# Best ambient guitar libraries?



## motomotomoto (Jul 26, 2019)

I'm looking for a library (or several) that can do more than pads and swells, and is focused on playable electric or acoustic guitar but with an ambient edge to it. Something like the guitar solos in this  (around 24 min in is an excellent example)

Also, I don't have a ton of experience with guitar libraries, so perhaps the answer isn't in what library, but what processing is done on the library with effects and such.

I was looking at pettinhouse's big sale, but it didn't look like they have any guitars that have a similar sound to them.


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## KarlHeinz (Jul 26, 2019)

Two things came to my mind quickly:

- Impact Soundworks Schreddage 3 Stratus FREE ! Yes, its free, but thats mainly a restriction in note range, but you still have about 2-3 octaves playble, I dont remember exactly, and really wonderful ambient snapshots that are instantly playable
- Senfine by Wavelet Audio, this is a wonderful ALL AMBIENT library with some good guitars but apart from that ANY instrument (even drums if needed) you will need for some ambient stuff, totally focussed on that. The special athmosphere generater integrated is not easy to use, some learning curve for this, so you might get something more easy in case of ready made pads/athmos somewhere else. Sadly it is not in the actual sale I am afraid, so not cheap (around 140 bucks) and they have sales/intro prizes
EDIT: forgot the teaser, says all about it:


EDIT II: youst seen, it is even on sale here:








Senfine


Senfine, Senfine plugin, buy Senfine, download Senfine trial, Wavelet Audio Senfine




www.pluginboutique.com


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## KarlHeinz (Jul 26, 2019)

By the way: nice stuff in the video

One thing more coming to my mind which is in the "very good prize" category:









Angel Cano Kontakt Bundle - BigWerks


(Different requirements from our other kontakt products) **Requires full version kontakt 5.6.6 or higher** requires full version kontakt 5.6.6 or higher




bigwerks.com





you even get acutally 45 % off from this sales prize with "45OFF" coupon. In this bundle are some very nice guitars IF you know in general how an electric guitar sound should be made (pics, amps) cause there are no snapshots/presets but the included guitars sounds really nice and the target is definitely the ambient kind of sounds,you can look here for some examples: 

https://www.kontakthub.com/product/Toasty/


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## storyteller (Jul 26, 2019)

I really like Dream Audio Tools Dream Guitar. Not sure if it is exactly what you are looking for, but it has some very nice patches.


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## motomotomoto (Jul 26, 2019)

KarlHeinz said:


> Two things came to my mind quickly:
> 
> - Impact Soundworks Schreddage 3 Stratus FREE ! Yes, its free, but thats mainly a restriction in note range, but you still have about 2-3 octaves playble, I dont remember exactly, and really wonderful ambient snapshots that are instantly playable
> - Senfine by Wavelet Audio, this is a wonderful ALL AMBIENT library with some good guitars but apart from that ANY instrument (even drums if needed) you will need for some ambient stuff, totally focussed on that. The special athmosphere generater integrated is not easy to use, some learning curve for this, so you might get something more easy in case of ready made pads/athmos somewhere else. Sadly it is not in the actual sale I am afraid, so not cheap (around 140 bucks) and they have sales/intro prizes
> ...




wow Senfine looks great!


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## motomotomoto (Jul 26, 2019)

storyteller said:


> I really like Dream Audio Tools Dream Guitar. Not sure if it is exactly what you are looking for, but it has some very nice patches.




very nice options as well


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## motomotomoto (Jul 26, 2019)

does omnisphere have good options for ambient guitars as well? don't have that and considering picking that up...


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## AmbientMile (Jul 26, 2019)

Omnisphere does have great guitars in it (along with a million other great things...). There are two add-on libraries for Omnisphere from Plugin Guru called Mega Magic Guitars Part 1 and 2:

https://www.pluginguru.com/products/megamagic-guitars-part-1-omnisphere-2/









MegaMagic: Guitars Part 2 - PluginGuru.com


285 Patches! Over 170 New Guitar Samples! Jazz, Stratocaster, Mutes, Strums, Phrases, Hits and more! 100+ BONUS patches made our RAD team of programmers!




www.pluginguru.com





These are two of my favorite add-ons to Omnisphere. They have LOTS of guitars that work great for ambient.


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## Reid Rosefelt (Jul 26, 2019)

Personally, I think any decent guitar library can give the sound of an "ambient guitar" if you add a whole lot of dreamy reverb to it. Put on something like Pro-R and set it to ambient or cathedral. Or better yet, use a crazy reverb like Eventide's Blackhole. 

Omnisphere does do ambient guitar very well. One of my most favorite presets is "glorious guitars" which combines an acoustic guitar with a bowed electric. But Omnisphere is one of the best purchases you can make, along with Kontakt. You'll love it. 

Pluginguru's Megamagic series is all about ambient instruments. These libraries are samples of various instruments with reverb baked-in. These were made for Omnisphere, but the Guru also sells the Megamagic Guitars, Pads and Cello for Kontakt too. 

Sonic Zest used to sell a VI called "Ambient Cinematic Guitar" for $6. They built their whole reputation on that library and brought out three in the series. But now they have made their cinematic guitars part of something called the "Ambient Cinematic String Theory Collection" But you can still buy the first 3 for $16 and the 4th for $16. 








Ambient Cinematic Guitars 1-3 - Sonic Zest: Sample Libraries and Virtual Instruments for Kontakt


Ambient Cinematic Guitars 1-3 The Ambient Cinematic Guitar Trilogy is a collection of guitars processed to sound perfect in cinematic music. Get ready to instantly add something new to your scores. ** This instrument has been superseded by The Ambient Cinematic String Theory Collection. **...




soniczest.com


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## TomislavEP (Jul 27, 2019)

My personal favorite ambient guitar libraries which I have in my collection are Enigma from Spitfire Audio, Sphere from Exotic States and finally The Planet and Lost Horizon libraries from Atom Hub. In each of these, there are quite a few clean ambient guitar patches suitable for solos and arpeggios. While Enigma is my go-to library for those, Sphere and Atom Hub's ambient guitar libraries also feature such sounds. IMO, Sphere has the edge in ambient pad sounds though this is not a library derived only from ambient electric guitar but also from piano, acoustic guitar, cello and zither. But it blends perfectly with the mentioned and my other libraries.

You can also check out Ambient Guitars library from Spitfire Audio which is more extensive than Enigma content-wise, but IMO also farther away from the traditional ambient electric guitar concept. There is also "Atmosphere" library from the already mentioned Wavelet Audio that also seem to have some ambient guitar sounds included. I believe it's still available on Kontakt Hub. Finally, Kontakt developer Sonic Zest has quite a few of ambient libraries in their portfolio. I also suggest checking Kontakt Hub library with the keyword "ambient guitar". There are probably some more suitable products available there.

Speaking of additional processing, my must have effects for any kind of ambient production are Valhalla Room and Shimmer plugins. Also, plugins from Native Instruments like Phasis, Choral, Flair and especially Replika might work well for ambient work.

Finally, if you have Reaktor, the free ensembles from boscomac include several ambient effects as well.


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## AmbientMile (Jul 27, 2019)

TomislavEP said:


> ...and finally The Planet and Lost Horizon libraries from Atom Hub....



Totally forgot about these two. Love them both but Lost Horizon edges out The Planet for me.


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## WaveRider (Jul 27, 2019)

I would forget any library that market's itself as "ambient guitars". Those libraries focus on pads and swells but usually have terrible playable guitar sounds. 

Your best bet is to get a top notch guitar library and a set of great effects.


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## Dr.Quest (Jul 27, 2019)

I like the sound of this one quite well. It may not be the most expansive but it is a great inexpensive addition.
*https://ink-audio.com/collections/frontpage/products/ink-guitar (Ink Guitar)

*


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## Ashermusic (Jul 28, 2019)

TigerTheFrog said:


> Personally, I think any decent guitar library can give the sound of an "ambient guitar" if you add a whole lot of dreamy reverb to it. Put on something like Pro-R and set it to ambient or cathedral. Or better yet, use a crazy reverb like Eventide's Blackhole.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



+1. Easy-peasy with Adaptiverb e.g.


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## Fleer (Jul 28, 2019)

Cinematic Guitars Organic Atmospheres by SampleLogic. Pure ambient guitars.


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## MillsMixx (Jul 28, 2019)

I've been enjoying Apollo Cinematic Guitars. A bit pricy but I got it during a sale. Toby Ryan has a couple good videos demonstrating it's features.


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## Sopranos (Jul 28, 2019)

Omnisphere - Glorious Guitars patch.

Oh, and you get Omnisphere, too 😉 That is by far your best bet.


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## ltmusic (Jul 29, 2019)

Check t also Riffendium3 by Audiofier.


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## Ah_dziz (Jul 29, 2019)

One of the Orange tree sample libraries into a good reverb and delay (I use valhalla’s Stuff for these kinds of things). You’ll really only need to get used to playing with a volume pedal (or a controller pretending to be one) that’s in place before your amp and speaker or whatever “guitar processing” you are using. That will give you a very wide range of different timbres as well as letting you do swells, fake backwards playing, etc. I dunno if they still have the big sale going on but the “rock standard” library is pretty fantastic, as well as the “infinity” (which will give you an infinite sustain that I find useful for ambient type things) or maybe the “Dracus” which has a nice low end and chunky sound. I really like all the OTS stuff. I use it way more than I use my real guitars just for ease of use.


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## WaveRider (Jul 29, 2019)

ltmusic said:


> Check t also Riffendium3 by Audiofier.




I was about to be impressed until I realized it was loops. Arrrg!

When someone is able to create a VI that sounds like this, but when playing your own riffs, they will have struck gold.


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## KarlHeinz (Jul 29, 2019)

WaveRider: I would not have recommended this for "Ambient guitars" just for that cause but it seems in this case loops and sounds just fit together that way sadly. They have great multisample playable libs (even if the centre of Audiofier is ever on the sequencing), the SEQui2R EX has some great guitar and most of their stuff is "plug" orientated in some way, but as THE solo Ambient guitar, no, I love their stuff, but there are other libs coming to my mind before (as posted here already)


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## alanb (Aug 1, 2019)

Of course, you don't really _need_ a *guitar* library to make nice 'ambient guitar' sounds.

I made this twelve [_sigh_] years ago, in Cubase SX (_oy vey ist mir_) using only the GigaStudio (_breaks down sobbing_) version of Wavelore's American Zither (essentially a hammered dulcimer), modified with only one CC lane, and a couple of free Voxengo plugins. Turned out sorta 'Stars of the Lid'-dy, I thought.

Love ya/miss ya, Wavelore Mark, wherever you've got to:_


*[ Alan Blattberg - Infinite Enclosures - 11 - 'Dark Matter I' ]*


_


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## WaveRider (Aug 2, 2019)

alanb said:


> I made this twelve [_sigh_] years ago, in Cubase SX (_oy vey ist mir_) using only the GigaStudio (_breaks _



Great sound! I can only imagine how this would sound with some Blackhole reverb and a bit of distortion.

Sad how some of the older libraries sound better than today's stuff huh?


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## rollasoc (Aug 3, 2019)

As a couple of guitar players, we have been known to use Heavyocity's scoring guitars for some ambience style stuff.


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## berto (Aug 3, 2019)

WaveRider said:


> I was about to be impressed until I realized it was loops. Arrrg!
> 
> When someone is able to create a VI that sounds like this, but when playing your own riffs, they will have struck gold.


yes it is loops but you can really change them into something verysimilar to what you need. they follow the chords and you can change the notes and the slices... and they are played in all keys there's no transposing i have all 3 riffendium and i love them


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## AndyP (Aug 3, 2019)

Maybe here ... 





Welcome to Indiginus


Makers of affordable, high quality sample libraries including Renegade Electric Guitar, The Resonator, Strummaker IV, Solid State Symphony, and more.



indiginus.com





They have some nice guitar vi for many kinds of music.


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## WaveRider (Aug 17, 2019)

berto said:


> yes it is loops but you can really change them into something verysimilar to what you need. they follow the chords and you can change the notes and the slices... and they are played in all keys there's no transposing i have all 3 riffendium and i love them



Thanks for the tip. I revisited this library, and you're right. It's an absolutely beautiful sounding library with many options. I'm not a fan of loops, but I think there's a lot of useful stuff in here. I'll probably wind up buying it.


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## Marko Zirkovich (Aug 18, 2019)

WaveRider said:


> I'll probably wind up buying it.



Then you definitely should take advantage of the current deal at APD. All 3 Riffendiums for 44$. Yes, they are loop libraries, but it's amazing how customizable they are. With the slice sequencing, the randomization and the FX you can make the libraries fit the song instead of having to adjust your track to fit the library.

3 Riffendiums deal at APD


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## WaveRider (Aug 18, 2019)

Marko Zirkovich said:


> Then you definitely should take advantage of the current deal at APD. All 3 Riffendiums for 44$. Yes, they are loop libraries, but it's amazing how customizable they are. With the slice sequencing, the randomization and the FX you can make the libraries fit the song instead of having to adjust your track to fit the library.
> 
> 3 Riffendiums deal at APD



Sold! i'll probably never use 1 & 2, but $44 is a no-brainer. Thanks for letting me know about the offer. I'm really surprise by the price. What a deal.


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## thesteelydane (Aug 19, 2019)

I’m actually working on a guitar library, with the working title “Vancouver Guitars”. It’s ambient and textural, but playable in much the same way that Bunker Strings is. Of course that doesn’t help you right now, but if all goes well, it will be out before the end of the year.


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## WaveRider (Aug 19, 2019)

thesteelydane said:


> I’m actually working on a guitar library, with the working title “Vancouver Guitars”. It’s ambient and textural, but playable in much the same way that Bunker Strings is. Of course that doesn’t help you right now, but if all goes well, it will be out before the end of the year.



Glad to hear you're working on one! I just checked out your site and I like your approach to raw and gritty. Hope you're doing that with a guitar library as well. The scratches, slides, and imperfections are what make a guitar sound real.


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## Dowakwak (Apr 15, 2020)

Hey there,

I also own some of the mentioned libraries. Senfine is fine. There are some quite good keys included also.

Anyway, I am searching for that special distorted guitar tone. It was used for example on the soundtrack for 28 days later. 



Maybe the best example would be the audio demo on the output website for movement









MOVEMENT by Output | Powerful Rhythm FX Engine


A powerful rhythm FX engine that transforms any instrument, synth, raw sound or full track in real time.



output.com





just scroll down, it is the 2nd dry guitar audio example.

I have tried to reproduce the sound with countless plugins, but did not come near that sound.

Any suggestion would be fine.


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## Dowakwak (Apr 15, 2020)

The pulse starting at 1:11.

I own scoring guitars already, but these are unfortunately just phrases.


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## Fleer (Apr 15, 2020)

Sorry to ask, but do you mean Scoring Guitars 2 only consists of phrases?


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## Niah2 (Apr 15, 2020)

alanb said:


> Of course, you don't really _need_ a *guitar* library to make nice 'ambient guitar' sounds.
> 
> I made this twelve [_sigh_] years ago, in Cubase SX (_oy vey ist mir_) using only the GigaStudio (_breaks down sobbing_) version of Wavelore's American Zither (essentially a hammered dulcimer), modified with only one CC lane, and a couple of free Voxengo plugins. Turned out sorta 'Stars of the Lid'-dy, I thought.
> 
> ...



I remember you posting this track back in the end, I still listen to it to this day. Really creative what you did the wavelore pedal steel, truly incredible.


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## Dowakwak (Apr 15, 2020)

Fleer said:


> Sorry to ask, but do you mean Scoring Guitars 2 only consists of phrases?


No, Not only phrases. There are also Pads, drones, etc. But the sound I want is just available as phrases.


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## gsilbers (Apr 15, 2020)

motomotomoto said:


> I'm looking for a library (or several) that can do more than pads and swells, and is focused on playable electric or acoustic guitar but with an ambient edge to it. Something like the guitar solos in this  (around 24 min in is an excellent example)
> 
> Also, I don't have a ton of experience with guitar libraries, so perhaps the answer isn't in what library, but what processing is done on the library with effects and such.
> 
> I was looking at pettinhouse's big sale, but it didn't look like they have any guitars that have a similar sound to them.





free









Reverxis | PulseSetter-Sounds


Reverxis is a collection of reversed guitar based sound design loops for film composers that where made by playing guitar lines, reversing then and applying differnt sound design techniques.These guitar loops are later mapped in kontakt so they can be played like a whole new instrument which...




pulsesetter-sounds.com


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## 667 (Apr 16, 2020)

Dowakwak said:


> Hey there,
> 
> I also own some of the mentioned libraries. Senfine is fine. There are some quite good keys included also.
> 
> ...




There's nothing too magical here, but one thing is to use a single-coil guitar library. For this sound I would use a telecaster VI into any decent amp sim plus cabinet modeling. But any single coil would be fine. Cabinet modeling with mic models so you can set distance (some of these examples sound like they are far-mic'd).

This might be one of those times where how the notes are played is really important. Sometimes backing off and playing softly into the amp gives you this kind of breakup. Maybe that's something you can do with a VI: something with lots of dynamic layers that you can play lower velocities into something that breaks up nicely (I'd start with a Vox model an go from there. They often breakup more with volume as well so you get that character that I think you're looking for.


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## Niah2 (Apr 16, 2020)

Godspeed You Black Emperor also uses a screwdriver as a slider to play certain textures.


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## storyteller (Apr 16, 2020)

jackroom1995 said:


> I have no limit on my budget. Wondering what you think are the best & most realistic guitar vsts.
> I want something that sounds very natural & will actually sound like Im playing a guitar even though I'm using a midi keyboard.


Unless you are performing classical fingerstyle, I think most guitarists would agree that guitar VIs are some of the most lifeless VIs out there. Many are passable for something buried in the background, but struggle for regular guitar stuff. 

That said, basses, Resonators, Classical guitars, and lap steels do just fine with VIs since they each use a different playing style than regular acoustic and electrics.


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## rrichard63 (Apr 16, 2020)

jackroom1995 said:


> I have no limit on my budget. Wondering what you think are the best & most realistic guitar vsts.
> I want something that sounds very natural & will actually sound like Im playing a guitar even though I'm using a midi keyboard.


This is a different subject. There are a lot of previous threads addressing it. Search the forum for "electric guitar" or "acoustic guitar" depending on which you are looking for.


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## CT (Apr 17, 2020)

Spitfire's Ambient Guitars has been mentioned already, and I'd also add Soniccouture's Xbow Guitars, which I don't think has come up yet. That will give you some very nice extended techniques that lend themselves to ambient music.

By the way, "In The Branches" is great stuff!


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## 667 (Apr 19, 2020)

jackroom1995 said:


> I have no limit on my budget. Wondering what you think are the best & most realistic guitar vsts.
> I want something that sounds very natural & will actually sound like Im playing a guitar even though I'm using a midi keyboard.


I've never heard anything as good as you are describing. Many are pretty good, though. Orange Tree, Prominy, Impact Sound Works. These are the three I would choose from because they've all been doing it a long time so (I would assume) they've continuously improved their products/features/realism.

This is one of those times you are really served best by a human player though. Even Ministry in its most repetitive guitar tracks were using human player and not samples.

But, you don't say what guitar style you need. There are libraries dedicated to certain styles, check em out.


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