KVR Audio

tcollins · Post by **tcollins** » Wed Apr 28, 2010 2:50 am

StrumMaker II is an automated strumming script (actually there are 2 separate scripts that work together) that is included with our Acoustic Guitar Collection for Kontakt 3/4.

The short answer is yes, it is possible to use the StrumMaker scripts to trigger other guitar sounds. There are at least two ways to do this;

1 Save the scripts (Strum Sequencer and FretBoard ) and load them into another Kontakt 3 instrument. If the host instrument uses it's own scripts this may not work. The Strum Sequencer and FretBoard must precede any other scripts.
EDIT- This will probably NOT work with StrumMaker III, since the strum engine specifies key groups by name.

2. Send midi out from the StrumMaker II instrument. The exact procedure for this depends on your host sequencer, but start with the "Options" menu in Kontakt 3's main control panel, then the "Engine" tab, where you can check the "Send Midi to Outside World" box. After that, you're on your own.

Also, MAKE SURE THAT THE "Mutes" BUTTON IS ON on the FretBoard panel.

Disclaimer:
Of course, we can make no guarantee that StrumMaker II will work when used in this way, so you are on your own in this matter.

TC

realitybytez · Post by **realitybytez** » Mon May 24, 2010 8:17 pm

this is interesting. and it leads me to ask a related question. is it possible to use the strummaker II scripts with all of the guitar sounds in the acoustic guitar collection? a friend of mine was showing me his setup, and he has the acoustic guitar collection, but it seemed to me that if he loaded up the strummaker II instrument in kontakt 4, he was limited to whatever guitar sound that is. what if he wanted to use the strums with the blue ridge picked 12-string guitar, for example? wouldn't it be great if you could select which guitar model you want to use directly from the strummaker gui?

tcollins · Post by **tcollins** » Tue May 25, 2010 2:26 pm

It is possible to use the StrumMaker II script with the other guitars in AGC by saving the scripts and reloading them into another instrument. StrumMaker II, however, uses a version of the "Double-Tracked Picked Ac Gtr" sample set that was tweaked especially for that purpose, and does sound the best of all IMHO.
I do like the idea of choosing different guitars in the gui, and that feature may be available in our upcoming libraries.
Thanks,
TC

realitybytez · Post by **realitybytez** » Tue May 25, 2010 6:28 pm

thank you for your reply.

tcollins · Post by **tcollins** » Thu Sep 02, 2010 12:10 am

Just an update-

StrumMaker III is almost ready! You will be able to choose any guitar in the library, and 12 frets will be available.

TC

1-2-Many · Post by **1-2-Many** » Fri Sep 10, 2010 1:22 am

Cool News! Thanks Tracy

Sequent · Post by **Sequent** » Fri Sep 10, 2010 1:30 am

Cool news indeed!

cryophonik · Post by **cryophonik** » Fri Sep 10, 2010 1:35 am

Nice! Really looking forward to that!

darsho · Post by **darsho** » Tue Aug 16, 2011 9:15 am

tcollins wrote:Just an update-

StrumMaker III is almost ready! You will be able to choose any guitar in the library, and 12 frets will be available.

TC

I bought the Acoustic Guitar Library, including Strummaker II and III.
SM III seems to no longer have the part where you can define the stroke length as in SM II. Is there a particular reason for that ?

btw, nice product, I was able to set it up in Kontakt, so I can use it on all kinds of other guitar libraries that I have, very interesting. The sounds that come with it are very good, too.

I have a question regarding the Strummaker in Torch. How does it differ from the SM II and SM III ?
I would like to have some kind of Heavy Metal Riff Creator Tool and hopefully the Torch SM is able to do that ? Also when used with other libraries like Shreddage ?

tcollins · Post by **tcollins** » Wed Aug 17, 2011 2:09 am

StrumMaker II used a second grid to determine stroke duration, but SM III uses sustain pedal (CC 64) commands to hold the chords, then a "Mute" sound (when the velocity grid is set to 127) to release them with a sustain off command. Kind of hard to explain- I think I did a better job in the user guide. I believe that the SM III method creates a better effect overall for acoustic guitar strumming.
Torch, however, goes back to using the second grid like SM II, since electric guitar is more about shorter strums and chunky rhythms than jangly sustains.

So...
Torch's StrumMaker is very similar to StrumMaker II.
The main difference with Torch is that it is triggering many more sample groups, like discreet up and down pick samples, separate sample groups for each string, as well as samples for each pickup.
At this point there is not a dedicated tool for creating riffs, but that's not a bad idea!

Interesting that you are using the strum engine with other libraries. How are you doing this? Midi out? Importing the scripts?

TC

darsho · Post by **darsho** » Thu Aug 18, 2011 9:27 am

Hi TC,

thanks for your explanation regarding the functionality of SM II and SM III.

I use Strummaker also for my Acosutic Guitars in Independence Pro to layer them with the ones in your Acoustic Guitar Library.

I followed your instructions on how to route Kontakts MIDI out (which is easy in Reaper) and simply send it to another channels where I have Independence pro running.

If you ever program a Riff Generator, I'll be buying it for sure.
For now, I have put Torch on my purchase list for the time when the next paycheck arrives

tboneUS · Post by **tboneUS** » Sun Sep 04, 2011 6:14 pm

Has anyone got this to work in Ableton Live?

tboneUS · Post by **tboneUS** » Thu Sep 08, 2011 3:27 am

In case anyone has the same issue - I was using the AU version, the VST version had no issues outputting notes.

tcollins · Post by **tcollins** » Sat Sep 17, 2011 2:20 am

This will work with un-scripted instruments (and possibly some scripted instruments) in Kontakt:

1. Open StrumMaker (StrumMaker II is probably better for trying this- it's in the Samples/Legacy folder).
2. Hit the Wrench button.
3. Open the script editor.
4. You'll see tabs for the Sequencer and Fretboard scripts. Save these scripts with names you'll remember (in the Preset menu).
5. Open the instrument you would like to control. You'll have to move their scripts to the right by saving and reloading them. Then load the Sequencer and Fretboard scripts to the left of any other scripts. If there are other scripts this may not work.
Keep in mind that some instruments have their own wallpapers (background graphics), so you'll only see the white/gray dashes on the fretboard- no fretboard illustration.

This method does work when using un-scripted instruments. You could strum a vibraphone if you wanted! If you want the correct wallpaper (with the freboard graphics), you just have to tell Kontakt where it is, which is the Wallpaper folder in the Samples folder (see Kontakt's manual).

AgusHardiman · Post by **AgusHardiman** » Mon Feb 18, 2013 10:55 pm

darsho wrote:
tcollins wrote:Just an update-

StrumMaker III is almost ready! You will be able to choose any guitar in the library, and 12 frets will be available.

TC
I bought the Acoustic Guitar Library, including Strummaker II and III.
SM III seems to no longer have the part where you can define the stroke length as in SM II. Is there a particular reason for that ?

I just bought the Acoustic Guitar Library & Strummaker III in Feb 3rd 2013 & found out that there is "StrumMaker III Alt" folder that has stroke length like in SMII....I think you should use this. I like to use this because I can control more precise sustain setting than using pedal sustain

To developer : I can't find info on this even on the manual or your site. Is it a hidden easter egg ?

Regards,
Agus Hardiman

Can the StrumMaker II script be used with other sound libraries?