The EM Poll

STEINBERG Virtual Guitarist Electric Edition (MAC/WIN)

Aug 1, 2003 12:00 PM, By Geary Yelton

           

One of the greatest challenges of sequencing is playing realistic guitar parts with a MIDI keyboard. Last year, Steinberg introduced Virtual Guitarist, an innovative pair of VST Instrument plug-ins that rather effectively substitute for a rhythm guitarist when you're sequencing tracks. Like the original edition, Virtual Guitarist Electric Edition (VG EE; $249.99) provides real-time guitar parts for nonguitarists by combining a MIDI playback and processing engine with a large collection of samples. VG EE is a collaborative effort between programmers in Sweden, Germany, and the U.K., and it actually encompasses two separate plug-ins: a VST Instrument and a VST effects processor called Virtual Guitarist Electric FX.

Turn On and Tune Up

Like its predecessor, VG EE provides sampled rhythm patterns called Players. The Players follow the tempo and meter of the host sequencer, changing whenever the sequence changes. You control what chords they play by playing them on your MIDI keyboard. (I suppose you could also trigger them from a MIDI guitar, but that would be a bit twisted.)

After you select one of the 29 Players, you must wait a few seconds while it loads from disk. Once they're loaded, each Player is divided into eight variations called Parts, which load instantly when you click a selection arrow, send a MIDI Program Change, or play a particular note you've specified on your keyboard. The variety of Players is impressive — everything from 70ties Funk and White Soul to Monster Heavy and Classic Rock. I especially like the Player called RnB — Rock'n'Roll, which sounds very much like the Rolling Stones.

Whereas the first Virtual Guitarist featured samples of acoustic and electric guitars, the Electric Edition concentrates on an amazing collection of vintage electric guitars and amplifiers belonging to German axe man Thomas Blug. The Fender guitars include a 1953 Esquire and 1956 Stratocaster, and the Gibsons include a 1958 Les Paul and 1963 ES-335. The amplifiers feature a 1963 Vox AC30, 1964 Fender Super Reverb, and three 1968 Marshall stacks, as well as a recent-model Mesa/Boogie Triple Rectifier. They all sound quite good, but you can't directly select a specific guitar or amp; instead, you select Players that were recorded with a particular combination. Still, you never know exactly what that combination is. Each Player's guitar is depicted onscreen, but the amp is never identified.

Pause for Effects

In most respects, the Electric Edition is identical to Virtual Guitarist. Its user interface and most of the included manual are almost exactly the same. The most significant difference, other than its selection of Players, is an onscreen multi-effects pedalboard comprising eight stompboxes: AutoFilter, chorus, delay, flanger, phaser, reverb, tremolo, and wah pedal. Some Players make extensive use of the effects, and others have only one or two Parts in which they're obvious. You can use the separate VG Electric FX plug-in to process any DAW track or audio input, including a real electric guitar.

Why would a guitarist want VG EE? It's great for developing ideas and comping parts you might never think of otherwise. In addition, VG Electric FX is specifically tailored for electric guitar sounds. Although I play guitar, I use Virtual Guitarist frequently, and the pedalboard plug-in is a nice bonus. Its effects are handy when I want to load them as a group, but I do wish it offered a distortion effect. I suppose that because the guitars were sampled with the optimum distortion for each style, there's little need for a separate distortion effect.

Despite their similarities, I had some technical problems with the Electric Edition that weren't an issue with Virtual Guitarist. When I installed VG EE on my dual-processor, 1 GHz Power Mac G4, it simply refused to run in Cubase SX under Mac OS X 10.2.6. No matter how many times I reinstalled, a message read, “Sorry, but the plug-in failed to install.” Almost ironically, VG EE ran perfectly well in MOTU Digital Performer 3.11 using Audio Ease VST Wrapper on a G4/400 running Mac OS 9.2.2. After numerous requests for technical support, Steinberg eventually told me that VG EE has a problem running on dual-processor Macs; the development team is working with Apple on a solution.

I like Virtual Guitarist Electric Edition and recommend it. It sounds outstanding, and the CPU load is perfectly acceptable. I'd certainly have rated it higher if it had worked on my dual-processor Mac, though. Unfortunately, there's no downloadable demo to ensure that VG EE works on your computer.

Overall EM Rating (1 through 5): 3

Steinberg North America; tel. (818) 678-5100; e-mail info@steinberg.net; Web www.us.steinberg.net