First post. Maybe an unusual question:
 
Are there any software instruments that give a sound similar to what an electric guitar recorded directly through a DI would produce?
 
Reason why I'm asking: I'm not such a good guitar player. So I prefer to compose the guitar parts using a MIDI keyboard. During that process, I can use some virtual instrument that has an electric guitar patch. But I have trouble finding electric guitar patches that sound good. So I was thinking that if I could find a patch that sounds very much like an electric guitar recorded directly through a DI box, that I could then use the TH2 plugin to transform that into a decent sounding amped electric guitar.
 
Eventually, I would learn to the play the part on a guitar, and record that. But I'm not such a good guitar player, and it's easier for me to do most of the work on a keyboard beforehand. And I'd like to have a decent sound to listen to during that process.

Welcome to the forum!
 
You can try the strum emulator or some acoustic guitar sound, like the guitar sounds in Dimension Pro.

Leizer
You can try the strum emulator or some acoustic guitar sound, like the guitar sounds in Dimension Pro.

Thanks. I'm trying some. I like the sound of the Les Paul Overdrive Unison in the Cakewalk Sound Center (just by itself). But I'd like to be able to produce similar sounding guitar with a combination of some virtual instrument and TH2, so that I could tweak the sound with TH2. It may be that I just don't know enough about guitar/effects equipment to use TH2 to get the sounds I want.

http://www.musiclab.com/home.html

I would look into Orange Tree's stuff. They have some really excellent guitar libraries (acoustic, electric and slide). Great stuff for keyboard players.
 
Regards,

Most Kontakt-based guitar libraries are recorded direct. If you have full Kontakt, there are many such libraries available, priced from free to cheap (~$20) to moderately expensive (< $200). Orange Tree Samples' Evolution Electric Guitar is one of the most popular, although also one of the more expensive.

Nomad's guitar amp - does that come w/ the blue tubes bundle?  Anyway, it has a nice basic setting for guitar amp that is solid - I use it for vocals a lot.
 
@

I use Ministry of Rock, RealStrat, RealLPC, and RealGuitar, along with Amplitube 3, and can generally get a MIDI track that doesn't make me cringe (from a MIDI track level of expectation).
 
Guitar is tough to model. Always has been. I listened to hours and hours of samples, and did a lot of reading of forums and watching of videos before I decided which samples and plugs to buy. In the end, the choice came down to more or better. I chose better, and I think you should too. You've tried what you already have and you're still looking.
 
Line up multiple tabs with audio or video snippets. Come up to higher than normal levels and A/B/C your options. If cost makes you gunshy, play what you're using now and think on how long you're going to be hearing that before you get where you want to be on a fretboard.
 
One advantage of the samples thru amps is avoiding tweak time. The disadvantage is that most of the sounds are known, and in some cases, dated by familiarity. Don't just listen to manufacturer's snippets, go on Youtube and find independence. Naturally, check the video specs so you can compare apples to apples. 480 or better, 720 if possible,.

Kontakt is a great synth to own. Many third party programmers  record sample libraries for it. The suggestions above are all pretty decent. I picked up a few sample libraries that work with Kontakt. They were affordable and they had a good sound quality to them.
 
The biggest problem with the sample libraries is that they really don't emulate the nuances and character that a real guitarist applies to their playing. Sure, the samples sound good, and will fool most people, but a real picker will notice the lack of artifacts of real fingers on the frets. For someone who doesn't play guitar, that little issue will be a minor nit at best.
 
So.....if you don't play a guitar, the samples ARE without a doubt the best alternative if you don't have a guitar slinging buddy.

+1 Orange Tree Sound Samples