Your MIDI Guitar VST recommendations, please!

[jcdawson]

Hello,

I primarily use my Receptor (along with a Graphtech Ghost equipped Strat and an Axon AX100 mk II) as a guitar synth sound module.

With midi guitar, routing all six strings through a single channel doesn't work well. For example, if you were slur a single note within a sustained chord, with all midi info routed through the same channel, all the chord's notes would simultaneously respond to the pitch bend.

For this reason, the Axon assigns each string to its own midi channel, typically channels 1-6.

As such, VSTs which can handle multiple channels independently within one instance work best for guitar synth. Otherwise, to achieve realistic string bending and picking response, you have to instantiate six VST instances, one per channel/string.

I have found that SampleTank and impOSCar work great as guitar synth modules, because they can behave as if they were six mono synths in parallel, with separate note and bend control response for each midi channel. Can anyone recommend other VSTs with such a capability?

Thanks,

Jeremy

[ajswanson]

This might sound uninformed, but can you run 6 separate instances of Real Guitar or the like?

[thesoundsmith]

I don't know about RG, but many VSTs habdle this wekk, and apparently with little additional overhead (according to several of the makers.) Others will complain, but Garritan (and thus by extension, probably most of the NI stuff) do this easily.

[Juancho]

Hi jcdawson,

I myself are a happy owner of a Axon 100MKII, but no Receptor ...yet!

But i use it together with two external synths, a Roland Fantom XR and a Access Virus Classic. Both of them have multitimbral functionality but my main problem using them in multitimbral mode is that i cant switch to other "multi" patches with my midi footcontroller, the solution is to use them in performance mode (singlemode).

Then i'm faced with the problem of having each string on separate midi channels (the one you mentioned).
Now the solution is quite simple, on each of the axon's patch presets, change the string mode to common instead of separate! this will force the axon to send all stringdata on one midichannel.

Using it together with Receptor in common string mode should make your life easier. It surely does for me...for now.

Greets,
Juan

[jcdawson]

I don't want to run all strings on the same MIDI channel, because you lose the ability to bend strings individually etc as mentioned in my first post. Yes, I am able to run six instances of whatever plugin, one for each string, but that complicates setup and patch tweaks. Thanks all for your responses, though. I appreciate your time.

[Chankro]

I myself are a happy owner of a Axon 100MKII, but no Receptor ...yet!

But i use it together with two external synths, a Roland Fantom XR and a Access Virus Classic.

I'm also using the Axon AX100 MK-II with a Clavia Nord Modular G2 Engine. I was about to trade the Clavia for a Roland Fantom XR, but I've just found the possibility of buying the Muse Receptor for a little more money.

I assume that the Receptor will be a better option than the Roland Fantom XR because of the "limitless" versatility & upgrade options, but I've got one basic question:

Is it possible to use the Receptor with this 2 simultaneous functions?:
1.- As a tone generator for the midi guitar (VSTi)
2.- As a FX processor for the normal guitar signal (VSTfx)

Thank you!

[advaya]

I don't want to run all strings on the same MIDI channel, because you lose the ability to bend strings individually etc as mentioned in my first post. Yes, I am able to run six instances of whatever plugin, one for each string, but that complicates setup and patch tweaks. Thanks all for your responses, though. I appreciate your time.

Plugsound 2 - Fretted Instruments works really well as a per-string setup. I've been more than happy with the results I get. (It's fun to mix-n-match different patches per string... interesting results).

EDIT: sorry, I didn't see the Receptor part. Plugsound isn't multi-channel, so I guess that might exclude it.

[gregh1]

Is it possible to use the Receptor with this 2 simultaneous functions?:
1.- As a tone generator for the midi guitar (VSTi)
2.- As a FX processor for the normal guitar signal (VSTfx)

Yes.

You feed the (mono) guitar signal into the front input on the Receptor, then select "Guitar Input" as the SOURCE for a Receptor channel. My Receptor Rev.B is set to 48 kHz Master Sampling Rate and 64 Samples for the Buffer Size, so response time (latency) for live guitar playing is great.

FYI: If you need more analog inputs, you can use the Line Inputs on the rear of the Receptor as two seaparate mono inputs. Use my simple plugin GH-LRSelector to select left or right. See the readme file in the download.

[Chankro]

Thank you Greg!
I will use the Receptor Stereo Input/Outputs at the Stereo FX-Loop of my existing guitar rig.
I'll hopefully receive it next week

[Juancho]

Cool, but can one switch between whole mix settings (16 channels with different VSTI's and Vst's) through programchange cc's? like from a midifootcontroller?

/Juan

[gregh1]

can one switch between whole mix settings (16 channels with different VSTI's and Vst's) through programchange cc's?

Yes. Complete setups are called "Multi" patches, and it's possible to use MIDI to choose from up to 16384 of them. But it may take some time to load a full set of VSTs. "Z-Load" (a form of plugin caching) may help with this. Receptor also has Snapshot Patches, which allow you to quickly switch between mixer settings, as long as they all share the same loaded VSTs.