# SHREDDAGE 3 STRATUS - Now available from Impact Soundworks!!!



## Andrew Aversa (Oct 2, 2018)

*Shreddage 3 Stratus - Available Now!*

Impact Soundworks' *Shreddage 2* guitar has been our most popular virtual instrument since its release in 2012. Over the years, we've refreshed and updated it several times, and brought two other guitar models to the same engine. But now, it's time for the next generation!

*Introducing Shreddage 3*

We have created an *entirely new* virtual guitar engine, scripted from the ground up with cutting-edge tech. S3 harnesses the full range of Kontakt 5.7's features to deliver stunning *playability*, *realism*, and *customization*. Not to mention, it looks badass!







The S3 engine will power newly-recorded guitars starting with *Stratus*, coming later this month. Older guitars on the S2 engine, as well as Archtop and Shreddage Bass 2, will also be ported to S3.

*Blog Post: Shreddage 3 Engine

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
*Introducing CONSOLE*

Debuting in Shreddage 3 Stratus is our new *CONSOLE* tab. This is, in our opinion, the most powerful FX mixer in the Kontakt world with _unprecedented_ amounts of control and customization at your fingertips.

While you can of course route the instrument to your host DAW for mixing, Console makes it incredibly easy to set up, save, and load tone presets for ANY S3 instrument. (You'll see this in other non-guitar libraries soon, too!)






*Console Features*:

Independent mixing, purging, mute/solo and FX chains for all pickups
Instantiate up to 8 FX per pickup, 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!*
*Introducing TACT 2.0
*
"Total Articulation Control Technology" (TACT) has appeared in a number of ISW releases, giving you - as the name suggests - complete flexibility over how articulations are mapped and triggered. Individual techniques could be mapped to velocity, key range, key switches, midi CCs or other methods, with the ability to create multiple 'rules' and mapping presets quickly and easily.

Naturally, for S3, we have given TACT an upgrade as well!






We've kept all the same great functionality from v1.0 but expanded the look to be far less cramped. *Legato controls* are more flexible as well, giving you extended tweaking capabilities for the origin, transition, and destination samples.

*Shreddage 3 Stratus*

All of these incredible features are nothing without a killer set of samples, and we're excited to announce the first guitar of the S3 engine is a classic American sound that has long been missing from the ISW lineup.

*Stratus* is just as deep-sampled as earlier guitars, offering a full range of sustains, palm mutes (with multiple layers), powerchords, tremolo, harmonics, legato, chokes, rakes, and releases.

We've also captured some brand new articulations such as *Staccato Snaps* and *Tremolo Slides *that are essential to this type of guitar, and simultaneously recorded *three pickups* (neck, middle, bridge) which give you three very distinct tones to work with.

How does it sound? Well...

*Audio Demos*



*Launch Trailer*



*Instrument Walkthrough*



*Availability / Pricing

Shreddage 3 Stratus* is available NOW for MSRP *$149*, compatible with Kontakt Player 5.7+ and NKS. _Full version of Kontakt is NOT required!_ 

Owners of any *Shreddage 2* series guitar will get a $20 coupon in their *Deals area*, plus heavily discounted upgrades on S3 versions of S2 guitars.

We can't wait to hear what you do with S3 Stratus!


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## Wolf68 (Oct 2, 2018)

the gui Looks delicious! and I'm sure, the sound will be that, too!


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## chillbot (Oct 2, 2018)

I'm impressed with your thesaurus skills.

Stunning.
Badass.
Improved.
Extensive/Extended.
Essential.
Incredible.
Customizable.
Plethora.
Unprecedented.
Flexibility.
Brand New.

But not "Groundbreaking"? I only purchase Groundbreaking these days.

I might make an exception for this.


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## lumcas (Oct 2, 2018)

How about “game changer”, is it not? But I’m probably gonna buy it anyway


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## Fleer (Oct 2, 2018)

Looking fingerpicking good


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## InLight-Tone (Oct 2, 2018)

Looking forward to these updates and new guitars. Amplesound is great and all, but their keyswitch system sucks a$$...


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## Mystic (Oct 2, 2018)

#FreeZircon
Obligatory.

Looks really good. Will certainly be picking this one up!


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## benmrx (Oct 2, 2018)

Lovely GUI!! Looking forward to more info.


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## Vastman (Oct 3, 2018)

Wow! Thanks for this, Andrew...my favorite guitar of the ages...and I look forward to exploring the new magic you apply to this baby!


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## Andrew Aversa (Oct 3, 2018)

chillbot said:


> I'm impressed with your thesaurus skills.
> 
> Stunning.
> Badass.
> ...



I use superlatives only when I'm 100% confident they're deserved.


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## Mystic (Oct 3, 2018)

I use superlaxatives too... errr... wait a moment.

Uhm... this is awkward.

Walkthrough? :D


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## Chris Wagner (Oct 3, 2018)

Mystic said:


> I use superlaxatives too... errr... wait a moment.
> 
> Uhm... this is awkward.
> 
> Walkthrough? :D



It's awkward, indeed! :D


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## EvilDragon (Oct 3, 2018)

Mystic said:


> Walkthrough? :D



It's still in beta and some other things are being handled (NKS, encoding, etc.)


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## Mystic (Oct 3, 2018)

EvilDragon said:


> It's still in beta and some other things are being handled (NKS, encoding, etc.)


That was a joke.


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## bill45 (Oct 3, 2018)

Redo that amazing SG from Shreddage 1
Not many sampled SG's


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## EvilDragon (Oct 3, 2018)

All the guitars will be redone, AFAIK.


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## amorphosynthesis (Oct 4, 2018)

zircon_st said:


> *Introducing TACT 2.0
> *
> "Total Articulation Control Technology" (TACT) has appeared in a number of ISW releases, giving you - as the name suggests - complete flexibility over how articulations are mapped and triggered. Individual techniques could be mapped to velocity, key range, key switches, midi CCs or other methods, with the ability to create multiple 'rules' and mapping presets quickly and easily.
> 
> Naturally, for S3, we have given TACT an upgrade as well!


Congrats for S3 I hope we'll all hail 'shreddage is dead,long live shreddage' but 
I was wondering...while you are here,I have an
almost totally irrelevant question;
will there be any TACT implemantation to Bravura or the plucked ethnic instruments as well any time soon?


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## EvilDragon (Oct 4, 2018)

AFAIK it's not anywhere in the pipeline, so not "any time soon" for sure. Also I feel that Bravura wouldn't gain that much by having TACT implemented, but I could be wrong.


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## amorphosynthesis (Oct 4, 2018)

txh for the info !!!!


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## bill45 (Oct 4, 2018)

EvilDragon said:


> All the guitars will be redone, AFAIK.


Right. I would like to see them do a brand new sampling session with the sg used in Shreddage / Classic.


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## EvilDragon (Oct 4, 2018)

That's up to Andrew to decide, and if the original guy still has that same guitar.


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## bill45 (Oct 5, 2018)

EvilDragon said:


> That's up to Andrew to decide, and if the original guy still has that same guitar.


I know, just a suggestion.He did say they were gonna sample new guitars for the new engine.


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## Andrew Aversa (Oct 17, 2018)

We've announced our pricing, along with how future instruments, upgrades, and crossgrades will be made available in the Shreddage 3 family!

The *base price *of Stratus will be* $119*, with a one-time *$30* S3 license on top. Once you have the license, you'll be able to purchase and use any other S3 series instrument without re-paying the license fee.

Learn more in our latest blog post below:

*https://impactsoundworks.com/the-shreddage-3-ecosystem/*


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## ReelToLogic (Oct 19, 2018)

zircon_st said:


> We've announced our pricing, along with how future instruments, upgrades, and crossgrades will be made available in the Shreddage 3 family!
> 
> The *base price *of Stratus will be* $119*, with a one-time *$30* S3 license on top. Once you have the license, you'll be able to purchase and use any other S3 series instrument without re-paying the license fee.
> 
> ...



Thanks for posting the pricing. To check my understanding, if I have Shreddage II, it will cost me $50 ($20 + $30) to upgrade to S3 when the update is available - is that correct? Also, it will be the same set of samples I currently have with Shreddage II, but played with the new improved S3 engine?


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## EvilDragon (Oct 19, 2018)

Yes and yes!


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## Lode_Runner (Oct 19, 2018)

This looks great, liking the demo and glad to see Shreddage moving out of exclusively metal territory (the clean part of the demo shows broader possibilities)


Just one minor complaint - the fretboard looks really weird because it's the same width from the body to the nut, kind of makes it look like a reflection in one of those crazy fun house mirrors.


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## EvilDragon (Oct 19, 2018)

Lode_Runner said:


> the fretboard looks really weird because it's the same width from the body to the nut



Artistic freedom


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## Andrew Aversa (Oct 23, 2018)

Our new *CONSOLE modular mixer* and FX rack will debut with Shreddage 3 Stratus! Mix and blend all three pickups with 4 x 8 insert channels, 8 send channels, and 30 different FX modules to choose from (in any order you want). Includes over 30 new cab IRs recorded exclusively for Shreddage 3. Read more & listen in the blog post below:

https://impactsoundworks.com/console-modular-fx-rack-and-mixer/


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## ftech (Oct 24, 2018)

So, my question is; I have the original Shreddage which was offered as a bundle with Shreddage Bass through vstbuzz, and I have upgraded to v2 through ISW, I assume I would still qualify for upgrade pricing to v3?
Looking forward to it either way!


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## Andrew Aversa (Oct 25, 2018)

Yes, any Shreddage 2 guitars qualify for the upgrade discount to Stratus! And once we launch the S3 versions of the S2 guitars, that discount will be even higher.


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## neblix (Oct 26, 2018)

bill45 said:


> Redo that amazing SG from Shreddage 1
> Not many sampled SG's



I would love if we did this. Up to Andrew though.


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## bill45 (Oct 27, 2018)

neblix said:


> I would love if we did this. Up to Andrew though.


 All right! you guys are great.I know you have a lot on your plates.I'm gonna grab SRP next time it goes on sale.Love to write with shreddage clasic. The muts in shreddage 2 are awesome


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## Rey (Oct 28, 2018)

hi @zircon_st . I would like to ask do you provide guitar fx( or sound presets) such as funk( in the second demo) in shreddage 3? or do I have to rely to other vst for sound effects such as amplitube?(which im confused of how to use). Im not a guitarist irl. But need some lead and rhythm guitar sounds for my music. Thanks!


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## EvilDragon (Oct 29, 2018)

Yes, there are some tone presets coming with S3. But of course you are also free to completely bypass them and use 3rd party VSTs.


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## Rey (Oct 29, 2018)

EvilDragon said:


> Yes, there are some tone presets coming with S3. But of course you are also free to completely bypass them and use 3rd party VSTs.



awesome thanks man! im a real noob at guitar don't even have one. I hope they have the one funk preset in 'funkoland' demo and guitar presets in 'aquatic ambience' demo. its hard for me to achieve that sound on my own :(


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## Rey (Oct 29, 2018)

EvilDragon said:


> Yes, there are some tone presets coming with S3. But of course you are also free to completely bypass them and use 3rd party VSTs.


also I would like to know are the tones in the demo were using the built in presets or third party presets?


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## Andrew Aversa (Oct 29, 2018)

Some of the demos use external amps - these came before we fully implemented Console and had all the proper fx/cabs. "Tone Showcase" of course is all internal, as is "Aquatic Ambiance". I have to double check, but Funkoland should be mostly internal except for the 'wah' effect (Kontakt doesn't have a proper one yet.)


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## Rey (Oct 29, 2018)

zircon_st said:


> Some of the demos use external amps - these came before we fully implemented Console and had all the proper fx/cabs. "Tone Showcase" of course is all internal, as is "Aquatic Ambiance". I have to double check, but Funkoland should be mostly internal except for the 'wah' effect (Kontakt doesn't have a proper one yet.)



awesome. thank you. if it can be achieved it ll be awesome. but shreddage 3 is already awesome. loving the funk guitar(no wah no problem) just the rhythmy funk guitar and also of course rhythm guitar and the 'lead' in the second part of "Aquatic Ambiance". Superbly gorgeous!


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## Andrew Aversa (Oct 30, 2018)

As we wait for final encoding by NI, we've been adding new demos every other day or so in a variety of styles, such as Henning Nugel's excellent "Chameleon Cure"!


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## Rey (Oct 30, 2018)

hope to see some walkthrough soon. and how to use console.


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## Vastman (Oct 30, 2018)

zircon_st said:


> As we wait for final encoding by NI, we've been adding new demos every other day or so in a variety of styles, such as Henning Nugel's excellent "Chameleon Cure"!



Listening to the 6 soundcloud demos now...WoW! Hope u'll get the time to deconstruct these ...the midi and all...on YouTube, Andrew... they are truly amazing...i have NEVER GOTTEN CLOSE to these... but will study hard if you give us the education!

Thanks so look much. Am sooo excited by what I'm listening to!


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## EvilDragon (Oct 31, 2018)

Rey said:


> hope to see some walkthrough soon. and how to use console.



You use it like any other console. 

https://impactsoundworks.com/console-modular-fx-rack-and-mixer/


Manual at the bottom of the article.


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## Rey (Oct 31, 2018)

EvilDragon said:


> You use it like any other console.
> 
> https://impactsoundworks.com/console-modular-fx-rack-and-mixer/
> 
> ...


thank you!


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## Andrew Aversa (Nov 1, 2018)

*Shreddage 3 Stratus is NOW AVAILABLE!*


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## Sunny Fable (Nov 1, 2018)

Rock N' Roll!... well, since we are in VI Control.. Symphonic Rock N' Roll!!


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## robdrmz (Nov 1, 2018)

EvilDragon said:


> You use it like any other console.


Hi EvilDragon, I have Shreddage 1 & would like to upgrade. Will there be Metal add on packs for S3 Stratus or entirely new instruments, eg: Shreddage 3 metal guitar. Can't wait, Thanks!


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## EvilDragon (Nov 1, 2018)

We will port all older Shreddage guitars to the new engine as time goes by.


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## amorphosynthesis (Nov 1, 2018)

zircon_st said:


> *Shreddage 3 Stratus is NOW AVAILABLE!*



Imho
The shreddage 3 eco system is confusing,I dont get why you should divide the pricing into 2 or 3 pieces.I mean with shreddage 2 you bought the license for all the sub-types when you bought shreddage 2....not to mention that I feel 20$ for crossgrade doesn't feel that great. Anyway, love ISW,but I think I'll pass


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## EvilDragon (Nov 1, 2018)

amorphosynthesis said:


> with shreddage 2 you bought the license for all the sub-types when you bought shreddage 2



No, you didn't. IBZ and SRP (for example) were separate purchases to S2 standard. You could buy them "standalone" but that still included the S2 base license price in it. It's pretty much the same principle. You get one license that will support all the guitars to come.

For $20 crossgrade you get a greatly improved engine that does things S2 simply cannot do, and is also simpler to use overall... Not to mention there simply won't be any updates or bugfixes for S2 since we've moved on to version 3 of the engine.


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## amorphosynthesis (Nov 1, 2018)

EvilDragon said:


> No, you didn't. IBZ and SRP (for example) were separate purchases to S2 standard. You could buy them "standalone" but that still included the S2 base license price in it. It's pretty much the same principle. You get one license that will support all the guitars to come.


True...it's the exactly same principal,but it feels more confusing,at least to me-when you are trying to buy Shreddag3,the additional fee for the license pops up...plus 30$.Call me Mr Grumpy,but this is how I feel.



EvilDragon said:


> For $20 crossgrade you get a greatly improved engine that does things S2 simply cannot do, and is also simpler to use overall... Not to mention there simply won't be any updates or bugfixes for S2 since we've moved on to version 3 of the engine.


I could never have an opinion on that,since I couldn't have possibly compared the two engines...,but correct me if I am wrong,when you have all shreddage 2...(std,ibz and srp) you will need a 20 x 3=60 $, plus 30$ =90$(plus tax) for upgrade to S3.(Mr Grumpy all over)
Anyway to be honest,the engine looks tempting...


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## Andrew Aversa (Nov 1, 2018)

The idea was to make it _*less*_ confusing, so I apologize if having a separate License product made it worse :D The problem before was that we constantly had people buying the wrong version of SRP or IBZ. Even with big bold text explaining that they need "Standalone" if they have no other S2 guitars.

So now, when getting an S3 guitar, an S3 license is *automatically *added to your cart if you need one, and *never *added if you don't. That seemed a more simple and elegant approach.

In any case, we feel like $20 as an upgrade from an S2 guitar to the S3 version of that same guitar is fair because this really isn't just a UI update. It's dramatically upgraded functionality. You're getting:


The complete Console rack, whereas S2 guitars have just a handful of fixed-order FX (with worse-sounding cabs and only 2 amps)
Way more realistic voicing for leads, chords, rhythm, etc.
More automatable controls, fretboard capo, hand position control
The Strumming feature
Completely flexible articulation mapping, as opposed to the limited options from before
1-4x tracking within a single patch (as opposed to just single or double)
Full NKS compatibility
From our end it isn't as simple as just loading a new script either. It will involve manually re-creating the entire patch, possibly modifying recordings, tuning, sample offsets, etc. But I strongly believe it will be WELL worth it.


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## Rey (Nov 1, 2018)

can someone who have purchased it make a test walkthrough video on youtube of the built in "named" preset sounds from ISW in console. Solo melody or lead guitar playing would be nice.


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## Rey (Nov 1, 2018)

Vastman said:


> Listening to the 6 soundcloud demos now...WoW! Hope u'll get the time to deconstruct these ...the midi and all...on YouTube, Andrew... they are truly amazing...i have NEVER GOTTEN CLOSE to these... but will study hard if you give us the education!
> 
> Thanks so look much. Am sooo excited by what I'm listening to!



Aquatic ambiance and Funkoland is my 2 favorites so far. I hope ISW deconstruct and share the presets of those 2 first


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## SoNowWhat? (Nov 1, 2018)

This is sounding very good. The chord strumming in particular. There are a few guitar VIs that can do a good job on a solo line (I have Shreddage 2 SRP and it's one of my preferred guitar VIs), but the strumming has always been difficult to get to sound right. 

Console looks awesome.

Well done ISW team.


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## Polkasound (Nov 1, 2018)

zircon_st said:


> In any case, we feel like $20 as an upgrade from an S2 guitar to the S3 version of that same guitar is fair because this really isn't just a UI update. It's dramatically upgraded functionality



Understood, but your best S2 customers (the ones who have purchased multiple guitars) will now need to pay the upgrade fee multiple times to use the same S3 engine they just bought for $30. You need to be compensated for the work you're doing to make S2 guitars work with S3, but it's my opinion that the upgrade fee from S2 to S3 should be a flat fee per customer/license, not per instrument.


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## neblix (Nov 1, 2018)

Polkasound said:


> Understood, but your best S2 customers (the ones who have purchased multiple guitars) will now need to pay the upgrade fee multiple times to use the same S3 engine they just bought for $30. You need to be compensated for the work you're doing to make S2 guitars work with S3, but it's my opinion that the upgrade fee from S2 to S3 should be a flat fee per customer/license, not per instrument.



Hi Polka,

I'm not sure if that's fair to say at all. A small pocket change upgrade fee is pretty fair, in my opinion, to cover the work needed to remap all of the samples, develop new graphics, set up the engines for each guitar, develop the snapshots, testing phase, Native Instruments encoding etc for each guitar. These things take some time. Of course we are currently still hashing out the exact tentative pricing.


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## Andrew Aversa (Nov 1, 2018)

Rey said:


> Aquatic ambiance and Funkoland is my 2 favorites so far. I hope ISW deconstruct and share the presets of those 2 first



I dug into Funkoland a little bit in the 19 minute walkthrough video! Mainly how I did the strumming and the wakka-chikka stuff. More vids to come for sure.


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## Polkasound (Nov 1, 2018)

neblix said:


> I'm not sure if that's fair to say at all.



I'm not in any way diminishing the work needed to upgrade S2 guitars. I know it's a lot of time involved, and you should be fully compensated for that. All I'm saying is that if I were ISW, I would do it a little differently. I would not charge my best S2 customers $60 in "pocket change" to allow them to use the upgraded S3 engine with their three S2 purchases while charging other customers only $20 or $40 for their one or two S2 purchases. I would charge a flat fee of, for example, $40 per licensed customer to bring whatever S2 guitars they own over to the new S3 engine.

I understand that way of thinking may be a little confusing, but since we're talking about recouping the cost of labor and not replenishing physical goods, you could set a fixed price for the S2-to-S3 upgrade so that your top S2 customers will not have to pay 2X to 3X more than other S2 customers for the same benefit of using the S3 engine.

That's just my philosophy. But then, I also give my customers 30-days advance notice of upcoming sales, so I'm definitely not your typical developer.


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## Vastman (Nov 1, 2018)

Thanks Andrew & ED... instant buy! Am so excited by this and that all my other shredders will be more playable and useful soon... fantastic work by ALL!


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## Andrew Aversa (Nov 2, 2018)

Here is a walkthrough of the trailer song "The Third Destiny" showing MIDI data etc. We've had requests for downloadable MIDI/project files too... while project files might not be that useful (due to DAW differences, other plugins) we are prepping MIDIs to share!


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## Rey (Nov 2, 2018)

zircon_st said:


> Here is a walkthrough of the trailer song "The Third Destiny" showing MIDI data etc. We've had requests for downloadable MIDI/project files too... while project files might not be that useful (due to DAW differences, other plugins) we are prepping MIDIs to share!





zircon_st said:


> Here is a walkthrough of the trailer song "The Third Destiny" showing MIDI data etc. We've had requests for downloadable MIDI/project files too... while project files might not be that useful (due to DAW differences, other plugins) we are prepping MIDIs to share!




but i guess project files would help a lot too....especially to achieve the same tone, whether internal or external. fl studio is pretty common. or can you share the sound presets for all the demos? its not in the video


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## MartinH. (Nov 2, 2018)

@zircon_st Which of your current (or future upgraded to S3) guitar products do you think is best suited for the "tremolo picked wall of sound blackmetal style"? something along these lines: 


So far I only own S2 and I'm getting like ~90% there with the tremolo articulation, and I'm wondering if any of the others or the S3 upgrade to S2 would give me better fine control about the picking speed, without using the single-note articulations that sound too "machnine-gun-ish" when used in this way.


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## jonnybutter (Nov 2, 2018)

May I just say - what a great VI! It's my first Shreddage and I love it. So playable



EDIT . Batch re-save solved some initial problems that I was having.


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## paul (Nov 2, 2018)

ReelToLogic said:


> Thanks for posting the pricing. To check my understanding, if I have Shreddage II, it will cost me $50 ($20 + $30) to upgrade to S3 when the update is available - is that correct? Also, it will be the same set of samples I currently have with Shreddage II, but played with the new improved S3 engine?


I couldn't be more confused (even if I tried.... _but maybe I'll should just try a little harder?)_. 
I've got Shreddage 2 and it appears that I can upgrade to V3 from V2 with a 20 dollar discount on the full price when I go to their website.
The deal seems _just "ok"_ - but I can't quite relate to other guys comments? 
Am I missing something here?


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## ReelToLogic (Nov 2, 2018)

paul said:


> I couldn't be more confused (even if I tried.... _but maybe I'll should just try a little harder?)_.
> I've got Shreddage 2 and it appears that I can upgrade to V3 from V2 with a 20 dollar discount on the full price when I go to their website.
> The deal seems _just "ok"_ - but I can't quite relate to other guys comments?
> Am I missing something here?



It costs $20 for the upgraded version of Shreddage II (when it comes out) but you will also need the new S3 engine which costs $30. The S3 engine is a one-time purchase, and will work with all the new Shreddage guitars.


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## neblix (Nov 2, 2018)

It doesn't help that the name of the first Shreddage 2 series guitar *is* Shreddage 2, so let's clarify this some more. 

If you want to buy Shreddage 3 Stratus, it is the full price of Stratus ($119 + $30 KP serial) minus $20 if you own any Shreddage 2 series guitars. In other words, Stratus is $129 for Shreddage 2 series guitar owners.

In the future, when we release Shreddage 3 series versions of the previous guitars, in other words buying "Shreddage 3 IBZ" if you own "Shreddage 2 IBZ", the current tentative model is that it will cost $20 per guitar upgrade, + the $30 KP serial if you do not already own it from buying Shreddage 3 Stratus.

In other words if you own S2 IBZ and SRP, upgrading them to S3 will cost $40 ($20 each upgrade) + $30 KP serial for the Shreddage 3 engine for a total of $70.

As said before, this is only the tentative pricing model, and we've talked about lowering the per-guitar price a couple times. We want to make it a no-brainer move to upgrade to S3.


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## Vastman (Nov 3, 2018)

$20 upgrade is MORE than fair...


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## drumman (Nov 6, 2018)

zircon_st said:


> Here is a walkthrough of the trailer song "The Third Destiny" showing MIDI data etc. We've had requests for downloadable MIDI/project files too... while project files might not be that useful (due to DAW differences, other plugins) we are prepping MIDIs to share!




MIDI to share -- yes!! Huge learning tool.
You supply MIDI, I'll buy this new Fender thingy you've made.


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## Andrew Aversa (Nov 7, 2018)

Today we have a new demo from Ian Dorsch, who never fails to impress! This one is a more mellow vibe in the style of Eric Johnson/Andy Timmons. Two tracks of clean rhythm and one lead:



Announcement re: project files / MIDI coming soon...


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## Rey (Nov 7, 2018)

zircon_st said:


> Today we have a new demo from Ian Dorsch, who never fails to impress! This one is a more mellow vibe in the style of Eric Johnson/Andy Timmons. Two tracks of clean rhythm and one lead:
> 
> 
> 
> Announcement re: project files / MIDI coming soon...




thanks Andrew. that would be awesome. Also can we know in advance where will you be sharing the midis and project files? here at VI control forum or elsewhere? thanks


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## Andrew Aversa (Nov 8, 2018)

Yes! I'm pleased to announce that S3 Stratus *now comes with demo resources* such as project files, MIDIs, and snapshots! Once you purchase the product you'll see the demo package under your list of download links. 

As we continue to assemble more resources from current & future demos, we'll expand this archive and it will auto-update in your account.


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## Dirk Ehlert (Nov 9, 2018)

@zircon_st is there an option for Drop D or Drop C tuning? Awesome product, great sound.


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## EvilDragon (Nov 9, 2018)

No options for tuning changes at this moment.


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## Tfis (Nov 10, 2018)

zircon_st said:


> Once you purchase the product you'll see the demo package under your list of download links.



Hi zircon_st,

has the demo package already been added to the download links?

I can't find it. Only seeing the 4 parts of Stratus (3x2 GB, 1x1.8GB).


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## EvilDragon (Nov 10, 2018)

https://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=7218683#p7218683


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## Andrew Aversa (Nov 10, 2018)

jonnybutter said:


> May I just say - what a great VI! It's my first Shreddage and I love it. So playable
> 
> EDIT: There seem to be some bugs going on - not surprising for a brand new engine I guess. I'm getting stuck keyswitches and just inconsistent keyswitch behavior. I run into this on both the light version and the full. I had a MIDI monitor running and didn't see any errant MIDI messages coming in.
> 
> ...



What (if anything) is still not behaving correctly? Let us know; we're planning an update soon to address post-launch bugs and feature requests such as: tremolo speed, mute tightness control, etc.


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## jonnybutter (Nov 12, 2018)

zircon_st said:


> What (if anything) is still not behaving correctly? Let us know; we're planning an update soon to address post-launch bugs and feature requests such as: tremolo speed, mute tightness control, etc.



Thanks for asking! Seems that keyswitches don't always respond the first time. At this point that's all that's not working consistently. And honestly I can no longer say it's definitely something with Shreddage, so I'll go erase the comment above. Batch resave took care of a lot. Am enjoying the VI!


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## Fleer (Nov 12, 2018)

Great stuff indeed, congrats Andrew!


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## EvilDragon (Nov 12, 2018)

jonnybutter said:


> Batch resave took care of a lot.



Batch resave doesn't fix scripting errors. If you can find a 100% reproduction case let us know.

You said "(e.g. sustain and harmonics don't always respond to their keyswitch)". Harmonics is a non-latching keyswitch by default (that's why it's yellow, not red), meaning it only activates the Harmonics articulation _while you hold the key_. After you release the key, it goes back to previously selected articulation.


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## jonnybutter (Nov 13, 2018)

EvilDragon said:


> Batch resave doesn't fix scripting errors. If you can find a 100% reproduction case let us know.
> 
> You said "(e.g. sustain and harmonics don't always respond to their keyswitch)". Harmonics is a non-latching keyswitch by default (that's why it's yellow, not red), meaning it only activates the Harmonics articulation _while you hold the key_. After you release the key, it goes back to previously selected articulation.



Thank you ED. When I get past my current deadline I will investigate further and let you know.


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## jonnybutter (Nov 14, 2018)

EvilDragon said:


> Harmonics is a non-latching keyswitch by default (that's why it's yellow, not red), meaning it only activates the Harmonics articulation _while you hold the key_. After you release the key, it goes back to previously selected articulation.



The harmonics KS *latches* consistently for me, FWIW, not that I necessarily mind...


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## MarcN58T (Nov 14, 2018)

Polkasound said:


> I'm not in any way diminishing the work needed to upgrade S2 guitars. I know it's a lot of time involved, and you should be fully compensated for that. All I'm saying is that if I were ISW, I would do it a little differently. I would not charge my best S2 customers $60 in "pocket change" to allow them to use the upgraded S3 engine with their three S2 purchases while charging other customers only $20 or $40 for their one or two S2 purchases. I would charge a flat fee of, for example, $40 per licensed customer to bring whatever S2 guitars they own over to the new S3 engine.
> 
> I understand that way of thinking may be a little confusing, but since we're talking about recouping the cost of labor and not replenishing physical goods, you could set a fixed price for the S2-to-S3 upgrade so that your top S2 customers will not have to pay 2X to 3X more than other S2 customers for the same benefit of using the S3 engine.
> 
> That's just my philosophy. But then, I also give my customers 30-days advance notice of upcoming sales, so I'm definitely not your typical developer.





neblix said:


> In the future, when we release Shreddage 3 series versions of the previous guitars, in other words buying "Shreddage 3 IBZ" if you own "Shreddage 2 IBZ", the current tentative model is that it will cost $20 per guitar upgrade, + the $30 KP serial if you do not already own it from buying Shreddage 3 Stratus.
> 
> In other words if you own S2 IBZ and SRP, upgrading them to S3 will cost $40 ($20 each upgrade) + $30 KP serial for the Shreddage 3 engine for a total of $70.
> 
> As said before, this is only the tentative pricing model, and we've talked about lowering the per-guitar price a couple times. We want to make it a no-brainer move to upgrade to S3.



For customers who own the entire Shreddage 2 collection (which I bought on VSTBuzz earlier this year), perhaps one half-off loyalty discount should do for the upgrade to S3 - $40.


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## EvilDragon (Nov 14, 2018)

jonnybutter said:


> The harmonics KS *latches* consistently for me, FWIW, not that I necessarily mind...



Have you changed something in TACT? Is the harmonics keyswitch yellow or red for you? If it's yellow, it should only play harmonics for as long as you play that yellow KS. If it's red, then it should latch until you select another KS.


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## Andrew Aversa (Nov 15, 2018)

Please stay tuned for Shreddage 3 series discounts. We will ensure S2 owners are treated well!


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## MarcN58T (Nov 15, 2018)

zircon_st said:


> Please stay tuned for Shreddage 3 series discounts. We will ensure S2 owners are treated well!



That's great to hear. I can't seem to get enough.


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## jonnybutter (Nov 16, 2018)

EvilDragon said:


> Have you changed something in TACT? Is the harmonics keyswitch yellow or red for you? If it's yellow, it should only play harmonics for as long as you play that yellow KS. If it's red, then it should latch until you select another KS.



Hey ED, thanks for taking the time. I checked my TACT page, and all of those articulation KSs came defaulted as latching. No big deal either way - easy to modify. I don't know if you meant to ship that way or not, so just letting you know.

Might it not have been scripting errors I was having before? Whatever the source of the problems before, batch resave (or something) fixed. No weird behavior now.

Killer VI!


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## EvilDragon (Nov 16, 2018)

Harmonics articulation is definitely NOT Latch enabled by default, from what I can see here. But maybe something changed in the release version (doubt it, though).


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## jonnybutter (Nov 16, 2018)

EvilDragon said:


> Harmonics articulation is definitely NOT Latch enabled by default, from what I can see here. But maybe something changed in the release version (doubt it, though).



Hm. Weird.


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## TayNay (Nov 22, 2018)

MartinH. said:


> @zircon_st Which of your current (or future upgraded to S3) guitar products do you think is best suited for the "tremolo picked wall of sound blackmetal style"? something along these lines:
> 
> 
> So far I only own S2 and I'm getting like ~90% there with the tremolo articulation, and I'm wondering if any of the others or the S3 upgrade to S2 would give me better fine control about the picking speed, without using the single-note articulations that sound too "machnine-gun-ish" when used in this way.




Hi! What are those lacking 10% percent consist of? I’m kinda aiming for the same thing, but haven’t bought the library yet. 
Thanks.


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## MartinH. (Nov 22, 2018)

TayNay said:


> Hi! What are those lacking 10% percent consist of? I’m kinda aiming for the same thing, but haven’t bought the library yet.
> Thanks.



Please take a look at this thread, I've posted some examples there and got good info from more experienced guitar players:
https://vi-control.net/community/threads/opinions-on-dronar-and-shreddage2-please.73110/


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## Fleer (Jan 22, 2019)

Great review: http://soundbytesmag.net/review-shreddage-3-stratus-by-impact-soundworks/


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## bill45 (Jan 23, 2019)

They just released a free version of Stratus 3


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## Fleer (Aug 1, 2019)

Use your coupons in the Deals section of your account and you’ll get a new Kontakt Player serial for each guitar you upgrade to its Shreddage 3 version. Just did it myself for Jupiter, Rogue and Serpent (and yesterday for Archtop) as I already had Shreddage 3 Stratus.


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## Consona (Feb 21, 2020)

@zircon_st I know there are those Jupiter, Rogue, Serpent comparison videos, but which one of those three would you say is closest to Stratus sound-wise?


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## neblix (Feb 21, 2020)

Consona said:


> @zircon_st I know there are those Jupiter, Rogue, Serpent comparison videos, but which one of those three would you say is closest to Stratus sound-wise?



It is incredibly difficult to compare the sound of Strat pickups with 3 diverse sets of pickups targeted for metal. I would say Jupiter is thicker and fuller, Rogue is brighter and more metallic, and Serpent is all around the balance of the two.

Since I would characterize a Strat itself as a balanced and flexible rock guitar, I would say the sound of *Serpent *is the closest thing you would get.

However, from the standpoint of performance, the actual guitarist who performed the Stratus samples is the same guitarist who performed the Jupiter samples, so that's another thing that comes into play. Tone is one thing, but performance is another; for instance you may find the vibrato performance of Jupiter to align pleasingly with Stratus's.


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## Consona (Feb 22, 2020)

Thank you! I really like the sound of Stratus Free so was curious about which 7-string would sound the closest to it. (Also, the Precision Bass sounds fabulous, great work there!)


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## Leon Portelance (Feb 23, 2020)

I have Stratus, but so far have had problems using it. Probably don’t know what I’m doing.


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## EvilDragon (Feb 24, 2020)

Perhaps try explaining your problems and then we'll see what's up and how to remedy.


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## Consona (May 5, 2020)

Does Stratus have the styles snapshots like the metal rhythm the other Shreddage guitars have?


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## Andrew Aversa (May 5, 2020)

Yes although that is now the default setting.


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## Consona (May 9, 2020)

zircon_st said:


> Yes although that is now the default setting.


Thank you.

Gotta say, comparing all your guitar libraries is quite something.  Like does some have more velocity layers in some articulations that others, etc.? And what are those staccati snaps all those other guitars don't have?


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## Consona (Oct 22, 2021)

@Andrew Aversa Is Stratus the only Shreddage guitar with tremolo slides? Thx!


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