Shreddage: Electric Rhythm Guitar Samples (by zircon + Sixto!)

[prophetik music]

From the halls of Valhalla comes an electric guitar library so powerful, it needs two subtitles.

SHREDDAGE: Electric Rhythm Guitar: Rock & Metal (http://www.impactsoundworks.com/products/instrumental/shreddage)

YOUTUBE TRAILER (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-ugOO5WY14)

Forged from the hammer of Ragnarok, Shreddage is a next-generation rhythm guitar library. It has been designed to provide the most realistic and flexible sound for rock and metal playing, giving the user the ability to recreate nearly any riff.

Unlike many other guitar libraries, Shreddage is extremely focused and took nearly two years to become fully realized. We recorded and re-recorded samples and articulations, analyzing multiple types of playing techniques, classic riffs, guitars, strings, DIs and mapping methods. The result is not only extremely deep and realistic, but intuitive and easy to play.

Features:

* The sound of a classic metal guitar run through a pristine, high-end Avalon DI at 24/96 and downsampled to 24/44.1 for the final release.
* All multisamples, NO LOOPS
* Tuning all the way down to Bb (the "B" stands for "brutal")
* CLEAN recordings to amp however you want
* Every crucial articulation for rock and metal rhythms: open sustains, powerchords, palm mutes, fast mutes, powerchord mutes, fast powerchord mutes, powerchord half-mutes, chord stops, pinch squeals, pick scrapes and slides
* A staggering 8x round robin for just about all articulations, on every note - say goodbye to the machine gun effect
* Double-tracked patches/multis that can even be used to pull off quad tracking!
* Dead-simple interface with quick mix controls (attack, decay, release, filters, EQ)
* NO convoluted, complex scripted system that takes weeks to learn - just load up patches and play. No need for extensive MIDI CC control, modwheel, aftertouch or keyswitch manipulation
* A set of amp/cab sim presets for such plugins as Guitar Rig 4, Amplitube Metal, Amplitube 2, Line6 Podfarm and Overloud TH-1. Just load the presets and play - no tweaking needed.

SHREDDAGE is available now (http://www.impactsoundworks.com/products/instrumental/shreddage) at the truly metal price of $49 (Kontakt 2 format.) That's not a typo - $49!

Demos

Sketch Montage (http://www.impactsoundworks.com/audio/demos/Shreddage_-_Sketch_Montage.mp3) - Montage showcasing a number of different metal riffs using multiple guitar amp tones.

Heroic Trailer Cue (http://www.impactsoundworks.com/audio/demos/Shreddage_-_Heroic_Trailer_Cue.mp3) - An epic, heroic trailer cue. Used in the first half of the trailer video!

"Desertion" (http://www.impactsoundworks.com/audio/demos/Shreddage_-_Desertion.mp3) - An arrangement of a piece from the video game Final Fantasy 6. Shows how Shreddage can convincingly be used for the entirety of a full-length instrumental piece!

Deep Impact (http://www.impactsoundworks.com/audio/demos/Shreddage_-_Deep_Impact.mp3) - Another trailer-style cue using Sitar Nation, Impact: Steel, Groove Bias and one external drumloop.

"Bleed" Mockup (http://www.impactsoundworks.com/audio/demos/BLEED_4.mp3) - Short mockup of Meshuggah - "Bleed" showcasing fast and normal mutes in action at very higih speeds. Simple sequencing + pitch bend.

FAQ

Aren't there enough guitar libraries out there already?
It's true that there are a lot of guitar sample libraries out there, including some that are even oriented toward rock and metal playing. However, you simply will not find a library that sounds as realistic as this for rock/metal rhythm playing that is also DI AND multisampled... and definitely not at our price!

Why didn't you include an amped version?
We actually recorded amped samples too. However, when we experimented with actually playing and sequencing them, they sounded much less realistic than the DI version. Nothing sounds as good as actually amping the guitar yourself. Luckily, we have amp sim presets to make that really easy.

How hard is it to play?
One of the things we're most proud of with this library is how great it sounds out of the box. You don't need any sort of fancy layering or automation to get it to sound good. Even a sequence of straight eighth notes with different velocities (to trigger the appropriate articulations) sounds excellent with absolutely no other humanization added. Once you load up one of the multis or master patches you'll see how easy it is to get a huge, realistic sound.

How much time did it take to make the demos?
95% or more of the time spent on the demos went to sequencing every instrument BESIDES Shreddage. Making the Shreddage parts took a few minutes at most. Just hit record, play in a pattern, load an amp sim preset included with the library, done.

Can I do lead playing?
The range of the open sustain patch is Bb2 to G5. This is not the whole range of the guitar, however, and we specifically did not record common lead articulations or implement any kind of legato system. That's because this isn't meant to be a lead library, and we accept that there are actually other (more expensive) products out there that can really do convincing leads. Rhythm was the weak area so that's what we focused on.

Can I do chords?
We sampled open notes and powerchords (1-5-1), and nothing more than that. You can of course play in your own chords using the open sus or mute patches, but again, the focus of the library is rock/metal and filling in the niche (big, chuggy riffs, rapid thrashing, etc.) that was previously neglected. We may at some point do another library that is oriented toward jazz/pop rhythm playing in which case we would dedicate more time + space to chords.


so i just picked up shreddage, by impact soundworks (zircon and bustatunez). has anyone else had the time to play with it yet? it's bloody fantastic! sixto's the guitarist, and it's really easy to use.

go check out the demos at their site, which recently got redesigned. awesome stuff.

if there's a thread about this somewhere else, just delete this...but i couldn't find a release thread by searching IS or shreddage.

[Neblix]

So it's possible to use this with the Kontakt Player?

Will the samples themselves require more processor performance, or does that depend on the sampler (i.e. running the jazz guitar sample from KONTAKT free library will take same amount of processing power as one of these beast guitar samples)?

I didn't see any system requirements up on the Shreddage product page, so if I can run the samples I really wanna get it. :P

Also, since it's just rhythm guitars, I'm assuming it's not very easy to get a solo lead guitar sound out of this; am I right?

[lazygecko]

omg viral marketer

[prophetik music]

So it's possible to use this with the Kontakt Player?

Will the samples themselves require more processor performance, or does that depend on the sampler (i.e. running the jazz guitar sample from KONTAKT free library will take same amount of processing power as one of these beast guitar samples)?

I didn't see any system requirements up on the Shreddage product page, so if I can run the samples I really wanna get it. :P

Also, since it's just rhythm guitars, I'm assuming it's not very easy to get a solo lead guitar sound out of this; am I right?

a sample's a sample. shouldn't need more performance stuff - what takes the performance cake is all the distortion. these are dry samples.

you can get a decent lead sound, but it's more rhythm-focused.

seriously though, i was just playing in FL and you can do some sick stuff with it. it's a lot of fun to goof with. hard to play on the keyboard, but that's likely because i suck at keyboard in general.

[Neblix]

a sample's a sample.


Thanks for confirming. :D



That's it; I'm buying this... eventually. My birthday's not for another 10 months. T_T

[zircon]

Thanks Brad! We're going to be making an official thread for this tonight or tomorrow since the "real" release date is actually Valentine's.

Neblix, this actually does NOT truly work in the free Kontakt Player. The Player will load 3rd-party samples for 30 minutes at a time but that's it. You ideally need the full version of Kontakt which is well-worth it (you can get an educational version for <$300 I'm sure, and it is probably the single best piece of music software I could recommend.) That being said we do intend on doing a DirectWave (FL) version too sometime, but I can't guarantee when it will be released.

[Cerrax]

Thanks Brad! We're going to be making an official thread for this tonight or tomorrow since the "real" release date is actually Valentine's.

Neblix, this actually does NOT truly work in the free Kontakt Player. The Player will load 3rd-party samples for 30 minutes at a time but that's it. You ideally need the full version of Kontakt which is well-worth it (you can get an educational version for <$300 I'm sure, and it is probably the single best piece of music software I could recommend.) That being said we do intend on doing a DirectWave (FL) version too sometime, but I can't guarantee when it will be released.

Actually Kontakt Player only plays 3rd party samples for 15 minutes, but total recall is not disabled. (It's how I've been using reFX software demos for months).

That being said, I have Shreddage as well and it is amazingly easy to use. Loving it!

PS- The second .RAR file wouldn't work for me. It keeps telling me it was archived wrong when I try to extract it :-/

[zircon]

They're actually linked RAR files. Once you extract part1, part2 is automatically extracted.

[Neblix]

Thanks Brad! We're going to be making an official thread for this tonight or tomorrow since the "real" release date is actually Valentine's.

Neblix, this actually does NOT truly work in the free Kontakt Player. The Player will load 3rd-party samples for 30 minutes at a time but that's it. You ideally need the full version of Kontakt which is well-worth it (you can get an educational version for <$300 I'm sure, and it is probably the single best piece of music software I could recommend.) That being said we do intend on doing a DirectWave (FL) version too sometime, but I can't guarantee when it will be released.


Awwwww... :(

Forget it, then. I'm not allowed to spend big money (anything over 20 dollars is what my family considers big money)

I'll buy it in the future, but for now I'll stick with asking people for collabs.

Just asking; are you going to make your own VST for this in the future?

[Hemophiliac]

http://sites.google.com/site/hemophiliac/shreddagetest.mp3?attredirects=0&d=1

http://sites.google.com/site/hemophiliac/amourningepiano.mp3?attredirects=0&d=1

two things i made that have shreddage in it.

1st is more guitar based (with groove bias), 2nd has it as a cleaner sound and backing.

[prophetik music]

Thanks Brad! We're going to be making an official thread for this tonight or tomorrow since the "real" release date is actually Valentine's.

didn't mean to co-opt you guys =) i'm just really excited for a replacement for virtual guitarist. not really a replacement, but it works, which is all i care about.

now make one for acoustic guitars!

[Neblix]

didn't mean to co-opt you guys =) i'm just really excited for a replacement for virtual guitarist. Not really a replacement, but it works, which is all i care about.

Now make one for acoustic guitars!

BUT MAKE THE DIRECTWAVE SHREDDAGE FIIRST! :<

...but you don't have to if you don't want to. xD

[zircon]

If you don't mind, hijacking this thread and making it the official release thread :P Also moving to Workshop.

[BlackPanther]

I bought it! I've tested it with Amplitube and it sounds pretty damn sweet. Now I just gotta learn how to use this bad boy to it's fullest potential which means understanding the electric guitar and it's terminology lol xD.

[SnappleMan]

Props on getting this thing done and out! Sounds good, great price! <33

[avaris]

ZIRCON & BUSTA put SIXTO in a BOX! :nicework:

Aggressive price point and good product idea dudes. Best of luck with this one!

[BlackPanther]

Ok sweet, I got the double tracked thing to work but running all that with the two amps goin and stuff is really kick ass but it's suckin down my cpu lol. I figured a computer with dual core processor 2.9 ghz and 3.25 gigs of ram would be able to handle somethin like this lol xD. Maybe I'm just doin somethin wrong =/.

[prophetik music]

i'm running an i7 with 4gb of ram. i didn't even notice the CPU meter going up =)

of course, i ran seven instances of GR3 on a track i did a year or two ago on a 3ghz dual-core with 2gb of ram, and didn't really have a problem at all.

[BlackPanther]

So I must be doin somethin wrong then O_o.

[Hemophiliac]

so i show sixto something i made with shreddage...our conversation went something like this:

sixto - "I Don't remember recording soft samples"

me - "You and it are just that good"

[Arcana]

Does the free Kontakt player still not load this library nicely? I downloaded a starter pack (I think it's Kontakt 3.5?) for free recently and there's no limit on how long you can use it.

[SnappleMan]

Ok sweet, I got the double tracked thing to work but running all that with the two amps goin and stuff is really kick ass but it's suckin down my cpu lol. I figured a computer with dual core processor 2.9 ghz and 3.25 gigs of ram would be able to handle somethin like this lol xD. Maybe I'm just doin somethin wrong =/.

What's your sample rate set at? Even the fastest CPU will overload if you're running above 44.1 or 48khz.

[BlackPanther]

It's set to 44.1 khz.

I am completely stuck. I've messed with all the settings that I think would affect cpu usage and I've closed Reason and tried it (I've been usin Reason in Rewire on recent projects.) and still no use.

Edit 02/23/2010: Another thing I noticed is when I run shreddage double tracked(I'm pretty sure I'm doin it right) and run the amps is when all the cpu gets sucked and when I bypass the amps and just play the guitar dry, it plays perfectly fine. So either I'm doin somethin wrong or my computer isn't as great as I thought lol -_-.

[Neblix]

It's set to 44.1 khz.

I am completely stuck. I've messed with all the settings that I think would affect cpu usage and I've closed Reason and tried it (I've been usin Reason in Rewire on recent projects.) and still no use.

Edit 02/23/2010: Another thing I noticed is when I run shreddage double tracked(I'm pretty sure I'm doin it right) and run the amps is when all the cpu gets sucked and when I bypass the amps and just play the guitar dry, it plays perfectly fine. So either I'm doin somethin wrong or my computer isn't as great as I thought lol -_-.


How intensive are the amps? lol

Obviously, it would perform better with the dry guitar sounds, so maybe it's your amps that are just too strong for your processor.

[prophetik music]

well, no offense intended, guys, but duh. just playing samples doesn't do much of anything to CPU usage compared to running a complex amp modeler like GR4 or something.

likely your cpu cycles are getting sucked into your amp, and so it's struggling to handle itself in real time. if turning up your latency doesn't work, turn up your awesomeness and get a better system :<

[BlackPanther]

Damn, guess ill go with the phenom when I get the chance. That should help i assume lol. Well thanks for clearin that up for me.

Edit: I have amplitube 2 and gr3. I was alternatin between the two and the both suck up CPU like a tornado when ran in that double tracked mode.

[prophetik music]

they suck it up because they're processing two inputs, which is a way more complex sound - with way more complex harmonics - than just a single note.

[BlackPanther]

Whoa, you shortened your name O_o. Anyways I'm goin to the computer deli and gettin a phenom today when I get my keyboard so I should be good to go lol xD.

[prophetik music]

beware which phenom you get. don't get one that's too hot to handle. note the TDP and don't get anything too high unless you get an aftermarket cooler with it.

[BlackPanther]

Yeah, yeah I know lol. I finally got the stuff to keep my cpu and the rest of the computer at 70 degrees Fahrenheit(avg) and I plan to keep it that way =P.

[prophetik music]

if you did, i'd love it if you sent it to me. i've never seen a computer that operated at 70F, considering that a system can never be less than about five degrees above ambient temperature :<

[BlackPanther]

Well I was exaggerating, it was more like 80 degrees but now that I have the phenom installed it's done bumped up to 91 average lol xD. So I guess it was just my cpu not bein able to handle vsts like that, because it's hardly noticeable with the phenom =).

[Darlos9D]

Not really paying attention to the conversation. Just wanted to post and say that I just bought it and am excited for it to get done downloading. I've been yearning for a good set of guitar samples forever.

Thank you, zircon and sixto. You will be forever remembered for this.

Edit: Hrm... I understand it's made for Kontakt, but some of you are talking about using it with other programs. Is there a way to use it with FL? I mean, I can access the samples but I'm not entirely certain what to do with them.

... yeah, I'm not exactly an FL master here. I just kinda dabble in composing now and again.

Edit again: Oh hey I just figured out DirectWave. Lalala...

[Legion303]

I just stumbled on this thread and the demo songs. I've said it before and I'll say it again: I've been playing guitar for 22 years and I cannot tell that these are multis. I could probably tell if I just heard the raw sounds being played on a MIDI controller, but obviously that's not how anyone will be using this library. Absolutely amazing work, guys. I already have some guitars and shit, but if I ever go on another trip away from home and have the chance to bring my laptop with me, I'm buying this in a heartbeat.

EDIT: actually, I think I'll own this by the end of the month anyway. Too good a bargain to pass up and it beats Slayer for laying down skeleton tracks in FLS. What kind of guitar did Sixto use? All I could find on the site was that it has 6 strings and was tuned to Bb. Jesus, that's 1/2 step lower than Carcass and Entombed.

-steve

[Neblix]

Not really paying attention to the conversation. Just wanted to post and say that I just bought it and am excited for it to get done downloading. I've been yearning for a good set of guitar samples forever.

Thank you, zircon and sixto. You will be forever remembered for this.

Edit: Hrm... I understand it's made for Kontakt, but some of you are talking about using it with other programs. Is there a way to use it with FL? I mean, I can access the samples but I'm not entirely certain what to do with them.

... yeah, I'm not exactly an FL master here. I just kinda dabble in composing now and again.

Edit again: Oh hey I just figured out DirectWave. Lalala...

According to Zircon, it doesn't work with DirectWave.

[Diseased Project]

I came here to come and ask, if there are any plans for a lead-oriented Shreddage, but I see the FAQ in the OP says there are already software designed for that. My question is, which ones are recommended in that field? I really like Shreddage and it helps a lot, and I was hoping if there's something similar for leads. I used to play all these things by myself with actual guitar but ever since I got a new computer and an external audio card (actually, it's an Alesis mini-mixer), it won't recognize my guitar properly and plays only static and really loud noises. Or maybe it's because my guitar mics are partly busted and it's overall a POS. So until I find a way to fix that, some nice lead guitar replicants would be appreciated!

Also, might as well ask this one too: what's the latest and greatest when it comes to programming metal drums? It would have to be Kontakt/Sonar -compatible (or a stand-alone software). I remember there being some software or a plugin that had presets made by world-class drummers, such as Joey Jordison and (maybe?) Gene Hoglan, but I can't figure out for the life of me what it was called... or if it even worked on Kontakt/Sonar.

Thanks for your input in advance!