More than ever, software instruments and sample libraries are being used in everything from pop hits to Hollywood soundtracks, with virtual mockups increasingly making it (either partially or in whole) into the final score for the latter. For the composers and producers who don’t have the finances or network to book a recording studio or hire a full orchestra, software instruments can help bring your ideas to life, often with surprisingly convincing results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But if you’re an instrumentalist, don’t panic or spiral into an existential crisis; nine times out of ten, an experienced live musician will play the part better. While there’s a lot we can do with automating parameters and tweaking note timings, it’s still hard to replace the energy, active listening, emotion, and originality a real human brings to a recording. Furthermore, some categories of virtual instruments generally tend to be further along in their pursuit of realism over others. In this blog post, let’s discuss three common sounds that tend to be hard to replace with software instruments, and take a listen to some specific emulations that give it their best shot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There are a few reasons why virtual guitars, by and large, seem to fall flat in the face of the real deal. For one, there are so <\/em>many different techniques that guitarists are constantly incorporating into their performances, such as hammer-ons, pull-offs, bends, palm muting, slides, fingerpicking, tapping, and pinch harmonics (just to name a few). If a sampler instrument fails to reproduce or transition between even one of these convincingly, then the realism is immediately lost. On the other hand, if all of the tonal eccentricities are<\/em> somehow programmed faithfully, then it requires a great deal of skill and effort from the user to painstakingly add in detailed CC values and automation curves. Lastly, because guitar is such a common instrument across popular music, even casual listeners may take notice if something feels a little off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On a positive note, virtual guitar amps (such as Positive Grid’s BIAS Amp 2 \/ FX 2<\/a> and IK Multimedia’s AmpliTube 4<\/a>) are capable of delivering some pretty amazing tones these days, allowing quality live guitar recording to occur entirely in-the-box. However, if you’re set on trying out a software counterpart, Impact Soundworks’ Shreddage 3 series<\/a> offers some quite impressive sounds for heavier genres, while Ample Sounds’ Ample Guitar M Lite<\/a> is a fun free acoustic option (which we featured on our list of best free instrument plugins<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n