Guitar VST recommendations, Electric and Strummed Acoustic

Discussions of VST and VST3 plugins for Mixcraft users.

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gmpolin
Posts: 175
Joined: Sat Feb 06, 2016 1:55 pm

Guitar VST recommendations, Electric and Strummed Acoustic

Post by gmpolin »

I would appreciate hearing what people are using for strummed acoustic and electric guitars. I have looked at Ample, but it seems very few people are using it, and the latest demo download is crashing Mixcraft once or twice per session. Also, the patterns and chord changes don't seem to be on the correct notes in Mixcraft.

I looked at the Native Instruments Strummed Acoustic, but the patterns seem too limited, and there doesn't seem to be a way to add or edit patterns.

What are the best VSTs out there today?

Thanks for any help!
mixyguy2
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Joined: Mon Sep 12, 2016 4:54 pm

Re: Guitar VST recommendations, Electric and Strummed Acoustic

Post by mixyguy2 »

Not sure where you get very few people are using Ample or why that matters...I haven't had any crashing issues...but I would also check out Music Lab, UJam, and Orange Tree. Music Lab is easier to use, but Orange Tree allows for more complexity.
cactus-head
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Re: Guitar VST recommendations, Electric and Strummed Acoustic

Post by cactus-head »

Ample Guitar.
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comedians
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Re: Guitar VST recommendations, Electric and Strummed Acoustic

Post by comedians »

Real guitar does a pretty authentic job, steep learning curve though. I have rarely used any of my guitars on recordings for a few years - arthritic thumbs don't help but MusicLab does.

https://www.musiclab.com/products/realguitar/info.html
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Rolling Estonian
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Re: Guitar VST recommendations, Electric and Strummed Acoustic

Post by Rolling Estonian »

That BBC plugin with LABS had a couple of guitar vsti, not sure of quality but if it's comparable to the rest of their stuff it's probably pretty good.

M
gmpolin
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Re: Guitar VST recommendations, Electric and Strummed Acoustic

Post by gmpolin »

Thanks to everbody who has posted so far. Just to clarify, I want something that includes strumming patterns, and the ability to create and modify existing patterns, both for acoustic and electric. I have been tending to avoid writing "guitar songs" and focusing on keyboard, but I would like to have good quality, very usable, rhythm guitar sounds for my songs.
cactus-head
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Re: Guitar VST recommendations, Electric and Strummed Acoustic

Post by cactus-head »

Hi,

Post a couple of examples (actual guitar or otherwise) of what you feel is the sound you are hoping to achieve. As it stands now, the responses may be subjective based on whatever someone is currently using or used to. If you post something and it can be emulated in a VST, that should help you zero in on what you may want.

And also, demos or trial versions usually have options ommitted or fewer samples so while they may give a general idea of the instrument, they may not reflect the full capability.
gmpolin
Posts: 175
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Re: Guitar VST recommendations, Electric and Strummed Acoustic

Post by gmpolin »

There is no one particular style of guitar that I want. I will try to explain my needs a little further.

I am a songwriter. I used to play guitar in my youth, mostly folk style with open chords. But now I play and write music on a keyboard.

Some of the songs in my head feel like guitar songs, and I would like to be able to use pre-packaged acoustic strumming patterns, and modify them as needed. Some ideas seem like they would better fit rock and roll, and need electric rhythm guitar patterns.

I tried Native Instruments Strummed Acoustic and found the pattern set very limiting and transitions between the patterns awkward sounding. I looked at the Ample guitar trial version and was making some progress but I had several crashes in Mixcraft while learning it, so I abandoned it. I looked at the MusicLab RealGuitar support forum, thinking about trying that one next, and I was surprised at how little activity there was.

So I thought I might be missing something, or that there might be a consensus of users in Mixcraft about the best way to create rhythm guitar in Mixcraft.
cactus-head
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Re: Guitar VST recommendations, Electric and Strummed Acoustic

Post by cactus-head »

Hi,

Ample Guitars don't crash for me and I use several. It's likely if you are using the demo it is 32 bit and it would seem on the forums 32 bit plugins sometimes crash on 64 bit Mixcraft.

The strumming can be handled in two places: The strummer, and the riffer. 3 if you include the Tablature reader. The strummer is fairly simple and for any "set" loaded there can be 24 individual chords. Independently from the chord set any of 8 sequences (strum patterns) can be loaded. All are editable. You can even create non standard "impossible" chords if you like. Chords can be arpeggiated in the strummer as well or individual strings played in beteen the chords. There are a lot of options. The pattern and chord can be transferred to the Riffer where you can edit it in more detail including adding special effects like slides, plam mutes, bends etc.

Amplesound has several guitars. There are at least 5 standard acoustic: 3 6 string steel string guitars, 1 nylon, 1 12 string . Each are sold separately. And as far as electrics, there are around 9 all different. Each sold separately.

There are many demos out there that show the quality of the sound. Check out some of the demos by freddiehangoler. One of my favorites, though maybe not the style you are after, is https://soundcloud.com/freddiehangoler/ ... d-agl-demo .

You might want to check out Orange Tree Samples. They have a lot of great sounding guitar VSTs . Years ago when I was comparing and testing guitar VSTs, Orange Tree was among my top three picks. I think ultimately it was Amplesound's sound that edged out Orange Tree but if I recall, the strumming engine on Orange Tree was quite detailed.
gaffster
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Re: Guitar VST recommendations, Electric and Strummed Acoustic

Post by gaffster »

I use UJAM IRON2 and AAS Strum Studio. Both have enough built-in strum patterns I would ever need, and I get there fast. This was day 1 on UJAM IRON2
https://youtu.be/KDN9lQJN380
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