Ample Sound Mandolin

[fretman]

Since it worked for the banjo, I thought I'd try it for a mandolin.

Please produce a mandolin VSTi.

There are 3 classes of mandolins:

1. bowl back "Italian style" commonly used in classical/orchestral music. These are often called "potato bug" mandolins and typically have a very bright, almost strident sound to cut thru the orchestra.
2. flat top/back "Celtic style" commonly used in folk music. These are more mellow/woody sounding.
3. carved archtop "German style" mandolins commonly used in bluegrass and folk music. I consider these to be between the other two in tonality. There's a woody component yet can effectively compete to be heard above other instruments.

My main interested is in the latter carved arch top mandolins since they seem to be the most versatile instruments. They can be used in both folk and orchestral settings.

I am disappointed in the current offerings.

• 8dio: the picture shows a carved archtop but it's advertised as a 200 yr old potato bug. Archtops weren't invented until the early 1900's. It sounds like a potato bug, too.
• ​​​​​​​Indiginus: again, they show a carved arched but it's sound is so tinny/thin that it must be a potato bug.
• Vir2: very bright sound, probably a potato bug.
• Bolder Sounds: Yay! FINALLY, a carved archtop mandolin! But wait.... the A strings are slightly out of tune with each other! That makes solo, single note use useless. However, it seems to not affect tremolo so much, probably due to the busy-ness of what's going on. Tremolo sounds pretty good.
• OrangeTree: Yay! Another carved archtop mandolin! But wait... the tremolo sounds pretty bad. Plus, tremolo scales with tempo with no way to adjust it. It very unrealistic on slow songs. In addition, they recorded a mandolin that needed its action adjusted. There is WAY too much string/fret buzz. Using velocities below 50% help, but then I have to amplify the track so much that pick noise, finger noise, etc become too loud. Plus, I lose half of the expression range. Finally, slides and hammer on/off sound artificial - unusable. So, this is quite a disappointment.

All this to say, there is still a need for a nice, usable mandolin VSTi. Please start now so we can use it in a few years. Thank you!

 

[starflakeprj]

I could live with a mandolin. I wished for a banjo, and it was released. Let's wish for a mandolin

[attention ♥]

I would like it to be a flat top/back "Celtic style" folk mandolin. Does a single library exist for this yet? It could be a first!

To fretman: what did you think of Orange Tree's banjo or are you not into banjos?

[fretman]

I have both OT and AS banjos but haven't yet had time to put them thru some serious usage to discover their limitations. I'm sure I'll get to it someday as my preferred genre uses banjos as part of the instrumentation.

[attention ♥]

I have both OT and AS banjos but haven't yet had time to put them thru some serious usage to discover their limitations. I'm sure I'll get to it someday as my preferred genre was banjos as part of the instrumentation.

I wish more libraries could be demoed so we can investigate these things without having to spend first.

[fretman]

I found a Celtic Mandolin here: https://cinematique-instruments.com/pag ... doline.php but no legato as far as I can tell. Tremolo sounds pretty good but I can't tell if the tremolo is tied to the tempo. It's pretty inexpensive so beware. You get what you pay for.

[attention ♥]

I found a Celtic Mandolin here: https://cinematique-instruments.com/pag ... doline.php but no legato as far as I can tell. Tremolo sounds pretty good but I can't tell if the tremolo is tied to the tempo. It's pretty inexpensive so beware. You get what you pay for.

Thanks for looking for one, I'll take a look!

[audiodave]

Just found this Thread.
Man, you read my thoughts! I don't think there is anything comparable for guitar VSTs than Ample Sounds products.
I would definitely love to see their take on Mandolins. I was also disappointed by the VSTs you mentioned. Additionally, I also tried Spitfire-Audios free version... but it lacks a bit in functionality.

[willawoman]

My vote for mandolins: YES plz!

[Liang[AmpleSound]]

ok, I will forward to my colleagues and see if we can put Mandolin into our plans.