What's new in RigSculpt 0.99.2
Native Linux support arrives alongside five substantially reworked Artificer amps and an overhauled Designer. You can also blend cabinet mics, connect real pedals and set up your MIDI controllers.
RigSculpt Artificer is the plug-in and standalone app you play. RigSculpt Workshop measures and organizes your NAMs, cabinets and reverbs. In 0.99.2, you get more ways to shape the amp and cab sound, route your rig and control it while playing. Both programs stay free.
Start with a feature below. Each section tells you where to find it and what to try. The field guide has the full control reference.
The two programs share the RigSculpt name
The names were getting in the way. RigSuite named the collection, RigSculpt named the player, and RigSculpt Workshop had previously been called RigScope. Feedback made it clear that these sounded like more programs than they were.
Both programs now share the RigSculpt name. RigSculpt Artificer is the plug-in and standalone instrument. RigSculpt Workshop is the companion for measuring and organizing your NAMs, cabinets and reverbs.
Artificer was already the name of my amp models and my curated pack of personal NAMs, the Artificer Pack. As those amps became a larger part of what you can play and build here, it felt right to give the instrument that name too.
Your DAW still lists the plug-in as RigSculpt. Your projects, presets, saved amps and folders keep working as before. Nothing needs converting. On Windows, the installer and Apps and features use RigSculpt Artificer. In the Workshop, buttons that connect to the plug-in now name Artificer.
The two programs remain separate installs in the same download.
RigSculpt comes to Linux
0.99.2 introduces the first public Linux release of both programs. Play RigSculpt Artificer as a VST3 or CLAP plug-in, or use its standalone app without a DAW. RigSculpt Workshop brings its measurement and library tools to Linux too.
Both programs also support graphics-card processing through Vulkan. Initial testing has been with one Linux user. As more players try their own systems, please report any desktop, audio-device or DAW problems you find.
Standalone apps and platform availability
- Windows: the RigSculpt Artificer VST3 plug-in and RigSculpt Workshop. Artificer's standalone app for Windows is complete; its release is waiting on the Steinberg ASIO licensing agreement.
- macOS: the RigSculpt Artificer plug-ins, its standalone app and RigSculpt Workshop.
- Linux: RigSculpt Artificer as VST3 and CLAP plug-ins plus the standalone app, and RigSculpt Workshop, for 64-bit x86 Linux. The standalone plays through ALSA, JACK or PulseAudio.
Before you install
Get RigSculpt from my official Ko-fi download page and choose the package for your system. These steps apply to both a first installation and an update:
- Extract the ZIP completely. On Windows, right-click it and choose Extract All…; on macOS, double-click it in Finder; on Linux, extract the ZIP, then extract each .tar.gz inside it into its own folder. Open the extracted folder and run the installers there.
- Save and close first. Quit RigSculpt, Workshop and every DAW instance, including background REAPER processes. A DAW left open can keep the old plug-in loaded. Back up important presets and projects before updating.
- Windows: RigSculpt asks for administrator permission and installs for all users automatically. For Workshop, choose Install for all users if offered and you have administrator access; per-user installation is also supported.
- macOS: run RigSculpt's .pkg. For Workshop, open the .dmg, drag the app to Applications, and launch the installed copy. The Mac packages are signed and notarized.
- Linux: open a terminal in each extracted application folder and run bash install.sh as your normal user, without sudo. RigSculpt installs its VST3 in ~/.vst3, its CLAP in ~/.clap, and the standalone app with a rigsculpt launcher and an applications-menu entry. Keep the VST3 bundle even if you only use CLAP or the app; they read its factory content. Workshop adds a RigSculpt Workshop menu entry. The START-HERE file in the download lists the requirements.
- Reopen your DAW. Rescan plug-ins if RigSculpt does not appear; Logic and GarageBand may also need a restart. Check About to confirm the version loaded. On Linux, VST3 and CLAP are separate formats, so a project saved with one does not switch to the other; save a RigSculpt preset to move a rig between them.
Windows SmartScreen: what to expect
The Windows installers are not currently code-signed. If you downloaded yours directly from my official Ko-fi page and SmartScreen shows the “Windows protected your PC” unrecognized-app notice, choose More info, check the installer, then Run anyway if offered.
If the message names a detected threat or offers no way to continue, send me the exact message. The field guide explains this notice, with a link to Microsoft's documentation.
Windows: a report of Mixcraft freezing at close
One player reports Mixcraft 9 freezing as it closes with RigSculpt loaded, on a computer with integrated graphics, and staying frozen until the computer restarts. It has not been reproduced here and the cause is being looked at; switching NAM GPU off did not settle it. If it happens to you, send me the log at %LOCALAPPDATA%\RigSculpt\rigsculpt.log and the crash report Mixcraft offers.
Linux: what to expect
The standalone app keeps its output muted until you confirm your audio devices. On a Wayland desktop, RigSculpt and Workshop run through XWayland. RigSculpt's Open, Save and folder dialogs need zenity or kdialog. RigSculpt's README explains the optional audio group setup. On a desktop that runs PipeWire, choose JACK (pipewire-jack provides it) or PulseAudio in the standalone app's audio settings; with JACK the app runs at the JACK server's sample rate. If something goes wrong, tell me your distribution, desktop, display scaling, DAW and audio interface, and include ~/.local/share/RigSculpt/rigsculpt.log, or for Workshop ~/.local/share/RigScope/namscope.log.
Full installation steps, system requirements and first launch →
Blend two mics with CAB STEREO
Find it: In RIG VIEW, switch CAB STEREO on and load a cab into A and B.
For two mics on one cabinet, choose DUAL MONO. Both cabs sit in the centre and ALIGN switches on. Set their balance with BLEND, then compare ALIGN on and off. Some mic pairs may sound right as recorded.
For stereo width, choose SPREAD or WIDE. The SPREAD knob moves both pans together. Each cab also has an Ø key to flip its polarity; try one if the blend sounds thin or hollow.
ALIGN lines up the impulses' main peaks and sets B's polarity to follow A. The line beside it tells you what it did. Older rigs open with ALIGN off and keep their sound.
Blend up to four mics with CAB LAYERS
Find it: In CHAIN VIEW's FLEX board, add CAB LAYERS from the cab family.
Load up to four mic impulses and hear them as one cabinet, the same on both sides. Each layer has ON, LEVEL, DELAY and a polarity key. Press CABS on a layer to choose its IR from CAB LIBRARY.
ALIGN lines up the layers with the first one. LEVEL MATCH holds the blend at the first layer's loudness, so you hear the change in colour without a louder result tipping the comparison. A new block starts with your rig's cab, or a factory cab if none is loaded.
Balance parallel paths in FLEX
A Y split now has a BLEND knob to balance lane A against lane B. At the centre, both lanes stay at full level, so existing rigs keep their sound. Each lane's LEVEL, PAN, MUTE and polarity controls sit together.
COPY FIXED keeps the fixed rig's cab polarity and ALIGN settings. Load a different cab into slot B, or place a copied cab on a stereo lane, and the cab blocks become independent. A cab's pan and blend belong to the split that holds it.
Connect pedals and other gear in the standalone app
The SEND, RETURN and FX LOOP blocks can now use your interface's spare inputs and outputs. Put a real pedal in the rig, record a dry send, or bring another source into the chain.
Find it: Open Send and Return Buses in the audio settings: Audio > Audio and MIDI settings on Windows, RigSculpt > Preferences on macOS, or File > Audio and MIDI settings on Linux.
Choose the interface channels for buses 1 to 4, then choose the same bus on the block. Each bus can use a pair of channels, one channel or off. A send cannot use the channels chosen for Output 1 and Output 2. In a DAW, bus 1 remains the plug-in's Send and Return buses.
Send effects to a real cab without the cab IR
Place a SEND before the cab section in FLEX and choose AT OUT. Your real guitar cabinet can then hear the delay and reverb after that section, without hearing the cab IR too.
THE SEND HEARS shows a key for each later block. Lit keys reach the send; cab keys start unlit. Both outputs follow the same knob settings and stay in time. Dim keys mark blocks that cannot join this send. The looper is not included.
Choose HERE for the signal at the SEND block itself. Switching back to HERE, or changing presets, lets the send's delay and reverb ring out. A held pad continues too. Effects heard on the send use extra processing.
In a DAW, press HOW TO CONNECT on a SEND, RETURN or FX LOOP card for help with the track's buses. The guide's Send and return in a DAW chapter has steps for several DAWs.
Five Artificer amps have been substantially reworked
Pinnacle, Sterling, Lancer, Obsidian and Scorch have been rebuilt stage by stage around their individual circuit studies, each one auditioned, revised and voiced by ear over several rounds. The changes reach the sound and playing response of each amp, the controls on its panel, and the parts you can open and change in the Designer. Each amp names its study in LIBRARY and on its head: Pinnacle (Focused American Lead), Sterling (Singing British Lead), Lancer (Lyrical Lead), Obsidian (Modern High Gain) and Scorch (Hot British Lead).
- Pinnacle follows its lead circuit stage by stage. The way you pick shapes its saturation and the start of each note. GAIN FAT, DRIVE BRIGHT and PRESENCE SHIFT give you its pull-switch choices.
- Sterling has reworked gain, tone controls and output feedback. Its clipping network sits before LEAD MASTER, and you can open those parts in the Designer.
- Lancer shapes the tone early in its lead circuit. RECOVERY and OUTPUT VOICE let you compare choices drawn from two lead circuits. Its study is called Lyrical Lead.
- Obsidian focuses on a modern high gain channel. Switch on HIGH GAIN MOD for a tighter, harder-driven input, then shape it with MOD DRIVE, MOD TONE and MOD LEVEL. The mod starts off.
- Scorch adds a gain stage on its EXTENDED channel. Its voicing choices and THUMP controls let you shape the response and low end.
Each amp opens into its own circuit parts in the Designer: resistors, capacitors, pots and supply rails with their values, stage by stage. The reworked amps cost about the same processing as their earlier editions. Sterling, Obsidian and Scorch can add a five-band graphic EQ. Pinnacle and Lancer have their own, with boost and cut across the faders' full travel.
Pinnacle, Sterling, Lancer and Obsidian start with HOT INPUT on. It pushes the first stage harder, like a hotter pickup. In the Designer's INPUT section, switch it off and play the same riff to compare.
Try the new amps and keep your earlier designs
Your earlier Pinnacle, Sterling, Lancer, Obsidian and Scorch designs keep their sound. When you load one, you can try the new amp against it while playing and decide which to keep. The earlier editions remain under LEGACY in the Designer.
The new Pinnacle keeps your knob, graphic, pull-switch and power settings. A new Sterling, Lancer, Obsidian or Scorch keeps your output level and power choices, and starts its other controls at its own settings.
The Designer has been overhauled throughout
You can stay with the front-panel controls or open the amp and work on its circuit. The new layout keeps those approaches together, with listening guidance alongside the parts. Explore one stage at a time without needing to understand the whole amp before making a change.
The Designer opens in CIRCUIT > CHASSIS, on the amp's own chassis. The reworked amps have their own layouts, with their tubes, transformers and rear controls drawn where they sit, the tube roles named and the heaters glowing. Hover over a part to name it; click a tube to open its stage in the STAGE EDITOR beside the picture, with its parts and values ready to step while you play. UNDERSIDE shows the boards and wiring with the selected stage's connections drawn in; REAR holds the speaker outlets, which set the electrical load, the power transformer, which opens SUPPLY CHARACTER, and the rectifier.
- PLAY gives you the amp's front panel, with MONITORED CELLS & POWER below it.
- CIRCUIT offers PARTS LIST, SIGNAL PATH and CHASSIS. PARTS LIST steps a stage's parts or choices with - and +, marks what you changed and shows the loaded and drawn values; on the general amps it lists 49 choices across sixteen stages, with the components each option stands for. SIGNAL PATH lists the stages in the order your signal meets them and, for the one you select, says what it does, what it is in this amp and what to listen for, with live readings while you play. RESTORE LOADED VALUES puts a stage back as you loaded it.
- APPEARANCE lets you arrange the panel and choose its finish, knobs and badge.
NEW AMP offers seven starting circuits, each a complete, playable amp, so you can build from a character without starting from a named house amp; START FROM AN EXISTING AMP copies one of yours instead. GUIDE walks INPUT, GAIN, TONE, POWER, SUPPLY, OUTPUT and FINISH and stays with you in every circuit view. In COMPARE DESIGNS, A and B start as the loaded amp, ready for different edits; the four amp snapshots are there too, and a control you move on the AMP page or a CHAIN block while the Designer is open keeps your comparison.
Use SAVE AMP to keep your design under MY AMPS. It asks before replacing one with the same name. UNDO takes back an edit.
Keep MIDI assignments for each controller and preset
Find it: Settings > Workflow > MIDI controller setup, or MIDI in CHAIN VIEW.
A controller profile keeps its layout, learned controls, assignments and preset bank together. Use Profile to make, copy, rename, import or export one. Your existing assignments become the profile Main.
Choose a layout and press + Add control (Learn). A small move is enough to learn a knob or pedal. Assign amp and effect controls, FLEX blocks, or movement through presets and snapshots.
Use GLOBAL for an assignment that follows every preset, or THIS PRESET for one saved with this preset and your DAW project. The preset's assignment takes over for that control while it is loaded.
MIDI preset changes no longer stop at a question box. The standalone app also follows the MIDI input channel you choose in its audio and MIDI settings.
Find controls and help as you play
- TUNER has an ON / OFF switch in the sidebar. Off stops pitch detection. MIDI tuner mute wakes it while the output is muted.
- Drop-down menus have taller rows, headings and check marks. The preset menu separates PRESET FILES from SNAPSHOTS AND MIDI, and lists YOUR PRESETS and FACTORY PRESETS as two groups, so a factory preset stays available when one of yours has the same name.
- About > Tutorial has 47 cards, including send and return, MIDI profiles and preset assignments. The Designer's help follows its new layout.
Follow imports and analysis in the Workshop
- Large folder scans, archive imports and cab-library centralizing show progress from the start. You can cancel a folder scan while it runs.
- The graphics-card check tries up to three models and skips unreadable files. If it fails, analysis uses the processor and adjusts an automatic worker count to match.
- Artificer: not open tells you when the plug-in simply is not running.
- Inspect refreshes after analysis. Changing benches clears a model that belongs to another bench.
- Reverb IRs are labelled mono, stereo or true stereo (4 channels). Artificer's convolution reverb plays the first two channels of a four-channel IR.
Other fixes you may notice
- CAB LAYERS edits no longer briefly change the playing sound before the edit arrives. Its LEVEL MATCH line responds at once.
- A pending cab B load no longer changes a newly recalled rig or overrides a newer choice.
- A mono Audio Unit instance now opens in Logic on macOS. If a window is still empty after the update, run Logic's Full Audio Unit Reset once (Settings > Plug-in Manager).
- CAB LIBRARY and NAM LIBRARY stay quick with very large collections.
- A saved amp with a detail in an unexpected form is refused as unavailable instead of closing the plug-in.
- An unchanged house Obsidian is recognised correctly when you reopen a project.
- On Linux, JACK device names can contain characters such as +, and the standalone uses JACK's sample rate.
- Linux file dialogs keep their suggested folder, including through desktop portals. KDE uses kdialog first.
- On macOS and Linux, Add folder… under Manage preset folders… opens at the presets folder.
- In the Workshop, a pedal NAM without an analysis is no longer sent to an amp slot, and the Library menu waits while an analysis runs. The Analysis workers dialog counts the automatic number for the graphics-card setting.
- Amp Match, Hold Level, Rig-Aware, TAME and the measured voicings read the NAM in the amp slot. With an Artificer amp they stand by and their readouts say NAM amps only; before, they read the NAM left in the slot.
- A project reopened with the plug-in window closed applies Amp Match, Hold Level, Rig-Aware and TAME at once. Before, they waited for the window to open and applied then.
- The credits say how RigSculpt's NAM playback relates to Steve Atkinson's work and name Carmelo Di Lio (The Tone Scientist) for the oversampling work it began from.
Where to start
- Try a reworked amp. Play Pinnacle, Sterling, Lancer, Obsidian or Scorch, then open the Designer and click a part in CHASSIS to try a change.
- Blend two mics. In RIG VIEW, switch CAB STEREO on, load two impulses of the same cab, choose DUAL MONO and set the balance with BLEND. Compare ALIGN on and off.
- Build a cab in FLEX. In CHAIN VIEW, add CAB LAYERS, load three mics and press ALIGN, then balance them with LEVEL.
- Patch in a pedal. In the standalone app, route bus 1 to a spare output and input in the audio settings, then add an FX LOOP block set to BUS 1.
- Feed a real cab. In FLEX, put a SEND before the cab section and set it to AT OUT, then route its bus to the output that feeds your cabinet. The cab keys stay unlit; the delay and reverb reach the cabinet.