Please recommend a great Acoustic and El. Guitar VI...

[FMiguelez]

Hello.

It should be playable by Kontakt. Acoustic and Electric. Oh, and if you know of a great library for smaller guitars too, like the latin ones, ukulele, etc, I'd really appreciate it.

I have some old Pettinhouse libraries (which I never completely warmed up to), as well as the included ones in Komplete. They're fine for some easy rhythmic parts, etc., but I'm looking for something better which allows for more complex, programmable and realistic guitar comping parts.

What's the Superior Drummer 3 of guitars? Anything good you might want to recommend?

I don't always have the time or budget for working with my usual human players. Right now I definitely feel the guitar department VI is my weakest, and I must cover it... the other day I got a "scare" about it...

Thanks!

[MIDI Life Crisis]

If you have Mach5 -3 there’s one Included. I think it a strat. Pretty intensive cpu use so put it in its own instantiation of M5.

[bkshepard]

They have their own UI, but take a look at the RealGuitar VIs from MusicLab.

[davidh]

IMHO these are hard to beat.
LOVE the Taylor acoustic.
https://www.amplesound.net/en/index.asp

[bkshepard]

Thanks for the lead on AmpleSound, davidh! I've been looking for a good Ukulele VI and this one seems pretty outstanding.

[bayswater]

You're probably up against the problem that anyone who plays a particular instrument is never really convinced by any of the sample libraries out there. I've never heard a really convincing guitar sample library, but heard lots of perfect piano libraries. Pianists tell me exactly the opposite.

That said, AmpleSound sounds less bad than the others. I thought IKM did a good job with the modelled bass a couple of years ago. Did they follow up with a guitar model?

[FMiguelez]

Thanks, guys.

That Amplesound Ukulele seems fantastic!

Well, a lot of these seem quite good. I was about to pull the trigger with some Amplesound, but then I saw this... Do any of you use this library or know someone who does? Vir2 Guitars seem quite nice as well!

https://www.bigfishaudio.com/Vir2-Guita ... ?&sou=vir2

[mikehalloran]

You're probably up against the problem that anyone who plays a particular instrument is never really convinced by any of the sample libraries out there. I've never heard a really convincing guitar sample library, but heard lots of perfect piano libraries. Pianists tell me exactly the opposite.
...

Ha!

The organist at one of my churches asked my opinion about a solo arrangement of a hymn on YouTube. My first reaction was that he was using the same VI* that my wife prefers for accompanying the choir and not the small Steinway he was miming in the video.

Oh wait, that wasn’t the question she asked. Yea, it’s ok… the arrangement was alright if about a minute too long.

Focus!

* Alan Parsons Imperial Grand for SampleTank from IK.

[FMiguelez]

You're probably up against the problem that anyone who plays a particular instrument is never really convinced by any of the sample libraries out there. I've never heard a really convincing guitar sample library, but heard lots of perfect piano libraries. Pianists tell me exactly the opposite.

I know what you mean, Bays.
Since guitar is not my instrument, these Vir2 instruments sound extremely impressive to me>
I'd be very interested in your opinion if you have a couple of minutes to check their demos.

I think I'm a click away from becoming $650 poorer economically, but MUCH richer in the VI department... These seem to be exactly what I was looking for (the DP, or the SD3 of VI guitars), and the best I've seen so far by far...

https://www.vir2.com/instruments/acou6tics/

I wonder if I should wait for Black Friday (when is that again?)... I'd hate to see them at 50% off in a few months.... (assuming they do discounts on that date)

[bayswater]

I know what you mean, Bays.
Since guitar is not my instrument, these Vir2 instruments sound extremely impressive to me>
I'd be very interested in your opinion if you have a couple of minutes to check their demos.

I think I'm a click away from becoming $650 poorer economically, but MUCH richer in the VI department... These seem to be exactly what I was looking for (the DP, or the SD3 of VI guitars), and the best I've seen so far by far...

https://www.vir2.com/instruments/acou6tics/

I wonder if I should wait for Black Friday (when is that again?)... I'd hate to see them at 50% off in a few months.... (assuming they do discounts on that date)

Hi FM. I guess it depends on what you want to do with these. The demos sound really nice. But to me they still don't sound quite like a real person playing a real guitar. For a lot of productions, that's probably not what we want, and might not be what the developer is aiming for.

The main thing that strikes me is that some of the phrasing is probably close to impossible on a real guitar. E.g. you can't sustain a note on the second fret of the D string while you play a run at the 9th fret on the top three strings, with a bass part on the 5th and 6th strings. You could retune, but then there's some other phase that becomes impossible. But with a VI, no problem.

Another thing about VIs (IMO) is that the developers have not always thought about the controllers we use on them. However skilled your keyboard technique, it won't produce the same stream of events as a fingerboard. The only time it seemed to me that a developer though about this is when IKM did the modelled bass VI. Other bass VIs don't work for me, but the IKM bass can almost sound like someone playing a bass when you use a keyboard to play it.

One more thing: the intonation and tuning is just too perfect. Real guitars and players have all sort of idiosyncrasies, and when you get used to an instrument, you compensate for them, and that makes it sound different from a perfect sampled instrument.

I'm probably oversensitive to this, and these points are probably irrelevant in real world music production. Not to mention the fact that if you hear these things, it's probably easier for you to just strap on a guitar and play the parts. These demos/samples sound great. Did you listen to the Amplesound demos for comparison?

[FMiguelez]

Hi, Bays.
Thank you so much for your detailed review. It;s invaluable to see this through the eyes/ears of a real guitarist.

I definitely not have the sufficient familiarity or knowledge of guitar instruments to be able to tell some of those faked details, especially concerning the voicing of the chords... I learnt all that for the strings section of the orchestra, but never bothered with guitar... they never seemed to make much sense to me due to different tunings, etc. I need to sit down with a guitar and learn the concept well.

Many times I've been tempted to take guitar lessons, just to be able to do my own guitar parts... nothing amazing like John Williams (the guitarist, not the composer) --not that I could play like him even if I tried-- but just some good authentic solid comping parts. Had I done it 1 or 2 years ago, I'd probably be able to do that by now... Hmmmm....

So the way I'd use these VI guitar libraries is mostly to be covered in the guitar department when there's no budget for real players, but good guitars are still needed.

Honestly, every single time I've given a guitarist music, and I substitute my temporary VI rendition with what they send me, there's just not comparison. Not only because it sounds real and authentic, but mostly because of what a good guitar player actually DOES with his part and how they approach it, the customised phrasings for the piece, the leaks, etc.

I have yet to check the Amplesounds one in detail for comparison in the evening. Do you think they fake some details a little better than Vir2, Bays?

[bayswater]

I have yet to check the Amplesounds one in detail for comparison in the evening. Do you think they fake some details a little better than Vir2, Bays?

I'd have to say yes, but with two reservations. First, my impression is probably in part that AmpleSounds doesn't sound as slick as Vir2. Second, I haven't actually used AmpleSounds much, because if I want a guitar track, I almost always play a guitar.