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Heya, musical maestros. I'm looking for the sophisticated stuff in the title. At the moment, I'm still working with the drum samples of my Independence Pro Premium Suite - which are really good in my opinion. But I guess, they are just around 1 GB in total - so, either they are highly compressed in size or they just lack some crucial audio information of realistic acoustic drums played by a rock-solid drummer (I think so, mainly because of a problem that occurs after I upload my tracks to Soundcloud, which is mentioned a few lines below). Or what 's your opinion if you check the sample preview of the "Acoustic & Electronic Drums" of this library (just click on the speaker symbol)? https://www.magix.com/de/musik-bearbeiten/independence/libraries/ In this video there's also a small MIDI passage with some of these acoustic drum samples (at 3:27): So, they don't sound really bad in the music project or in audio files at or above an audio bitrate of 192 kbit/s. But whenever I upload a remix on Soundcloud (just happens at this platform) these drum samples tend to degrade (especially the cymbals and hi-hats) - as you might hear in the newest version of my Goldfinger remix I uploaded some days ago: If you check the same upload at Youtube (better quality) and Niconico (best quality), this problem won't occur: https://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm41413951 In the first place, I thought it must have to do just with the Soundcloud platform. But if you check some other drum recordings and drum sample demonstrations on Soundcloud, you won't perceive such problems with the cymbals and hi-hats: So, the problem must have must to do with the sample quality as well. Maybe it's also the audio bitrate of the upload - but if I upload a track on Soundcloud usually as MP3 file with an audio bitrate of 320 kbit/s (WAV file doesn't make a perceivable difference for the stream since the audio bitrates of streams at Soundcloud are just around 128 kbit/s - and with 320 kbit/s it has at least a proper size for possible downloads I might activate sooner or later when I'm fully satisfied with my tracks) it still sounds worse than my video version I upload at Youtube and Niconico (there, I always upload the WAV in my Movie Maker program, but the highest audio bitrate I can set for the export of the movie file as WMV is an audio bitrate of 192 kbit/s - and even then, it sounds much better than the upload on Soundcloud with 320 kbit/s). ... Since mostly the drums are affected by this issue, I might solve this problem with some better drum samples... maybe. An online friend tried to convince me to get some stuff from Toontrack like Superior Drummer 3 - but with around 300 GB in size (obviously contains lots of loops, grooves and repeating stuff I don't use - I just want the raw samples for composing via MIDI editor), I don't want to clutter my 2TB big hard disk drive just for better drums. I guess, the many possibilities of settings in Superior Drummer 3 are far too complex for me and my needs. And I'm not sure. The bass and snare drums or the toms sound really good - but the cymbals and hi-hats don't sound too convincing for my ears (at least not for this big library size): ... So, I'm really looking for a not tooooooo complex drum VSTi software - but still one with excellent raw, unprocessed (no compressors, limiters or other effects - which you can't deactivate - used on the presets) high quality acoustic drum samples with lots of different drum units as well as many articulations, velocity layers, round robins, drum variations and possibilities to play. Maybe you know some good drum VSTis which may satisfy my needs. ... Some days ago, I also got a newsletter of different Black Friday special offers with various VSTis from different developers. And from there, I also got to a drum collection of the Abbey Road series from Native Instruments. Since I'm quite a big fan of the high-quality VSTi stuff from Eduardo Tarilonte and from the developers of Native Instruments, I got dragged into the collection much deeper, checked some audio demos and videos of the virtual interface, the content and the settings - and I kinda fell a bit in love with the stuff: - 6 different drum kits from important times of drum-based music since the 30s to the modern times (quite useful for compositions of different music genres as well) - obviously really raw, unprocessed and natural sound (or what's your opinion about this?) - over 200.000 professionally recorded high-quality samples - useful settings and an overseeable interface that isn't bloated with too many things - different, interchangeable drum units - library size of around 43 GB compressed and around 105 GB uncompressed data content (somebody knows if there 's an option to install the uncompressed data content as well?) might be totally okay (still, I hope you can leave out all the unnecessary grooves, loops and MIDI patterns for installation - because you can always perform much better and go more into detail with the real single samples in a way you really need it for your composition via MIDI editor) - reduced price from almost 600 bucks to around 100 bucks (which is quite an offer for an ordinary worker) And for the sound... If you check out only the first raw preset in this video (at 0:14), you might be also blown away of how greatly deep-sampled and velocity-sensitive these libaries are: Even the hi-hats and cymbals of these libraries sound really good and not so stiff, lifeless and indifferent like in Superior Drummer 3, for example. There also seems to be a feature of choking the cymbals like this video shows (after 4:30): I think I've nearly made my decision of going for the Abbey Road Drummer Collection. ... But first I wanted to hear your opions as highly critical composers, remixers and listeners. Maybe there's also a professional drummer around who could give some additional tips on this topic?

Although I'm planning to buy a real electric guitar in the near future (I guess it will be one of those really lovely Yamaha Pacifica models), I think it has to wait some more time 'cause I don't want to buy any new hardware stuff until my forthcoming relocation (in around a year or so) has been successfully done (just to avoid breaking new stuff at the transport - I'm pretty sure I will carry my previous studio equipment on my very own and won't let anybody lay a finger on my gear :DD). But in the meantime, I'm still looking for a very good electric guitar VSTi that provides a very realistic raw electric guitar sound, all the necessary articulations sampled with different MIDI velocity layers and especially one with which you can emulate all the crazy guitar playing techniques of a professional guitar player in a useful way without a too complex use of programming and editing features and without bending your fingers on the MIDI keykoard much more than a real guitar player would bend a string with ease. So, I'm looking for an electric guitar VSTi you will still use for remixes and own compositions after you learned to play a real electric guitar in a professional way. I'm pretty sure that some of these VSTis can keep up with realistic electric guitar sounds and playing styles and that those VSTis might be really good for working on little details within a composition and changing things pretty easily without playing whole passages with a real electric guitar over and over again in front of the mic, with the guitar amp or straight in the audio interface. At least it can't hurt to be able to work with both solutions - a real electric guitar and a realistic electric guitar VSTi as well. For a long time, I have been looking for such kind of a realistic guitar VSTi, like electric guitars from Shreddage, Ample Sound, 8dio, EastWest Sounds etc. And there has already been some pretty serious stuff amongst those VSTI developers (especially the Shreddage series contains pretty tough stuff) - but somehow nothing convinced me completely to be a round 'n' sound thing. In most cases, it was the (less convincing) raw sound of the electric guitar samples, the lack of playable articulations and playing styles or the lacking possibilities of playing more complex guitar techniques with ease via MIDI keyboard and with the help of a clear, intuitive VSTi interface that have led me away from the desire of getting additional electric guitar VSTis (since I always had some quite decent guitar VSTi stuff in my Independence Pro Library). But today I got a mail with lots of special offers from Native Instruments. And within all the offered stuff I've noticed an electric guitar VSTi that really draw my attention after hearing the first samples and after looking for a walkthrough video a few minutes later. The VSTi is called "Electric Sunburst Deluxe" and I would say that it's one of the most impressing electric guitar VSTis I've ever seen and listened to - and at which quite everything seems to fit for my purposes and desires. Just have a look and two attentive ears at this one: Although I'm not a too big fan of the Kontakt sample player (Independence Pro sample player & Engine 2 sample player are much more intuitive and more user-friendly sample players with a much higher level of integrated complexity concerning editing and sound design possibilities and without annoying restrictions for several other third party VSTis - where especially the free Kontakt player can cause some issues). But the VSTis from Native Instruments - especially this electric guitar VSTi - look 'n' sound kinda impressive and generally seem to have a good reputation. Since the Electric Sunburst Deluxe VSTi seems to fully work with the free Kontakt player and it has a special 50% off deal at the moment, I am thinking about giving this one a try for a highly anticipated creative Christmas present to myself. https://www.native-instruments.com/en/products/komplete/guitar/session-guitarist-electric-sunburst-deluxe/ But before I'm going to buy this one, I just wanted to ask the community what the VSTi geeks and professional guitar players think of it... So, what's your opinion about this electric guitar VSTi? And do you know further electric guitar VSTis that can keep up with this one maybe?

Aside from just changing the velocity of the notes of the piano, what could I do to make the piano VST TruePiano sound more authentic, or at least get close to sounding authentic? This section below has reverb and the note velocity has been changed to give it a non-robotic sound. But is there anything more I can do to make it sound realistic? Update