# Shreddage 3 is EXPANDING with 5 upgraded instruments. Now available!



## Andrew Aversa (Mar 7, 2019)

*AVAILABLE NOW - FIVE NEW SHREDDAGE 3 INSTRUMENTS
*


Five of our most popular and acclaimed virtual guitar & bass instruments are *now available* in our cutting-edge SHREDDAGE 3 ENGINE for *Kontakt Player*!

These upgraded releases feature full NKS compatibility, more realistic performances, better editing capabilities, *Console* modular FX rack and mixer, TACT 2.0 for totally custom articulation mapping, and beautiful new UIs.

Owners of the previous versions of these instruments will save BIG on these upgraded and expanded instruments. Read on for details!

*Shared Key Features*

Vastly improved realism for fretting, string selection and voicing

Multiple fretting modes for differing types of playing (lead, poly rhythm, etc.)

Built-in multitracking and custom pickup blending

"*Poly Input*" mode for even more realistic playback of block chords

Extensive control over all parameters of the virtual guitarist
New fully-customizable *Strumming* mode
Random resonance, anti-repetition, DI noise, rakes and release triggering
A plethora of engine options from stroke timing to legato playback
*CONSOLE Features*:

Independent mixing, purging, mute/solo and FX chains
Instantiate up to 8 FX per channel, plus master inserts and sends
Add FX in any order, including multiple of the same FX
Save and load FX chains for individual channels or the entire Console
*30 FX modules* available in total, including...
Numerous pedals, amp models, and custom cabinet IRs
Multiple EQs, reverbs, distortion FX, spatial FX (rotator, phaser, flanger, etc)
FX chain presets are *portable between instruments!*







*The Lineup*

*Shreddage 3 Jupiter*
(upgraded from _Shreddage 2: Absolute Electric Guitar_)
Built on our most popular virtual instrument! This is a super thick-sounding 7-string with a full, dark tone and some of the chunkiest powerchords and chugs anywhere.

*Shreddage 3 Rogue*
(upgraded from _Shreddage 2 IBZ_)
Another 7-string guitar ideal for heavy rock and metal, with a legendary Japanese tone that is the most aggressive in our entire lineup.

*Shreddage 3 Serpent*
(upgraded from _Shreddage 2 SRP_)
Recorded by YouTube star guitarist Jules Conroy (FamilyJules7x), this 7-string is the most well-rounded tone of our current lineup, making it very flexible for lead and rhythm playing in multiple genres.

*Shreddage 3 Archtop*
(upgraded from _Archtop: Hollowbody Electric Guitar_)
A Sadowsky Jim Hall model recorded with two ultra-warm pickups through analog tube DI! S3 Archtop is better than ever for styles like jazz, fusion, pop, funk, R&B, and blues, and includes *all-new samples* such as new layers of palm mutes and rakes.

*Shreddage 3 Abyss*
(upgraded from _Shreddage Bass 2_)
Our finest bass guitar with six strings of 100% custom made, low-end goodness with a stunning 4.5 octave range and super fat/warm tone recorded through a tube DI.

*Full NKS Compatibility and New Snapshots
*
Every one of these instruments, just like Shreddage 3 Stratus, is fully NKS compatible and sports a wide variety of guitar/bass tones right out of the box in the form of Snapshots. These are a great way to inspire your music and get right to playing (or recording) without using ANY external plugins.

*Pricing, Upgrades, Crossgrades
*
All guitars listed above will retail for *$149* for new customers, with free Kontakt Player compatibility. S3 Abyss is *$99* for new customers.

If you own the _previous versions_ of any of these instruments, your upgrade cost will be just *$20* per instrument. Each of these is a *brand new library & serial number* with a completely new script, new snapshots, and in some cases even new + revised samples.

If you own any Shreddage 3 instrument and want to _crossgrade_ to a different S3 instrument but don't own the previous version, you'll *save $30 on every crossgrade*.

*View Upgrade / Crossgrade Coupons in Your Account!*

---

_** A note on the S3 license system **
_
When S3 Stratus was first released, we described a license system where you would buy a single S3 license for use with all products. Unfortunately, in December (not long after we released Stratus), Native Instruments informed us that going forward they *require *all releases to use individual serial numbers.

The new license system is now standard with all other Kontakt Player instruments: each S3 guitar or bass has its own license and serial number, and its own entry in Native Access. Of course, we are still offering the *$30 discount on other S3 instruments* that we initially promised with the S3 Stratus release.


----------



## chimuelo (Mar 7, 2019)

Oh Lord.
Audience loves the S3.
Thought I was some chump pretending until I told them.

5150 OD is outstanding.


----------



## Fleer (Mar 7, 2019)




----------



## AllanH (Mar 7, 2019)

I like the $20/instrument upgrade. I'll be upgrading my three or four guitars.


----------



## InLight-Tone (Mar 7, 2019)

Fantastic, a must buy!


----------



## KarlHeinz (Mar 7, 2019)

The shreddage 3 free is by far the best guitar library I own, I am really looking forward upgrading my archtop to 3 . 20 bucks for the upgrade is really a fair prize !


----------



## galactic orange (Mar 8, 2019)

I’ve got Shreddage 2 IBZ, Shreddage Bass, and Archtop. I’ll upgrade all of them. Hurry up and take my money!


----------



## BGvanRens (Mar 9, 2019)

Looking forward to upgrade my Shreddage products!


----------



## MarcN58T (Mar 9, 2019)

Any idea when the original Shreddage Gibson SG will be upgraded? Would have made a complete collection if the LP is included.


----------



## Andrew Aversa (Mar 9, 2019)

That is planned for later this year


----------



## Beltur (Mar 9, 2019)

Seems like another no-brainer. I must have an 8-string one with ISW's signature chunky palm mutes using the engine!


----------



## dariusofwest (Mar 9, 2019)

zircon_st said:


> *COMING SOON!
> *
> Five of our most popular and acclaimed virtual guitar & bass instruments are *coming soon* to the SHREDDAGE 3 ENGINE for *Kontakt Player*!
> 
> ...



Awesome! What's the ETA for release? :O


----------



## bill45 (Mar 9, 2019)

zircon_st said:


> That is planned for later this year


 Hopefully with the same player.Love the attitude of the original shreddage.Classic was a good up grade.


----------



## Andrew Aversa (Mar 10, 2019)

Yep, we'll be bringing it to the S3 engine with expanded functionality.

As for release date of these 5 instruments, we're shooting for NEXT Monday (8 days from now)


----------



## Steve Lum (Mar 10, 2019)

zircon_st said:


> As for release date of these 5 instruments, we're shooting for NEXT Monday (8 days from now)



Well then, a ritual watching of Python's Christmas in Heaven is in order.


----------



## Andrew Aversa (Mar 19, 2019)

These five new & improved instruments are NOW AVAILABLE!

Browse the new "series page" here with demos + descriptions, or check out the individual product links in the original post:

*https://impactsoundworks.com/series/shreddage-3-series/*

You can find your upgrade / crossgrade codes in your *Account - Deals* area.

Enjoy!


----------



## KarlHeinz (Mar 19, 2019)

Hi,

I have ordered the Archtop from timespace so I dont have it in my account and no coupons. What to do ?


----------



## Red Room Audio (Mar 19, 2019)

KarlHeinz said:


> Hi,
> 
> I have ordered the Archtop from timespace so I dont have it in my account and no coupons. What to do ?


Hi Karl. Send an email to [email protected] along with a copy of your T+S receipt and they'll take care of you.


----------



## drumman (Mar 19, 2019)

zircon_st said:


> These five new & improved instruments are NOW AVAILABLE!
> 
> Browse the new "series page" here with demos + descriptions, or check out the individual product links in the original post:
> 
> ...



You're a day late from when you said. I'll never buy anything from you again!





Well... maybe.


----------



## Paul Owen (Mar 19, 2019)

Andrew/Zircon

I'm not seeing the upgrade offer in my account. Shall I email as you described above or do I have to wait for the offer to appear? 

All the best


----------



## Fleer (Mar 19, 2019)




----------



## KarlHeinz (Mar 19, 2019)

Written to the support in the afternoon and got an advertising email so far as answer


----------



## kleotessard (Mar 19, 2019)

Paul Owen said:


> Andrew/Zircon
> 
> I'm not seeing the upgrade offer in my account. Shall I email as you described above or do I have to wait for the offer to appear?
> 
> All the best



Hi !
Go to your account under the tab "My Deals" there are some coupon codes.


----------



## ChazC (Mar 19, 2019)

@zircon_st Trying to add Jupiter upgrade from Shreddage 2 but the code given on my 'deals' page says "coupon usage limit has been reached" and won't apply the $129 discount.


----------



## Joe Maron (Mar 19, 2019)

Same thing here. I thought I had reached my coupon limit for the day, since I had previously upgraded IBZ and SRP, but maybe a glitch? I'm in no hurry though, have a lot to play with! Oh, and *Thank You* for the upgrades!


----------



## Paul Owen (Mar 19, 2019)

kleotessard said:


> Hi !
> Go to your account under the tab "My Deals" there are some coupon codes.



Unfortunately not.


----------



## Andrew Aversa (Mar 19, 2019)

The 'coupon limit' issue for S2 -> Jupiter has been fixed. We generated those coupons wrong. Just try them again and they should work!

The Deals (and thus coupons) are generated based on things you own. If you don't see a product that you ordered in your account, email our support ([email protected]) and we will take care of you. 

Note that most of the time when something isn't in your account, it's usually because multiple emails were used, or you weren't logged in when you made a purchase. Easy enough for us to fix!


----------



## ChazC (Mar 19, 2019)

zircon_st said:


> The 'coupon limit' issue for S2 -> Jupiter has been fixed. We generated those coupons wrong. Just try them again and they should work!



Thanks for the quick fix! All sorted. I picked up Serpent as well - thx for the crossgrade discount on that too.


----------



## KarlHeinz (Mar 20, 2019)

All fine here, got code from support, already downloading


----------



## babylonwaves (Mar 20, 2019)

beautiful updates - many thanks!


----------



## MartinH. (Mar 20, 2019)

I've had some trouble with paypal not loading, but ultimately it worked. My first impression of S3 Jupiter is pretty good! Seems to have fixed a bunch of issues with the tremolo articulations. Thanks a lot! I like how the new multi tracking selector works, makes a lot of sense. Not sure what happens when selecting all 4 guitars though, can you route 3+4 to a second pair of stereo outputs somehow?

When switching through different snapshots during playback, sometimes the audio drops out and only starts playing again when I reload the instrument. Any idea on how that could be fixed? I'm using Full Kontakt 5.8.1(r43) on win 7 x64. 

I have to do some more thorough testing, but so far chances are looking good that I'll be updating IBZ to v3 as well.


----------



## Andrew Aversa (Mar 20, 2019)

MartinH. said:


> I've had some trouble with paypal not loading, but ultimately it worked. My first impression of S3 Jupiter is pretty good! Seems to have fixed a bunch of issues with the tremolo articulations. Thanks a lot! I like how the new multi tracking selector works, makes a lot of sense. Not sure what happens when selecting all 4 guitars though, can you route 3+4 to a second pair of stereo outputs somehow?
> 
> When switching through different snapshots during playback, sometimes the audio drops out and only starts playing again when I reload the instrument. Any idea on how that could be fixed? I'm using Full Kontakt 5.8.1(r43) on win 7 x64.
> 
> I have to do some more thorough testing, but so far chances are looking good that I'll be updating IBZ to v3 as well.



If you enable ALL guitars (1, 2, 3, 4) they'll be automatically panned for a nice wide stereo sound. However, they won't go to different Kontakt outputs. It just wasn't possible for us to set it up that way due to how Kontakt's routing works. If you want to use multiple outputs, we recommend just using multiple instances, with each instance set to a different guitar. (The extra RAM load is minimal!)

What is the issue you found with the tremolo artics? Let us know and we'll look into it!

Regarding audio dropouts, this sounds like a bug in Kontakt itself, and is worth reporting to NI. Our snapshots make use of the new(ish) Kontakt feature allowing you to change FX via script. That's what makes Console possible - adding/changing/removing FX in any order. There's no reason this should cause audio dropouts, any more than simply changing the FX yourself in Kontakt would...


----------



## MartinH. (Mar 20, 2019)

zircon_st said:


> If you enable ALL guitars (1, 2, 3, 4) they'll be automatically panned for a nice wide stereo sound. However, they won't go to different Kontakt outputs. It just wasn't possible for us to set it up that way due to how Kontakt's routing works. If you want to use multiple outputs, we recommend just using multiple instances, with each instance set to a different guitar. (The extra RAM load is minimal!)


Thanks for the info! I'll use multiple instances for quadtracking then.



zircon_st said:


> What is the issue you found with the tremolo artics? Let us know and we'll look into it!


That was on S2 IBZ (and to a lesser degree also regular S2), and I already reported it here and was told there will be no fix:
https://vi-control.net/community/threads/which-shreddage.76981/#post-4310458
I'm happy to say that so far in S3 Juptier I did not encounter this issue, it seems to be working fine. Which is great, because that was the main reason for me to upgrade.



zircon_st said:


> Regarding audio dropouts, this sounds like a bug in Kontakt itself, and is worth reporting to NI.


Will do, I'll let you know if anything comes from it.

Edit: bug report submitted and "pending approval".


----------



## TrojakEW (Mar 20, 2019)

Hmm choosing Paypal payment open popup and after few second it close it and redirect me again to checkout page. I'm in some kind of loop. Can't pay.


----------



## MartinH. (Mar 20, 2019)

TrojakEW said:


> Hmm choosing Paypal payment open popup and after few second it close it and redirect me again to checkout page. I'm in some kind of loop. Can't pay.



I think for me it only worked when I directly selected "pay with paypal" instead of "checkout", but I'm not sure anymore. I certainly had trouble with it too. First time around the payment didn't go through and i had to retry after verifying from the paypal site that they hadn't send any money yet. It was certainly unusual, felt like some server issue somewhere between ISW and paypal, because neither site was as slow as the two trying to work together. Several times it seemed to just time out. I assume it to be a temporary issue, but if it persists, let us know.


----------



## TrojakEW (Mar 20, 2019)

MartinH. said:


> I think for me it only worked when I directly selected "pay with paypal" instead of "checkout", but I'm not sure anymore.


You are right. Choosing paypal instead checkout works. Thank you.


----------



## JonSolo (Mar 21, 2019)

I got a notice that Shreddage 3 Stratus was changed to help future updates. I applied the new code in Native Access. I downloaded the new files from the downloads area. When un-Raring them it asks for a 4th part . However, when I go to my downloads area, there are only 3 RAR files for Samples.

Help!


----------



## Andrew Aversa (Mar 22, 2019)

Looks like a bug in our shop software. Our support will take care of it for you until we get a site-wide solution. The problem is that when we add a new file to the download list of an existing product, it doesn't auto-update everyone who owns it.


----------



## Mark Schmieder (Mar 22, 2019)

I just did the upgrade of Archtop for $20, and am surprised by three things:

1. The defaults seem geared towards rock now instead of jazz, in terms of sound character etc.
2. The window goes super-wide -- I guess due to NKS mapping? -- and no longer shows RAM used
3. I don't have coupons for upgrades of Shreddage Bass or Guitars (maybe I'm too out-of-date?)

I won't have time until late tonight or tomorrow to put two Kontakt instances side-by-side to create my own personal settings for Shreddage 3: Archtop, but right out of the box, the first thing I notice is that it seems more "loaded" (i.e. more emphasis on an amped-up sound) and a lot of sustain (which I generally avoid in jazz playing). Hopefully this is just a matter of different defaults at the outset.

I really loved the old interface as it was so direct and intuitive and presented the stuff I actually work with. I do hope that genericizing this towards the other guitars doesn't effectively turn it into a rock guitar for all practical purposes, but will understand if that was necessary to generate more sales and to simplify development on just one engine. It's good also that this doesn't invalidate the license for the older version, so that we have time to migrate our settings before deleting it (if we so wish).

I acknowledge there may have been some confusing redundancy in the old interface between the various tabs, and some non-intuitive presentation of settings (and whether they are off or merely defaulted). So hopefully I will learn to love the new version, and certainly the $20 upgrade price is outrageously cheap considering how much work was involved in presenting this new version.

Presumably the Django Guitar will also be switched to the Shreddage 3 engine later on?


----------



## Mark Schmieder (Mar 22, 2019)

Specifically, regarding the upgrade paths, it's a little confusing due to your rebranding of product names multiple times over the years, but all of my licenses show up so that's not an issue. I didn't buy any other products once I knew about Shreddage 3 a few months back, but I was expecting that what I currently have was still part of the Shreddage 2 line-up that leads directly into Shreddage 3, but I could be wrong.

Shreddage Bass Picked Edition
Shreddage II
Shreddage 2X

That's not what they were called when I bought them, and I think the updates were free, so it may be that I am considered one generation behind from a pricing point of view. I just thought I'd bring this up because it may also be why some others didn't see their expected upgrade coupons.

I initially saw the $20 upgrade for Archtop (a product I was not expecting to be Shreddage-ized), and took advantage of that, after which the loyalty discounts appeared for owning a Shreddage 3 product already. But nothing related to the Shreddage 2 licenses, which likely would be heft discounts.

It's not a big deal either way, as I only use this sort of thing during early mock-up stages, with the exception of the Archtop which I use in final production on material where my skill level isn't "there".

But it's good to know if there's a technical glitch, so that one can prioritize one's budgeting. I do like all of these products quite a bit, so will definitely upgrade to Shreddage 3 if there is supposed to be a similar discount for the three "earlier" products mentioned above.

Impact Soundworks remains one of my top vendors, in terms of what actually gets used in production work. The attention to detail, knowledge of the genres and instruments, and mic choices, are always superb. In the case of Shreddage 3, it's pretty obvious that the upgrade and the more consistent branding of the full product range, is a reaction to competition from OTS Evolution (also excellent), but I actually see these vendors as complementary and both being top in their game. Ten years ago or so, we had nothing even remotely this usable and realistic for guitar and bass mock-ups!


----------



## Andrew Aversa (Mar 22, 2019)

Hey Mark-

1. I thought we included a decent spread of jazzy/clean snapshots, and the unprocessed tone is as smooth as ever! All S3 guitars include some rock/metal sounds because we got a lot of requests for those. Otherwise, we didn't change the processing of the samples. If there's any extra sustain, it's probably coming from a compressor or amp in the preset in Console, which you can disable with a click.

2. The UI is indeed wider by design, something that became possible with more recent versions of Kontakt. We think it is much nicer on 1080p displays, ultrawides, 4K, etc and gives us more room to fit controls without sacrificing readability. You can view RAM used (etc) by clicking the little (i) icon directly to the left of the Kontakt solo button.

3. You absolutely should qualify for the discounted upgrade to S3 Jupiter from S2. If you shoot me a PM with your account email, I'd be happy to provide that.


----------



## AllanH (Mar 22, 2019)

I upgraded the three S2s I had. Much more responsive and playable. Very very nice upgrades!


----------



## Mark Schmieder (Mar 22, 2019)

Andrew, thanks for the info. I don't tend to use snapshots vs. making my own from scratch, but hopefully will have time to go through these some more this weekend -- pretty crazy with gigs at the moment. Good to know where to look for RAM used etc.; this is the first Kontakt library I've seen so far that uses the super-wide format. I never even knew people could override the top part of the layout as I'm used to every library looking the same up there! I just updated Kontakt today so thought maybe it was a "surprise" in the new version.


----------



## EvilDragon (Mar 23, 2019)

Sounds like you didn't update Kontakt in a loooong time, because the wider format exists for well over a year now, and there've been quite a number of libraries using that possibility. Snapshots feature (the camera and (i) buttons in instrument header) is in there for over 2 years now...


----------



## keepitsimple (Mar 23, 2019)

Fantastic update. The Music Man JP12 sounds better than ever, especially for those lyrical overdriven leads.


----------



## Mark Schmieder (Mar 23, 2019)

Nope; I prefer to do my own presets as most vendor-supplied snapshots are too over-the-top for me, so I think you misinterpreted what I said about that. I updated Kontakt probably in late January when my Komplete Ultimate Whatever arrived (the new top-line version), but I work super-long hours at my "day job" and am gigging and recording constantly on the side, so I have been overwhelmed with the number of updates and new products to review and fit into my workflow these past few months.

This really is the first library I've seen that goes super-super-wide and loses its normal top-bar. I might have seen this on the Session Strings Pro update, but I threw that library out of my workflow so probably didn't care or notice those details; whereas Archtop is one of my most-used libraries (like most of the ISW stuff). At any rate, people were helpful in pointing out how to see memory used. I prefer for it to be always-present so that one can see it while it loads; especially in case of problems. But I'll see if there's a way to make it a preference.

Anyway, good to "hear" that the updates are all better sound-wise as well as having more programmability through heavier Kontakt scripting. When Shreddage 3 was announced a few months back, I thought it was primarily about scripting changes and didn't originally think it was going to involve actual sample set upgrades. Glad now that I held off on some of the other family members.

UPDATE: My mind was blown by how much better Pearl Concert Grand is after its late-2018 update (I finally got around to working with it last night after a four hour jazz gig that I led), so I fully expect I will find the same qualitative improvements in the Shreddage updates. I am sorry that I have been too busy to get around to the Archtop comparison yet in depth; my intent with my questions and comments was never to tarnish the vendor, the product, the update, or sales, so I will update and delete anything that was perceived that way once I have an accurate assessment at my end (and will probably update my other Shreddage products then as well).


----------



## Heizenhaus (Mar 26, 2019)

Mark Schmieder said:


> Presumably the Django Guitar will also be switched to the Shreddage 3 engine later on?


Most likely not. At least that was the answer to my request in that regard.


----------



## Heizenhaus (Mar 26, 2019)

EvilDragon said:


> [...]because the wider format exists for well over a year now, and there've been quite a number of libraries using that possibility.


Especially those that you've been involved with!


----------



## EvilDragon (Mar 26, 2019)

Mark Schmieder said:


> At any rate, people were helpful in pointing out how to see memory used. I prefer for it to be always-present so that one can see it while it loads; especially in case of problems. But I'll see if there's a way to make it a preference.



You can still see the loading progress even if the Snapshot view is in instrument header...






If that bar is white it's good. If it's yellow, stuff is partially loaded, if it's red, stuff is purged.


There's no preference to have snapshot or info bar auto-selected across all loaded instruments, this is a per-instrument setting, so you'd have to resave every NKI with your preferred position.


----------



## bbunker (Mar 26, 2019)

I know this probably isn't THAT complicated, but I'm still confused/unclear about a few things on the S3 train:

1. Shreddage Bass - I remember at some point having a coupon in the My Account to upgrade from the old Shreddage Bass Picked Edition to Shreddage Bass 2. I thought there'd probably be SOME kind of upgrade path from 1 to 3, but there doesn't seem to be? Also, there's no longer a path from 1 to 2? And presumably (if I'm understanding the discounts correctly) then even if you did go from 1 to 2, then because you didn't have 2 when the codes generated, you wouldn't qualify to upgrade to 3? TLDR version: I have the first one - is the crossgrade just going to be the best way to go?

2. No Stratus crossgrade? - I didn't jump on the Stratus train when it came out because I was 100% in Orchestral-land when that dropped, and thought that with the little S2 collection I had that when the S3 upgrades came along there'd be some way to get in on Stratus through a crossgrade - but there don't seem to be any crossgrades from the S2-S3 upgrades back to Stratus? I mean - at some point there was a coupon to crossgrade price into Stratus from an S2 instrument? Did that expire? Having upgraded those to S3, did that invalidate that somehow? Am I missing something?

Thanks, all...


----------



## EvilDragon (Mar 26, 2019)

2. Stratus is pretty much the same product, nothing new in S3 branded version. Just renamed.


----------



## bbunker (Mar 26, 2019)

EvilDragon said:


> 2. Stratus is pretty much the same product, nothing new in S3 branded version. Just renamed.



Sorry - I might not have been clear. When I said "from an S2 instrument" I meant from an S2 instrument that was not Stratus, i.e., Shreddage 2 vanilla, IBZ or SRP.

To recap on that one - I had those three (S2 Vanilla, IBZ, SRP), didn't get Stratus, and don't seem to have any coupon, crossgrade or deal for S3 Stratus - I've upgraded those three since. Is there something going wrong there, or is that what's meant to happen?


----------



## Andrew Aversa (Mar 26, 2019)

You should definitely have a crossgrade discount. PMed.


----------



## Mark Schmieder (Mar 26, 2019)

Ah good to know that the loading progress still shows in some form. It's important, because I've had a LOT of crashes lately with various libraries due to trying to do something "active" before they've finished loading. Might be a Digital Performer v10 issue though vs. Kontakt per se (Falcon seems to have the same problem, for instance). With the larger libraries, one has to be patient (even on SSD)!

Also, I notice with the newest Kontakt releases that the snapshot-vs.-info is a toggle so is easy and quick to access after all. Super-wide can be a problem when multi-tasking, but luckily I have a high-res retina-based 27" monitor now. But I wonder how many will have trouble with these new wider interfaces, such as on Session Strings Pro 2 and now Shreddage 3? Probably by now the majority of people have had to abandon their older computer gear due to OS compatibility anyway.

I still haven't had a chance to do a thorough comparison with Archtop and preparation of new settings templates or snapshots, and apologize. Too many product updates flew at me the past few days and I'm seriously overwhelmed. I cannot remember another time when there was so much heavy activity by sample vendors all at the same time!


----------



## bbunker (Mar 26, 2019)

zircon_st said:


> You should definitely have a crossgrade discount. PMed.



^ Just bears repeating:

Some of the only things you can count on in this world are Death, Taxes, and Andrew and Impact Soundworks doing what they can to help you out.

Thanks, guys! :D​


----------



## bill45 (Mar 26, 2019)

Mark Schmieder said:


> Ah good to know that the loading progress still shows in some form. It's important, because I've had a LOT of crashes lately with various libraries due to trying to do something "active" before they've finished loading. Might be a Digital Performer v10 issue though vs. Kontakt per se (Falcon seems to have the same problem, for instance). With the larger libraries, one has to be patient (even on SSD)!
> 
> Also, I notice with the newest Kontakt releases that the snapshot-vs.-info is a toggle so is easy and quick to access after all. Super-wide can be a problem when multi-tasking, but luckily I have a high-res retina-based 27" monitor now. But I wonder how many will have trouble with these new wider interfaces, such as on Session Strings Pro 2 and now Shreddage 3? Probably by now the majority of people have had to abandon their older computer gear due to OS compatibility anyway.
> 
> I still haven't had a chance to do a thorough comparison with Archtop and preparation of new settings templates or snapshots, and apologize. Too many product updates flew at me the past few days and I'm seriously overwhelmed. I cannot remember another time when there was so much heavy activity by sample vendors all at the same time!


Yeah I as soon as I recovery from a 13 day 300 GB install.I will look into upgrading.The new videos are great.Hope I have enough HD space for these.


----------



## EvilDragon (Mar 26, 2019)

Mark Schmieder said:


> But I wonder how many will have trouble with these new wider interfaces, such as on Session Strings Pro 2 and now Shreddage 3?



Not many I would assume, anyone who's on desktop and doing composing for living is probably having at least a 1080p monitor which is perfectly sufficient.


----------



## AmbientMile (Mar 26, 2019)

EvilDragon said:


> Not many I would assume, anyone who's on desktop and doing composing for living is probably having at least a 1080p monitor which is perfectly sufficient.


If you are on an older MBP like I am, It's very easy to close the browser and use the wider versions. I first had to do this with Riff Generator from InSession Audio.


----------



## Mark Schmieder (Mar 26, 2019)

For those who may not have experienced a "wide format" Kontakt library yet, rest assured that when you load another library that isn't in that format, Kontakt goes back to its "normal" size. So you're not going to get sloppy layout on your other libraries as a result, and it'll also be easy to line up two Kontakt instances on your screen.

Overall this is a good thing to have the wider format available, as quite a few libraries by now were requiring vertical scrolling due to layout restrictions in the horizontal dimension. So we'll probably all get adjusted to this new layout rather quickly. Wider is usually better than taller, such as for mixer layouts. It's the main reason most of us went to widescreen format monitors as soon as we could!


----------



## EvilDragon (Mar 26, 2019)

Also, a good thing to know about is Kontakt's "mini" mode, which only shows you one single patch at a time, no other extra fluff.






This way you don't need to collapse the browser, you just toggle between mini mode on/off as needed.


----------



## Andrew Aversa (Mar 28, 2019)

FYI all, we've updated every S3 guitar today with some bug fixes and improvements!

https://impactsoundworks.com/my-account/updates/

We've adjusted some default values for envelopes and TACT, fixed bugs related to the Tone filter and Shred Offset, Spliti MIDI Channels and some other minor things. Some KVRAudio users were pointing out that it was a bit harder to get S3 instruments to sound like their S2 versions when it comes to really fast power metal chugs; this update addresses that, and also adds a snapshot called "Metal Rhythm" in the styles folder which makes it stupidly easy to get a great chugga-chugga sound!


----------



## AllanH (Mar 28, 2019)

thanks for the updates. I'm downloading and will give them a play


----------



## Robo Rivard (Mar 29, 2019)

Just upgraded my Shredded 2 instruments to version 3. So glad I did!


----------



## MartinH. (Apr 3, 2019)

zircon_st said:


> We've adjusted some default values for envelopes and TACT, fixed bugs related to the Tone filter and Shred Offset, Spliti MIDI Channels and some other minor things. Some KVRAudio users were pointing out that it was a bit harder to get S3 instruments to sound like their S2 versions when it comes to really fast power metal chugs; this update addresses that, and also adds a snapshot called "Metal Rhythm" in the styles folder which makes it stupidly easy to get a great chugga-chugga sound!



I downloaded and unzipped the update to S3 jupiter and copied the contents over my existing S3 Jupiter folder. I already found a couple of bugs, which I've sent you mails about today. 

I too noticed how it sounds different than S2 and was looking for your post here, because I remembered you mentioning a fix, but I can't find this "Metal Rhythm" style snapshot. I only see chords and solo leads in the "_Styles" subfolder of the snapshot menu. Am I looking in the wrong place? Did I do something wrong with the install of the update? Should I have deleted everything except the samples folder first before unpacking the updated instrument archive?


----------



## Andrew Aversa (Apr 3, 2019)

If you don't see the new snapshot, then you must not have unpacked the update in the right place. It should have extracted exactly 1:1 over your existing Jupiter folder, overwriting every file except the samples files.


----------



## MartinH. (Apr 3, 2019)

zircon_st said:


> If you don't see the new snapshot, then you must not have unpacked the update in the right place. It should have extracted exactly 1:1 over your existing Jupiter folder, overwriting every file except the samples files.



Thanks for the quick reply Andrew! This brings us closer to an explanation of what went wrong:
I kept all the archives that I downloaded. I originally downloaded S3 Jupiter on the 20th, on the 28th the update was announced and I downloaded it immediately. Or at least I thought I did, because when I check the MD5 checksums of the original file that I downloaded on the 20th and the supposed update from the 28th, they both have the same checksum ( 3cc6c3b4ba76021e878ca89977006b70 ), meaning they are identical. I just downloaded it _again_, and now it has a different MD5 checksum ( 2e3140fb43a59a0be1b5c7bc626512ec ). Maybe there was a slight delay between you uploading the new file and the storefront actually serving the correct download to people? 
I'll try out the actually updated version and let you know if I still have issues. Thanks!


----------



## MartinH. (Apr 3, 2019)

zircon_st said:


> We've adjusted some default values for envelopes and TACT, fixed bugs related to the Tone filter and Shred Offset, Spliti MIDI Channels and some other minor things. Some KVRAudio users were pointing out that it was a bit harder to get S3 instruments to sound like their S2 versions when it comes to really fast power metal chugs; this update addresses that, and also adds a snapshot called "Metal Rhythm" in the styles folder which makes it stupidly easy to get a great chugga-chugga sound!



I tried the "Metal Rythm" style snapshot but it still needs a bunch of tweaking to sound close to the old Shreddage II V3_21 (dialing offset and tightness settings down from the mutes, I didn't test all the other articulations, there might be more that nead tweaking). Would you consider providing a "legacy midi compatibility mode" snapshot for the S3 series products that uses the same (key)switches and sounds the same as the S2 versions? I'd imagine that to be very helpful for people who want to migrate a bunch of projects from v2 to v3 without making tons of manual changes. 

I have a question for TACT: what is expected behaviour when I disable every articulation (clicking on the blue light in front of the articulation names till they're all dark)? I would expect it to play nothing, but it plays samples that are barely audible on their own but rather loud through my high gain FX chain. What is this and where can I disable it to see if removing it from regular playback improves the sound? 

As far as I can tell the bugs that I've reported in my 3 mails today all still persist after the update. 

I've found one new bug, but can't reproduce it so far: I was experimenting with turning articulations off and had a situation where when I switched off one of the [rel] samples on the last page it would randomly not play notes in the riff that I had playing on loop while making changes on the TACT page. I wasn't able to reproduce the steps that got me there. 

I _believe_ I have briefly encountered another bug, where it sounded to me like higher pitched samples are played as internally up-pitched lower note samples and it sounded off, but I couldn't reproduce to A/B test and verify that it's actually the case and I'm not just going insane from bug hunting.

S2 has an "extra pick" option on the "engine page", I can't find it in the S3 UI or in the manual, is this feature gone or am I missing something? 

I do like the new "shred window/offset" feature, great idea!


----------



## Andrew Aversa (Apr 3, 2019)

We'll look into everything you mentioned soon. At the moment, there is no plan to make a perfect 1:1 legacy mode because of how we remapped some samples; specifically palm mutes which were really messy. In the older libraries, I mapped palm mutes differently for every note, so if you played the same velocity across the entire range, you would get mutes of different lengths. We've addressed that now so it's 100% consistent.

However it shouldn't be difficult to match the instrument in every other way, so that's something we'll continue to investigate.

The "extra pick" option is still available, but renamed to "Rake", because the latter is more accurate as to what is being performed. You can edit the options under Rake Picking on the Advanced page, and edit more articulation settings in TACT (or disable it.)

I'll talk with our lead programmer about 'all articulation off' behavior. I don't think we coded anything specifically for that since there is no reason to do it... that being said, if your modwheel is above 0 (or whatever method you use for vibrato, i.e. aftertouch) you will hear some of the vibrato xfading in.


----------



## Mark Schmieder (Apr 6, 2019)

I finally found time tonight to thoroughly go through the new Shreddage 3 interface (and user manual) and to compare against the original edition of the Archtop Guitar, and after about two hours of that, I am definitely upgrading the rest of my collection, as this is too good of a bargain to pass up, given that it's really an entirely new product with almost ten times as many features as before.

As for getting the new version of Archtop closer to the old in terms of warm and bright timbre (necessary in many situations to avoid mud, retain articulateness, and to mix well with other instruments), that was what took me the longest, but I was finally able to abandon the old library and then to start treating Shreddage 3 as a new experience.

Although I had three basic starting points for the old version (50/50 bridge/neck blend, bridge-only, neck-only, and with or without amp as some genres work best with DI guitar even though I know many people think Nile Rodgers is the only one who gets away with that anymore), it seems the inherent levels are a bit different in this version, so for cases where I need a pickup blend, I am setting the neck pickup to -9.0 dB and the bridge pickup to -12.5 dB (overall levels are hotter now).

I didn't compare to see if different snapshots have different settings outside of the insert effect chain, but as I had little luck starting from scratch, I went through a few of them, found them all extremely muddy and boomy, but finally settled on the Archtop Bright Clean snapshot and heavily modified that to get to more of the Tal Farlow sound that is usually my basic starting point.

I'm not sure how much of this is pertinent to the other guitars, but hopefully it is helpful at least to those migrating to the new Archtop library. It looks like the feature set is probably pretty uniform between the different guitar models this time around, but I'll know more after doing the upgrades.

The main thing, for the Archtop at least, is that I find the Reverb, Chorus, and even Analog EQ, to reduce clarity. I tend to use my own plug-ins later in the mix chain anyway, so don't know if these are for convenience or are designed specifically to result in better mix-ready output that processing downstream of initial tracking. It's just my own tastes anyway, and also Archtops are quite different from solid bodies in almost all respects. I may end up finding I like the insert effects on the others.

I found that things were a bit more even and articulate in Mono, as I would expect for Archtop and even for most Solid Body work, but I'm too tired now to check other projects to see if I was ever using the original version in stereo or not. Usually I prefer guitar to be mono and center-channelled.

The tweaks I did to the Archtop Bright Clean snapshot before saving my own, were to turn on the Bridge pickup and use the balance described above, delete the Analog EQ, Chorus, and Reverb insert effects, switch the Twang to Mono Mode (and retain the Bright Mode switch), and use the Brit Combo U87 Mic in its On-Axis setting. I had previously used the Tweed Amp, now shown as S2 Tweed B. It's nice that at least the old amp models were retained as S2 (for "Shreddage 2") settings, if desired.

Having done this work, I feel very confident now that I know my way around Shreddage 3 and can quickly replace Shreddage 2 in unfinished projects with better results than before, even before I start making new works that take full advantage of the new features and use the new sound palette that is only available with the MUCH wider and deeper range of possibilities now on offer.

This incredible update/upgrade from Impact Soundworks puts their guitars (and probably basses as well), on top of the pile once again. The competition is fierce between the Big Three (Ample Sounds and Orange Tree Samples; others have good samples and some other features but are nowhere near as advanced overall, in my opinion), but I personally feel ISW is now the undisputed king.


----------



## EvilDragon (Apr 6, 2019)

MartinH. said:


> I _believe_ I have briefly encountered another bug, where it sounded to me like higher pitched samples are played as internally up-pitched lower note samples and it sounded off, but I couldn't reproduce to A/B test and verify that it's actually the case and I'm not just going insane from bug hunting.



There are some zones being stretched in both directions across almost all articulations in all guitars, to greater or lesser extent.


----------



## Gerard.K (Aug 5, 2019)

@zircon_st
If I have shreddage 2, am I qualified to upgrade shreddage 3 stratus?
Ask this because I own shreddage 2 full bundle and send support mail but haven't received stratus upgrade coupon yet. Other 3 are delivered.
----Added----
@zircon_st
Never mind my post.
I didn't knew that jupitor is next version of shreddage 2. Sorry!


----------



## Fleer (Aug 6, 2019)

Isn’t Stratus the new kid on the block? Yet all other Shreddage 3 libraries are listed in Native Access by their full name, but the Stratus one is simply called “Shreddage 3”.


----------



## Gerard.K (Aug 6, 2019)

@Fleer 
Yes. You are right. Thank you.


----------



## EvilDragon (Aug 6, 2019)

Fleer said:


> Isn’t Stratus the new kid on the block? Yet all other Shreddage 3 libraries are listed in Native Access by their full name, but the Stratus one is simply called “Shreddage 3”.



That was the initial release of Stratus, then we reencoded it under a new name, it should say Shreddage 3 Stratus in NA if you have upgraded to this version (contact ISW support).


----------



## Fleer (Aug 6, 2019)

EvilDragon said:


> That was the initial release of Stratus, then we reencoded it under a new name, it should say Shreddage 3 Stratus in NA if you have upgraded to this version (contact ISW support).


Thanks ED, I will.


----------

