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Acoustic Guitar for Strumming - Your favorite?

I actually quite like the guitar on my Yamaha MODx. There are videos of people on youtube showing it's pretty great.

+1 for Orange Tree Samples. +1 For NI Strummed. Those are great.

Not yet mentioned and probably on sale - 8dio Instant Guitar and Advanced Guitar series. This one takes a little more work than the other two, but the benefit is that the picking is good. Listen to one of the demos of it alone and in a mix. For the price, there is value here.
 
Ha Ha! Guess I was askin for that. Especially since I've played guitar for 50+ years. But in this case, I'm strictly interested in VIs.
Hehe 😜 me too (over 50 years for guitar.) I’m a keyboard player who plays mediocre guitar, but I find it more rewarding to play parts in. It’s fun to struggle a little playing something live (though my mandolin and fiddle playing are REALLY hard to listen to.)
 
I was impressed by strumming capabilities of these in a random Youtube video I saw. Have you noticed the boxiness in Sunbird or the other issues that Sarah mentioned above?
I like the tone of it and will also EQ it sometimes . I find them realistic mainly for programming strumming. BTW I actually got 4 guitars on a VST Buzz deal.
 
Hehe 😜 me too (over 50 years for guitar.) I’m a keyboard player who plays mediocre guitar, but I find it more rewarding to play parts in. It’s fun to struggle a little playing something live (though my mandolin and fiddle playing are REALLY hard to listen to.)
Same timeline here :) and still all thumbs on keys as well as guitars, but loving it.
I played guitar and sang for my living for many years. Mainly bars and restaurants. I always considered myself a good guitarist.

But to be brutally honest, once I really got into recording myself, I discovered I had a lot of timing issues. I also struggled to get a decent recorded sound on acoustic guitar. Then I discovered how good some of the VIs like Orange Tree are. I felt a bit like a kid in the candy store. No - it is not the same ... or as good... or as expressive... as a real guitar played by a good musician. There are real comprises using a VI. But it can sound really damn good! The flexibility and tweakability of a VI is amazing. So for me it really works well. YMMV. I may to get into a hybrid of using my real and fake guitars.
 
I actually quite like the guitar on my Yamaha MODx. There are videos of people on youtube showing it's pretty great.

+1 for Orange Tree Samples. +1 For NI Strummed. Those are great.

Not yet mentioned and probably on sale - 8dio Instant Guitar and Advanced Guitar series. This one takes a little more work than the other two, but the benefit is that the picking is good. Listen to one of the demos of it alone and in a mix. For the price, there is value here.
Would love to have a MODx. Does the guitar have articulations? I use an old Yamaha S80 as my main instrument. Has some great sounding pianos and keys. Guitars not so much.

I should put some more effort into getting a good strummed sound out of my Evolution Steel Strings. As I said, it's awesome for most things. There's probably a good strummed sound to be had with some effort. I'll check out the 8dio stuff.
 
Had a MODX. Even twice (88 and 61) but didn’t like the keybed. And I really wanted to as the sounds are very good indeed. Now I’m waiting for the next version with, hopefully, better keys. Or a Montage.
 
Another veteran guitarist here coming up on 66 and started when I was 9 yrs old. I branched out to keys, drums and lead vocals in my early teens. I started adding VI guitars when Musiclab's Real Guitar was introduced. The strumming engine was super easy to use but I've since moved on to Ample Sound's Martin as well as the NI Session Guitarist series. Any lead playing I do with a Breedlove acoustic, Strat, or Gibson 335. It's simply much easier to play a real guitar when bending strings, palm muting and all other articulations happening in rapid fire. The NI Picked Acoustic sounds so good I could never mic up and play as cleanly so I'm thrilled to use that. If only we had today's tools when we were younger but better late than never and I learned a lot cutting my teeth in a studio with 2" tape. Especially having to commit to an idea!
 
Having gone and been a wiseass (again!) I guess I have to confess that when I do use VI’S it’s Pettinhouse for steel string and Indiginus Renaixxance for Nylon. I also use Wavelore Glide and Pedal steel, impact Pedal Steel and Archtop for the more esoteric strings.
 
Another veteran guitarist here coming up on 66 and started when I was 9 yrs old. I branched out to keys, drums and lead vocals in my early teens. I started adding VI guitars when Musiclab's Real Guitar was introduced. The strumming engine was super easy to use but I've since moved on to Ample Sound's Martin as well as the NI Session Guitarist series. Any lead playing I do with a Breedlove acoustic, Strat, or Gibson 335. It's simply much easier to play a real guitar when bending strings, palm muting and all other articulations happening in rapid fire. The NI Picked Acoustic sounds so good I could never mic up and play as cleanly so I'm thrilled to use that. If only we had today's tools when we were younger but better late than never and I learned a lot cutting my teeth in a studio with 2" tape. Especially having to commit to an idea!
I assume you prefer Ample to RealGuitar for strumming? Have you run into any limitations with Ample for strumming? I've got their free Martin and plan to give the strumming a real test.
 
I assume you prefer Ample to RealGuitar for strumming? Have you run into any limitations with Ample for strumming? I've got their free Martin and plan to give the strumming a real test.
I prefer the ease of Musiclab's strumming setup but the sound of Ample appeals more to me so I tend to go with Ample. Musiclab's Real Guitar has improved over the years though, especially with the latest version so there are times when I might choose it. I like to have a lot of options to slow me down down, lol.
 
Had a MODX. Even twice (88 and 61) but didn’t like the keybed. And I really wanted to as the sounds are very good indeed. Now I’m waiting for the next version with, hopefully, better keys. Or a Montage.
Yes. You've hit on the one weaker area, but I don't mind it so much. It's a not heavily weighted, and no aftertouch which kind of sucks. I returned the 61 for the 88. BUT - the price and sounds are top shelf and it had a recent update to add a sequencer! I have the 88, and I get on with it because I'm not some amazing player, and I also have an upright piano to jam on. I prefer the action on this to Casio and cheaper Korgs like the Chrome. No regrets! BUT I bought a Native Instruments Komplete Kontrol MK2 49 to leave on my desk. I actually really like how that feels and I have Komplete so it's a perfect blend.

I've heard nothing of a new version. I think your option is the Montage, which does have better keys. I really liked the Korg Kronos overall but couldn't justify the premium - but the action was indeed nicer. Just not enough difference at my playing level to pay that difference since music is more a hobby and only occasional paying gigs come my way.
 
Would love to have a MODx. Does the guitar have articulations? I use an old Yamaha S80 as my main instrument. Has some great sounding pianos and keys. Guitars not so much.

I should put some more effort into getting a good strummed sound out of my Evolution Steel Strings. As I said, it's awesome for most things. There's probably a good strummed sound to be had with some effort. I'll check out the 8dio stuff.
The s80 is fun! I had one of those for a while, and a Yamaha CS6x. I sold those and got this and a few other things to update my setup earlier this year because I had the same setup for so long.

If you want to hear the MODx in action, check out this demo I just pulled off my keyboard.

 
Yes. You've hit on the one weaker area, but I don't mind it so much. It's a not heavily weighted, and no aftertouch which kind of sucks. I returned the 61 for the 88. BUT - the price and sounds are top shelf and it had a recent update to add a sequencer! I have the 88, and I get on with it because I'm not some amazing player, and I also have an upright piano to jam on. I prefer the action on this to Casio and cheaper Korgs like the Chrome. No regrets! BUT I bought a Native Instruments Komplete Kontrol MK2 49 to leave on my desk. I actually really like how that feels and I have Komplete so it's a perfect blend.

I've heard nothing of a new version. I think your option is the Montage, which does have better keys. I really liked the Korg Kronos overall but couldn't justify the premium - but the action was indeed nicer. Just not enough difference at my playing level to pay that difference since music is more a hobby and only occasional paying gigs come my way.
This is what I could find on the next MODX (and Montage). Would prefer the MODX with better keys, so I’ll wait for that. Meanwhile got a couple of Korg’s VOX Continentals (61 & 73) and those are the best keyboards I ever got. Marvelous waterfall action and 11GB of the best Kronos engines/sounds for $1000 each :)
 
Haven't tried everything suggested here, but in general any "manufactured" strum based on combining separate samples into chords will never sound as convincing as a full chord strum sampled all together. There is sympathetic vibration between the notes, and harmonic blend overtones that occur when two or more notes are played and recorded at the same time. That being said, some manufactured strums sound ok in a mix, but if you want fully sampled whole chords Prominy Hummingbird sounds great, and also NI Strummed Acoustic is pretty good. Also if you have the money the RealTracks of Band in a Box have true sampled strums.
 
I play guitar, so usually record my own guitar parts, but lately I'm starting to feel lazy and also want to record stuff that's out of my comfort zone, so I'm considering using a strumming VI. The only strummers I currently have are AAS Strum Session and NI's two Strum Session libraries - none of which are getting talked about in this thread, save for one brief mention of SS2. Am I to assume these are vastly inferior? The NI strummers actually sound pretty decent to me, but I haven't actually tried to use them on an actual track yet. Color me curious...
 
I happened across this thread from 2016 from doing an unrelated Google search. Must have been buried so deep down that I didn't see it when I used forum search tool:

It covers much of what we discussed in this thread.
 
I've got most of the OTS acoustic guitars, as well as the Indiginus guitars.

While both are quite good, there's something mechanical about the strums. Sort of like the autotuning effect, once your ears tune on to "that" sound, you can't unhear it.

As I'm basically a folk guitarist, I find the Indiginus guitar easier to use. The "Here All Night" demo is accurate to what it the Indiginus Renegade sounds like.

That said, I find Band in a Box RealTracks or NI Strummed Acoustic simply sound better, since they're basically sample guitar loops. So if I've got the choice, I'll go with one of those over a VI. Not one of your options, I know. :whistling:
 
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