a few questions...

[thetechnobear]

Im seriously considering getting a few Ample guitars, and have downloaded the trial and will be testing it this week...
so far looking promising, though I really to see if i can live without midi channel per string ( unless ample can tell me they will implement it )

but a few general questions:

a) Is anyone performing 'live' with Ample Guitar ?
The videos Ive watched so far, seem to be very biased towards using a DAW to record and entering notes.
or is this just because its clearer?

b) Is there a 'guide for non-guitarist' ?
I appreciate that many guitarist are interested in ample guitar, but im sure there must be others like me, that kind of need a primer to some of the terms and also techniques being used - most explanations in the video say how to do something, but not what it is.
or perhaps someone can suggest a guide/book, that might explain the techniques etc available in ample - where they are used etc.

c) Which to get ) AGL + AGM? + ?
I know I want AGL for more classical pieces, and im thinking AGM sounds good for more general - and given the pricing structure im tempted to add a third - AGT seems possible, but wondering if one of the electrics might give be a bit more diversity - but also would work well together
anyone any thoughts, ive listen to the demo, but really its not getting me much closer, I think AGG... but im not really sure if its the sound or the demos im preferring )

d) if you are loading multiple instances, how are memory/processing requirements?
im thinking of having at least 1 instance for stumming, 1 for finger... potentially if ive multipe ample guitars another 1 to complement.

e) is it possible to 'strum' manually without the strummer?
i guess i will figure this out during trial week, but would be good to know )

f) strum vs finger mode - is this just which sample set is used or is there any playing differences?

thanks for any help you can give me
Mark

[thetechnobear]

ok, been playing with it for a bit now...

im finding capoman a bit tricky to use,
I get the basics, as you go through a scale it moves the capo up, and this is fine.
but the issue, is it means at times chords become unavailable to play

e.g. if i play a low note, so capo is at 0, i can play c major (in pos 1), but now if i play say A3, now c major wont play (as it cannot play it with capo in 3
(basically i found this why trying to play a few chords, and picking a few notes above it, im in strum mode)

the only way I can find to play the C major again at pos 1, is to hit C#1 then E1, but thats not practical for playing 'live' (as opposed to putting notes into a DAW), also of course depending upon notes played, the Cmaj will play in different positions on different strings may not be what i want.
(btw, i dont like hitting E1 to move capo, what if i dont get the timing on the C#1 right, i will play an E1 rather than just move the capo)

keyboard mode, gives more 'control' but it still affected by capo, and doesn't sound right ( i think due to play notes on same string)

have I missed something?

all i want to do, is to be able to strum a single chord in pos 1, pick a few high notes , play chord in pos 1, pick a few notes - repeat...
possible?

[Jie Chen[Ample Sound]]

Hi, I will answer your questions one by one.

a) Is anyone performing 'live' with Ample Guitar ?

We believe keyboard players can play ample guitar easily. We provide keyboard mode for solo and chord detect mode (all inversions are supported )for strum. These features ensure the playability of ample guitar as a live instrument;

b) Is there a 'guide for non-guitarist' ?

To make ample guitar sounds like a real play you must know all the articulations of a guitar. For non-guitarist, you can toggle on keyboard mode to play but it will not sound like a guitar piece. Also we provide seq presets to help you strum easily.

c) Which to get Surprised) AGL + AGM? + ?

It's up to you.

d) if you are loading multiple instances, how are memory/processing requirements?

For a PC manufactured around 2 years, one instance will take about 10% of cpu and 300MB memory

e) is it possible to 'strum' manually without the strummer?

of course, such as C4, D4, etc.

f) strum vs finger mode - is this just which sample set is used or is there any playing differences?

yes. only the difference of sample bank.

For second post

You should know the way chord is played on guitar is very different from the way on keyboard. In your case you should toggle on the keyboard mode.

[shaoduo[Ample Sound]]

Im seriously considering getting a few Ample guitars, and have downloaded the trial and will be testing it this week...
so far looking promising, though I really to see if i can live without midi channel per string ( unless ample can tell me they will implement it )

but a few general questions:


d) if you are loading multiple instances, how are memory/processing requirements?
im thinking of having at least 1 instance for stumming, 1 for finger... potentially if ive multipe ample guitars another 1 to complement.


thanks for any help you can give me
Mark

Hi Mark,

To add to Jie's answer, multiple instances of Ample Guitar cannot share the same memory for the moment, even if they are of the same type, say two AGLs. The shared memory feature will be included in future updates but we cannot tell an exact time now. It will be a major update whatsoever.

shaoduo

[thetechnobear]

thanks @shaoduo, yeah that would be very useful....
or perhaps you could considering hosting multiple instances of the sound engine in the same host - this is done by many other plugins, and things like reaktor. It would form a nice feature for the standalone too, if you could have a number of guitars loaded ( and in different modes e.g. strumming, manual) which you can use on different midi channels.

Sorry, to keep on about midi channels per string, but is this likely to happen? do you have a rough idea when weeks,months, years


@Jie, thanks for your reply...

b) Is there a 'guide for non-guitarist' ?
To make ample guitar sounds like a real play you must know all the articulations of a guitar. For non-guitarist, you can toggle on keyboard mode to play but it will not sound like a guitar piece

For second post
You should know the way chord is played on guitar is very different from the way on keyboard. In your case you should toggle on the keyboard mode.

This is actually what I meant by a guide for non-guitarist....
Im sure most keyboard players want to use Ample, because they want it to sound like a guitar piece, i.e. not just guitar sounds played from a keyboard - which is what keyboard mode gives you.
there is no point (for me at least) in buying a guitar 'simulation', only to then have it not sound like a guitar - id prefer to learn how to use it properly like a guitar

As a keyboard player, Ive worked out what the sus, pm, sio, slides etc do ... the articulations are not an issue.
but its the capo that confuses me, I know what a real capo is (a clip onto the guitar) and does, but a guitarist does not use it like capo man... its not moved continually thru a piece of music (is it?), its clipped on at the beginning and stays there.
the issue I have with capo man is the capo is constantly moving. If it was constantly fixed to a position Id have no issue!

here lies my problem, so i know what a capo is, but that does not help me know how to use capoman.
I also know what capo man is (or how it operates) , but this doesn't make it clear how I can get around the issues I face... or if this really is just because im playing sequences that would not be played on a guitar....

this is why i thought an guide/video might be useful, that was 'using ample for keyboard players'


thanks again for responding so quickly, im still experimenting and really hope I can introduce ample to my setup.

[Jie Chen[Ample Sound]]

Capoman and Capo Logic are just terms we use to describe our intelligent fret position algorithm. No worries.

When keyboard mode is off, ample guitar does not allow more than one note on same string. Also consecutive notes on same string will be automatically converted to hammer on/ pull off. These features plus capo logic can help keyboard players play like a guitar.

[velryphon]

Hi,

Allow me to unearth this topic, since I'm a recent user of Ample Sound Eclipse, and I'm confronted with the capoman issue too.
I'm a keyboard player, so I'm not aware of how a guitar must be played, but it makes sense that if I knew how to play a guitar I would'nt use a VST ^^.
Anyway, I know that a note can be played on different strings and fret, that only one note can be played on a string, that transition between two notes on the same string can be done with legato slide of hammer on or pulling off etc.

My test is simple : I reproduce a very simple guitar melody from a metal song, it's made of only 4 or 5 notes and it loops among theses notes. The problem is that because of the continuously moving capologic, when the melody repeats it is not played the same way it was played previously.
The consequence is that the notes does not sound the same since they are played on different string/fret, but more annoying is that there are less samples available for the notes to play again. Since the melody is very fast quavers of the same note, this produce a machine gun effect that can't be used for serious work. But if I force the capologic to get back to the middle of the neck (instead of staying at the bottom) by hitting a random note in the highs, the capo moves back, the machine gun effect disappear (more samples are available) and the melody sounds realistic.

Is there a way to set manualy the capoman position before a note to ensure the note is played properly, without introducing an audible note that has nothing to do with the melody ? Since I reproduced a melody from an existing song, and as seen in the live video the guitar player does not use capo or anything else but simply repositions his hand properly when the melody repeats, this problem is not linked to my misknowledge of guitar playing ^^.

[Ample Sound]

Thanks for asking, the keyswitch of AME Capoman (Capo Force) is F0, play a F0, you will see a yellow line below the virtual keyboard, play one of note in the range, the capo will be moved to the proper location.

[velryphon]

Oh thank you for the quick answer !
Can you tell me why there is less samples used per note when capo is too high or to low ?

[Ample Sound]

the sample map of Ample Guitar is not average, we call it Rhombic Sampling Structure, more samples on often-played positions. you know some positions are often-played but some positions are rare-played -- because of guitar sounds not very good at some positions and hard to play.