Looking for a simple lead guitar VI

[Prime Mover]

I've been working with Shreddage now for a few months for rhythm guitars and I aboslutely LOVE it. Only problem is, I don't have a lead VI that comes anywhere close to it. All I have is the guitar synths that come with Kontakt/Komplete, which are pretty terrible. I've heard good things about Electricity, and Real Strat, but they seem to be huge bundle libraries, and very pricy. Is there anything in the same price vacinity as Shreddage ($50-$100), but for lead guitars?

[David Polich]

Try Pettinhouse guitars -

http://www.pettinhouse.com/html/hg.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Prime Mover]

At first glance, it looks pretty good, what do you find is the difference between DirectGuitar and Humbucker?

[craigw]

Check out Orange Tree Samples. I'm just getting into them but the seem good. Greg is very responsive to customer feedback.

http://www.orangetreesamples.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[David Polich]

At first glance, it looks pretty good, what do you find is the difference between DirectGuitar and Humbucker?

They're two different libraries. Humbucker is a Les Paul. Direct Guitar includes Strat-type guitars as well as a jazz guitar. I believe you can
download limited demos of each of them.

[Armageddon]

Neither RealStrat nor RealLPC (the Les Paul/humbucker version) actually take up a lot of hard drive space. After you install the instrument, it prompts you to figure out which sample rates (44.1, 48, 88.2. 96, 176.4, 192 kHz) you will be using the instrument at and it will only install those banks of samples (even the most intense of which are relatively small). Its standalone version uses 44.1 kHz, so you'll have to install that one, but the others are optional, and you can always go back to the Sample Manager program installed with the Real instruments to install other sample rates any time you want. They're both very articulated instruments with incredible amounts of scripting, probably more scripting and flexibility than you'll find in any other guitar VI. My main beef with either one is the lack of playing dynamics, but that's something I see in most electric guitar VIs anymore.

After that, you're gonna experience larger sample sets. The Pettinhouse Humbucker is comparatively small, but DirectGuitar is about 7 GBs and may include articulations you don't want. For me, either one makes a decent rhythm guitar, but the DirectGuitar is sampled from a Strat and you may want a humbucker (with the assumption that you want a humbucker lead to work with Shreddage rhythm guitar sounds). EastWest's Ministry Of Rock is about 20 GBs, but that also includes bass and drums (which you can remove, if you want), and a lot of lead samples that are sampled through an amp. And Electri6ity is about 26 GBs of DI samples of various guitars, which are presented in DI mode and through scripted amp effects in Kontakt. I own all of these, and I would have to say you'd be best off with Electri6ity. It's the largest sample set, but I think it has the best overall balance of programming and playing dynamics, plus, you get the best selection of electrics to work with.

Google all of these and either download demos (in the case of RealStrat and RealLPC) or listen to .mp3s on their sites and see if any of them would work for you.

[Prime Mover]

Size really isn't an issue, at all. That was probably just a polite way of saying "I'm not made of money". Electri6ity is far out of my price range, as are the Real instruments (less so). I was quite impressed with the demos of the OrangeTree Strawberry Guitar that I saw, but I want to get some real user opinions, and that seems like a fairly new product. I'm trying to look at the Pettinghouse guitars, but their video demos are HUGE, so I'll have to do it at work.

[mhschmieder]

That's kind of funny; you have to view the video demos at work (which in my case would, justifiably so, be cause for dismissal!).

There have been so many recent guitar library releases that I have now forgotten which ones are lead-oriented and which ones are rhythm-oriented. This slowed me down last night, and it was late so I moved on to other tasks. I haven't bought Electri6ity yet, but can't remember if it was designated for lead work or rhythm work!

At any rate, Orange Tree Samples' guitar library is going through rather quick evolution and frequently goes on 50% sale (including quite recently). It might be a good bet. I've been hesitant, as I didn't have good luck with the Jaco fretless bass library, but admittedly that was on my old computer and the main problem was that I had to heavily defeature it to keep from crashing, so wasn't really testing it to its fullest extents. based on what that vendor has been doing lately with their libraries though, I feel it is worthwhile to keep an eye on their products, list to the most up-to-date demos, and maybe grab a sale item.

I would certainly recommend the Orange Tree Samples guitars over those of Prominy. Although this may not apply to their latest products, some of the earlier Prominy products were practically a sewing kit that left you to thread the needle, so to speak.

I have used Pettinhouse to rather good effect at times, but not prominent in the mix. Ministry of Rock gets called on from time to time as well, as does Goliath for some of its vintage 50's/60's guitars (especially surf guitar, which I'm not so capable of reproducing on a real guitar anyway). MOR is on sale right now related to the AES show.

[Armageddon]

The MusicLab instruments (RealStrat, RealLPC) really seem to do better as rhythm guitars, although they certainly would work as leads in a pinch. I'm finishing up a user demo for them that pairs a RealStrat with a RealLPC for rhythm guitars, a RealLPC for leads and a RealGuitar (acoustic) in the background. MOR has a few decent sounds, but I would tend to use it as a lead instrument over a rhythm guitar, and be wary of the fact that only a couple of the instruments offer a DI version. Insofar as I can tell, only Electri6ity has the potential to work as both a lead and a rhythm instrument, and the number of electrics, plus the insane scripting and decent playing/recording dynamics, also make it the best bang for the buck.

[mhschmieder]

Yep, it's looking like Electri6ity is to Lead Guitar what Trilian is to Bass.

Good reminder about how few of MOR's guitars are DI. I only use DI samples when recording, as I ALWAYS get better results through producing the track myself than when using pre-produced samples. Same with drums.

[Prime Mover]

So, I'm downloading the free versions of Pettinhouse DirectGuitar and Humbucker. I quite liked the demos of DirectGuitar... but I really hated the amp used in the Humbucker demos (very crappy solid state modeling), so it was hard to judge. I really liked the OrangeTree EEGS samples, but they don't have a demo/trial/free version.

For people who have both the OrangeTree and Pettinhouse libraries, what have you found their main strengths/weaknesses are. I hear great things about both, especially in the user-friendly category. OrangeTree is a lot more expensive, but it's currently on sale. I'd like to hear some reports without getting into comparisons to Electri6ity and RealLPC, which are out of my price range.

[David Polich]

Keep in mind that the amp modeler you run the VI through makes as much
difference as the VI itself.

I use Amplitube 3 which I'm very happy with. I have Electricity and it
sounds awesome through Amplitube 3.

[kgdrum]

+1 for OrangeTree
I love the sample sets, Greg is one of the most talented VI designers as well as Kontakt script writers in the industry.He is one of the most accessible and responsive developers I have ever dealt with and a genuinely nice guy.I have been waiting for the release of his new Acoustic Guitar Library which I expect will raise the bar for the Acoustic Guitar VI world.


Primemover:I have both OrangeTree and Pettinhouse, Pettinhouse is very good but I always seem to go for OrangeTree.

[mjmoody]

I got some pretty nice guitar sounds - I think - from IK Multimedia. You can download the Sampletank player for free, and they have these sound packs for fifty bucks that you can buy. I got the guitar sound pack and like it pretty much - but I am relatively new to the soft-synth scene.

[kgdrum]

a bit OT
there must be a new version of RealGuitar coming out,I was in Sam Ash,NYC on Friday they have it selling for $19.99