Does anyone here use Musiclab's realstrat that can help me to make my guitar parts sound more human?

[BlackPanther]

Yeah as the title says, I'm curious if anyone else uses realstrat. It's been brought to my attention by someone(actually a few people) who play the guitar that says my work with realstrat doesn't sound human enough.

I'm not sure if I'm allowed to post the thing I'm talking about as it's for the GMRB contest. It sounds really flat though, like I haven't done anything to it I guess =/. What are some of the things I can use within realstrat to put some more human characteristics into my guitar parts?

I figured this would be a question that could be answered without needing a sample but if you guys need to hear somethin then I'll provide it after it's been noted that a sample would be advised @_@.

[Tensei]

It honestly depends on the genre and what you're exactly aiming for. For example doubletracking rhythm guitars (panned hard left and right) tends to give the rhythm track a lot more meat while maintaining clarity (since you don't have to up the distortion).

It could also be a lacking amp sim or just poor sequencing. Or maybe the sample just isn't good enough to pull off a convincing guitar sound (then again, what sample is?).

So in short, yes, post a sample, because there could be a number of things you can do to improve the tone.

[BlackPanther]

Damn lol. Well I'm sure it's just my shitty sequencing. The samples are based off a stratocaster not exactly one model but they said it's good lol. And I'm amping it through either guitar rig or amplitube and I'm just using presets till I get a better understanding of that type of stuff.

But I suppose I'll still post a sample. Well you'll hear one when it's posted up in the GMRB contest or I can link you to this Rush. I guess you would call that rhythm,but I sorta had it playing the lead which I might switch up. After I hear what I can do to change this.

[Nabeel Ansari]

Electric guitar is very hard to sequence. You need great samples with a lot of different articulation settings.

Or you can just get a live player.

[Tensei]

Well the sample you posted is singletracked, and it sounds very muddy and weak. You can solve this by doubletracking it (i.e. copying the midi track but offsetting all the notes just a bit to prevent phasing issues, and panning one track hard left, the other hard right), and maybe going a bit lighter on the distortion. It doesn't sound too bad sequencingwise, as far as I can tell.

[SonicThHedgog]

You should have got (or try to get) ''Prominy sc electric guitar'', its one of the most realistic guitar samplers out there that lets people use actual guitar techneics [ http://prominy.com/SC.htm ] , here a demo or prominys SC library http://www.prominy.com/demo/SC/Mr_SC.mp3.

Real strat sounds are not that great as a first, not really a good stratocaster library (To me they sound like synths imo).

It sounds like you hammer'd on barre chords with a filter on the track, and sounds of it arnt so friendly on some amp sims. but minus that the song concept is good. just the realstrat leaching it ; (

[Nabeel Ansari]

its one of the most realistic guitar samplers out there

It's also 400 freakin dollars.

[big giant circles]

Realstrat + a good amp plugin will get you about as close to a real guitar as anything will. I use it all the time. It's not 100% perfect, but it's passable.

Can you post an example of your work?

[BlackPanther]

Here, this is the most recent, the lead playing is real strat and the rhythm is shreddage.

I also have this one Rush

[SonicThHedgog]

it's also 400 freakin dollars.

bgc bad boy : D

[big giant circles]

Here, this is the most recent, the lead playing is real strat and the rhythm is shreddage.

I also have this one Rush

Not bad. First of all, remember that as is the case with most people who actually play the instrument that they hear being sequenced electronically, it's going to be harder to fool them than your average joe-schmo casual listener. So if a guitarist or other listener with a more highly evolved ear tells you that they can tell that it's not a "real recording" or whatever, it's not always the end of the world

That being said, listening to your first example, I'd say the first thing you can do is to humanize your performance the same way you would any other faux-organic instrument. Adjust the timing here and there so it doesn't sound quite so perfect and quantized. Maybe make some notes overlap just a bit--most guitarists would agree that it's pretty difficult to have the other 5 strings remain completely silent the ENTIRE time while you're playing one note. Second, be sure to make use of all the awesome and handy features that Realstrat has to offer. Slides, bends, hammer-ons, modulation, etc. And perhaps just a tiny bit of wetness on top of all that won't hurt either (subtle delay or reverb are usually best).

Hope that helps.

[BlackPanther]

Yes that does help. So I'm assuming that means learning keyswitching then am I correct,

[big giant circles]

Yeah, the keyswitches can't hurt, you probably wont need to use more than 1 or 2 at a time but yeah, once you get used to them you'll find it a lot easier to play stuff on a keyboard as well as sequence a more realistic performance.

[BlackPanther]

Noted, thanks BGC.