true. there are times when micing is juuuuuust a pain... or budget simply wont allow. this is where the pod/amplitube/GR comes in
well, actually, there will be instances when even in a high-budget situation, the low-budget solution is going to be employed if it's the sound that is required by the project.
in the same manner, just because you have the budget to use a big orchestra, it doesn't mean you will, or have to... we use whatever will serve the song, whether it's using 20 expensive amps, and 20 drum kits, and 200 microphones, or just using a portasound... and a lazer drumkit, and a toy bongo, if that's what'll yield the sound that the project calls for.
is the
"how" (methodology) really as important (or more important) than the
"why" (the music itself)?
...All I am saying is, software emulations are NOT MEANT TO REPLACE AMPS. They do have their place in the pre-prod and not-so-serious musical situations. Who wants to bring a half-stack to a picnic? I would love to have a laptop plugged to a boombox and do my wankery there, but not to replace a good ol' tube amp. But if you really are serious about tone and all, be ready for inconvenience. This makes me understand why George Martin, Eddie Kramer and all these studio greats nailed great sounds on tape despite technological limitations of their time with the Beatles, Hendrix and Led Zeppelin...
it's because they weren't viewed as technological limitations... it's not like they said,
"sigh, amp modelling hasn't been invented yet, so we're left with no choice but to use real amps... bummer..." i bet that if the technology was available to them during that time, they would have used it for SERIOUS music making, and not merely for picnics or pre-prods.
(*)i've had my hammond xk-2 for a long time now. i love it's sound. heck, i might be buying a leslie soon. but how many times have i used native instruments' b4 or an organ patch on my fantom xr or motif rack, because it sat better on the track i was working on? i've lost count. how many times have i used my hammond in the recent past?.... never. will i sell it? hell, no.as musicians, we use what's there.
conflicts are very hard to avoid when there are generalizations that seem to imply one methodology as "superior" to another. ("nothing beats...." or "it's always better to...", etc.)
admit it.
it's not the only way. it's just another way of getting there.
(borrowed from "conversations with god"...but i'm still catholic. haha)