Realistic Classic Rock Virtual Instruments

VST, AU, AAX, CLAP, etc. Plugin Virtual Instruments Discussion
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Realstrat 5 has a new PCM set and the ability to do different pickup combinations. Keytar Jeff shows how to put Realstrat to good use.
http://keytarjeff.com/videos
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electro wrote: Mon Oct 14, 2019 11:45 am Realstrat 5 has a new PCM set and the ability to do different pickup combinations. Keytar Jeff shows how to put Realstrat to good use.
http://keytarjeff.com/videos
I've seen these videos. They're old. I'd like to see a video of the new real strat to see the differences.

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Again thanks for the further suggestions. With regards to “realistic” guitar sounds (and other sounds for that matter), it seems that even the presets within the soft synths mentioned will be better than what I am using now with Sonar and good enough for my purposes, albeit not totally realistic.

Another question: The Komplete 12 bundle (52 instruments and effects) is lacking an electric guitar instrument player. While I think I may eventually get something like the Orange Tree “Evolution Strawberry” to fill that niche, among the 25,000+ sounds (220 GB+) in Komplete, aren’t there any “decent” (i.e. sort of realistic, not too cheesy, pleasant sounding) electric guitar samples (clean, distorted, overdrive)?

Thanks.

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haskins02 wrote: Mon Oct 14, 2019 4:15 pm The Komplete 12 bundle (52 instruments and effects) is lacking an electric guitar instrument player.
Isn't Electric Sunburst part of the standard K12 bundle?

Edit: nvm, I see it's in Ultimate, but not standard.

I saw one guy on YouTube recently who was using Ample Sound guitar VSTs that sounded pretty good. Though they don't seem cheap.
https://www.amplesound.net/en/index.asp

Personally, I just play guitar badly and make do with that.

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electro wrote: Mon Oct 14, 2019 11:45 am Realstrat 5 has a new PCM set and the ability to do different pickup combinations. Keytar Jeff shows how to put Realstrat to good use.
http://keytarjeff.com/videos
And he frequently runs everything through AmpliTube.

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For synths you can’t beat MinimogueVA, Synth1, Arppe2600VA, OBXd, and Charlatan for the analog sounds. All free and 3 of them are based off of classic analog synths (so you’ll have Moog, ARP, and Oberheim covered). You could also throw ODsay in there and the other Elektrostudio stuff, and Redtron for Mellotron. I’d also say that OrganOne is a good organ VST.
For bread and butter keys like piano. There is Keyzone.
These are all free VSTs, so very very inexpensive. For bass there is FabBass which sounds a bit cheap but still good.
For the FabBass, and Elektrostudio stuff it is only 32bit Windows.
Many paid and free VSTs as well as Kontakt libraries. As well as HW synths/drum machine and acoustic instruments.

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Again thanks for the further suggestions. With regards to “realistic” guitar sounds (and other sounds for that matter), it seems that even the presets within the soft synths mentioned will be better than what I am using now with Sonar and good enough for my purposes, albeit not totally realistic.

Another question: :?: The Komplete 12 bundle (52 instruments and effects) is lacking an electric guitar instrument player. While I think I may eventually get something like the Orange Tree “Evolution Strawberry” to fill that niche, among the 25,000+ sounds (220 GB+) in Komplete, aren’t there any “decent” (i.e. sort of realistic, not too cheesy, pleasant sounding) electric guitar samples (clean, distorted, overdrive)?

Thanks.

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haskins02 wrote: Sun Oct 13, 2019 5:15 pm This is my first post.

My music projects currently involve importing professional General MIDI tracks into my DAW to create realistic sounding 60s and 70s style classic rock background tracks for my solo performances (lots of cover tunes). The MIDI instrument sounds I have previewed with the demo version of Presonus Studio One (my planned replacement for Cakewalk Sonar) fall short of my expectations based on using Sonar for 20+ years.

Question:
What relatively inexpensive virtual instrument software do you recommend that has realistic or authentic sounding samples of oldies classic rock analog drum kits, electric bass, electric guitars, acoustic guitars, keyboards, etc. for my music style? I don’t need a zillion different instruments, just a handful of each type which sound realistic. I also want something with plug-and-play simplicity and ready to use presets.

Any advice will be appreciated. Thanks for your help!

Greg
a rabbit hole. So many options with complexity and price all over the map. I think you'll have to be more specific.

For bass I absolutely recommend IK's MODOBASS. That being said, NI Komplete has some pretty good ones from Scarbee.

For Organ, there are several great options, some more expensive and involved than others. I guess IK's new B3X is probably the new thing to get, but its costly. Again NI Komplete has some decent hammond organ stuff that will probably suit you as being simple and included for low cost. There is VB3II and Blue3 to check out as alternatives. Arturia's package also includes a not half bad organ.

For other kinds of electric pianos and other classic keyboards, there are so many options, too much to reiterate here, google is your friend. Arturia's package is rather complete though.

There are free or close to free things out there also which will be quite good considering the cost...particularly for electric pianos and various analog synths.

A String Machine plugin is probably something you might want. I like UVI's at $99. The Arturia package I mentioned earlier includes one.

Drums, there are so many options.. NI Komplete includes some and they are very decent. Spend more money to get something even better if you want.

sampled Electric and acoustic guitar, I have no idea, I play guitar. If you play guitar then you need guitar amp modelers. If not, then you need both guitar amp modelers as well as sampled guitar stuff, people have mentioned a few...I can't comment..

You could easily spend thousands on all this stuff..and get as nitty gritty detailed and into all manner of production complexity..or go simple...honestly this is a very wide topic...

I do like the suggestions by others for you to check out NI Komplete (wait for sale) and I would recommend Arturia's package as a second thing to get a bunch of analog synth and classic keyboards all in one package (also wait for sale). If you got those two, you'd have a lot of ground covered...
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I think Arturia’s V Collection or Komplete are best bang for the buck. Especially V Collection for keys and synths.
Many paid and free VSTs as well as Kontakt libraries. As well as HW synths/drum machine and acoustic instruments.

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I will add just one more thing. If you're interested in brass and woodwinds, nothing out there beats Warp IV. It's expensive as hell but worth it. The realism is frighteningly incredible. You're looking at $1300 for the two products which include solo and ensemble trombones and trumpets (brass) and alto, tenor, soprano and baritone sax (woodwinds).

Learning curve is also a monster. These are not plug and play instruments. There are so many articulations that the keyswitches require 3 keys to activate for many of the articulations. But if you have the patience and want the most realistic sound you can get, these are the only libraries worth considering. Everything else sounds horribly fake in comparison.

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haskins02 wrote: Mon Oct 14, 2019 2:48 am So much good information! You’re light years ahead of the other forum’s responses on this topic. Thanks again. My planned budget on virtual instruments was originally around $400 but it seems I need to go higher. I checked out NI products. It appears that Komplete 12 is what I need ($600) since Select does not have guitars, strings or horns. I think I’ll be happy with Komplete 12 except for the lack of electric guitar. So, thanks to your advice, I checked out Orange Tree guitar samples and it appears that their “Evolution Strawberry” is exactly what I need (another $179 - oh well).
I think ikmultimedia and NI are weak to ok when it comes to Rock guitar vsti.
Go 3rd party kontakt libraries for rock guitar: impact sound works and orange tree sample are your best bet for classic rock.

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Thanks again for all your suggestions.

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bill45 wrote: Mon Oct 14, 2019 11:00 pm I think ikmultimedia and NI are weak to ok when it comes to Rock guitar vsti.
Go 3rd party kontakt libraries for rock guitar: impact sound works and orange tree sample are your best bet for classic rock.
Rock guitar will be covered by MODO GUITAR...when (or if) it comes out, which can't be too terribly far off, since we now have bass and drums.

That said, every demo I've heard of the Orange Tree stuff has literally blown my mind as to the realism of the guitars demos. Nothing I've heard comes close. Nothing. It's just that I'd rather buy one set of like 8 or 10 or 12 guitars for the price of one...that happened with MODO BASS, and MODO DRUM. Different basses, different drum kits, so much value packed into one product. This is why I'd rather wait.

But for individual guitars, if you are happy with them, Orange Tree will NOT disappoint.
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Some free electronic guitar options, probably a bit limited in detailed compared to the big libraries, but they could get you started at least:

Needs a SFZ player, should be a few free ones around:
viewtopic.php?f=42&t=517060
https://www.plogue.com/products/sforzando.html

In case you went for Komplete and have Kontakt:
https://impactsoundworks.com/product/sh ... atus-free/

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wagtunes wrote: Mon Oct 14, 2019 8:38 pm I will add just one more thing. If you're interested in brass and woodwinds, nothing out there beats Warp IV. It's expensive as hell but worth it. The realism is frighteningly incredible. You're looking at $1300 for the two products which include solo and ensemble trombones and trumpets (brass) and alto, tenor, soprano and baritone sax (woodwinds).

Learning curve is also a monster. These are not plug and play instruments. There are so many articulations that the keyswitches require 3 keys to activate for many of the articulations. But if you have the patience and want the most realistic sound you can get, these are the only libraries worth considering. Everything else sounds horribly fake in comparison.
Fake, even the SWAM instruments? Wallander WIVI is capable of delivering realistic brass section.
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