Guitar Stroke Helper — design your MIDI guitar strumming/riffs with full control

[lvngfshstd]

Hi everyone,

I'm the solo developer behind Living Fish Studio. I make guitar arrangements as part of my composing workflow, and for years I've been frustrated by the same loop:

Browse through strumming presets. Find one that's close enough. Start building the track. Then at the next section, the feel needs to change - so it's back to browsing presets again, trying to find something that works for this part too. And when nothing quite fits, there's a real temptation to start adjusting the song to match the preset instead of the other way around.

And then there's the voicing problem - when you're inputting chords from a keyboard, it's easy to end up with note combinations that no guitarist could actually play. Checking whether your voicings are physically possible on the fretboard takes time and pulls you out of the creative flow.

I wanted a more direct path: think of a guitar part, write it down, hear it back. So I built "Guitar Stroke Helper".

The basic idea:
- You write the fretting on a TAB editor (what notes to play)
- You write the strumming/picking on a Pattern editor (how to play them)
- These two layers are independent — change the rhythm without rewriting the chords, or swap chords without losing your strumming pattern
- Export the result as MIDI and send it to your guitar library of choice

It's a MIDI effect plugin (VST3/AU, Mac/Windows), not a sound source. It works with whatever guitar library you already own - anything that accepts MIDI input.

Some things it handles that I personally needed:
- Strumming and single-note picking written seamlessly in the same editor
- Stroke speed and curve control (how fast the pick moves across strings)
- Anchor string (which string lands on the beat)
- Riff writing directly on the TAB - no need to register chords first
- MIDI channel routing per string

Links:
- KVR product page: https://www.kvraudio.com/product/guitar ... ish-studio


I built this because I needed it for my own work, and I'll keep developing it. But I'd genuinely love to hear from others who deal with similar frustrations.
If you try the demo or have questions about the workflow, I'm happy to chat here.

Cheers,
Living Fish Studio

[Cuauhtli]

Is there a way to resize the window? It doesn't fit on my screen.

[lvngfshstd]

Thanks for trying it out! At the moment the window isn’t resizable - the UI is a fixed size.
I’ll log this as a feature request for a future update.
To help me investigate, what screen resolution are you using (and which OS)?

[audiojunkie]

I'd love to use this app! I've been waiting for something like this! Will you please compile a native Linux version?

[Cuauhtli]

Thanks for trying it out! At the moment the window isn’t resizable - the UI is a fixed size.
I’ll log this as a feature request for a future update.
To help me investigate, what screen resolution are you using (and which OS)?

Laptop, 1600 x 900, Win 10

[lvngfshstd]

Thanks for trying it out! At the moment the window isn’t resizable - the UI is a fixed size.
I’ll log this as a feature request for a future update.
To help me investigate, what screen resolution are you using (and which OS)?

Laptop, 1600 x 900, Win 10

Thanks for letting me know! I'll keep this in mind for future updates.

[lvngfshstd]

I'd love to use this app! I've been waiting for something like this! Will you please compile a native Linux version?

Thank you, glad to hear it! Linux is something I'd like to support eventually, but I can't promise a timeline. If anything changes I'll post here.

[midifactory]

hi, I bought the application and unfortunately the system freezes because of it, something is not good and it even made a blue death.

it seemed good based on the demos, but unfortunately it doesn't include e.g. text chord input I really miss that

[lvngfshstd]

hi, I bought the application and unfortunately the system freezes because of it, something is not good and it even made a blue death.

it seemed good based on the demos, but unfortunately it doesn't include e.g. text chord input I really miss that

Hi, thanks for reporting this.
I'm sorry to hear you're experiencing the trouble.
This is the first report of this kind, so I'd like to look into it.
To help investigate, could you share:

• Windows version

• DAW name and version

• Plugin format (VST3 or AU)

• When the freeze/crash occurs (e.g. on load, during playback, while editing)

• Any other plugins running at the same time

Any additional details would be helpful.
As for text chord input — thanks for the suggestion. It's not available yet, but it's on my radar for future updates.

[midifactory]

Windows verzió : Windows 11 Pro 25H2
DAW név és verzió : REAPER v7.66 és calkewalk Sonar 2026.02. verzion
Bővítmény formátuma (VST3 vagy AU) : VST 3
Amikor a lefagyás/összeomlás bekövetkezik : lejátszás közben, szerkesztés közben
Bármely más, egyidejűleg futó bővítmény : no

[midifactory]

Windows version: Windows 11 Pro 25H2
DAW name and version: REAPER v7.66 and calkewalk Sonar 2026.02. version
Extension format (VST3 or AU): VST 3
When the freeze/crash occurs - during playback, during editing
Any other plugin running simultaneously: no

[lvngfshstd]

Windows version: Windows 11 Pro 25H2
DAW name and version: REAPER v7.66 and calkewalk Sonar 2026.02. version
Extension format (VST3 or AU): VST 3
When the freeze/crash occurs - during playback, during editing
Any other plugin running simultaneously: no

Thanks for the details - really appreciate it.

[midifactory]

lunker's MIDI Guitar Chord Tool ReaScript


Chords from Audio Chordino to Reaper

[lvngfshstd]

Thanks for sharing these!

[Saffran]

My experience:
Took several hours, spread over a couple of days, to find out how to get sound. Then searched for a manual. Found it on the download page, didn't help that much because i wasn't in the right mindset, thinking midi out to VI usually make a sound. I would have prefered a pdf manual and a link to it on the product page. Also have a reminder about the fact that you have to generate the midi to have sound, plus the two step technique for it. Why not one button named "generate midi" ?
I feel it's to much work for me as a lazy person that lose focus pretty quick.
.
That said, i probably buy it to test importing now when the price is low.