Dimension Pro guitars?

Just wondering whether anyone has an opinion on what the guitar patches included with Dimension Pro are like?? I would be interested in using many of Dim Pro's patches, but the guitars are of particular interest to me, because I probably can't afford a decent guitar/amp setup at the moment. (I am sort of an "ex-guitarist... I used to play an electric and I currently own a cheapo bottom-of-the-range steel string acoustic. I also have a midi controller keyboard and can play piano). Especially I would like to know people's opinions on the steel string acoustic patches... and how do I get a "strummed" sound out of Dimension Pro?? I am also perhaps interested in some of the electric guitar patches too - do they sound passable?

I didn't think they were that useful until I saw the Sonar demo last year and the demonstrator put them to excellent use. It can be done, just don't ask me how ;^)

Any instrument converted to a sample set can be sequenced well if you understand the instrument and how to sequence it.

Guitar can be tricky to do well. Its all about how you go about setting the cords because it's not played like a piano.

ORIGINAL: everdream
While I'm at it, I'll ask the obvious... since you're a guitar player, why don't you just record the tracks yourself?

Like I said in my original post... I can't afford a decent guitar setup at the moment. I would need to at least buy a mic for to record my acoustic, and even then it is a piece of garbage acoustic so it would probably sound terrible recorded. And then I would like to get some electric guitar as well - buying an electric guitar + amp setup can be quite expensive. Also, I am not as good at guitar as I am at keyboards. Was considering getting Dimension Pro anyhow (for stuff other than guitars), so to know it has decent guitars as well would be a real bonus and perhaps save me some cash.

ORIGINAL: CJaysMusic

buying an electric guitar + amp setup can be quite expensive.

Fender strat squier =$179- 199 Marshall 15 watt amp cost $139

Hmmmm strats... eww. The kind of guitar I like is something like the one BB King plays (ES335?? semi-acoustic). I think there is maybe an Epiphone version available but still not too cheap. By the way, what sort of sound would I get from those amp-simulator VST plugins I see around the place? Could I get by without an amp altogether? And would I need something like one of those Line 6 Toneport thingies, or are they only for acoustic guitars?

Hmmmm strats... eww. The kind of guitar I like is something like the one BB King plays (ES335?? semi-acoustic). I think there is maybe an Epiphone version available but still not too cheap. By the way, what sort of sound would I get from those amp-simulator VST plugins I see around the place? Could I get by without an amp altogether? And would I need something like one of those Line 6 Toneport thingies, or are they only for acoustic guitars?

Fretted Synth makes a great free VST FX plugin called FreeAmp2. Check it out here: http://asseca.com/frettedsynth/index.html Cakewalk's Amp Sim is also pretty nice, but you don't have the variety of amp modeling that comes with other products such as Amplitube (I still like the original) and NI's Guitar Rig. There is a ton of stuff on KVRaudio - you need to spend some time there checking out your options.

Another option to consider: borrow a friend's electric guitar and record it straight into your soundcard, clean. Then you can use a VST FX plugin like FreeAmp2 and tweak the sound to your liking. But, if you need to get the sound/feel of an acoustic, with all the strumming and other nuances, then nothing comes close to recording the real thing. A decent microphone can be purchased between $100 - $300 which you could use for both instrument and vocal miking (if you choose wisely).

Dim Pro has some of those "nuance" sounds also - which lets you create a more realistic guitar track sound. I use these regularly to add that feel to a guitar track which is totally in the box. No need to do that when you record a real guitar though! Bottom Line: I think you can accomplish your goal with Dim Pro's sounds - but it won't be a quick/easy thing. You'll need to do some planning, tweaking and programming. But it can be done. I am a huge Dim Pro fanboy - it makes its way onto *every* song I create.

P.S. (and OT) I thought that BB King's Lucille is a Gibson ES-345. Nice guitar. My dad plays one, as well as three different vintage Martins and an old National resophonic. He's a guitar purist and delta blues afficionado. I play keys and am happy with a Fender Strat and a Martin D-28. Someday, I'll add a Les Paul and perhaps a clone of the ES-345.

Dim Pro has some of those "nuance" sounds also - which lets you create a more realistic guitar track sound. I use these regularly to add that feel to a guitar track which is totally in the box. No need to do that when you record a real guitar though! Bottom Line: I think you can accomplish your goal with Dim Pro's sounds - but it won't be a quick/easy thing. You'll need to do some planning, tweaking and programming. But it can be done.

So the Martin sounds you find here (under Listen...) are not just out of box? How much tweaking needed to get sounds like these? (If not too difficult, they'd be worth the current DimPro upgrade offer to me.)

Thx, Ron

The guitars that have been mentioned, are they in the base DM Pro or the free expansion packs? Are there any new ones with the EMU packs that have recently been anounced.
Thanks Wyndham

I think Dimension Pro is a pretty amazing sample/synth plug. But guitars are very tough to sample well and if you want truely realistic samples you'll probably want to get a libary dedicated to that. The best acoustic one I am aware of is here: Acoustic Legends. I play guitar professionally but man - the range of instruments and sound quality of this pakage would be very expensive to try and duplicate with real intruments/mics - lot of different guitars sampled really well. Chris Heins Guitars are good for electric (but not cheap). East West guitar samples in Ministry of Rock are also good. BTW - you'll get a better price on any of those from a site other than the home site of the developers.

But if you are planning to get Dimension anyway (and its a great value IMO - lot of other great sounds as well) you could give those a try and see how you like 'em. And in the mean time - just practice you guitar! You can do as many takes as you need to get a good track (and no one will be watching )

That Martin Steel String does sound good and there's a strumming patch too that sounds really good. The 'Twelve String with Pad' sounds nice and and there's a patch in the first expansion pack called 'Unplugged Blacksnake' that also sounds good. Check out the demos if you haven't already.

Personally, I think I'm gonna wait for Kenny's samples to come out.