What's Your Favorite Acoustic & Electrric Guitar VSTs and Why?

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I've been trying out a few of these Guitar VSTs and so far the ones that seem to work and sound best to me are:

Acoutic Guitars

Acou6tics
Ample Sound Guitars
Pettinhouse Acoustic Guitars 2
The Strum features is nice but seems to lack the ability to slow the strums down (unless I'm missing something)

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Electric Guitars

Pettinhouse Direct Guitar 3 (Nice Jazz Patch)
Prominy SC Electric Guitar (which I think is probably better than LPC)
Electri6ity

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Now there's one I want to try out called Archtop Hollowbody by Impact Soundworks that look pretty sweet!
I'd like to through that into Ampltube 3 and see what this one can do!

Anyway, those are the ones so far I'm trying out.

So what's your favorite and why?

Thanks!

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Strictly speaking, none of those are VST's, but sample sets for Kontakt.
Do a search on each of them and you will find plenty of pros and cons for each one.

As far as a straight VST go, I would probably give it to Music Lab. I think the only reason I didn't go for the last sale was learning their NFR policy and at the time was feeling a little put off by it. Still may buy it anyway when I see a no-brainer sale pop up for them.

Otherwise, besides for sample sets I use in Kontakt...
My VSTs have mostly been AAS String Studio VS-2 and both Strum (Electric & Acoustic).
And VS-2 is one I would not want to do without (although not necessarily for guitar reasons).

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BBFG# wrote:Strictly speaking, none of those are VST's, but sample sets for Kontakt.
Actually, Ample Sound Guitars have their own interface and are their own VSTi.

As far as reading some of the "Pros & Cons" I've been checking around. Many are older post from 2010, 2012 etc., so now that we're pushing 2015 and with newer libs out, I was wondering what the end-users on the KVR had to say! :)

BTW - Have you tried Ample Sound Guitars? Very good so far! :tu:

Here's a vid on the their Taylor Acoustic Guitar VI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrEM448PxAE
Last edited by Sea on Fri Oct 24, 2014 4:44 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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I rarely use guitar samples unless I'm looking for a type of guitar that I don't own, so I'm maybe not the best qualified to comment. At the end of the day though, it's not about 'best', but about what sounds right to your ear.

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My favorite one is Xoxos Pling, the first pling(there are I think four of them), sounds like a good electric guitar. The other ones are simply higher on cpu and of course more detailed(but not necessarily electric).

Revitar and Spicy Guitar are cool but not worth the cpu (for me).
The only site for experimental amp sim freeware & MIDI FX: http://runbeerrun.blogspot.com
https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCprNcvVH6aPTehLv8J5xokA -Youtube jams

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obviously, take everything i say with a giant IMHO in front of everything.

for electric guitar, none. not that i own any of them - i own Shreddage X (the old one), and it's nice for laying out rough tracks with palm muting, but it's not that great for much else. none of the demos i've heard so far of other instruments (Kontakt or otherwise) convinced me that electric guitar VI is anywhere near being able to fool a discerning listener.

with acoustics, i own a few - EW Gypsy, Pettinhouse Acoustic Guitar 2, Orange Tree Samples acoustic, and a few SampleTank ones. guitars from SampleTank i don't use much as they rarely sound good for what i'm trying to coax out of them. EW Gypsy sounds great, but isn't very detailed. Pettinhouse is great for strumming, but can sound a bit thin sometimes and some choices leave me with questions (hammer-ons with slide-down afterwards?). Orange Tree is great all around, but strumming is beyond awful, at least to my ears, so it's really good for solo work, but nothing else really. i've heard demos of most of other acoustic guitar VI's, and they didn't impress me either. yes, that includes Ample Sound and Ilya Efimov guitars that others seem to like very much.

that said, the recently released Acousticsamples Sunbird is beyond awesome, and i'll be buying it some time in the next few months - this is the first sampled guitar that i felt actually sounded like a guitar in all aspects (strumming and solo). plus the scripting features appear to be very nice. so this may be my holy grail.
I don't know what to write here that won't be censored, as I can only speak in profanity.

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I stand corrected. No I haven't yet checked out the Ample Guitar, but will soon.
I really liked the MusicLab Rick they released last month and to my ears is probably the closest to a six-string Ricky I've heard and liked all around. The 'strum' feature is set to key switching, so you can get a very nice live and un-syncopated feel with it. Pattern sets can often be limiting IMO as well as arpegiation sequencers making it too perfect to be real.
I think I didn't buy it because of timing though. theirs or mine or a combination of the both. And it just seemed IIRC that there was a blow-out-no-brainer deal from one of the on-line dealers that put it in my mind that it might be better to wait (especially after learning they're NFR from new purchase).
My general feeling about all of these are the same view that many guitarists have about the real thing. There's no such thing as the one that does it all, so getting more than one is always the best option.
I just try to keep mine within reason (whatever that is).

But I like the quirky ones that set out to be all, and ends up giving us something unique within itself, as much and sometimes even more than the 'real thing'.

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Burillo wrote:The recently released Acousticsamples Sunbird is beyond awesome, and i'll be buying it some time in the next few months - this is the first sampled guitar that i felt actually sounded like a guitar in all aspects (strumming and solo). plus the scripting features appear to be very nice. so this may be my holy grail.
I checked Acousticsamples Sunbird a bit today and so far it DOES look Freak'n AWESOME!!! :D

I'll listen to more of the demos and tutorials when I'm in the studio tomorrow! I might be picking this one up over the weekend! :tu:

SEA :phones:

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Sea wrote:
Burillo wrote:The recently released Acousticsamples Sunbird is beyond awesome, and i'll be buying it some time in the next few months - this is the first sampled guitar that i felt actually sounded like a guitar in all aspects (strumming and solo). plus the scripting features appear to be very nice. so this may be my holy grail.
I checked Acousticsamples Sunbird a bit today and so far it DOES look Freak'n AWESOME!!! :D
I'll listen to more of the demos and tutorials when I'm in the studio tomorrow! I might be picking this one up over the weekend! :tu:
SEA :phones:
Oh well, it has an iLok parasite.

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BBFG# wrote:
Sea wrote:
Burillo wrote:The recently released Acousticsamples Sunbird is beyond awesome, and i'll be buying it some time in the next few months - this is the first sampled guitar that i felt actually sounded like a guitar in all aspects (strumming and solo). plus the scripting features appear to be very nice. so this may be my holy grail.
I checked Acousticsamples Sunbird a bit today and so far it DOES look Freak'n AWESOME!!! :D
I'll listen to more of the demos and tutorials when I'm in the studio tomorrow! I might be picking this one up over the weekend! :tu:
SEA :phones:
Oh well, it has an iLok parasite.
It could be just on the computer. Your choice. The dongle is an option with UVI.

May I hijack this thread with a heavily related questions?

I really need a good tele. And I am not that good of player. I love the sounds Mew gets with their songs (Jag and Tele sounds). Who makes the best emulator? I saw the Acoustic samples and the Ilya Tele. Any thoughts?

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thejonsolo wrote:
BBFG# wrote:
Sea wrote:
Burillo wrote:The recently released Acousticsamples Sunbird is beyond awesome, and i'll be buying it some time in the next few months - this is the first sampled guitar that i felt actually sounded like a guitar in all aspects (strumming and solo). plus the scripting features appear to be very nice. so this may be my holy grail.
I checked Acousticsamples Sunbird a bit today and so far it DOES look Freak'n AWESOME!!! :D
I'll listen to more of the demos and tutorials when I'm in the studio tomorrow! I might be picking this one up over the weekend! :tu:
SEA :phones:
Oh well, it has an iLok parasite.
It could be just on the computer. Your choice. The dongle is an option with UVI.
May I hijack this thread with a heavily related questions?
I really need a good tele. And I am not that good of player. I love the sounds Mew gets with their songs (Jag and Tele sounds). Who makes the best emulator? I saw the Acoustic samples and the Ilya Tele. Any thoughts?
Still requires the software so the parasite lives on your system.
(And yeah, I gave away my UVI with the iLok account to get rid of it).

And to your question, it depends a great deal on how you process it and play it.
I do look for the raw sound first though. And it was the reason I didn't get the Vir2 Electri6ity. (Specifically the 6-string Ricky was much weaker than I expected it to be.)
I really did like the Music Lab demo I ran through Overloud; Peavey; Guitar Rig 5. (Still using clean and crunch amps mostly) But solid to my ears and playing both dry and processed.
Guitar samples, just like guitars are quite subjective to each of us. What some love, others hate, and vice versa.
Really a place to demo everything you can.

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Hmm... Being mostly a guitar player anyway, I don't use massive sample libraries for guitar, but have used the Omnisphere acoustic guitar samples mixed in with my own clean electric guitar, and tried to play as tightly as possible, to get that nice blended chimey sound.

As far as amp and cabinet sims, the TSEX50 version 2+ is without a doubt the best high gain amp sim I have ever played through.

Ah but the basses in Spectrasonics' Trillian... the Chapman Stick... Yeah that gets a lot of use here. Love it.

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I can only really offer an opinion on models of acoustic guitars.

I actually really like Spicy Guitar! (for plucked acoustic strings)
I don't find it much of a CPU hit at all.
http://www.spicyguitar.com

I also have String Studio and heavily suggest giving it a demo too.
https://www.applied-acoustics.com/string-studio-vs-2/

I still find myself going back to the Acoustring Reaktor Ensemble from time to time as I find it can sound pretty sweet too.
http://www.native-instruments.com/en/co ... show/3827/

When I used Windows (years ago) I loved and got a lot of use out of e-phonic's SoloString 1.0
http://www.e-phonic.com/plugins/

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BBFG# wrote:
thejonsolo wrote:Still requires the software so the parasite lives on your system.
(And yeah, I gave away my UVI with the iLok account to get rid of it).
I have an iLok for Steven Slates VCC and I also have PLAY VSTis so it's no biggy for me! :wink:

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Sea wrote:
BBFG# wrote:
thejonsolo wrote:Still requires the software so the parasite lives on your system.
(And yeah, I gave away my UVI with the iLok account to get rid of it).
I have an iLok for Steven Slates VCC and I also have PLAY VSTis so it's no biggy for me! :wink:
To each their own.
I refuse to let parasites intrude on my system resources though.
And no longer trust companies that don't trust their own customers.
:hihi:

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