Electri6ity

[P.T.]

A bit off topic.

Isn't getting to be about time that we start to embrace samples as instruments in their own right?
Even though this is a sampled guitar, it isn't a guitar and has it's own life.
I play guitar and I can do things with a sampled guitar that I can't do with a real guitar and I can do things differently than I would with a real guitar.

It has it's own validity as an instrument.
I don't see the point in locking ourselves into the need to sound like the real thing like we are trying to trick people.

I play samples and have no problem with it.

I also play sampled drums without worrying about making more than 4 hits at a time. Why should I limit myself to what a real drummer can do in a live setting.
I play sampled drums and have been set free from those limitations.

It is time for musicians to broaden their horizons and throw off the shackles of 'realism'.

[benjamind]

It is time for musicians to broaden their horizons and throw off the shackles of 'realism'.

Samples are realism because they capture essentially the tone of the instrument. Unfortunately they do not capture the performance and behavior of the instrument.

So the problem is not about realism, it's about expected performance and behavior. Samples of a saxophone are not going to perform as you would expect of a saxophone unless that behavior was recorded in the sample.

Mokafix Audio is going to take us into areas of virtual instrumentation that very, very few have done. That is, if Efflam doesn't get crushed by this nasty recession.

Ben

[peterjgross]

A bit off topic.

Isn't getting to be about time that we start to embrace samples as instruments in their own right?

I agree with you although i myself am guilty of trying to replicate a "real" guitar as best as possible. If you just try to emulate a certain instrument you will always loose against the real thing.

I believe samples are used in many virtual instruments as basis to produce sound. As far as I know samples are also at the basis of synths like Omnisphere or Absynth.

Besides that mixing samples and modeling seems to make a lot of sense. Some of that is in Electricity but also in Samplemodeling's horns. Maybe modeling is not the right term here, but at the end to create an interesting instrument there should be a way for the musician to express himself in a unique way, i.e. if you play the same instrument it will sound differently from when i play it.

[koolkeys]

Mokafix Audio is going to take us into areas of virtual instrumentation that very, very few have done. That is, if Efflam doesn't get crushed by this nasty recession.

Ben

I'll be honest, and we've discussed this many times before, but I just don't think it's going to blow our minds as much as it would have two years ago. As you know, I also helped Efflam during previous stages of the plug-in, and I loved it(still have it sitting around). I really did. But I just don't know anything that it could do that you can't do with the two newest guitar libraries(Evolution and Electri6ity).

I will say that as a huge fan of Pianoteq and as somebody who really wants modeling to take off, I still see a great need for samples.

I HOPE that the Mokafix plug-in eventually sees the light of day, and I HOPE it blows everyone's mind when it's actually finished. But I'm not sure it's going to take us any further than we can already go.

Time will tell, of course. But the specs list of these new libraries, and the sheer number of things you can do with them may just make them pretty hard to beat.

We'll see.

Brent

[benjamind]

But the specs list of these new libraries, and the sheer number of things you can do with them may just make them pretty hard to beat.

I can agree with you there. I think Electri6ity is amazing for what it can do - as is Trilian. As of a week ago I own both - I just wanted to get something done and I got tired of waiting - I decided that I needed to start writing music now, not months or even years into the future. I decided that I was going to do something with my life and do it now. I'm still tossing a coin as to whether Mokafix Audio will render the electric guitars and basses in those libraries obsolete when he releases the "Dark Lady" stuff.

At worst, I can get some good ideas of what I want my tracks to sound like. At best, the e-guitars and e-basses in Electri6ity and Trilian may very well find their way onto my tracks and with any luck those who listen to my music would be none the wiser

Ben

[dynamitec]

Hi everyone,

I just wanted to let you know, that the Electri6ity 1.1 update is out now.
It adds a lot of new features and improvements!

You can download it here:
http://www.vir2.com/support/downloads/c ... lectri6ity

You'll also find a realism guide PDF for download there. It shows a few small setup tweaks that will make a big difference in terms of realism!

[koolkeys]

Hey Benjamin! Is there a changelog anywhere for this update?

Brent

[dynamitec]

Hi Koolkeys,

you'll find the changelog in the update zip.

But I'll post it here as well:

Changelog
The Electri6ity 1.1 update includes the following improvements from the original 1.0 version found on the disc:

Added features:
- added guitar body simulation (Settings Page => Strings => Guitar Body Simulation)
- option to reduce or turn off auto vibrato for chords
- added slide noise triggering. Now the slide up and down keys have two functions: if
- notes are played and held so a slide can be played, they trigger slides. If no notes are played the slide up and down key plays a slide noise. The length of the slide is depending on the velocity you play the slide trigger keys with: hard=long slide noise, soft=short slide noise. You can stop they slide noise by releasing the trigger key.
- option to change the timbre of the finger up release (Settings Page => Releases)
- option to change the timbre of the muted notes (Settings Page => Tone)
- you can now change the release time (Settings Page => Tone) for each mode (poly, solo, legato and for muted notes)
- double-tracking multi changed, added "Reset Humanize" to get the same humanize results each mixdown

Improvements:
- improved loading time (due to Kontakt 4.1)
- improved overall CPU usage
- improved note transitions
- improved legato mode
- improved chucka-chuckas
- improved slides (less CPU consumption)
- improved slide noises (much more audible)
- improved muted sound
- improved default setting changes
- improved noises (pre-pick noise, release noises, etc.)
- improved humanizing
- improved sympathetic resonance

Fixes:
- fixed a problem with an error message which occurred in very rare cases
- possible problem with Electri6ity initialization on slower machines fixed
- strange release note behavior in some cases fixed.
- various smaller fixes, tweaks and adjustments

[koolkeys]

Thanks Benjamin! I didn't know where to find the changelog, so I appreciate you posting that. Sounds like a lot of improvements, especially to the "extra noises" thing.

Cheers!

Brent

[benjamind]

It's nice to know that Vir2 are taking care of these things and improving their instruments.

I'm looking forward to hearing more about any upcoming instruments, particularly percussion stuff. I've been looking for a good set of steel drums. With the seamless velocity morphing we see with Electri6ity I suppose this could be added to steel drums and percussion to really give it some lifelike performance

Ben

[neverenoughfunk]

i am no steve vai but electri6y is a very nice product. it has a large foot print but with the new batch re-save feature in kontakt 4.1 loading instruments is very fast...

[koolkeys]

i am no steve vai but electri6y is a very nice product. it has a large foot print but with the new batch re-save feature in kontakt 4.1 loading instruments is very fast...

All I have to say is +1 to using the 4.1 resave. I have libraries that took a minute or two to load, and now are ready to play in a couple to a few seconds. Absolutely great feature for ANY Kontakt library indeed. They keep making the best better, and for that, I don't know that I'll ever have to use another sampler really.

Brent

[dynamitec]

In my opinion Kontakt 4.1 is the best Kontakt ever. I would never go back to any older version!

Btw. the Electri6ity 4.1 update is already resaved for K4.1. You just have to install the update to get the ultra fast loading time:
http://www.vir2.com/support/downloads/c ... lectri6ity

[peterjgross]

In my opinion Kontakt 4.1 is the best Kontakt ever. I would never go back to any older version!

Btw. the Electri6ity 4.1 update is already resaved for K4.1. You just have to install the update to get the ultra fast loading time:
http://www.vir2.com/support/downloads/c ... lectri6ity

Hm, I installed the update, but had to resave to get the accelerated load, plus put the load into background. Once done, however, it is a blast.

Anyways, very impressive that you guys came out with an improve so quick although I though 1.0 was already quite good.

[EvilDragon]

That said, I don't want to do down Electri6ity too much, if for example the continuously variable amount of muting works, that's a major advancement.

It works. Courtesy of AET filter in K4. That thing really works well.