Music Lab Real Rick

Mmmm I thought this may have raised a bit of interest. A 12 string Rick from Orange Tree would have me really salivating but Music Lab's stuff is pretty good too.

Yes, but Orange Tree's is a bass. This is a 6 and a 12 string guitar!

Glyn Barnes
Mmmm I thought this may have raised a bit of interest.

It's the $199 part that made me just give it a glance and move along. 
 

Anybody got this? I have been playing around with the demo and I like it a lot. Unfortunatly the demo only contains the lower frets and I was wondering how good the higher notes are.
 
Adding VAT onto the existing user price pushes the cost to above a hundered pounds so I am still undecided.

Too expensive for me.
 
You're right to be skeptical about the high notes, as that's where every Rick sample library I've heard falls down.
 
The sole audio demo they provide isn't a good example. There, it sounds an awful lot like the SampleTank/Infinite Player Rickenbacker 12. What use I've gotten out of that one has only been with distortion like the Musiclab demo, because the clean sounds and upper octaves lack sparkle. My mental reference is a real Rick 12 I played for many years before foolishly selling it. 
 
I'd check their resale policy before taking a chance on it.

I already own RealGuitar, RealStrat and RealLPC. I started with RealStrat and was so impressed I ended up with the other two over time - I have to admit though that I waited for sales so that the price was more like USD119 than 199. In the case of RealRick MusicLab are offering that to existing owners of other products (not sure how many you need to qualify) for USD119 so I have just now purchased it and it is downloading as I post. I will let you know once I've had a chance to play it, but based on my experience with MusicLab's other products, I have never felt that their guitars were ever anything less than immensely playable. Unlike a lot of sample-based libraries they provide an incredible range of playing styles and I particularly like that the pick position can be continuously adjusted which results in a surprisingly wide tonal range. Through a good stack of effects (and I now have Guitar Rig 5 thanks to Native Instrument's annual Komplete sale - something like 250 bucks for the whole lot as an upgrade, how can you resist) I find all these libraries quite realistic, especially not being a guitar player.
 

Ok, so had an hour or so of playing around with the full instrument, not the demo. Now, I am definitely not a guitar player, I do own a decent Yamaha acoustic guitar and also a nice Ibanez Strat copy which I can kinda play, so I have a fairly good idea of what a good instrument *should* sound like.
RealRick comes with stereo and mono 6 strings and an 'A' and 'B' twelve string. As far as I can see the difference here is that the strings are detuned a bit more for one of these sample sets. As with all the other instruments in the series, you have pretty much the same levels of control including the ability to move the pick position which, as I said, does provide a very substantial control over the tone and can be done in real time.
The sound is, as you'd expect, jangly, but, to my ears at least, beautifully sampled and you can certainly play along to the Byrds and sound pretty darn close, depending on your chops. Of course, as with all these instruments (RealGuitar excepted) you really need to plug in an effects stack or the raw sound will be a little underwhelming but that's exactly how it is for a real electric guitar.
You can actually get quite a good jangly sound from the Les Paul but it is quite a bit more full-bodied, the Rick is a thinner toned instrument which takes up less of the mix. The very top notes have a fairly short sustain  - or more accurately, drop back fairly quickly in volume - there's no suggestion that the samples are truncated in any way. However, not owning a real instrument I assume this is probably how it is. I can hear no evidence of aliasing or any other digital artifacts on the top notes.
 
Plugged into any of Guitar Rig's more extreme solo lead patches, there is plenty of sustain at the top end (obviously, there's usually a compresser in the stack for these patches). Overdriven, the Rick gives a very clean lead whereas the Les Paul is, again, rather crunchier and thicker and of course the Strat has that characteristic enharmonic attack that outlines every note, almost like a chime is the best way I can describe it. You really notice that in the Strat's lower notes, which is what makes the other two guitars somewhat better for those powerful solid low lines.
I also like the Rick for rhythm; you can play staccato chords and get something that, again, doesn't take over the mix but has clarity and punch.
As with all the Real series instruments intelligence is used so that if you play two notes successively that on a guitar would usually result in a hammer on, for instance, then by default that will automatically be applied. Of all the plugins I own, the Real guitar series really are 'musical instruments' - you can set up to 5 different samples per note to play so notes never sound mechanical, and the sample sets load very quickly.
 
I just looked at MusicLab's site and all four plugins will set you back 549 bucks. Now that ain't cheap, I admit, but, if I had to start all over again I'd still be buying the full set. Every guitar has its own distinct character and lends itself to different styles. I also like their simple licensing scheme; you get a license file which is not keyed to your individual computer which makes it easy to move software when you upgrade, for instance. You do not need to re-register online.

Well, I pulled the plug and bought this one. As I don't have a point of reference its hard to say how authentic the sound is, but its the type of bright sound I was expecting. The six string version seems as usable as the 12 strings.
 
Anyone familiar with Musiclab's other guitars will be familiar with the interface and most of the features. It has the same excellent chord detection mode, variable pick position, solo, harmony, chord, base and chord and pick and chord modes. It should be easy to use a MIDI track written with one of the other "Real" series without much tweaking as the key whitches and control look to be the same.
 
Most intresting are the stereo modes, the samples from each pickup are panned to opposite channels. Insert the VSTi in Sonar as "all synth outputs - mono" and you can route each pickup through a seperate amp chain which opens up all sorts of possibilities.
 
The Amplitube Fender 65 Delux Reverb seems to be a perfect match for this VSTi.
 
 

A final word from me. I have had it for a few days now and every time I have fired it up I have ended up with something that could develop into a song. It's an inspiring plugin and you can't say better than that.