I would like to hear an opinion from people who have extensively tested both. How do Virtual Guitarist(Iron, Amber, Sparkle) compare to Orange Tree guitar plugins in terms of quality and believability?

 

VG stuff only has rhythm guitar material. Orange tree has potential for both rhythm & lead/solo guitars. The VG stuff also has not a ton of chord types. For instance, I use really uncommon chords such as add11, add9, 7sus4, 13sus4, maj9, maj13, add6, min9, etc. VG only has sus2, sus4, maj7, min7, maj, min. That's all it can do. There's no options to make your own chords. Orange tree has this option. Orange tree also has an alternate tuning function - where you can select tunings such as drop b, drop d, drop c, half step down, whole step down, nashville, baritone, new standard, double drop d, modal d, etc. VG you are stuck with standard or drop d. Orange tree also has a variety of articulations such as harmonics, mutes, slides, legato, hammer on/pull offs, tapping, palm mute, pick, finger, etc. VG only has sustain & mutes, really. VG is dedicated to patterns. Orange tree is dedicated to simulating the guitar. And at last but not least - VG is available on the sister site... but only for PC. Orange Tree's entire catalog is available on our sister site for both platforms - no discrimination applicable.

This all said, I can only conclude that Orange Tree blows VG out of the water in terms of guitar simulation. All you really need is Orange Tree & Ample Sound, & maybe some MusicLab if you're a freak for guitar stuff.

 

I completely agree with what you said. I just wish music lab would let you edit the strum patterns. I use their newer 8 string guitar instrument Real8. I really like the sound of the new dracus lib from orange tree for leads. With scuffham and or bias amp sims it gets the job done for metal tones

 

Last edited: Oct 22, 2016

Can't speak for/against VG and OT, but I did buy Music lab LPC and Ample sound AGT. Both have pros and cons, but both formats are my favourite guitar plugs.
I like lpc for simple and quick midi chords patterns chugging, and the joystick option that allows guitar hero guitars to be used as a midi controller, which is great for posing, dreaming you can really play and of course, inputting strums.
I prefer Ample for everything else, though I sold AGT way back, mainly because I wanted the same joystick feature and, despite asking nicely, they wouldn't put it in. I did miss it, so I've recently downloaded a few new ample versions to demo, with an eye on buying the AME, AGG and AGP editions. I see there's also a new Telecaster waiting for r2r to get busy on too.

I haven't tried the extension packs as the ones on AZ only have slow links, so unless I find them with mega, or at least rockfile, you'll have to get an opinion from someone else.

 

also we forgot to mention that you can program different custom strum patterns to keyswitches in the Orange Tree libs. Unlike the hunt and peck unchangeable strum method in the VG line (and Music Labs strum engine)

I havent messed with the Ample Sounds stuff since ver.1 Now Im curious how it stacks up to orange tree libs

 

Last edited: Oct 31, 2016

I bought VG Amber and Iron and I love them. Though I have not tried OT, it is hard to believe anything can beat VG. The new Sparkle is suppose to add lead ability to the VG family. I plan to check it out when I get some money and possibly make another purchase.

 

I just read that ample guitars can load tablature. Thats a cool feature.

Regarding the OP and believability. The VG guitars have that canned production sound ready to go right out the box. If you want realism, its definitely the orange tree libs.

 

I swear by MusicLab's stuff, especially now that they implemented humanization and doubling. I also use Electri6ity, which is especially great for rhythm guitars.