Best sampled electric guitar simulator? [Archive]

FredProgGH

10-08-2006, 07:06 PM

For an insanely detailed lib, price no object (think VSL) the Prominy LPC seems extremely good. For a great sounding lib that plays much better in real time and is very reasonably priced look at Bela D's Lyrical Distortion. If I had to pick one (and I did) I would get LD, and if I could afford LPC I would have both.

kstevege

10-08-2006, 08:13 PM

Thanks Fred!

I knew that Prominy LPC was up there. But I ever knew about Lyrical Distortion 2. I just checked out its demo and it sounded pretty sweet!

Seems with LD2 just one guitar was sampled whereas with LPC you have a choice of several guitars. But it seems LD2 has all the essential articulations you need and I love the idea of having 4 samples per notes for true authenticity! The price is right. I may very well go with LD2!

Thanks!

kstevege

10-08-2006, 08:14 PM

Deleted by mistake

wst3ae

10-08-2006, 09:22 PM

since you mentioned it here...

for a bass library it is hard to beat Scarbees fingered and slapped bass libraries. I'm still using the GS versions, and they are the only basses (other than the real things) I use.

Drums is a lot trickier... I ended up using DFH Superior and Jamstix (previously I used Musiclabs MFX plugins, but Jamstix is even better).

But there are tons of alternatives!!

Toontracks EZ-Drummer is certainly a good alternative. If I did not have DFH Superior I'd have probably grabbed it myself.

FXPansion's BFD is another really cool library, and Guru is a pretty cool tool as well.

Scarbee and Larry Seyer both have full on drum libraries as well, and both of them sound great.

The reason I chose DFH Superior over BFD (the only two out at the time) was that DFH Superior includes all the really cool hand percussion stuff. Since then they've added two additional libraries of kits, their Custom and Vintage instrument and their Vintage Add-on.

Yup... lots of choices!

PS- I didn't answer the guitar question because I am a guitarist, and perfer to play my own parts. If I wasn't the LD libraries are pretty darned impressive!

FredProgGH

10-08-2006, 11:00 PM

Actually, that's true, you do get a lot more flexibility from clean guitar samples. I pretty sure that LD3 is going to be clean. I think that is on the way; not sure how soon. Someone from Bela D. Media may jump in here. But if you know you basically want crunch then LD1+2 has that great tone already there.

I totally second Scarbee J-Bass as an incredibly good sounding library- very playable and tons of articulations. For a single sampled bass it's my favorite. Trilogy is probably the way to go for more variety; it has a great cross-section of acoustic and electric basses. Rumour has it that Bela D. also has some exciting things up their sleeve in this regard for the future.

BTW, speaking of Bela D. Media, if you are on a budget you should look seriously at Studio B. You get a fine sounding drum kit, bass and a cleaner version of the LD guitar all in one great priced package- everything you need, and then you can add more detailed stuff down the road.

Otherwise, I'm all about Toontrack drums. If you like to produce and mix Superior/C&V is IMHO the best sampled drum sounds available. If you want it to sound great and preprocessed out of the box and/or prefer MIDI grooves already done and ready to go EZDrummer with the new expansion packs are the way to go.

clonewar

10-09-2006, 05:22 AM

I completely agree with Lee about using a clean library through a Pod or Guitar Rig 2 or Amplitude 2, etc. Very versitile. I love the Prominy clean library, you can pull off some amazing things with it. I'm sure I would own LD by now if there was a clean version and hope that Bela D does come out with one soon.

For a great sounding lib that plays much better in real time and is very reasonably priced look at Bela D's Lyrical Distortion.

I don't know about playing better in real time. Have you seen the LPC Super Instrument for K2? If not, check this video out..
http://www.prominy-ss.com/LPC/LPC_super_p_multi.wmv

Bela D Media

10-09-2006, 10:59 AM

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kstevege

10-09-2006, 02:44 PM

Wow. GREAT replies! Helped out a lot.

Prominy and Lyrical Distortion (1 & 2) both seem perfect for my needs, but I'm leaning towards Lyrical Distortion so I can can get EZ Drummer too!

Wondering if I shold get LD 1 or LD2. Hmmm.

Awesome advice about using the clean guitar with an amp plugin! Excellent!

midi.om is selling LD1 and LD2 for $129 each! Might go with that! Wish I was here for the group buy!

Bela D Media

10-09-2006, 03:03 PM

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Aaron Dirk

10-09-2006, 03:09 PM

kstevege,

If you're interested in just getting one, I would recommend LD1 first, then you can add LD2 later.

kstevege

10-09-2006, 05:06 PM

kstevege,

If you're interested in just getting one, I would recommend LD1 first, then you can add LD2 later.

Hi Aaron

I already purchased LD2! I wasn't sure which one to get first so I webt with the newer one. The demos for each sounded awesome. Hope it was OK to go with LD2 first! Any advantage to go with LD1 first?

kstevege

10-09-2006, 05:19 PM

Dear kstevege,

http://www.northernsounds.com/forum/showthread.php?t=48302

All the best,
Bela D Media.com

Thanks Bela

I went with LD2 for now and also got EZ Drummer.

I had a lot of choices for drums and guitar. For drums I narrowed it down to BFD, DFH Superior, and EZ Drummer.
For guitar it was LD1, LD2 or Prominy Clean.

After much consideration, and hearing demos and user opinions, I went with LD2 and EZ Drummer with a combined total of $288 which is what I would have spent on just BFD or DFH Superior or Prominy. SO I think I did OK!

My prior drum and guitar library was only what was included in Collosus and K2 and although those were great for some projects, I felt the need to expand with a decent complete library for drums and guitar.

Now in the near future I need a bass library and was thinking about Trilogy but for now I will have to rely on what I have in K2 and Collosus.

Bela D Media

10-09-2006, 06:53 PM

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FredProgGH

10-09-2006, 07:50 PM

Thank you for your business. Bass library, huh? Into Geddy? hint!
Hehe- since Frank has now dropped an official hint I assume I am free from the oath of silence enough to say that I have played some beta samples of a bass library he's working on and it is going to be HUGE. :D Don't know the ETA but I hope it's soon...

Aaron Dirk

10-09-2006, 08:33 PM

While LD2 is definitely great on it's own

There is scripting for LD1 making it a breeze for real time performances.

Rather than having scripts made for just LD2, we opted to have a monster script made for using both LD1 and LD2 at the same time.

If the scripting is of importance to you, then I would see if they can switch to LD1 before shipping, if not, then LD2 wont disappoint.... You can always add the other at a later date.

Aaron Dirk

10-09-2006, 08:44 PM

Hehe- since Frank has now dropped an official hint I assume I am free from the oath of silence enough to say that I have played some beta samples of a bass library he's working on and it is going to be HUGE. :D Don't know the ETA but I hope it's soon...

Hehehe- these beta bass samples are sweet! As is, they are my goto bass samples now:D

oops.... I don't think I'm aloud to say anything:n:

kstevege

10-09-2006, 10:14 PM

Aaron Dirk

10-09-2006, 10:47 PM

Both LD1 and LD2 are of the same guitar/amp/settings. By having both, it doubles the pallet of articulations.

kstevege

10-09-2006, 10:58 PM

Both LD1 and LD2 are of the same guitar/amp/settings. By having both, it doubles the pallet of articulations.

Gotcha. Thanks!

It is too late for me to switch to LD1. Audiomidi.com already shipped LD2! Talk about fast shipping! I oinly placed the order a few hours ago!

If I knew about the K2 script and that it only worked if you had LD1 I would have went with LD1. Oh well.

Bela D Media

10-09-2006, 11:43 PM

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kstevege

10-09-2006, 11:59 PM

You can contact us direct and we will extend a discount on LD1 to complete the set. You really should have both. Feel free to run through LD2 before you decide to take advantage of the offer. No rush.

Thanks!

I'm just a little confused why the Kontakt 2 script won't work if I only have Lyrical Distortion 2?

I wonder if there are any thrid party guitar scripts I can use with LD2?

Aaron Dirk

10-10-2006, 12:36 AM

Both LD1 and LD2 are originally released for Kontakt 1.5.3

The scripts were tailor made for LD1 by Günter "the Grey" Hirscher. It was decided when we did scripts for LD2 to also combine LD1 into the mix as well. It is quite amazing stuff.

I'm not aware of other 3rd party scripts, except for Big Bob's vibrato sips script works very nicely with LD.

kstevege

10-10-2006, 04:20 PM

You can contact us direct and we will extend a discount on LD1 to complete the set. You really should have both. Feel free to run through LD2 before you decide to take advantage of the offer. No rush.

Thanks Bela, I will definately do that. I will email a receipt of my purchase of LD2 when I order LD1 through you.

Thanks!

kstevege

10-11-2006, 12:00 AM

What does the LD Kontakt script do? Is there a link to what the script offers with a screen shot?

Aaron Dirk

10-11-2006, 12:11 AM

http://www.northernsounds.com/forum/showthread.php?t=45570&

*()

Keitaro333

10-11-2006, 02:18 AM

just a note - Prominy LPC also is just one guitar - Les Paul Custom that is... so given the size of the lib, it has more articulations and options than LD. But the price is higher too, of course.

kstevege

10-11-2006, 08:57 AM

just a note - Prominy LPC also is just one guitar - Les Paul Custom that is... so given the size of the lib, it has more articulations and options than LD. But the price is higher too, of course.

Yes. I know. They both seem like most excellent libraries. In fact, based on my humble research into this matter, it seems these are the two top dogs right now for electric guitar VSTi sims.

As I stated previously, LD2 is on its way, LD1 will be ordered this week.

But I have no experience with either of them.

WIth no disresepct to either Prominy or Bela Media, I'm dying to know how the two truly compare to each other for a convincing, quality, electric guitar emulation and also playability/ease of use.The demos for both sound pretty darn good but how is their playability/ease of use?

Bela D Media

10-11-2006, 09:05 AM

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Keitaro333

10-11-2006, 09:50 AM

Yes. I know. They both seem like most excellent libraries. In fact, based on my humble research into this matter, it seems these are the two top dogs right now for electric guitar VSTi sims.
I completely agree with that, im not aware of anything better. Just hoping there will also be an acoustic lib of such depth and quality availible soon :D

WIth no disresepct to either Prominy or Bela Media, I'm dying to know how the two truly compare to each other for a convincing, quality, electric guitar emulation
I only have LPC so i'd also like to know how is LD. LD demos sound great. One of the advantages of LPC is that there are also clean samples ready to be amped to your desire, for a price of course.

The demos for both sound pretty darn good but how is their playability/ease of use?
About LPC - it looks huge at the first glance but its not that hard to use actually. There is this huge multi for K2/2.1 that includes most of the articulations, there is a video of it in action on the prominy website, check it out.

Be sure to post some of your experiences with LD when you'll get it
:)

Bela D Media

10-11-2006, 10:04 AM

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Keitaro333

10-11-2006, 10:18 AM

Oh, well thats great. I guess the 3 LD lib together will have about as many articulations as LPC.
(edit.: i see now that price for LD would be quite a bit lower than LPC)

Anyway, if i may ask, how are legato slides in LD? Sampled every slide fret to fret or somehow simulated digitally?

Bela D Media

10-11-2006, 10:25 AM

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Ashermusic

10-11-2006, 10:29 AM

LPC

Full version: $599.00
Clean only version: $349.00
Distortion only version: $349.00

Lyrical Distortion

LD1: $149.99
LD2: $149.99
LD3: To be announced but well below $349.99

I will only state the obvious and what is factual. Other then that, It is not our policy to compare with competing products. We feel it is not professional to do so and such comparisons are best left to the customer.

As far as direct questions about the Lyrical Distortion series, producer Aaron Dirk will swing by shortly to respond.

I wish you would also do an EXS24 version. I pushed Kirk Hinter into learning about it and developing for it and he is now very glad I did.

Bela D Media

10-11-2006, 10:31 AM

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kstevege

10-11-2006, 10:37 AM

FredProgGH

10-11-2006, 10:48 AM

Am I correct that the distortion in the LD1+2 samples are tempered to allow additional use of amp sims?

Also, how much processing is included in the samples? Will I be spending a lot of time tweaking, EQing, etc?

My personal taste is to leave the chord samples alone- they are already very fat and chunky. The single note samples are a bit distorted, but they come out light enough that I like to reamp them for lead sounds and they respond very well. AFAIK apart from the amp there is no processing, so you can add all reverb, chorus, echo, compression and other effects to taste. As far as EQ, I rarely have felt the need to change it- the guitar always sits really well in a mix.

Aaron Dirk

10-11-2006, 11:27 AM

Anyway, if i may ask, how are legato slides in LD? Sampled every slide fret to fret or somehow simulated digitally?

The legato slide is handled via script. it's can be sculpted to fit your needs and can also be synced to tempo. It is very effective.