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Virtual Guitars On Commercial Recordings

Still, would love to know if any commercial release actually used a virtual guitar. To me, even though I’m not particularly great as a guitarist, the problem with virtual guitar libraries remains the (absent) human touch, seemingly unattainable by computer.
 


an interesting example i recall is his use of trillian bass, and while its not a VI guitar, he does some sampling to a degree to get the effect of the guitar.
 
A day or two before this thread started, this one had me wondering whether the guitar in the hook would be easier to do using a VI or a hardware guitar, because it would be pretty easy either way.



I'm also reminded of reading that Def Leppard recorded something with each guitar string as a separate track, so there'd be no strumming on the chords and all the notes would hit at once. Not sure if true, but definitely easier with VIs.
 
I'm also reminded of reading that Def Leppard recorded something with each guitar string as a separate track, so there'd be no strumming on the chords and all the notes would hit at once. Not sure if true, but definitely easier with VIs.
I know there's a Boston Spaceships song where Chris Slusarenko used a similar multi-tracking technique to create a subtle unnatural effect, as the strings are "strummed" in effectively random order as a result. It's funny to think that if such a technique was used on a song known to use a virtual guitar, it would probably just be considered evidence that the producer "didn't know what they were doing" :emoji_slight_smile:
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Still, would love to know if any commercial release actually used a virtual guitar. To me, even though I’m not particularly great as a guitarist, the problem with virtual guitar libraries remains the (absent) human touch, seemingly unattainable by computer.
Are you asking whether any commercial recording in history has ever used any virtual guitar in it?
Like I said on the previous page,
I've occasionally been able to recognize sequenced guitars on commercial soundtracks, though the things that gave them away were generally avoidable flaws
I used virtual guitars on my soundtracks for Heart of the Woods, National Park Girls, Subserial Network, and Sol Hemochroma. These are all indie releases from small studios, but it was paid work on commercial products.

I'm certain that some virtual guitars (plus virtual violins and other VIs) were prominently featured on Yuki Hayashi's Run With The Wind soundtrack, released last year.
 
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I know there's a Boston Spaceships song where Chris Slusarenko used a similar multi-tracking technique to create a subtle unnatural effect, as the strings are "strummed" in effectively random order as a result. It's funny to think that if such a technique was used on a song known to use a virtual guitar, it would probably just be considered evidence that the producer "didn't know what they were doing" :emoji_slight_smile:
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Are you asking whether any commercial recording in history has ever used any virtual guitar in it?
Like I said on the previous page,

I used virtual guitars on my soundtracks for Heart of the Woods, National Park Girls, Subserial Network, and Sol Hemochroma. These are all indie releases from small studios, but it was paid work on commercial products.

I'm certain that some virtual guitars (plus virtual violins and other VIs) were prominently featured on Yuki Hayashi's Run With The Wind soundtrack, released last year.

I’m not familiar with the western music scene enough to identify cases of V.I. guitars, but in Japan in JPOP and anime music it is extremely common to hear V.I. guitars.
 
I would be you dollars to doughnuts that they have been used in commercial releases, but I cannot offer any examples. While there are things you can't pull off with a virtual guitar, they offer some flexibility that is hard to resist.

Timing issues and getting a clean recording are big for me. I played guitar (mainly in nightclubs) for many years and it's still difficult to play and get the timing and groove exactly the way I want it. With virtual guitars I can easily tweak till it's near perfect. Also, it takes time to get a great recorded sound. This is true with acoustic guitar in particular. But it's a breeze with VIs.
 
I would be you dollars to doughnuts that they have been used in commercial releases, but I cannot offer any examples. While there are things you can't pull off with a virtual guitar, they offer some flexibility that is hard to resist.

Timing issues and getting a clean recording are big for me. I played guitar (mainly in nightclubs) for many years and it's still difficult to play and get the timing and groove exactly the way I want it. With virtual guitars I can easily tweak till it's near perfect. Also, it takes time to get a great recorded sound. This is true with acoustic guitar in particular. But it's a breeze with VIs.

If there is one thing I hate recording it is acoustic guitar.
 
I recently heard a song on Spotify by a young R&B artist Kevin Ross called Long Song Away. I believe this guitar part is a virtual instrument, but no idea what library and can't find any production articles. the guitar chords sound good, but there's something that doesn't capture how a guitarist plays the instrument.
 
Still, would love to know if any commercial release actually used a virtual guitar. To me, even though I’m not particularly great as a guitarist, the problem with virtual guitar libraries remains the (absent) human touch, seemingly unattainable by computer.

I work as MD for a Swedish musical TV show that airs every summer. Therefore I always get stems for the songs that we play with added backtracks (60ish per season). My guess is that at least 80-90% of all acoustic parts I get are virtual guitars. Granted this is in Sweden, which is far away from LA, but a lot of these producers have done a fair share of international hits as well. Some of the parts are impossible to play, at least in one take, on a real guitar, and some you can her that it is virtual when you solo the guitar stem, but in the mix it works great. Sometimes it’s a toss up if it’s a live player but produced extremely strict (only four bars looped, quantized, hard compression) or just virtual. I believe a vast majority of young producers are synth players rather than guitarists and budget often doesn’t allow for bringing in real musicians.
My guess is that Nashville produced tracks have 0% virtual guitars :)
 
I'm only playing rhythms & riffing and still struggle a bit to get believable parts. Still not sure what I'm doing wrong. But I've seen it enough times to know it can be done, at least to my satisfaction.

A Youtube personality, Hifi MIDI I think, is very good at playing v-guitars. He reviews them and has some tutorials. I'd be happy to get them to sound that good. He seems to have an affinity for Ample Sound, while I use Orange Tree. I know that's not the difference.

Limiting, but I've been relying on Native Instruments Session Guitarists.
 
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