So, thoughts on Orangetree Strawberry guitar?

Is it a good dry guitar? Should I has it? :D

This looks interesting. It apparently needs the full version of Kontact. And I don't see a demo - anyone know if there is one?

It is a great general purpose electric guitar library. Since I bought it, I reach for it whenever I want a guitar part in a song. It sits really well in a mix and is very playable. Many of the presets that are included are great at getting a part that fits as a placeholder to be refined later. I wouldn't expect to be able to do Thrash Metal with it, but it suits most other genres quite well.
 
If you follow my sig links to music, the last couple of songs that I've done have used this library, though the "Postcards From Hawaii" had a lot of actual guitars as well.
 
Regards,
Dan
 

I love it... actually, I love all the OTS libraries, but as a guitar player I was somewhat late to the "gee, let's use a guitar library" party. And I still play most of my parts in, but when the mood strikes OTS are my first pick (see what I did there?)

Evolution Electric Guitar - Strawberry is recorded dry/direct input, so you can do whatever you like to it, just like a real guitar. I was an early Orange Tree Samples customer back when they first started the business (2008?). I began giving Greg, the  CEO, feedback and suggestions for new features (input into what eventually became the Evolution line). I've been using guitar samples since the 80s. I have owned everything from samples in formats such as soundfonts, GigaSampler and Akai from small devs, Sonic Implants and others, to VSTs like RealGuitar, VirtualGuitarist, Slayer, you name it. Besides being a former semi-pro musician, I am a marketing professional with expertise in all areas of marketing, product development and branding and have given advice to several guitar sample devs whose libraries I use and even offered to fund guitar sample libraries with features I've wanted over the years (the Evolution guitar lines represents my dream library to be honest; I gave a lot of input and Greg went far beyond it). I own or have owned guitar sample libraries from a good deal of the KONTAKT devs on the market and none of them have equaled what Greg Schlaepfer of Orange Tree Samples has done, imo. So yes, I consult to OTS and gave input on various libraries and even named the Evolution line -- so, I am affiliated (and I want to be transparent about that), but it was all as a result of my being a passionate sample library user; someone who has been using guitar sample libraries, playing "virtual guitar," for decades.
 
As far as the comparison to RealGuitar, as a former owner of RealStrat and RealGuitar 2L, those are VSTs whose realism and sample quality (a significant shortcoming of the libraries, imo) has been surpassed by many high end KONTAKT sample libraries, not just Evolution. Another major factor beyond sample quality in Evolution is the scripting; that cannot be downplayed. It's an incredibly important factor, as we're not in the early 2000s dealing with non-scripted libraries that are just tons of articulations, maybe velocity layers and round robins making for trackzillas, today, scripting and workflow are critical, and while any of these deep sampled, highly scripted KONTAKT libraries has a learning curve, I find the scripting/programming and workflow on Evolution, and really all OTS libraries is nothing short of amazing and one of the huge differentiators for the libraries. Plus the attention to small details makes a huge difference (I don't want to give away OTS' trade secrets, but this is a significant part of achieving the realism).  Check out the audio demos below and their YouTube videos to get an idea. I compiled this list of my favorite Evolution Electric Guitar - Strawberry demos during the last Group Buy. Listen to the realism. It's made its way unto pop tracks and tv, movie and game tracks for good reason. 

ROCK (including Metal)
http://www.orangetreesamples.com/audio/SlitheryTattoo.mp3
http://www.orangetreesamples.com/audio/StrawberryExtendedTeaser.mp3
http://www.orangetreesamples.com/audio/SteveMorsels.mp3
http://www.orangetreesamples.com/audio/Orangeholic.mp3
http://www.orangetreesamples.com/audio/SoloGuitar.mp3
http://www.orangetreesamples.com/audio/ScarletQueen.mp3
http://www.orangetreesamples.com/audio/StrawberryPop.mp3
http://www.orangetreesamples.com/audio/Jaco%20Rocks.mp3
http://www.orangetreesamples.com/audio/Ruff%20Riff.mp3
http://www.orangetreesamples.com/audio/ZtrawberrieZ.mp3 (customer demo)

METAL
http://www.orangetreesamples.com/download/Revolution.mp3
http://www.orangetreesamples.gregjazz.com/audio/doubletrackedguitar.mp3
http://www.orangetreesamples.com/audio/Essence.mp3
http://www.orangetreesamples.com/audio/EEG-Powerchords.mp3
http://orangetreesamples.gregjazz.com/audio/progmetal.mp3

80s POP
http://soundcloud.com/talvin/talvin-jones-days-of-old-2-mix (customer song)

BLUES
No other electric guitar sample library can do this so authentically. Whatever styles you do, this should blow you away:
http://www.orangetreesamples.com/audio/ElusiveBlues.mp3
http://www.orangetreesamples.com/audio/CherryBassSlapMix.mp3
http://www.orangetreesamples.com/audio/MrKing.mp3
http://www.orangetreesamples.com/audio/FunkyBlues.mp3

COUNTRY
http://www.orangetreesamples.com/audio/Countray.mp3

REGGAE
http://www.orangetreesamples.com/audio/coreguitar-strawberry-demo1.mp3

R&B
http://www.orangetreesamples.com/audio/JacksonTest.mp3

FUNK
http://www.orangetreesamples.com/audio/cherryfunk.mp3
http://www.orangetreesamples.com/audio/Kool.mp3
http://www.orangetreesamples.com/audio/EvolutionFunkGuitar.mp3
http://www.orangetreesamples.com/audio/Funkulous.mp3

VIDEO:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlKFDakw4k4

Ruben -
I'd be interested to hear why you prefer MusicLab to OTS.
 
I've been using the MusicLab stuff for a long time...(RealGuitar more than any of them) so I'm just used to them and I like the velocity articulations. They sit in the mix really well. The strumming is really good as are the chunked/muted chords.
 
Orangetree I use more for leads or picking guitar lines. I'm not a huge fan of the effects that are included but some of the presets that are included are great.
 
Orangetree is a great company. They make a great product and give out great upgrades. The bigger software companies should take note on how you should run a business.
 
That being said MusicLab is a more scaled back company that also puts out great upgrades but make a solid product that doesn't really need to change much. They have a good support forum.

Oh ya, that's the stuff :).
 
I was never really happy with the sound I was getting out of the dry guitar/amp combos I was using (Pettinhouse Driectguitar). I'm not a guitar player, I don't know anything about guitars other than they have lots of strings and the guitar players get more chicks than trombone players (my instrument of choice) :). However I didn't like the sound for most things. It was too... I dunno, edgy I guess. I couldn't choose an amp sim that fixed it, couldn't EQ it to what I wanted. I figured it was probably an amp sim thing...
 
Nope. It was fret positions, it would seem. Playing with Strawberry I changed it from open fret to about 14th fret. There's the sound I wanted. Now it sounds good, with pretty much whatever metal sort of amp I chose. I don't know what that's the trick, but it is :). In general the sample set makes me happy because it is easy to adjust all kinds of parameters.
 
So then now the question becomes, what amps sims to use for best effect? :D Any advice is appreciated as again, I know nothing about guitar other than liking the sound. I own TH2 and GR5, and I'd buy in to the AmpliTube buy if that is worth it. What I'm after is two thing mainly: A heavy distortion rock/metal lead sound that Strong Bad would describe as "medelemedelemedelemedelemedelemedelemedelemeeeeeeee!!!!" and a more sedate overdriven/fuzz rock chord sound.
 
So suggestions for presets or setups in the amps I have to look at? Should I get AM3 and if so, what to look at there?
 
I'm already pleased with the playing around I've gotten so far, just looking for some guidance as to what sorts of things to try.

I may get AM3 if it is easier. Easy appeals to me a lot since I am lazy as hell :D. I'm also not really sure where tos tart with building my own chains since, as mentioned, I don't know anything about guitar.

I am a guitar player but I almost always prefer to use a software guitar simulator for my mixes.
That way I don't have to rerecord guitar parts to get different tones.
It also frees me up to try different guitar software to see which one sounds better.
I use NI Guitar Rig, Amplitube 3, Pod Farm 2 and Scuffham S-Gear.
They all sound great and cover so much ground. I do find myself using Scuffham the most however.
They all have great individual effects that can be used for vocals, mixing, drums and other instruments as well.