Vir2 Electricity guitar VI

[David Polich]

I love Pettinhouse, Real Guitar 2, and Strum Electric, but I think I'm going to have to get this - especially after watching the NAMM demos over at http://www.keyboardmag.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;.

http://www.vir2.com/4DCGI/vir2/products ... tml?511820" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Armageddon]

WOW! Another thing I can drool over until I have the dough and the hard drive space to snag it!

By the way, RealStrat/RealLPC completely blows Strum Electric out of the water while at least sporting the same features.

[David Polich]

WOW! Another thing I can drool over until I have the dough and the hard drive space to snag it!

By the way, RealStrat/RealLPC completely blows Strum Electric out of the water while at least sporting the same features.

If only the Windows demo for Real LPC actually worked (it doesn't install the data files correctly)...and if only there was a better implementation of the Music Lab products license keys on a Mac (I continuously got messages when launching Real Strat on my Mac that the application couldn't find its license key). I have a working version of RealGuitar 2L on my PC, which I still like to use.

[mhschmieder]

As if the competition for guitar libraries wasn't already hotting up, Orange Tree Samples has just beefed up their Strawberry library with a lot of additional scripting and articulations.

[Armageddon]

If only the Windows demo for Real LPC actually worked (it doesn't install the data files correctly)...and if only there was a better implementation of the Music Lab products license keys on a Mac (I continuously got messages when launching Real Strat on my Mac that the application couldn't find its license key). I have a working version of RealGuitar 2L on my PC, which I still like to use.

I can't vouch for the PC thing, but RealStrat's behavior on your Mac is highly weird. I've never had a problem using RealStrat or RealGuitar 2L on mine, and I've only had to run the "Find Your License Key" prompt once on either VI (I stow the keys in their respective folders in my Apps) and never again. I have Tiger, which I'm not sure makes a difference. Have you tried contacting MusicLab, or at least getting on their forums? It's a very small outfit, so the programmers all respond to e-mails or forum posts personally. Even if they can't come up with a direct solution, I'm sure they'll do what they can to debug it for the next update.

[kgdrum]

If only the Windows demo for Real LPC actually worked (it doesn't install the data files correctly)...and if only there was a better implementation of the Music Lab products license keys on a Mac (I continuously got messages when launching Real Strat on my Mac that the application couldn't find its license key). I have a working version of RealGuitar 2L on my PC, which I still like to use.

I can't vouch for the PC thing, but RealStrat's behavior on your Mac is highly weird. I've never had a problem using RealStrat or RealGuitar 2L on mine, and I've only had to run the "Find Your License Key" prompt once on either VI (I stow the keys in their respective folders in my Apps) and never again. I have Tiger, which I'm not sure makes a difference. Have you tried contacting MusicLab, or at least getting on their forums? It's a very small outfit, so the programmers all respond to e-mails or forum posts personally. Even if they can't come up with a direct solution, I'm sure they'll do what they can to debug it for the next update.

+1 Music Lab is very helpful if you send an email,works well here, also using tiger

[David Polich]

I've sent them tech support e-mails - no response. Maybe they just
don't like me...

[Armageddon]

I've sent them tech support e-mails - no response. Maybe they just
don't like me...

Definitely try posting on their forum; they're pretty good about responding there (there's also extensive tech notes already posted regarding installation problems, etc.). In fact, the forums are probably more info-packed than their actual site. Here's a direct link to their "Installation & Registration" forum:

http://www.musiclab.com/community/forum ... b15d3bba8d

[David Polich]

I've sent them tech support e-mails - no response. Maybe they just
don't like me...

Definitely try posting on their forum; they're pretty good about responding there (there's also extensive tech notes already posted regarding installation problems, etc.). In fact, the forums are probably more info-packed than their actual site. Here's a direct link to their "Installation & Registration" forum:

http://www.musiclab.com/community/forum ... b15d3bba8d

Thanks - I went to their forums as well as their FAQ's page - and now
I am certain that I will never buy another product from them until they
change the way their authorizations work. The majority of complaints posted
are about that registration key. Music Lab needs to get their act together
and switch to challenge-response or i-Lok.

[Armageddon]

Thanks - I went to their forums as well as their FAQ's page - and now
I am certain that I will never buy another product from them until they
change the way their authorizations work. The majority of complaints posted
are about that registration key. Music Lab needs to get their act together
and switch to challenge-response or i-Lok.

It's possible that it's a PPC thing, since that's the only other reason I can think of that it would work flawlessly for me but not for you (and being on Tiger, I've experienced a few glitches with software designed for 10.5 or above), but their licensing schematic is a little bit wonky. I'm honestly surprised that somebody from MusicLab hasn't tried working with you on this, though; they're pretty interactive with their customer base. I assume you've already tried upgrading to the latest versions of RealGuitar 2L and RealStrat?

RealStrat would probably be my de facto electric guitar VI save for one small problem, which I've spoken about at length on their forums: the pick (bridge) mutes or chugs. No matter what I've tried, I can't seem to get their bridge mutes to sound realistic, which is extremely depressing for me, since I use those a lot in my music. Doubly depressing is how good and articulated everything else about the instrument sounds. Because of this, I've been forced to use Pettinhouse's DirectGuitar 2. Oddly enough, using RealStrat and DirectGuitar together is a pretty seamless experience. I wind up using RealStrat for my lead work, scrapes and slides and DirectGuitar for articulated rhythm work. Since DirectGuitar's FX articulations are somewhat limited, I can snag the scrapes and whatnot from RealStrat and it meshes together perfectly. And since DirectGuitar isn't all that great for lead work, RealStrat does its job quite well. But I like the multitude of options in RealStrat better, and if they'd work out the bridge mutes, I probably wouldn't be using DirectGuitar at all.

[David Polich]

Thanks - I went to their forums as well as their FAQ's page - and now
I am certain that I will never buy another product from them until they
change the way their authorizations work. The majority of complaints posted
are about that registration key. Music Lab needs to get their act together
and switch to challenge-response or i-Lok.

It's possible that it's a PPC thing, since that's the only other reason I can think of that it would work flawlessly for me but not for you (and being on Tiger, I've experienced a few glitches with software designed for 10.5 or above), but their licensing schematic is a little bit wonky. I'm honestly surprised that somebody from MusicLab hasn't tried working with you on this, though; they're pretty interactive with their customer base. I assume you've already tried upgrading to the latest versions of RealGuitar 2L and RealStrat?

RealStrat would probably be my de facto electric guitar VI save for one small problem, which I've spoken about at length on their forums: the pick (bridge) mutes or chugs. No matter what I've tried, I can't seem to get their bridge mutes to sound realistic, which is extremely depressing for me, since I use those a lot in my music. Doubly depressing is how good and articulated everything else about the instrument sounds. Because of this, I've been forced to use Pettinhouse's DirectGuitar 2. Oddly enough, using RealStrat and DirectGuitar together is a pretty seamless experience. I wind up using RealStrat for my lead work, scrapes and slides and DirectGuitar for articulated rhythm work. Since DirectGuitar's FX articulations are somewhat limited, I can snag the scrapes and whatnot from RealStrat and it meshes together perfectly. And since DirectGuitar isn't all that great for lead work, RealStrat does its job quite well. But I like the multitude of options in RealStrat better, and if they'd work out the bridge mutes, I probably wouldn't be using DirectGuitar at all.

I've updated to the latest PC version of RealGuitar (which is, um, on my PC, triggered via MIDI from DP on my Mac). Didn't bother with upgrading RealStrat, in fact I've removed it from both my PC and my Mac, as I never
really thought it sounded realistic in any mode. So I'm done with it anyway.
I really think the Vir2 Electricity will be my next guitar VI. For now, Pettinhouse is working well for me for electric guitar duties.

A visit to the MusicLab forums this morning revealed that MusicLab's LPC does not work in DP on G5 running Tiger. They've posted a workaround involving typing some lines of code into the terminal. There also appear to
be validation problems in Logic 9.2.