[Yodasdad]

Hi,

Anyone who's heard any of my songs will know that they're piano heavy. This is because that's my instrument but often I want them to be guitar heavy instead.

To cut a long story short, does anyone know of  a device that will let me record realistic(ish) guitar. I'm think of basically a midi keyboard but...a guitar, that would allow me to for instance select chords or a scale and then strum or pick and it would play or interpret as if I were holding the correct position on the neck.

I can do basic guitar work using the keyboard but this would open up a whole new world for me. The closest I've found is the GarageBand app on the iPad, which basically allows you to do this by strumming the strings on the screen but it's a little primitive and the results aren't great.

I bought Kontakt and some evolution guitar libraries about a year ago at a huge cost but I can't for the life of me get them to work properly.

Before anyone says the obvious, I know, learn to play guitar, but I genuinely have too much going on for this to be a viable option. It would take far too long for me to achieve the results I need and I couldn't justify the time taken away from other aspects of my songwriting and life, when I could continue writing piano based stuff if needs be.

Thanks

Yodasdad

[tina m]

well thats funny bcos there was a guy who used to post here quite a while ago called atitlan who was a synth player ..i met him on another site  a few years after & he was playing guitar & playing it well so I thought hed learnt but  as im a guitarist I could hear something that wasnt quite right about it ….so I complimented him on his guitar playing & he said hed bought  something brilliant that enabled him to play guitar on his keyboard ...i was definitely impressed by it ...
so i will to go to that site & search back to find me asking him

ok its called AAS Strum thats all i know ..like i said i did actually think hed learnt to play guitar...but something at the back of my mind had doubts 

[Yodasdad]

Thanks Tina, you're wonderful.

Just to add for you or anyone else reading, this is purely for recording/songwriting purposes. I've no desire to get on stage and try to perform with this or delusions that I can be the next Satriani.

Yodasdad

[Boydie]

It may be worth revisiting your KONTAKT library

What isn't working properly?

Alternatively you can always ask forum members to record a guitar track for you in exchange for some piano tracks from you

[Jambrains]

Check out Real Guitar from http://www.musiclab.com/
I get the impression it is very playable from a keyboard but I suck at keyboard so I was more into using the option to control it from a guitar hero controller (or just program it using the available patterns or porgramming custom ones). Did not use it much though, I'm a guitar player after all 
There are a number of useful videos that should give you a pretty good idea if it is something for you or not.

[Sing4me88]

I've downloaded a 14 day free trial demo of Real Guitar 4 and have to say I'm impressed. I don't know how to move the midi into Audacity from it though.... any one else use it and know how to do this?

Any other free or relatively cheap Guitar VST's anyone can recommend?I always find it impossible to programme guitar in Audacity. I mean keys and piano are okay but can never get the rhythm or strumming pattern of the guitar. It all sounds very artificial when in 1/4 or 1/8 or even 1/16 notes - and a mixture- compared to the fluid natural sound of what Real Guitar comes up with.It really limits the ability to throw together a very raw and rough track to give co-writers an inkling of what is in my head. Maybe I'm just really poor at doing in Audacity and/or the guitar sounds in it are pretty crap?

[Sing4me88]

I've actually figured out how to open Real Guitar in Mixcraft. I have to say the VST is an impressive bit of software for those like me with no musical or instrumental background. Spent the best part of yesterday stringing some chords together and playing around with different strumming styles, patterns and rhythms. Came up with something that vaguely passes for a backing track guitar wise with a verse-pre-chorus and bridge that all subtly changes at key points and I can nearly hear a nice vocal topline for each section sitting on top of what I have. Played around setting down a bass line and drum groove. It's all very rough and ready and fortunately for you good folk I'm a cheap ass and have only got the demo version of Real Guitar and Mixcraft so I can't post it and break your ears 

The play around in the last day or so has given me a great insight into the whole songwriting process and what needs to gel. I'm still far from being any good at it but at least I'm able to outline in a more real sense and connectable way the vision I have in my head for the vibe and feel of some lyrics that others can then take and tweak and vastly improve. Plus I gotta say it's damn addictive and enjoyable (as well as frustrating as hell) writing something from scratch and having a play around with different grooves, beats, chords and riffs.

[Yodasdad]

Thanks for the replies.

Jambrains/Sing4me88

I will definitely have a look at real guitar thanks for letting me know.

Boydie

Sorry I didn't respond to this sooner. After reading your comment I realised I couldn't remember what it was that wasn't working for me as I hadn't bothered with it for so long. I've gone back and had another play and I think I've solved most of the issues now.

The only one I still have, which you may be able to help with is this.

I'm using Kontakt 5 as a plugin in Logic Pro X and every time I close and reopen Logic I have to add the sample library into Kontakt again as it's not retaining it for some reason. Other libraries that have been added are there but not Evolution Strawberry. I have added it a number of times and it has been 'activated' (it's a legit version). Not sure what I'm doing wron here.

Yodasdad

[Yodasdad]

Update

I got in touch with Orange Tree Samples who provided the solution.

It was a bug in Kontakt, just needed an update.

Yodasdad

[MartynRich]

Alternatively you can always ask forum members to record a guitar track for you in exchange for some piano tracks from you
 

Me!