack.

Eleven Rack On Stage
Eleven Rack also rocks onstage as a standalone amp tone and effects signal processor — we pulled out all the stops to make sure it sounds and feels just like playing through the real deal. We also included a classic collection of effects, from must-have stompboxes to world-class rackmount studio processors. Eleven Rack has all the I/O flexibility you need to integrate it into your existing rig, and easily incorporate the tones you’ve recorded with into your live setup — closing the gap between studio and stage. Eleven Rack also offers incredibly powerful control options using affordable MIDI controllers and expression pedals, giving you full foot control over everything from vintage wah effects to tempo-driven delays and more.

Eleven Rack combines hyper-realistic guitar amp and effects tones with a dual-DSP-powered interface and studio-standard Pro Tools LE® software to create the ultimate recording solution for guitar players.

Introducing True-Z
Among guitar tonehounds, it’s a well-known fact that input impedance — the electronic resistance found in the input circuit of the amp or effect you’re plugged in to — has a huge impact on your guitar tone. We realized that re-creating this electronic relationship was critical in nailing the sound and feel of our emulations. Others have tried to fake this with signal processing but we weren’t satisfied with a one-size-fits-all-approach. Each guitar reacts uniquely with each amp or effect — so we had to come up with a true analog solution that allows your guitar to interact realistically with our amp and effect re-creations.

That’s why we developed True-Z — a unique analog input circuit that replicates the input impedance of classic stompbox pedals and guitar amps, resulting in amazingly realistic sounds. It’s almost as if the True-Z input on Eleven Rack morphs into the 1/4" input jack of whatever classic stompbox or amplifier you are using. When you plug into Eleven Rack, you get the same response — and same great tone — as when plugging in to a vintage stompbox or guitar amp. You can also manually control the impedance of the True-Z input and set it to a value that suits your playing best.

Eleven Rack Hardware

• Unique True-Z auto-impedance matching guitar input
• Incredible emulations of classic guitar amp tones inspired by Fender®, Vox®, Marshall®, Soldano, and Mesa/Boogie® amps*
• Refined collection of sought-after classic stompbox tones inspired by effects from MXR®, Electro-Harmonix®, Ibanez®, ProCo, Univox®, and more*
• Powerful collection of studio-quality rackmount effects processors
• Convolution-based cabinet emulations deliver unprecedented realism in cabinet tones
• Convolution-based microphone emulations inspired by classic dynamic, condenser, and ribbon mic designs
• Integrated FX loop switchable to incorporate existing mono or stereo rack and stompbox effects
• Controllable via MIDI controllers and expression pedals
• Built-in tuner
• Tap-tempo control of time-based effects
• High-speed USB 2.0 connection
• Supports up to 8 simultaneous channels of high-resolution recording up to 24-bit/96 kHz
• Stereo balanced XLR outputs and dedicated 1/4” outputs
• XLR mic input with 48V phantom power and pad switch
• 2 x 1/4” line-level inputs
• AES/EBU and S/PDIF digital I/O
• Stereo 1/4” headphone jack
• 1 x 1 MIDI I/O

Pro Tools LE Software

• Award-winning Pro Tools LE 8 recording, editing, and mixing software — now optimized for guitar players
• Powerful Eleven Rack control window for creating/editing Eleven Rack rig settings right from Pro Tools software
• Records both dry and processed signals simultaneously, with recallable rig settings embedded into audio files
• Includes over 70 professional effects, including reverb, delay, chorus, distortion, flanger, phaser, reverse, EQ, and compression
• Powerful virtual instruments for creating backing tracks, including a drum machine, tonewheel organ, piano, synthesizer, and synth/sample workstation

Virtual Instruments

• Boom™ drum machine and sequencer
• DB-33 tonewheel organ emulator with rotating speaker simulation
• Mini Grand acoustic grand piano
• Vacuum monophonic vacuum tube synthesizer
• Xpand!®2 multitimbral synth and sample workstation
• Structure Free sample player
• FXpansion BFD Lite acoustic drum module

Effects, Sound-Processing, Utility Plug-ins

Pro Tools LE System Requirements - PC Mac

• Windows Vista (32-bit) with SP2
• Windows XP (32-bit) with SP3*
• 1 GB RAM
• USB 2.0 port
• DVD drive

Pro Tools LE System Requirements - Mac

• Mac OS X 10.5.5
• G5 or Intel processor
• 1 GB RAM
• USB 2.0 port
• DVD drive 

Tone Modeling:

Up until now, amp modeling solutions haven’t really delivered the full depth, dimension, and response of a mic’d up rig. We decided to take this challenge head on to ensure Eleven Rack truly re-creates the experience of playing through the most coveted guitar amps in the world. Check it out:


We spent years scouting a connoisseur’s collection of vintage and modern amps and cabinets, paying special attention to choosing amps that represented the best of their generation and remained unmodified from their original design. We then painstakingly inspected every component, took detailed measurements, and captured every stage of the signal path — point to point.

We incorporated nuances like power amp sag, ghost notes, and cabinet resonance that other amp modeling developers overlooked, giving our clones the truly multi-dimensional tone and hyper-realistic response previously only achievable by mic’ing a real amp.

We set out to invent an input circuit that re-creates the electronic relationship between your guitar and an actual amp or effect. This can’t be done digitally — so we developed a unique True-Z direct input that automatically adjusts the input impedance to match that of the particular amp/effects rig signal chain. Thanks to the True-Z input, plugging into Eleven Rack sounds and feels just like plugging into a real amp or effect.

Using convolution processing, we captured the exact sound of the cabinets and mics used to create the tone of a mic’d combo — instead of using EQ filters to “fake” this sound the way other amp modeling solutions have done.

We enlisted guitar recording expert John Cuniberti (Platinum and Gold recording engineer/producer and inventor of the Reamp® box) to ensure the mic’ing techniques used during development were absolutely top notch.

We also emulated an assortment of vintage and classic effects processors — from must-have stompbox effects to high-end studio processors culled from our coveted Pro Tools|HD® TDM plug-ins used in pro studios around the world.

Guitar amp emulations based on*:
’59 Fender® Bassman®
’59 Fender® Tweed Deluxe
’64 Fender® Black Face Deluxe Reverb® Normal Channel
’64 Fender® Black Face Deluxe Reverb® Vibrato Channel
’66 VOX® AC30 Top Boost
’67 Fender® Black Face Twin Reverb®
’69 Marshall® 1959 100 Watt Super Lead Plexiglas Head
’82 Marshall® JCM800 2203 100-Watt Head
’85 Mesa/Boogie® Mark IIc+ Drive Channel
’89 Soldano SLO100 Super Lead Overdrive Head Clean Channel
’89 Soldano SLO100 Super Lead Overdrive Head Crunch Channel
’89 Soldano SLO100 Super Lead Overdrive Head Overdrive Channel
’92 Mesa/Boogie® Dual Rectifier® Head Vintage Channel
’92 Mesa/Boogie® Dual Rectifier® Head Modern Channel
Digidesign Custom Vintage Crunch
Digidesign Custom Modern Overdrive

Speaker cabinet emulations based on*:
’59 Fender® Bassman® 4x10” with Jensen P10Qs
’59 Fender® Tweed Deluxe 1x12” with Jensen P12Q
’64 Fender® Black Face Deluxe Reverb® 1x12” with Jensen P12N
’66 VOX® AC30 2x12” with Celestion Alnico Blues
’67 Fender® Black Face Twin Reverb® 2x12” with Jensen C12Ns
’68 Marshall® 1960A with Celestion G12H “Greenbacks”
’06 Marshall® 1960AV 4x12” with Celestion Vintage 30s

Microphone emulations based on*:
Shure SM7 Dynamic Microphone
Shure SM57 Unidyne III Dynamic Microphone
Sennheiser MD 409 Dynamic Microphone
Sennheiser MD 421 Dynamic Microphone
Neumann U67 Condenser Microphone
Neumann U87 Condenser Microphone
AKG C 414 EB Condenser Microphone
Royer 121 Ribbon Microphone

Effects emulations based on*:
Spring Reverb (based on the Fender® Deluxe Reverb*)
Green JRC Overdrive (based on the Ibanez TS-808*)
Tri-Knob Fuzz (based on the Electro Harmonix Big Muff Pi*)
Black Op Distortion (based on the ProCo Rat*)
Shine Wah (based on the VOX® V-846*)
C1 Chorus/Vibrato (based on the Boss CE-1*)
Orange Phaser (based on the MXR® Phase 90*)
EP Tape Echo (based on the Maestro Echoplex EP-3*)
BBD Delay (based on the Electro Harmonix Deluxe Memory Man*)
Grey Compressor (based on the Ross Compressor*)
Vibe Phaser (based on the Univox Uni-Vibe*)
Black Wah (based on the Thomas Organ CB-95 Crybaby*)
Flanger
Roto Speaker
Volume Pedal
Eleven SR (Stereo Reverb)
Graphic EQ
Tuner

Digidesign went to great lengths to obtain the world’s most sought-after amps and effects — in their original state — to create the sounds in Eleven Rack. Here are all of the vintage and modern amplifiers and effects boxes that Eleven Rack emulates along with a bit of their history, where you may have heard their signature tones, and how our emulations compare to the originals.