TONE3000 Launches Free NAM A2 Plugin and Standalone App

Today we're excited to launch the TONE3000 Plugin, a free guitar and bass plugin/standalone app.

Download the TONE3000 Plugin: https://tone3000.com/plugin

While the growth of TONE3000 and NAM has been explosive, getting started with NAM hasn’t always been easy. Many musicians tried Neural Amp Modeler (NAM), got frustrated, and left the community for good.

That's because using a NAM capture meant finding it on TONE3000, downloading the file, unzipping it, organizing it on your computer, and loading it into a third-party NAM plugin. Trying another tone meant doing it all over again.

The TONE3000 Plugin eliminates those steps entirely.

You can now browse hundreds of thousands of NAM captures and IRs of amp + cabs, amp heads, cabinets, pedals, outboard gear, acoustic spaces, and experimental captures directly inside the official TONE3000 plugin. You can load the plugin in your favorite DAW or play through it as a standalone app, no DAW required.

Your can also find your saved favorites, recently used tones, created tones, and private tones inside the plugin by logging into your TONE3000 account.

"Because the TONE3000 Plugin is open source, right now is the worst it will ever be. We're excited to see what the community does with it."
– Stanley Vergilis, Co-Founder and CEO of TONE3000

Universally Accessible

The TONE3000 Plugin was tested by musicians at all levels, from first-time plugin users to Grammy-winning producers. It’s designed to be simple enough to plug in and play, but it has all the features required by professionals.

Standout features include:

Chains: Stack unlimited NAM A2 captures and IRs in any order to build complete signal chains.
Stereo: Create a stereo image with stereo input, multi-core stereo processing, auto-align, and auto-balance.
Dual Chain: Run two chains with branching and panning control.
Spread: Apply a stereo widener to mono chains without building a separate chain.
Calibration: Match an audio interface's input level to calibrated captures.
EQ: Apply pre- and post-block parametric EQ to individual blocks, plus global EQ across the chain.
Advanced control: Oversampling, MIDI mapping, per-block normalization and more.

A complete walkthrough is available in the TONE3000 Plugin Guide.

Works Everywhere

The TONE3000 Plugin is available now and works everywhere.

Operating systems: macOS (Apple Silicon and Intel), Windows, and Linux.
Plugin formats: VST3, AU, AAX, CLAP, LV2 and standalone.
Compatible DAWs: every major DAW, including Ableton Live, Logic Pro, Pro Tools, FL Studio, Cubase, Nuendo, Studio One, Reaper, Bitwig Studio, GarageBand, Luna, Cakewalk, Reason, Ardour, and openDAW.

Download the TONE3000 Plugin: https://tone3000.com/plugin

Changing the plugin industry with open source technology

Before TONE3000, building a guitar or bass plugin meant hiring software and DSP engineers to create a fixed collection of amp sims, a process that could take years and cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. As a result, a single plugin could cost you $100 or more, and came with a limited number of tones. To get more, you had to buy more.

The TONE3000 Plugin works differently.

Instead of shipping a small, static collection of tones, the TONE3000 Plugin connects to a massive library that is growing every day. Each new tone shared on TONE3000 becomes available inside the plugin immediately, with no software update or purchase required.

This is possible because TONE3000 is built on open-source Neural Amp Modeler (NAM) technology, allowing anyone to capture their analog gear for free and share their tones with the community. There’s no need to hire engineers and invest in years of development for each tone.

The modeling technology is open source, the plugin is open source, and the world's largest library of tones is free.

TONE3000 Plugin Github: https://github.com/tone-3000/tone3000-plugin

"With NAM A2 we made captures dramatically more accurate, but accuracy doesn't matter if loading a tone is a chore. The plugin is where the architecture, the community library, and players finally meet in one place. Every layer is open source by design. We're betting the future of tone belongs to the people creating it, not to whoever owns the technology."
– Woodbury Shortridge, Co-Founder and CTO of TONE3000

Powered by NAM A2

Every tone on TONE3000 is powered by NAM A2, the next generation of Neural Amp Modeler, developed by TONE3000 in partnership with NAM creator Steve Atkinson.

In quantitative testing and a blind listening study with more than 1,000 participants, NAM A2 beat Neural DSP Neural Capture V2, IK Multimedia ToneX V2, and Line 6 Proxy by a wide margin, making it the most accurate amp modeling technology on the market (chart below).

Amp Modeler Blind Listening Test

Over 1,000 participants compared recordings of real gear to anonymized digital models using the MUSHRA blind listening methodology. Higher scores mean the model was rated as sounding closer to the original amp, pedal, or signal chain.

MUSHRA Listening Test Scores

Median, Q1/Q3, and P10/P90 whiskers, higher is better

View

IncludeAnchorNAM A1-Nano

Amp Modeler Accuracy Test

Each model's output was compared against recordings of real gear using several error metrics (ESR, MAE, LOG_MEL, and MRSTFT). This chart shows Bayesian Elo ratings derived from ESR, where higher scores indicate lower measured error relative to the original amp, pedal, or signal chain.

Bayesian Elo Comparison (ESR)

Mean ± 1 std across 39 tones, higher is better

IncludeNAM A1-Nano

Since TONE3000 launched NAM A2 on June 2, 2026, the response has been explosive. In three months, the TONE3000 library has more than doubled, growing from 300,000 to more than 700,000 tones. The platform has crossed more than 600,000 monthly active users and 9 million downloads.

At launch, Guitar World described A2 as a "watershed moment" for digital modeling. After HeadRush added native NAM A2 and TONE3000 API integration across its multi-effects lineup, MusicRadar called it an "iPod moment for electric guitar tone." NAM A2 has since been adopted by commercial amps, multi-effects pedals, plugins, and indie projects across the industry.

NAM A2: The Complete Guide

How You Can Help

TONE3000 and NAM were built by the community and we'd love your help.

Improve the Plugin

Audio plugins have to work across countless computers, operating systems, plugin formats, DAWs, and audio interfaces. We’ve tested the TONE3000 Plugin extensively, but we can’t test every setup.

Download the plugin, try it on yours, and report anything that doesn’t work as expected.

Report Issues on Github: https://github.com/tone-3000/tone3000-plugin/issues

Share the Plugin

Many musicians tried NAM but gave up before playing their first capture. Now we have a chance to bring them back.

Share https://www.tone3000.com/plugin with friends, post it on social media, Reddit, and forums, or make a YouTube video about it.

More musicians means more feedback, more developers, more tones, and a better plugin for everyone.

Powered by the TONE3000 API

The TONE3000 Plugin runs on the same TONE3000 API that is now powering a rapidly growing ecosystem of hardware and software.

The API lets anyone bring the TONE3000 library and account experience directly into their products. Instead of finding, downloading, unzipping, and transferring files, their users can sign in, browse TONE3000, and load tones directly inside of amps, multi-effects pedals, plugins, DAWs and more.

Dozens of hardware companies have already shipped API integrations, including HeadRush (Prime, Core, and Flex Prime), Blackstar (Beam Mini and Beam Solo), Darkglass (Anagram), LAVA MUSIC (LAVA STUDIO), and Sonulab (StompStation).

Software companies are also integrating the API, including products like NAM Rig, RigBrowser, Soundshed Guitar, and openDAW. Now the TONE3000 Plugin and standalone app has joined this incredible lineup.

If you build hardware or software, learn more in our API Docs.