The best electric guitar VSTis out there

[Master Mi]

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?

Edited November 28, 2020 by Master Mi

[Julien Mulard]

That's a really impressive library, indeed!

I've been using Shreddage 2 for a few years now, it's my go to plugin for anything rock/metal related. I was thinking about buying the V3 version, because some of the lead articulations of the V2 felt a bit underwhelming for the high speed shred I want to implement in my tracks, but now, I'm wondering about getting this one instead, mostly because I don't know which Shreddage 3 guitar to get... Plus the effects seem really high quality, which is always nice!

Sadly, there is no demo in the genres I produce on NI website, so I'm not sure if it totally fits for what I'm looking for. Plus the Kontakt upgrade needed, it a high bill to pay for it. So I'm looking forward to actual reviews of this product before taking any decision!

I cannot give more than an Guitar VST enthusiast point of view, as I'm not in any capacity a professional guitar player. I just feel that this VST has a lot of smart articulations, and I like it

Thank you for the shootout, I would have miss it otherwise!

[Master Mi]

I guess, many people (including me some days before) haven't noticed this VSTi since it's kinda new on the market (march 2020, I think).

...

The newer Shreddage versions are definitely some of the better electric guitar VSTis with which you can create some pretty realistic guitar sounds with lots of articulations, effects and many tuning options/settings.

But for me, one of the most important thing is the raw sample quality of the sound (the recorded samples without any further effects) with which you can evaluate the realism of the VSTi in a much better way.
Delay and reverb effects or articulations can improve the realism of the VSTi pretty much - but with well-recorded raw samples and articulations the additional effects will bring ya much closer to guitar heaven.

So, if the raw samples already sound realistic because they have been recorded with real electric guitars, you can do pretty anything with that VSTi stuff.
And especially when it comes to things like this, Native Instruments with their Electric Sunburst Deluxe VSTi seem to be some of the toughest rocks on the coast at the moment.


What also really impresses me, is the complex real-time control of the articulations in this VSTi - like you can see in this in-depth-demo at minute 13:00 (besides a really good demo for getting most of the functions and interface settings explained):

That seems to be really advanced stuff I've barely seen anywhere in VSTis before.

...

And no - you don't need an additional upgrade for Kontakt to use this VSTi.
As the description says, it's fully compatible with fee-based Kontakt AND with the free Kontakt Player - just look at the system requirements down below:
https://www.native-instruments.com/en/products/komplete/guitar/session-guitarist-electric-sunburst-deluxe/

The description only says that you will at least need version 6.2.2 in both cases (fee-based Kontakt or free Kontakt Player) to make the VSTi work with your system.
So, if you decide to download the newest version of the free Kontakt player, it will be fine, too - and you will be able to use this VSTi after buying and installing it without further restrictions or additional costs for Kontakt stuff.

I also work with the free Kontakt Player for using VSTis like Shevannai, created by Eduardo Tarilonte - and it fully works in free Kontakt Player without restrictions.
But you always have to read the descriptions of the VSTis carefully - because some VSTis work fully with free Kontakt Player, others will only work with the fee-based Kontakt without restrictions and just work in some kind of a demo mode in the free Kontakt Player (as I remember, there is some kind of a time restriction of the maximum music project length in demo mode).

If you want to read more about the difference between fee-based Kontakt & free Kontakt Player, check out this link:
https://bedroomproducersblog.com/2020/04/23/kontakt-demo-mode/



If you mean the upgrade option for the VSTi itself after clicking on the Buy button, it's not for you - it's only for those who already own the previous version of "Electric Sunburst Deluxe" called "Electric Sunburst".
In this case, you have to buy the full version of the VSTi (which also contains the presets of first version as I remember correctly seeing this in a walkthrough video).

The full version of Electric Sunburst Deluxe normally costs around 145 euros (around 173 US dollars) - but at the momentary Black Friday Cyber Season Sale special offer (which ends on December 7th) it's only half the price around 73 euros (or about 86 US dollars).

For this kind of quality stuff, I think it's not anywhere near expensive.

Since you already seem to have a quite decent electric guitar VSTi, it might be a much more difficult choice for you.

But for me, it would really be some kind of an upgrade when it comes to VSTi-based electric guitars.
I'm just waiting for some more feedbacks or suggestions for other outstanding electric guitar VSTis before striking the Buy button.

[Julien Mulard]

8 hours ago, Master Mi said:

And no - you don't need an additional upgrade for Kontakt to use this VSTi.
As the description says, it's fully compatible with fee-based Kontakt AND with the free Kontakt Player - just look at the system requirements down below:
https://www.native-instruments.com/en/products/komplete/guitar/session-guitarist-electric-sunburst-deluxe/

I'm still on Kontak 5, so I need to upgrade to 6 before hand, but you're right, there is no SPECIFIC Kontakt upgrade for this plugin. I should have been more clear in my initial post, my bad ^^

And I agree with you, it's really not that expensive for the quality, and seems more multi genre oriented than something like Shreddage. I hope someone will chime in and give you a better insight on whether or not this plugin is really worth it. And I'll be reading with a lot of interest as well

Cheers!

[H36T]

This and the acoustic picked guitar are really great for guys like me who can't play and don't really write complex guitar parts. I've tried Evolution strawberry and another Evolution library on a friend's PC and I really couldn't do anything with it because the learning curve. But from what I could see, if you were willing to put in the work, you could definitely sequence something really nice as long as you touched it up. But for me, it would have taken too long and I would have to constantly borrow his equipment. Still, it is nice to fiddle with every now and then.

But these two really get the job done for me when I want a guitar and need patterns and such. Usually when I'm doing that it's just for me to sing over. Same with their drum library. Super useful for someone like me whose instrument is voice lol.

[Master Mi]

On 12/1/2020 at 4:55 PM, HarlemHeat360 said:

This and the acoustic picked guitar are really great for guys like me who can't play and don't really write complex guitar parts. I've tried Evolution strawberry and another Evolution library on a friend's PC and I really couldn't do anything with it because the learning curve. But from what I could see, if you were willing to put in the work, you could definitely sequence something really nice as long as you touched it up. But for me, it would have taken too long and I would have to constantly borrow his equipment. Still, it is nice to fiddle with every now and then.

But these two really get the job done for me when I want a guitar and need patterns and such. Usually when I'm doing that it's just for me to sing over. Same with their drum library. Super useful for someone like me whose instrument is voice lol.

Never really heard from the Evolution Strawberry electric guitar VSTi by Orange Tree Samples before (at least I can't remember).

But to tell straight from the sound of the samples, this one seems to be also pretty great stuff - in my opinion, it leaves the other two electric guitar VSTis in the video completely behind.
 

 

[Alexson]

This is a wonderful electric guitar.

[Master Mi]

On 10/26/2021 at 2:45 PM, Alexson said:

This is a wonderful electric guitar.

Yep, I think it's definitely one of the best and most sophisticated electric guitar VSTis out there at the moment.

Besides...
Some time ago, the developers of Native Instruments have also sampled another electric guitar from the late 50s with some nice vintage vibes.

It's called "Electric Vintage":

It has a similar interface and similar functions 'n' articulations like the Electric Sunburst Deluxe guitar.

[Kat]

OTS has some wonderful instruments. I'm a huge fan of their Passion Flute VSTi. As far as guitars go, Impact Soundworks has some really nice ones(including a free version of Shreddage 3 Stratus).

[Master Mi]

On 11/14/2021 at 12:25 AM, Kat said:

OTS has some wonderful instruments. I'm a huge fan of their Passion Flute VSTi. As far as guitars go, Impact Soundworks has some really nice ones(including a free version of Shreddage 3 Stratus).

I've checked out some of the electric guitar VSTis of Orange Tree Samples some time ago - and they're are indeed really good.
Especially the Evolution Infinity rocks hard with this pretty cool feature of whammy bar techniques like squeals (not quite sure if the player performs these squeals only via pitch wheel control or if there's a separate key switch or other function for this feature).
 

Shreddage 3 also looks like pretty solid stuff.
Maybe the sample quality is still a little bit below the Electric Sunburst Deluxe/Electric Vintage and the OTS electric guitar VSTis.
But the masses of functions, playing techniques and the large number of editing features of the Shreddage 3 guitars are really astonishing - definitely one of the biggest variety of features I've ever seen at electric guitar VSTis.
 

...

I still don't like the fact that most of these electric guitar VSTis depend on Kontakt (instead of other pretty cool samle players like the Engine sample player which supports even more functions and the newest version of the player often comes around with the bought VSTis which have been created for the Engine sample player - so, you don't have to buy the latest version of your sample player if you have already bought a new VSTi which works with this sample player).

And with the free Kontakt Player version, you won't have the full set of features for the VSTis.
In relation to the electric guitar VSTis which were created for Kontakt, it means that you might not be able to set the pitch range for making stronger guitar squeals when using just the free Kontakt Player as a sample player, for example.

[Master Mi]

Yo, dudes 'n' dudines...

A new masterpiece of an amazing electric guitar VSTi from Native Instruments has finally reached the surface of this planet.
It's called "Electric Mint" and it is another serious part of the Session Guitarist series.
 

What makes electric Mint kinda special and what I really like about this one, are the really well-sampled high quality features like:

1) the amazing raw sound and tonal configuration of this electric guitar VSTi
2) the comprehensive and separately controllable wah-wah effect with which you can compose some highly realistic jazz-like lines with some nice 70s vibes (just reminds me of some of the videogame soundtracks of the Driver series)
3) the awesome emulation of a tremolo bar feature you can control via the vibrato function and the mod wheel of your MIDI keyboard (I kinda wished for such a cool and pretty realistic feature for electric guitar VSTis)

For just around 100 bucks, it seems to be a really low price for such a VSTi masterpiece which needs around 15 GB of hard disk space.
Maybe an option would be nice where you could install just the melody instrument without the many patterns/loops (which I won't use for compositions and which you could also compose note by note in the melody mode) to save some hard disk space for other VSTi stuff.

I still don't understand why Electric Mint is cheaper than the first electric guitar VSTi installment of the Session Guitarist series called "Electric Sunburst Deluxe" - because Electric Vintage and Electric Mint seem to be much more comprehensive further developments with much more cool functions than the first one.

But yeah, I won't complain.
I guess I'll save up some money for Electric Mint after leaving out Electric Vintage completely (Electric Mint is much more the one I was looking in things like jazzy 70s electric guitar vibes) and I'll look forward to possibles further developments of the Session Guitarist series.

Enjoy. ))

[Nase]

ultimate guitar kit by gregjazz is still the best lead guitar in soundfont format.

 

just saying!1

 

 

(gregjazz is orangetree b4 he gone commercial)

 

it's my one soundfont for lonely island if i could just pick one. it's really good. those slide releases at high velocity that's some good shit man. uh yea

[H36T]

Any new stuff with premade phrases? I always like to get more of those! 

[Xaleph]

You can get some pretty close sounding guitar sounds from a simple wav instrument and using really good guitar effects vstis.  I have 2 electric, 3 accoustic - and if I use a very simple serum setting (or other more basic saw/triangle synth), with https://www.native-instruments.com/en/products/komplete/guitar/guitar-rig-6-player/ (which is free - I use it with my guitars) - it sounds pretty close to the real thing.  I sometimes do this as a place holder before actually playing it with the guitar to see if it "fits" before recording.  If you tweak it enough, (velocity settings, and some other synth manipulation), you could make it harder to determine if it's authentic.

 

I don't have a bass, so I recently did this to make it sound like a metal bass guitar.  The fake bass with the live guitars, it sounds spot on.  Now I just need to get better at playing guitar ?

[Master Mi]

@Harlem Heat360:

Wouldn't bother too much with premade phrases and rather get a VSTi with a wide variety of key switch articulations with which you can create phrases from scratch on your own - that's where the real magic happens.

That's why I think that this new tremolo bar feature of Electric Mint is kinda sick.
I kinda tried to emulate some whammy bar techniques via pitch wheel and my electric guitar VSTis of my Independence Pro Premium Suite before - but I never got these really authentic results.

Maybe I'm just too dumb to use it properly in the best possible way.
Does anyone know around how many semitones you can bend a single electric guitar note up and down with the whammy bar of a real electric guitar?
(My feeling says, it could be around one full octave downwards and around one full octave upwards - but I'm not really sure about this.)

...

@Xaleph

Do you have a soundtrack or remix in which you use one of your guitar VSTis (or even a simple synth) with that guitar rig software amp and form the whole stuff into some realistic guitar sounds?

I use a similar combination of clean electric guitar VSTis + Vandal: Virtual bass and guitar amplifier (my own guitar amp plugin) with which you can tweak the guitar sounds into nearly all kinds of directions and other electric guitar sounds.
(I also tried it in combination with an electric piano and some synths a few times and it also works really well - you just have to send the VSTis and synths completely dry into the amp and use the effects within or after the chain of the amp to avoid nasty distortion effects.)

If you use this highly complex software amp with a real electric guitar, it might sound like this (made by somebody else):

If I use the Vandal software amp in combination with my clean electric guitar VSTis from my Independence Pro Premium Suite, it might sound like in the newest version of my THPS Goldfinger remix:

I would be very interested to know what a professional electric guitarist might think of it.

Edited November 23, 2022 by Master Mi

[H36T]

21 minutes ago, Master Mi said:

@Harlem Heat360:

Wouldn't bother too much with premade phrases and rather get a VSTi with a wide variety of key switch articulations with which you can create phrases from scratch on your own - that's where the real magic happens.

That's why I think that this new tremolo bar feature of Electric Mint is kinda sick.
I kinda tried to emulate some whammy bar techniques via pitch wheel and my electric guitar VSTis of my Independence Pro Premium Suite before - but I never got these really authentic results.

Maybe I'm just too dumb to use it properly in the best possible way.
Does anyone know around how many semitones you can bend a single electric guitar note up and down with the whammy bar of a real electric guitar?
(My feeling says, it could be around one full octave downwards and around one full octave upwards - but I'm not really sure about this.)

...

@Xaleph

Do you have a soundtrack or remix in which you use one of your guitar VSTis (or even a simple synth) with that guitar rig software amp and form the whole stuff into some realistic guitar sounds?

I use a similar combination of clean electric guitar VSTis + Vandal: Virtual bass and guitar amplifier (my own guitar amp plugin) with which you can tweak the guitar sounds into nearly all kinds of directions and other electric guitar sounds.
(I also tried it in combination with an electric piano and some synths a few times and it also works really well - you just have to send the VSTis and synths completely dry into the amp and use the effects within or after the chain of the amp to avoid nasty distortion effects.)

If you use this highly complex software amp with a real electric guitar, it might sound like this (made by somebody else):

If I use the Vandal software amp in combination with my clean electric guitar VSTis from my Indepenpendence Pro Premium Suite, it might sound like in the newest version of my THPS Goldfinger remix:

(I'll re-upload this one soon 'cause of a little unwanted sound artefact in the hi-hat section of the drum tracks.)

I would be very interested to know what a professional electric guitarist might think of it.

 

I do actually! I have evolution infinity and amplitude which I use together. But... I really.... really suck at making the music I can hear in my head ??. Partially because I'm terrible at playing the keyboard but also I don't understand how to make the sounds I like. Been thinking though that now I'm back from a long break, I should try and get better at it.

[Nase]

check this out:

some good inspiration for DIY midi guitar.

it's not rocket science, but you'll really enjoy having done something like this yourself. the libraries are totally ok, but this little tut hits closer to my heart.