Amplesound acoustic guitar - wow

[David Polich]

Ok, for any of you who purchased it - I have not yet found a way to get
Amplesound AGM to work like RealGuitar2 does - that is, I would like to put
it in strummer mode, play a keyboard chord on my controller, and have it "revoice" that as the correct strummed chord. So far, it seems you have
to somehow "push the correct button" to get the chord you want, and furthermore there doesn't seem to be a way to kill the patterns from playing
when you go to strummer mode and plunk down some keys on the keyboard.

cbgerm, did you find out any way to do this?

I have sent the question to Amplesound, and if I get an answer I will report
back.

[kgdrum]

That's what made me pause,i hope I'm wrong but it seems to require the user to play the notes as a guitar player would.
I'm not a guitar player so if you need to be able to do this it would defeat the reason I would need to buy a guitar library I need it to voice how a guitar player would play by my basic kb approach.
I hope I'm wrong and hope this does voice kb parts as how a guitar player would play.
Please let us know what you find out.

[David Polich]

That's what made me pause,i hope I'm wrong but it seems to require the user to play the notes as a guitar player would.
I'm not a guitar player so if you need to be able to do this it would defeat the reason I would need to buy a guitar library I need it to voice how a guitar player would play by my basic kb approach.
I hope I'm wrong and hope this does voice kb parts as how a guitar player would play.
Please let us know what you find out.

Will do. Don't get me wrong, the sound of this VI is fantastic, and with some work I can create the properly voiced MIDI parts myself, using AGM in "Main" mode. I just hate pre-programmed patterns, there are hundreds in
BFD2, and I never use any of those because then I have to compose "around"
the pattern. This is why I stopped using Scarbee Funk Guitar - all the patterns are pre-programmed, and pressing a chord on the keyboard doesn't
start a pattern that is in the same chord you played, you have to write down
or memorize which MIDI keys trigger which pattern in which key. Totally
useless. It comes from programmers who for some weird reason enjoy step
recording.

[cbergm7210]

Ok, for any of you who purchased it - I have not yet found a way to get
Amplesound AGM to work like RealGuitar2 does - that is, I would like to put
it in strummer mode, play a keyboard chord on my controller, and have it "revoice" that as the correct strummed chord. So far, it seems you have
to somehow "push the correct button" to get the chord you want, and furthermore there doesn't seem to be a way to kill the patterns from playing
when you go to strummer mode and plunk down some keys on the keyboard.

cbgerm, did you find out any way to do this?

I have sent the question to Amplesound, and if I get an answer I will report
back.

Changing from "Select" to "Detect" mode would do it...

http://rfjmusic.com/publicmusic/AG3.png

The user's guide is good, but perhaps could use some refining as far as outlining things a bit better, IMHO. I've had to peruse it the last few days extensively.

[David Polich]

Ok, for any of you who purchased it - I have not yet found a way to get
Amplesound AGM to work like RealGuitar2 does - that is, I would like to put
it in strummer mode, play a keyboard chord on my controller, and have it "revoice" that as the correct strummed chord. So far, it seems you have
to somehow "push the correct button" to get the chord you want, and furthermore there doesn't seem to be a way to kill the patterns from playing
when you go to strummer mode and plunk down some keys on the keyboard.

cbgerm, did you find out any way to do this?

I have sent the question to Amplesound, and if I get an answer I will report
back.

Changing from "Select" to "Detect" mode would do it...

http://rfjmusic.com/publicmusic/AG3.png

The user's guide is good, but perhaps could use some refining as far as outlining things a bit better, IMHO. I've had to peruse it the last few days extensively.

Thanks - and by the way, sorry I mis-spelled your handle.

I tried setting it to "Detect" mode - still no joy. If I play a simple
chord progression, it still doesn't recognize the chords I'm playing -
the chords I hear are dependent on which chord button is engaged. And that
damn sequence still triggers.

[cbergm7210]

Thanks - and by the way, sorry I mis-spelled your handle.

No worries...you can call me Chris, brother. (My dumb user name was the one that AOL issued to me back in the early nineties. I just keep using it for posterity even though it makes absolutely no sense.)

Hmmmm...that's weird about Detect mode. Tell you what, if you log into your account at the Amplesound site, there are a list of files you can download. Some of them are the MIDI files from their examples used in the manual. Grab the one titled "All MIDI and project files in Manual(AGM) v1.0" (Third one on the list. While you're there grab that first file which is the tuning patch for the Fingerpick patch.) In there is a MIDI file called "4.5.2 Detect mode". Check that one out and see if that is what you are trying to accomplish. It goes through fingering all different kinds of chords while hitting one of the strum keys. Make sure you are in Detect Mode, obviously.

(And after all this if I've misinterpreted how it's not working for you, my apologies....)

Also, the guys at Amplesound have also informed me of their plans to release a Taylor version and a Nylon version of the instrument soon. Pretty cool.

[David Polich]

Thanks, Chris. I'll check this out and see if I can figure it out.

That's awesome news about the Taylor and the Nylon.

[Ample Sound]

Ok, for any of you who purchased it - I have not yet found a way to get
Amplesound AGM to work like RealGuitar2 does - that is, I would like to put
it in strummer mode, play a keyboard chord on my controller, and have it "revoice" that as the correct strummed chord. So far, it seems you have
to somehow "push the correct button" to get the chord you want, and furthermore there doesn't seem to be a way to kill the patterns from playing
when you go to strummer mode and plunk down some keys on the keyboard.

cbgerm, did you find out any way to do this?

I have sent the question to Amplesound, and if I get an answer I will report
back.

Changing from "Select" to "Detect" mode would do it...

http://rfjmusic.com/publicmusic/AG3.png

The user's guide is good, but perhaps could use some refining as far as outlining things a bit better, IMHO. I've had to peruse it the last few days extensively.

Thanks - and by the way, sorry I mis-spelled your handle.

I tried setting it to "Detect" mode - still no joy. If I play a simple
chord progression, it still doesn't recognize the chords I'm playing -
the chords I hear are dependent on which chord button is engaged. And that
damn sequence still triggers.

Hi David, can you tell me the chord progression you were playing and the notes you pressed for the detection of chords?

[David Polich]

Ok, for any of you who purchased it - I have not yet found a way to get
Amplesound AGM to work like RealGuitar2 does - that is, I would like to put
it in strummer mode, play a keyboard chord on my controller, and have it "revoice" that as the correct strummed chord. So far, it seems you have
to somehow "push the correct button" to get the chord you want, and furthermore there doesn't seem to be a way to kill the patterns from playing
when you go to strummer mode and plunk down some keys on the keyboard.

Hi David, can you tell me the chord progression you were playing and the notes you pressed for the detection of chords?[/quote]

Well, thanks, I see you answered my post over at Gearslutz about this, and
your answer gave me the info I was looking for. But to post this reply over here at Motunation - see this is what I mean by outstanding customer service.

What I was doing wrong was playing the chords in the area where I would normally play them on the piano, and expecting them to sound. I didn't realize that what one has to do (as a keyboard player) is put AGM in Strummer mode, set it to "Detect", and finger the chords with the left hand, in the range of C1-B1, and then "strum" by pressing the strum keys which start at C4, with the fingers of the right hand. That was why I was confused.

RealGuitar 2 and Electri6ity work by just interpreting where you normally
play the chords on the keyboard and revoicing them. That's what I was expecting but of course AGM doesn't work this way, as I now see.

For Motunationers who didn't see the reply from Amplesound over at Gearslutz, here it is:

Hi, Dave. Let me clarify the Chord Selection Mode and Chord Detection Mode. When in selection mode, you can switch between 12 preset chords by using C2-B2. We don't follow a same chord detection algorithm with Electri6ity. You can use the C1- B2 to detect a chord and the root note must be within C1-B1. i.e., if you press A1, D2 and F#2, the detection system will map them to the 3rd position of Dmajor rather than a D/A because this one is the 3rd inversion of Dmajor. This mapping will provide more chord variations rather than the simple change of bass note.

And of course you can strum without sequencer by pressing:

single string: D3 E3 F3 G3 A3 B3
open strumming: C4 D4 E4
Mute: F4 F#4
mute strumming: G4 A4 B4

[Armageddon]

I've posted about AmpleSound before, with their LP, Strat and PRS emulations. The coolest thing about those were their humanization scripting, which allowed you to double rhythm guitars without futzing with your MIDI tracks. Unfortunately, after trying their demos, I wasn't too happy about the sound quality as compared to RealStrat/RealLPC. I did get in touch with the MusicLab guys about it, because the VIs were so similar and I've been trying to work with them to implement a humanization engine in their Real instruments. They don't sound terrible, especially once you run them through an amp sim, but I found them extremely limited. Bear in mind, this was also v1.0, so maybe they've improved things a bit?

I don't think RealGuitar (or any of their other guitar VIs) have an Auto-Detect chord re-voicing mode, and I finally upgraded to v3 across the board. They have a Chord mode, which lets you play whatever chord you want, adjust the strumming speed, etc., but if you play in Solo mode, like I do, it doesn't re-voice the notes you play (if you play chords on your keyboard) into guitar chords -- that would actually be a cool feature!

[Shooshie]

Has anyone here tried Telematic in Mach5.3? The more I hear about AmpleSound's guitar, the more it sounds like Telematic, and I'm wondering if they might be the same instrument, rebranded in Mach5.3. I'm curious to know how they compare. Telematic was pretty mind blowing when I tried it. Like Amplesound's acoustic, you strum with the right hand (or play individual strings) while the left hand fingers chords. It interprets your chord and structures it on the guitar neck, whose display shows you the actual frets and strings currently being used, along with a strumming device to show exactly the string(s) being played, even strummed. It has many options, as seen in the screenshot:



These things are getting amazingly high-tech. By the way, if all other things are equal between Telematic and AmpleSound's guitar, from the responses in this thread it sounds like AmpleSound is the clear choice based on customer service! But I'd still like to know how they compare musically if someone has used both.

Shooshie

[Armageddon]

Shooshie, they actually seem similar, but AmpleSound's VIs operate on their own interface, instead of through a soft sampler. I think the lineage of these things can be traced back to Steinberg's Virtual Guitarist, which set up the ability to load up MIDI loops and play sampled chords at different strum speeds and articulations. Then, AAS came out with a modeled (not sampled) acoustic and electric guitar VI that did pretty much the same thing, except, like I said, it was modeled and not sampled and it didn't sound quite as good. Amplesound's VIs are a direct lift from MusicLab's guitar VIs, which combined AAS's MIDI capabilities with decent sampled sounds. Amplesound's stuff (and mind you, this is my opinion, not an absolute) has a couple of innovations that MusicLab's VIs don't (mainly, the humanization engine), but lack the fidelity and articulations of MusicLab's soundsets. Makes me wonder what refinements the next guy is gonna come out with ...

[David Polich]

. Amplesound's stuff (and mind you, this is my opinion, not an absolute) has a couple of innovations that MusicLab's VIs don't (mainly, the humanization engine), but lack the fidelity and articulations of MusicLab's soundsets.

I have RealGuitar 2 and RealStrat and honestly, I think AmpleSound's products are superior sounding to MusicLab's, by far. I can't think of any MusicLab features that aren't implemented in some way in Amplesound's guitar. The way the strummer works in AGM is different than RealGuitar2, but after a little practice I've come to like it better than RealGuitar2's.

Bottom line for me is that AGM sounds like a guitar in front of me, while
RealGuitar2 sounds like...well, like samples. RealStrat, for me, falls in
the "you can't be serious" category of VI's. Uniformly awful, even the
update, it sounds more like a clavinet. One of the few VI's I regretted
purchasing.

[Shooshie]

But have any of you tried Telematic? It really uses its own interface, but uses the Mach5 scripting language to run it. I haven't tried Amplesound's guitar, but I'm pretty sure Telematic would give it a run for the money. Still, I'd like to hear from someone who has used both.

Shoosh

[Armageddon]

I have RealGuitar 2 and RealStrat and honestly, I think AmpleSound's products are superior sounding to MusicLab's, by far. I can't think of any MusicLab features that aren't implemented in some way in Amplesound's guitar. The way the strummer works in AGM is different than RealGuitar2, but after a little practice I've come to like it better than RealGuitar2's.

Bottom line for me is that AGM sounds like a guitar in front of me, while
RealGuitar2 sounds like...well, like samples. RealStrat, for me, falls in
the "you can't be serious" category of VI's. Uniformly awful, even the
update, it sounds more like a clavinet. One of the few VI's I regretted
purchasing.

Like I said in a previous post, I'm basing my opinion off of v1.0 demos of Amplesound's LPC, PRS and SC VIs (I actually had started a thread about it on here somewhere upon getting them and trying them out). In fact, everything was so new, I had to wait it out until they got all the demo links up and running. And I never even tried their acoustic VI. It's very possible they've fixed a few things since then. I will definitely say this: you can run an instance of RealStrat/RealLPC on one side and a corresponding (or even differing) Amplesound VI on the other and get perfect doubled rhythm guitars right out of the box, no tweaking (aside from altering a second MIDI rhythm guitar track to fit Amplesound's keyboard layout), no humanizing MIDI tracks, nothing. I just wasn't happy with the Amplesound stuff's overall sample quality. Again, this was v1.0. The groundwork for a decent VI was definitely in place, it would be great if they've improved their sample quality to match it. It sounds like we have the same criteria regarding what we'd need in a guitar VI (aside from the fact that I like RealStrat's sound quality, though it could be a tad meatier), so I may have to revisit their revised demos at some point. I've gotten pretty comfortable with the Real instruments, though I only use them in Solo mode, not in any of the Chord or Player modes, preferring to put my own chords together manually.

But have any of you tried Telematic? It really uses its own interface, but uses the Mach5 scripting language to run it. I haven't tried Amplesound's guitar, but I'm pretty sure Telematic would give it a run for the money. Still, I'd like to hear from someone who has used both.

Whoops, I thought you meant it was a LIBRARY for Mach5, not its own thing! Sorry about that! No, until this thread, I wasn't even aware of it! If there's a demo, I will have to look into it! The controls alone on that screenshot look extremely promising!