Have been playing around with some Guitar and Bass virtual instruments lately and wanted to see what others are using and which you think are the most realistic. I have been using Ample sound and Toontrack EZbass mostly as I found them easy to use.
Also is this a good option for people on a budget who can't afford good instruments and recording equipment. Or do you believe it's better to go buy a cheap second hand basic guitar or bass.

 

Also - In these COVID times you can probably hire a pro bassist or guitarist for half of the going rate. Ask any musician, they'd rather be playing than not at all.
That's another option. There's an expressiveness with a real musician that no virtual sampled instrument will ever fully capture. They come really close but a player of that virtual instrument can tell the difference. For Joe Public, they probably won't.

 

I have tried a few (ample, ezbass, modo bass, native instruments stuff). EZbass sounds and feels the most realistic imo if you just want to put the plugin and start pushing keys, don't know how it compares to the others when actually putting brains into it.

Real bass/guitar is more fun, but aside from money they also require time. Totally worth the investment if you ask me, but that really depends on you.

 

I really like the Ample Sound stuff and I find it them to be the best sounding among other offerings. Right now there are travel restrictions where I live due to COVID, so they're great to get a few ideas going.

However, as a player myself, the process of using VIs feels way different and sometimes quite restrictive. And even if one spends hours on editing and making them sound realistic, they can easily tell the difference between the real instrument and the virtual one. So if you do know how to play, a second hand instrument is way more inspiring and fun! And the idea of hiring session musicians suggested by @BaSsDuDe is great as well.

 

That's a good point BaSsDuDe any one who has the money should go down the route of session musician, it's something I would have never thought of but a good idea with the current situation.
Like mk_96 I have also tried modo bass and native instruments stuff and I agree that EZbass is great but I would like to see an upright bass added and would LOVE to see gutiars from toontrack. EZguitar please?
I already have guitars and audio interface but may need to get a second hand bass as I am not a bass player. My electric is nothing fancy and may have some problems due to its age.
I think acoustic guitar would be most difficult as high spec microphones can be quite expensive, this is where virtual instruments may help, or not? As rollerball said the time it takes to create and edit is frustrating.

 

For Electric Bass, EZBass is Great..
But I'm still liking the good old Scarbee Rickenbacker/P.Bass libraries,
maybe not the absolute Best, but still very good/good enough..

There's also IK Modo Bass which looks Good,
but I haven't had the time to try it..

Or Iconic Bass Jacco, if you're after that type of sound.


For Upright Bass it's a bit more difficult..
I haven't found the ultimate perfect solution,
because the musical style/context will ask for one type of sound/another.

But I'm still using the good old: CoreBass Pear and Bazantar.

And there's also an Old semi-forgotten library called "Larry Seyer Upright Acoustic Bass"
which has more of a Jazzy feel/sound..

It's Not Perfect by any means, but it seems it was well loved back then,
and it could fit that style more closely than say CoreBass which is more generic..


PS: Oh and there's also Cris Hein Bass, which covers both Electric and Upright,
offering some interesting options like Fretless 5-string, and Steel/Nylon/Gut strings for the Upright..

 

Last edited: Jun 22, 2021

When I need quick, convincing results I turn to EZbass, which has an enormous amount of different bass lines, suitable for most genres. When I play my own bass lines I prefer Modo. It is very light on CPU and fun to play.

As to Vsti guitars, at the moment I am trying out Real Guitar's Les Paul, which after a bit of editing is quite usable. My favourite semihollow comes from Amplesound. For a Fender sound I prefer Shreddage. I mainly use guitars for demo purposes and leave the final recording to my guitarist. But for developing ideas those are fine.

When I need rythm guitars my plugin of choice has been UJAM's series and Applied Acoustic's STRUM. Riffendium also proves quite useful occasionally. But of late I've discovered that Real Guitars offer quite interesting strum patterns, too.

With GuitarRig, Amplitube or Overloud the results get even better and more realistic.

 

For me it's always going to be EZBass, which pretty much everyone else here has said. Love that little beast!

For guitars, Heavier7strings is always my go to. I've played around with others mentioned here, but I can't seem to find something that I like the sound of. I will admit that that's probably due to impatience. and not taking the time to learn these other programs.

For amp sims I've gone through GuitarRig 5 and 6, Amplitube 4 and 5, Overloud, Line 6, and Neural DSP. Neural is definitely my go to all the time after trying each one.

I will say now that I'm not a guitarist, I use these things to get down rough ideas that I've got going on when I can't work with our bands actual guitarist. They've definitely been very helpful indeed during the lockdown, and not being able to work with our actual guitarist.

Long live music, this site, and the sister site! Without them, I'd get bugger all done!

 

Also - The Spectrasonics Trillian library is sturdy, reliable and versatile. One bass in that library - The Patituchi bass in it is a good all-around upright bass sound. The Amplebass upright is good too but the Patituchi upright in the Trillian library seems to sit in a mix better and sounds more natural as a bassist.

 

Yes I have also used Trillian, it has some different sounds. In the past I used Chapman Stick, which fitted nice to what I was doing.
I will try some of the others mentioned, some I have not heard before-
Scarbee Rickenbacker/P.Bass
Iconic Bass Jacco
CoreBass Pear and Bazantar
Larry Seyer Upright Acoustic Bass
Cris Hein Bass
Real Guitar
Shreddage
UJAM
Applied Acoustic's STRUM
Riffendium
Heavier7strings
Thanks for the great ideas for me to try.

 

I have added a poll so we can see at least the most popular, let me know if you want others added.

 

Depending on the sound I'm after, EZbass or Trillian are my favorites. I'm a guitar player, not a bass player, but I can get something that sounds pretty authentic to me, using Jam Origin's MIDI Guitar 2 to play into either of those. Of course I'd rather have a real bass player any day! As for guitar plugs, none of them are very satisfying to my ear, and besides, I'd rather just play.

 

Came here to downvote EZBass! Why is this being hyped? Mystery. Terrible sampling (as many as a velocity layer?) even compared to beards old Trilian, Scarbee etcs! Very unplayable / unenjoyable.

 

There is no argument from me that a great sampled bass or guitar sounds like a great sampled guitar or bass. But to say "The most realistic sounding?" I cannot. A real bass player and a real guitar player.
The moment you play it on a keyboard it is a keyboard playing a bass sample or a guitar sample no matter how great it is.
In a cinematic mix nobody would know the difference, but by itself, the natural slight nuances when a guitarist or bassist plays a second verse or chorus in dynamics, string touch, slips and even human error a machine has to be told to do that. It's like me doing a piano part that is difficult, I anticipate a piano player telling me they probably would not play it the way I got the samples to play it.
My answer is to pick the one that works best for you. If you can play then do it yourself. These libraries are designed for composer's who do not play or cannot play those instruments to a certain level or have no access to someone who can play what they want.

 

Last edited by a moderator: Jun 23, 2021

To some degree, @BaSsDuDe. But it's just a matter of time, imo. What's more interesting is how close (ie) GuitarTeq or the equivalent (acoustic) guitar gets? Also think you're conflating performance and response (nuance) of the virtual instrument. I still think Modo does a pretty good job, albeit annoyingly close, instead of close.

Spoiler

It does make me laugh a bit that Behringer are prolly working on producing a 4-string MIDI interface that is velocity sensitive and has patented pluckability and will have options for user-configurable Jaco Pickstorious™®© picks. It will look something like this, for true bass control™ etcs:

 

Oh I do not deny the newer sampling and keyswitching opportunities are great or the potential for further use and development. There is though a sound and feel that a player gets that is still noticeably different. The MIDI interface opportunities are developing fast and in that case I agree wholeheartedly that it will be realistic. i am a player and I work with both. Both have their uses but I never confuse the two. A Velocity curve will never be the equivalent of human dynamics because human dynamics don't work that way.

 

True, but the incredible stuff w/ even current tech (MPE, expressiveE Osmose etcs) will change everything about hardware (the biggest stumbling block atm).

Spoiler

Crazy rambling: when we get true, VR virtual instruments (that can be played in VR the same as IRL 1:1) then there'll be no need for silly physical instruments! We can all play Stradivarius versions of Jaco Pastorius' bass etcs! >____> And it will be terrible / the best thing evah. (Delete as appropriate!)

 

I agree a real Bassist/Guitarist is potentially the best option,
as a Guitarist myself I would Never use a sampled guitar instrument unless it was absolutely necessary,
or too convenient to pass on it like say: a LapSteel or a 12 String guitar which I don't physically own..

However it can be very convenient in terms of Time Economy.
I have a real P.Bass, but if I'm Composing/Producing a full track under a tight schedule,
I don't have the time to mess with bass technique/practice, I need the bass line played/recorded Perfectly by yesterday,
so having a variety of proper Bass instruments is very Convenient/immediate..


-On a side note, Scarbee Rickenbacker and P Bass are Separate libraries,
and very different in terms of Features/sound..

There's also a couple more basses in their website..

 

Last edited: Jun 23, 2021

No argument. It's getting there but they still have a way to go yet. Certainly usable for many styles, genres and grooves, scores and more. Some things will be better for players with next to zero latency when they respond better to slides, hammer-ons and offs, fret jumping without incorrect note assignment etc etc... with MIDI interfaces i.e. They're getting there. If guitar and bass are not the natural instruments for someone, what is out there certainly accommodates that missing space for a composer. In cinematics, nobody will notice it missing or whether or not it is real if put together properly (that's the real trick). But in a trio where there is lots of space that is the area they need to work on because if a musician who plays the instrument that is sampled thinks the sampled instrument is real every time, then they've succeeded.

 

I find the idea of playing guitar using a keyboard quite interesting - not for a final recording but for a different creative approach. Ten fingers vs 4, ten notes vs 6. Getting out of the rut of playing the same scales and patterns... Maybe come up with something different on a keyboard playing a guitar sound and then record the idea with a real guitar...