Shreddage: Need *really* realistic electric guitar samples?

[zircon]

Hi all, it's your neighborhood friendly sample developer/music library composer with a new release that I hope many of you will find useful.

"Shreddage: Electric Rhythm Guitar: Rock and Metal"

The story behind this one is good; I've been working on it for two years. Ever since I started producing music, I've wanted a set of samples where I could reproduce lots of different electric guitar rhythms on my keyboard. I bought library after library, but simply could not find anything that sounded even close to realistic. I'd sequence them as best I could, but when I showed them to friends and fellow composers, I'd always get complaints about my guitars not sounding good enough. So, after the 4th or 5th set of samples that didn't sound good, I decided to do it myself, and do it right.

The result is this library, Shreddage. First of all, it is 100% DI (clean) and has no loops. There's nothing worse than being forced to use a distorted tone, especially because it just doesn't sound realistic when you play it fast. Also, no loops or phrases means you can sequence any kind of pattern you want and you don't need to worry about time-stretching or being locked into specific notes. Second of all... it sounds awesome. You might be skeptical, but just listen to the demos on the product page. I challenge you to find any electric guitar samples that sound better (and don't cost literally 10x as much!)

Basically the idea was to focus on JUST rhythm playing, not lead, and focus on the under-appreciated rock/metal style. Being able to do blazing-fast riffs, chugs, powerchords and squeals is crucial not just in those genres but also for writing cinematic music. No jazz/pop chords here; there are other libraries for that. My guitarist and I used a pristine chain and brutally tested every set of recordings, expanding, trimming and editing where necessary to make it perfect. For example there are literally five kinds of mutes (normal mutes, powerchord mutes, powerchord tight mutes, powerchord half mutes, normal tight/fast mutes), sampled up to EIGHT TIMES per note, with double-tracked patches available too.

Interested? Here's the kicker; Shreddage is $49. That's probably less than you pay a month for your cell phone or cable. This isn't some kind of trick or light version, either. The entire library in Kontakt 2+ format is $49. Everyone is calling me crazy for this but after getting ripped off by guitar libraries well over $100 (several times) I wanted to make something that would definitively be THE no-brainer for electric guitar sounds.

Once again, the link for demos, the manual, and a full feature list:

http://www.impactsoundworks.com/product ... /shreddage

I've already been using Shreddage on tons of projects and my beta testers have said it stands head and shoulders above anything they've used; they've all converted to this library for their rhythm needs, and even my guitarist is using it to double his live playing! So, I hope you all will enjoy it too.

[fullbirdmusic]

Interesting sounds. Too bad I play guitar myself and don't need it but it might be one of those libraries that might save someone when they're in a pinch. Good luck with this. Might help to post some videos of people using it showing the features and patch programming. Cheers, Wes

EDIT - The way I understand it here is that it must be used with some sort of re-amping software/hardware setup like Guitar Rig, Logic's Amp Designer or using outboard gear in order to get the guitar tones heard in the demos - is that correct? It might help to clarify that in your pitch, as well.

[zircon]

Thanks for the comments! Yes, we do want to do an actual demo video, but my screencap software isn't working right now so I can't do it myself (yet). Here's a trailer, anyway -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-ugOO5WY14

Also, yes, this is indeed a completely direct-in library - I did mention that in the first post, but I'll repeat it again here. We recorded through an Avalon DI box into Pro Tools, so you would need some kind of virtual amp to get a distorted tone. Luckily we've included a number of virtual amp sim presets for products like Guitar Rig and Amplitube, and there are a number of free amp sims around like Simulanalog Guitar Suite in case you don't have your own.

[mazz]

I'll pick it up for sure! I got the e-mail, thanks!! Your other libraries are very good too!

Nice to see you back here on the boards, it's been a while!!

Cheers!

Mazz

[mojobone]

Sounds good. Let me know if you need some "twangage".

[zircon]

As promised, check out this simple improvised demo video of how the library is loaded + played.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRFMeZ5puh8

[robbylane]

My primary instrument is guitar, so....no samples required on my end. However, I totally and completely commend you for creating a super-cool tool that enables non-guitarists compose their ideas as needed, and at a great price. Perhaps some of your clients will manage to come up with some creative song ideas or "guitar techniques" that actual guitarists have never heard or thought of, just as a guitarist might use his or her guitar as a percussive instrument and create something wild that is "outside the box" of what a drummer might play. Applications like this are an important part of what keeps the music world interesting and allow limitations to be stretched!

Robby Lane

[orest]

I think I could use this program as a guitar player.
But, I don't like that I need to buy another program for 500-600 dollars to be able to run this program.

[mojobone]

Doesn't it work with the free Kontakt player? I know some libraries don't because they use the more intensive scripting functions...

[zircon]

You can get Kontakt for $250 and honestly, if I had to recommend a single piece of software to ANY composer or songwriter, it would be Kontakt. The amount of amazing sounds it comes with is staggering, it's pretty low-CPU/RAM, it has GREAT editing capabilities and of course loads almost every third-party library. Companies like Tonehammer, Cinesamples, Pettinhouse and other sample developers also release for this format. The problem with bundling a player is that it costs money... a lot of money, too much for someone like me. I'd have to charge $200 a copy instead of $50.

If you can't get your hands on Kontakt, this *does* work in the free Kontakt Player, but only for 15 minutes at a time. You would have to reload your project when you want to keep using it, so I have to recommend the full version of Kontakt.