How do you use AAS Strum Electric?

[Tricky-Loops]

I've watched some product videos for AAS Strum Electric and I'm not convinced that it sounds 100 % like a REAL guitar (if you play it with the keyboard). That's too bad as I wanted create the first heavy metal band without real guitars...

Jokes aside, nevertheless, IMHO it sounds good and can be used in songs, but I don't guess how.

Do you have AAS Strum Electric? How do you use it? As a real substitute for a guitar or only for special parts of the song? Which settings do you have?

And with what effect VST (for example as insert after AAS Strum Electric) does it sound exceedingly good?

[ariston]

Shameless self-promotion: this track here https://soundcloud.com/ariston/t-rex-snare uses Strum Electric on the whacko-pseudo-metal parts (starting at 1:24 and 3:08 ). The sound is intentionally rough (*cough* Rough Rider Pro *cough*), but you should be able to discern the guitar part.

I use Vandal for all my amp needs.

Naturally, it does NOT sound 100% like a real guitar. I don't know if I'd ever use it to carry a tune, but as an embellishment, designed to fool non-guitarists, it's a great tool.

Seriously, if you play it well in terms of velocity and timing (or at least automate the key-switches well), you'll get to "80% like a real guitar", which should be close enough for disco.

[braj]

I run it through PodFarm, sounds great to me and as far as realistic it has its range, it is a rhythm guitar plugin really. I don't do metal so can't really say about that but basically just like a real guitar if you play it well it sounds good, if you suck it sucks. I try and play it slower and more sparsely as I think that compliments it best, but for metal I would try experimenting with the amps you send it to as much as the plugin. us a DI guitar and from my experience it will probably sound about the same as any real guitar, then it all comes down to your playing.

Don't forget all the midi files, they are great starting points and can be adapted a lot to get your grooves on, and also teach you how the articulations work. I like the 'no chord' variants as you can have them play the right hand and you just finger the chords. There is a whole hard rock section and just drop one of those (with chords) in your DAW, loop it, and play with the amp sim you are using to dial in the tone. I tried some and got pretty convincing metal to my ears, but then I'm not so qualified with that genre to say what is good or bad. Sounds like metal to me though

[Tricky-Loops]

Thanks for the tips up to now...

BTW, I don't make metal music. Just made some joke because if the guitar emulations are getting better and better, perhaps sometime we will see some metal band without real guitars. But I indeed like some hardrock guitar riffs for my dance music, and as I have no guitar, I wondered if I can make some convincing guitar riffs with AAS Strum Electric?

Moreover I love ("dark") music styles like EBM and NDH (things like The Krupps, Rammstein etc.) and Industrial and even Electro Punk -- shortly said, all music that combines hardrock and punk elements with dance-able elements, music which you can dance to instead of headbanging till the doctor comes...


Does anyone have any further tips for using AAS Strum Electric?

[LeVzi]

If you are after something that does a pretty damn good job with the heavier styles of guitar music, then check out Shreddage + Shreddage X from Impact Sound Works. (Kontakt Instrument)

I am using that + Head Case (beta) at the moment and it's sounding pretty damn good tbh. I think when Head Case arrives ppl will jump on that too for a really good amp sim.

[JJBiener]

I don't own it (yet), but I have watched the videos and listened to the demos. It seems to be very dependent on how you play it. I think if you take the time and really work out how to use it, it could sound very realistic. If you play it like a piano, it is going to sound cheesy. If you play it like a guitarist would, the it should sound good. Also it seems like the set up is especially important as well.

I don't see this replacing a guitarist. I think it does what it does very well, but it doesn't do everything a good guitarist can do. If you need what it does, then you'll have a winner. Personally, I am going to buy it for two reasons. There are songs where I want a reasonably good sounding guitar part to support the lead instruments. Also, I think it would be excellent to sketch out guitar parts for a guitarist to use as a starting point in a recording session. I know plenty of guitarists, but I don't always know how to tell them what I want. With this I can say, "I want something like this..."

I wish this was the Acoustic instead of the Electric, but for a no-brainer deal, how can I pass it up?

There is my two one-hundredths of a dollar.

[Mushy Mushy]

How does it compare to Rob Papen's RG?

[Tricky-Loops]

I don't own it (yet), but I have watched the videos and listened to the demos. It seems to be very dependent on how you play it. I think if you take the time and really work out how to use it, it could sound very realistic. If you play it like a piano, it is going to sound cheesy. If you play it like a guitarist would, the it should sound good. Also it seems like the set up is especially important as well.

OTOH if I have to invest much time in the perfect MIDI CC programming to make it sound like a real guitar, it could be easier to engage a real guitarist...

I don't see this replacing a guitarist. I think it does what it does very well, but it doesn't do everything a good guitarist can do. If you need what it does, then you'll have a winner. Personally, I am going to buy it for two reasons. There are songs where I want a reasonably good sounding guitar part to support the lead instruments. Also, I think it would be excellent to sketch out guitar parts for a guitarist to use as a starting point in a recording session. I know plenty of guitarists, but I don't always know how to tell them what I want. With this I can say, "I want something like this..."

I wish this was the Acoustic instead of the Electric, but for a no-brainer deal, how can I pass it up?

There is my two one-hundredths of a dollar.

That's an interesting idea to use it as kind of a template for a real guitarist. I've never thought about that.

But if it sounds good, I could use it even in the songs themselves...

[Tricky-Loops]

How does it compare to Rob Papen's RG?

For $119 (the price of it) I would hire a RG - real guitarist...

[braj]

How does it compare to Rob Papen's RG?

Rob Papen's RG isn't really a guitar simulator, can't play anything but basic magor and minor chords, can't play7 single notes, but for what it is (a funky arp) I like it. But Strum can play complex guitar chords, your own arpagiated fingerings, do much of what a real guitarist would do if you take the time to play it properly. But if you want really easy guitar-ish stuff for dance tracks, don't have much time, and don't need complex chords RG would be maybe better. It is a one-finger deal.

With Strum, I have two different keyboards set up, one for chords, one for strumming, the one for chords uses midiScaleChanger so I can play any scale and associated chords starting at C, but you could use something like mHarmonizer, ToneSpace or midiChords to get a one-fingered chord thing going with this setup. I have it set up with multiple Trilian arps playing via the chord keyboard too for basslines and keyboards, so whenever I change chords Strum auto-strums, and then I can use the right hand keyboard to play Strumming and arpagiations on the guitar. It is like a one-man band thing This is all part of my DAW's main template so when I create a project I don't have to configure the whole thing, just create new arp patterns and select the instrument voicings, amp sim settings etc.

[boombaxx]

Great for adding extra rythm guitar for a cover band. Thru guitar rig it is hard to spot the difference. I am using a lfo to vary the attack and velocity

[Tricky-Loops]

How does it compare to Rob Papen's RG?

Rob Papen's RG isn't really a guitar simulator, can't play anything but basic magor and minor chords, can't play7 single notes, but for what it is (a funky arp) I like it. But Strum can play complex guitar chords, your own arpagiated fingerings, do much of what a real guitarist would do if you take the time to play it properly. But if you want really easy guitar-ish stuff for dance tracks, don't have much time, and don't need complex chords RG would be maybe better. It is a one-finger deal.

With Strum, I have two different keyboards set up, one for chords, one for strumming, the one for chords uses midiScaleChanger so I can play any scale and associated chords starting at C, but you could use something like mHarmonizer, ToneSpace or midiChords to get a one-fingered chord thing going with this setup. I have it set up with multiple Trilian arps playing via the chord keyboard too for basslines and keyboards, so whenever I change chords Strum auto-strums, and then I can use the right hand keyboard to play Strumming and arpagiations on the guitar. It is like a one-man band thing This is all part of my DAW's main template so when I create a project I don't have to configure the whole thing, just create new arp patterns and select the instrument voicings, amp sim settings etc.

Hats off!! Sounds like you have a whole AAS Strum Electric Studio...

But I have only ONE keyboard and ToneSpace, can I manage with it?

[braj]

How does it compare to Rob Papen's RG?

Rob Papen's RG isn't really a guitar simulator, can't play anything but basic magor and minor chords, can't play7 single notes, but for what it is (a funky arp) I like it. But Strum can play complex guitar chords, your own arpagiated fingerings, do much of what a real guitarist would do if you take the time to play it properly. But if you want really easy guitar-ish stuff for dance tracks, don't have much time, and don't need complex chords RG would be maybe better. It is a one-finger deal.

With Strum, I have two different keyboards set up, one for chords, one for strumming, the one for chords uses midiScaleChanger so I can play any scale and associated chords starting at C, but you could use something like mHarmonizer, ToneSpace or midiChords to get a one-fingered chord thing going with this setup. I have it set up with multiple Trilian arps playing via the chord keyboard too for basslines and keyboards, so whenever I change chords Strum auto-strums, and then I can use the right hand keyboard to play Strumming and arpagiations on the guitar. It is like a one-man band thing This is all part of my DAW's main template so when I create a project I don't have to configure the whole thing, just create new arp patterns and select the instrument voicings, amp sim settings etc.

Hats off!! Sounds like you have a whole AAS Strum Electric Studio...

But I have only ONE keyboard and ToneSpace, can I manage with it?

If your KB has midi assignable zones you could do it with one KB, I just have really cheap KBs and so use two, it is easier anyhow for the way my brain is wired. Regardless you can do one-finger chords definitely, and if you make a midi track containing the right hand strums, it will arpaggiate the chords that you are playing while your sequencer is running. If you set up a step sequencer correctly you could do that outside the piano roll, like having a drum machine running triggering the right notes that trigger the strum keys. I have been meaning to set something up like that so I can write the right hand pattern independent of the piano roll, I should try using iDrum for that (oops iDrum doesn't output midi, need something else)

[Photo_G]

That sounds way cool! How about using JamStix for this? It outputs MIDI, and it's on sale right now too!

I have been meaning to set something up like that so I can write the right hand pattern independent of the piano roll, I should try using iDrum for that (oops iDrum doesn't output midi, need something else)

G

[braj]

OK, StepChild can handle the right hand strums, you can write the pattern in, and when it is done drag and drop to your DAW It down't have swing and isn't too fancy, but it is free and the drag and drop is nice. Then you can edit velocity in the DAW (actually it has velocity too duh!). I'm going to look for something a little more powerful but it is a start

http://www.gersic.com/plugins/hosted/su ... eta-r6.zip