Realistic Classic Rock Virtual Instruments

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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

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Native Instrument's Komplete (and for that matter the much cheaper Komplete Select) has a lot of really good stuff for that purpose.
Abbey Road's 60s Drummer is my favorite drum VI for authentic old school sounds.
The Scarbee Rickenbacker Bass also sounds really nice for a lot of 60s and 70s type stuff, though it doesn't work for all styles.
The Scarbee Vintage Keys and the Vintage Organ are also very good.
Komplete Select is a really nice starter set if nothing else.

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IK Multimedia has that covered pretty well. Regarding realism, have a look at IK's selection of Virtual instruments. Then also look into Gforce's M-Tron Pro
https://www.gforcesoftware.com/products/m-tron-pro
https://www.ikmultimedia.com/

For Guitars and Keyboards look into other options.
Intel Core2 Quad CPU + 4 GIG RAM

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One thing about "realistic" samples is that they almost always take a lot more work than just dropping in a MIDI file. You have to learn how the virtual instruments respond, how they feel, what their sweet spots are, etc. You've got to learn how to program them and work with them, otherwise your results will still end up sounding mechanical and fake. Even the high end sample libraries can output garbage if you don't know how to actually work them; ask me how I know :hihi:

Conversely, clever programming can make even a "low-end" sample library sound convincing in some contexts. So really, in my opinion, getting good results is more about the user than the sounds. Listen, for example, to any Nobuo Uematsu SNES soundtrack.

All that said, I agree that Komplete is a pretty good all-around starting spot. If you can't make good-sounding rock tunes with that, perhaps supplemented with an Orange Tree Samples guitar library (since I believe guitars are lacking from Komplete) it might not be the samples' fault.

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Thank you! I will check out these options. Any further ideas also appreciated. Also I didn't realize how important programming samples was in order to achieve more realistic sounds.

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You didn't say what is your budget.
Build your life everyday as if you would live for a thousand years. Marvel at the Life everyday as if you would die tomorrow.
I'm now severely diseased since September 2018.

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haskins02 wrote: Sun Oct 13, 2019 9:08 pm Thank you! I will check out these options. Any further ideas also appreciated. Also I didn't realize how important programming samples was in order to achieve more realistic sounds.
Amplesound makes really great stuff. They even have some free versions of the bass (which is actually great)

+1 For OrangeTree

Though it was mainly designed for metal, the samples come DI'd (so you can use your own amp) so you could easily play classic rock with it too, is Prominy's V-Metal; probably has the most plug-and-play programming I've ever seen. They even sampled all sorts of dyads and chords and slide-outs/ins.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqgMqUw4BgM

There's actually a free drumkit I really like

https://www.powerdrumkit.com/

But others like Addictive Drums, Steven Slate, etc. are good.

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MODO DRUM & MODO BASS to start off with.
For guitars you can use IronAxe or use a sample based solution and there are a few really good ones (eg. Orange Tree, Vir2).

When MODO GUITAR comes along you would probably be interested in that as it would be purely modeled (not sampled) guitars.

My setup is nearly complete and this is what I'm waiting for. In the meantime there are plenty of other options to choose from.
Little Black Dog - 2008-Present

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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).

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I have to agree with a lot of what's been said here. I have some of the most expensive guitar libraries around and my guitar work still gets criticized. Trust me, it's not so much the quality of the instrument as it is what you do with it. Unfortunately, I've never had anybody show me how to get a realistic performance out of a guitar library (especially strumming) and I've yet to find any good videos on Youtube, so I've been pretty much on my own. But I'm still working at it.

Good luck with getting that realistic sound you're after. Komplete 12 and a good guitar library should get you started but it won't be the be all and end all. Most of it is going to be up to you.

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If you're going for Komplete 12, you might be interested in this charity auction event:

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=532540
Peace, my friends. I'm not seeking arguments here. ;)

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benjamind wrote: Sun Oct 13, 2019 10:19 pm When MODO GUITAR comes along you would probably be interested in that as it would be purely modeled (not sampled) guitars.
A guaranteed fail if it isn't done right. E-Bass is far more limited than E-Guitar.

UI makes all the difference and Musiclab Realstrat 5 is a great option.
https://www.musiclab.com/products/reals ... story.html
https://www.musiclab.com/assets/files/RealStrat.pdf
Intel Core2 Quad CPU + 4 GIG RAM

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u-jam

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electro wrote: Mon Oct 14, 2019 10:22 am
benjamind wrote: Sun Oct 13, 2019 10:19 pm When MODO GUITAR comes along you would probably be interested in that as it would be purely modeled (not sampled) guitars.
A guaranteed fail if it isn't done right. E-Bass is far more limited than E-Guitar.

UI makes all the difference and Musiclab Realstrat 5 is a great option.
https://www.musiclab.com/products/reals ... story.html
https://www.musiclab.com/assets/files/RealStrat.pdf
How much of an improvement is 5 over 4, which I have?

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electro wrote: Mon Oct 14, 2019 10:22 am
benjamind wrote: Sun Oct 13, 2019 10:19 pm When MODO GUITAR comes along you would probably be interested in that as it would be purely modeled (not sampled) guitars.
A guaranteed fail if it isn't done right. E-Bass is far more limited than E-Guitar.

UI makes all the difference and Musiclab Realstrat 5 is a great option.
https://www.musiclab.com/products/reals ... story.html
https://www.musiclab.com/assets/files/RealStrat.pdf
Yeah! Realstrat is great. Looking to upgrade to the RealStrat ELITE!

Really love the tracks on Musiclab's Youtube channel :love:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8N5dWkdKvU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WSk3YXZV_4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDr_96EcJU4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mvws1ugt7dI

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