Best Virtual Guitar Samples or Plugin?

[pettinhouse]

The simpler libraries, like Ignius and Pettinhouse (which I own a bunch of and are easy to use, but much less sophisticated then Evolution, Electri6ity, Prominy LPC, etc.) are pretty straight forward. But if you're looking for an ultra-realistic performance where guitar is prominent in the mix and especially, if it is a professional production, they're not going to cut it.

Sorry eDrummist, I generally tend to stay out of this kind of discussions, with all the respect that I have for you, when I read things like that I can't resist, so what you wrote is absolutely a big bulls...!

1 - For sure is not a sophisticated script that allows the guitar to be prominent in a mix. PERIOD!

2 - "if it is a professional production"... My product are used in professional productions. One for all, in the last "Spiderman" movie made by people from Abbey Road was used one of my product, as well as TV shows and documentaries around the world.

If your intention is to push more a company than another one do it but with respect for others because as you said we are small companies and we all work very hard for buying the bread to stay alive in this world.

Let's stop to compete, to make the war who makes the best libraries...come on! We all produce great libraries, we work very hard for making them, it's a matter of tastes and not because mine are easy to use, the other one has the best script or the best GUI.

I tend to be friend of my "competitors", Ilya Efimov is my friend and I think he creates incredible libraries. Greg produces great libraries too. I had the pleasure to meet Chris Hein on Musikmesse, great producer and a very kind person, so Thomas Scarbee and so do other sample producers which I hope one day to meet in person.
Around us there are a bunch of great people, very skilled scripters, Evildragon is one of them which I know personally, a VERY friendly person who helps us to develop our libraries.

Folks! Let's collaborate together to create the best tools for musicians instead of making war on poor people!

Thank you,

Andrea Pettinao
Pettinhouse.com

[ObsoleteAcc99]

Speaking of Chris Hein, he's not seemed to be mentioned here, and i believe reviews of his guitars are generally positive? same with real guitar, is it that it's just not good enough?

+1 for pettinhouse here, good prices, easy to use use and TOP bloke

[ObsoleteAcc99]

From the above youtube video, Shreddage II and Prominy sound the best with Vir 2 in 3rd place IMHO.

Thankfully, I have Shreddage II but do not know yet how to program it (have not 'taken it out of the box' so to speak).

Now I just need a kick butt acoustic guitar with automatic strumming that is truly convincing and stupid simple to use (i'm a lowly keyboardist - not a guitarist at all).

Mike

From that video i agree with you 200%. the prominy just sounded wicked as. The vir2 sounded a bit "weak" for lack of a better word coming to me right now.

Orange tree was second best for sure, as in, very very good.

But until i had heard the others and how good they were, had i heard JUST the vir2 i probably would have said "hey that sounds really cool".

[BBFG#]

I like the Shreddage demos too. The samples seem to run 'hotter' than the Vir but I wouldn't say better or weaker for either one of them.

What I prefer in the Vir Electri6ity is a particular sound I don't hear in the rest. It is the clean electrics I like to work with, examine them the most and it seems most of the different companies are good to my ear, but some are not necessarily the sound I'm looking for right now. Likewise, with the Indiginus, the fact that the first guitar I plan on getting from them tells quite a bit about my tastes for the music I play. So it is true with the Vir concerning their Rickenbacker 6 string. Just like a guitar player who has 50-100 guitars, each having their special personality, I feel the same about these samples being put out now. I can see myself eventually having many versions by many designers of them. I think we have to make our own starting point according to our own needs and desires.
Try them all and choose the one you want to start with. Unless something comes out out that blows my current choices out of the running, then I have. Just doing the sale strategy on the higher priced one now. The less expensive ones, I'm just waiting to get to a place to download without using my own bandwidth.

[eDrummist]

The simpler libraries, like Ignius and Pettinhouse (which I own a bunch of and are easy to use, but much less sophisticated then Evolution, Electri6ity, Prominy LPC, etc.) are pretty straight forward. But if you're looking for an ultra-realistic performance where guitar is prominent in the mix and especially, if it is a professional production, they're not going to cut it.

Sorry eDrummist, I generally tend to stay out of this kind of discussions, with all the respect that I have for you, when I read things like that I can't resist, so what you wrote is absolutely a big bulls...!

1 - For sure is not a sophisticated script that allows the guitar to be prominent in a mix. PERIOD!

2 - "if it is a professional production"... My product are used in professional productions. One for all, in the last "Spiderman" movie made by people from Abbey Road was used one of my product, as well as TV shows and documentaries around the world.

If your intention is to push more a company than another one do it but with respect for others because as you said we are small companies and we all work very hard for buying the bread to stay alive in this world.

Let's stop to compete, to make the war who makes the best libraries...come on! We all produce great libraries, we work very hard for making them, it's a matter of tastes and not because mine are easy to use, the other one has the best script or the best GUI.

I tend to be friend of my "competitors", Ilya Efimov is my friend and I think he creates incredible libraries. Greg produces great libraries too. I had the pleasure to meet Chris Hein on Musikmesse, great producer and a very kind person, so Thomas Scarbee and so do other sample producers which I hope one day to meet in person.
Around us there are a bunch of great people, very skilled scripters, Evildragon is one of them which I know personally, a VERY friendly person who helps us to develop our libraries.

Folks! Let's collaborate together to create the best tools for musicians instead of making war on poor people!

Thank you,

Andrea Pettinao
Pettinhouse.com

Okay, Andrea, re-reading my statement, I didn't express my point well at all, especially with that mix remark. Let me clarify what I meant. I didn't mean to imply that your libraries aren't of very high professional standards or make a comment about their audio quality, which it can certainly be misunderstood to be. I meant that there are ultra-detailed, ultra-scripted to the nth degree libraries like Evolution, Electri6ity, Prominy and Ilya's which permit very detailed guitar parts to be played in that otherwise would be very difficult to achieve with less scripted libraries (of course, if the same detail/ articulations are available in libraries with less scripting, it would entail a lot of work to get similar results, which may require a good deal of hand editing of midi). Your libraries, in my experience, are simpler, in terms of scripting, than the ultra-scripted group. I didn't mean to state or imply your libraries are less professional or couldn't be/aren't used by professionals. And, of course, it's all dependent on the complexity of the part being played and related to the user's workflow (e.g., if someone prefers hand editing midi and a library includes the detailed articulations without the sophisticated scripting, they can, of course, achieve similar results to a heavily scripted library using hand editing of midi).

On the greater issue of respect for developers and friendship, I hope that you will recall that, in the past, I gave you marketing advice at no charge and turned down your offer to pay me or take free libraries you offered and instead purchased your libraries like everyone else (granted, when my daughter was born, you gave me Warm Jazz as a gift, which I accepted -- a fact I've disclosed on KVR, as I do my best to be transparent) and let you know that my door is always open to you. I would think that you would be well aware of my appreciation for sample developers. I've just invested a lot of passion into guitar sample libraries and VSTs from using them for two decades -- given multiple developers input/feedback on guitar libraries -- and it's easily my favorite kind of sample to discuss (with drums a close second). That said, having been a customer and made friendships with a bunch of developers that make these libraries and consulted to some, I think I will pull back on giving my candid opinions, as I can see how tripping over a phrase or even sharing my top favorite library of a certain kind can result in much more being read into my posts than other KVRers sharing their opinions and experiences. If you noticed in the thread in other posts than the one you partially quoted, I did specifically recommend your libraries and praised you as a developer. I hope you know I am fond of you, sincerely respect you and your work and think of you as a friend.

I'll send you a PM on Facebook or via email instead of writing more and further dialoging here.

[Sampleconstruct]

Talking about long posts...

[memyselfandus]

this is why we can't have nice things.

[BBFG#]

this is why we can't have nice things.

Was wondering when you were going to show back up!

[bigcat1969]

If guitar sample makers were countries we would now be ducking and covering.

[eDrummist]

Well personally, this thread has taught me that when you use a bunch of these guitar sample libraries and interact with the developers personally who made them (even when the interaction is free advice given as a favor meant to help them out), your comments can be perceived as more significant to them than comments from people they don't know as well. Andrea is a good guy and a talented developer who makes very good libraries -- and he's a very generous person too (look at all the libraries he has given away free over the years) -- and I realize how some quickly/sloppily written sentences I wrote could easily be misinterpreted far differently from what I meant. So, I completely understand his reaction on a couple of levels. In the future, I might lay off commenting on guitar sample libraries. In any event, I think this thread provides the original poster a lot of info on guitar libraries and some very knowledgeable users have presented, imo, some very valuable insights and resources like the video comparing various libraries and I tried my best to share my own insights, experiences and opinions.

[EDIT: Andrea and I have been chatting a bit since this thread and while I have not updated my version of Direct Guitar, he's been making a lot of enhancements. It is time for me to update! I'd also recommend people give Direct Guitar 3.0 a look -- as, of course, I'd recommend checking out all of the libraries me and others discussed here. As I mentioned, my experience is that Andrea/Pettinhouse makes excellent libraries that are very worthy of any sampled guitar user's consideration. Check out this video of Direct Guitar 3.0 doing funky chords, it is pretty cool and enough to persuade me to get my update!: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqsPSdkWH0U]

[progtronic]

I'll probably buy into an Amplesounds acoustic guitar bundle. I really like the realism of their instruments.

After a year of contemplation, I finally bought an AmpleSounds acoustic guitar. In my opinion, their acoustics, all 3, have by far the best sound. Nice strumming system too and they are actively making it even better by the looks of the new TAB system.

...still looking for the perfect electric guitar VST though.

Nothing will ever be perfect.. try to get something you'll be comfortable working with, and has the sound you want.

Listen to what actual end-users have done with the product.

Search youtube for songs that were created using it.. and note anything people have to say about the vst in the comments. This will help give you a good idea of what you can expect.

[BBFG#]

I'll probably buy into an Amplesounds acoustic guitar bundle. I really like the realism of their instruments.

After a year of contemplation, I finally bought an AmpleSounds acoustic guitar. In my opinion, their acoustics, all 3, have by far the best sound. Nice strumming system too and they are actively making it even better by the looks of the new TAB system.

...still looking for the perfect electric guitar VST though.

Now that you've found what you like though, you can always try running those acoustics through some amp sims to see if you can make your 'perfect electric' though.

[ObsoleteAcc99]

samples aside, aren't the aas strum series worthy of mention? They are specifically made for keyboardists, and you can find some pretty convincing demo vids out there. *certainly* good enough for pop at the very least.

Since all their stuff is being updated to go 64 bit where not (on mac) with overhauls (like UA 2)

i believe the next version will be something special! LL4 is by far the best algorithmic EP around and sounds utterly convincing. I hope they can achieve this level of perfection for guitars too

[BBFG#]

samples aside, aren't the aas strum series worthy of mention? They are specifically made for keyboardists, and you can find some pretty convincing demo vids out there. *certainly* good enough for pop at the very least.

Since all their stuff is being updated to go 64 bit where not (on mac) with overhauls (like UA 2)

i believe the next version will be something special! LL4 is by far the best algorithmic EP around and sounds utterly convincing. I hope they can achieve this level of perfection for guitars too

I have mentioned AAS Strums in the thread, it is effective, depending on the tone you want to carry. The acoustics are far more convincing than the electrics IMO but the number of guitars in either are rather limited. Also, when you want to use them as a single note, melodic instrument, the limitations are more easily heard. They are nice, but perhaps a little overpriced for what they are. An improvement in sound quality and additional sampled content is really needed and I hope they do.

[kewlio]

i've belatedly come across this post. i am a guitarist who is broadening their range and taking up the keyboard. in the process i have also been exploring sampling and - specific to this discussion - 'fake guitar' samples. although i have much further to go so far i have been impressed by pettinhouse and efimov and EAG ac.gtr. not only for their sounds but their interface design as well. the point that was made about the importance of the user experience in terms of learning curve and ease of workflow, can not be overstated.

of note i have to say thank you BBFG# for the heads up for indiginus. i found the samples very realistic (the symphony looks interesting as well) but what really came as a shock was the price. a nice find