EZ Guitar – Maybe it’s time…

[Tony Shaffer]

Been a while since anyone posted a request for EZGuitar,...

Been a while since anyone posted a request for EZGuitar, maybe it’s time.

I’ve been using Superior Drummer 3, EZDrummer 3, EZ Bass, and EZKeys 2, and I love ’em all, not just for the sound quality and excellent programming tools, but for the integration in the ways they work together. With the features of these programs, Toontrack has created an incredible workflow that is consistent across all of their instruments and is versatile almost beyond imagination. And it is rock solid and intuitive after using it a while. In my experience, no other company comes close.

But there’s a huge and significant gap in “the band” because there is no EZGuitar to complement the other instruments. All of the available guitar VSTi’s have limitations requiring somewhat tedious workarounds, and Toontrack has already demonstrated its ability to get past those limitations.

OK, I play guitar, so – in theory – I can just mic/plug in a guitar and lay down a track reasonably quickly, and I often do that. I also record “live” keyboardists, bassists, and drummers. But for songwriting, arranging, and laying down guide tracks to record to, I work with MIDI instruments. The advantage is, I can change keys/tempo, swap out chords, change instruments, and more, to shape the song. And if I get that midi refined enough for the guide track, I often keep it in the final recording without re-recording my own playing.

Thing is, I KNOW Toontrack can do this…actually, they already have. My favorite “guitar” VST right now is EZKeys 2. With its new interface and expanded capabilities, I can play a part, send EZK2 MIDI out to one (or two) of my guitar VSTs, mute the piano, tweak a MIDI guitar part (including melody and strumming), automate the parameters of the guitar VSTs, and my Toontrack “band” has a guitar player, with the many tweaks and refinements that Toontrack offers.

But I keep thinking how wonderful it would be if I had a dedicated EZGuitar VSTi to do all of this “under one roof,” with all that Toontrack finesse. EZK2 is brilliant; I have every reason to believe EZGuitar is within reach and would be equally brilliant.

Maybe if enough of us request it, this would happen (maybe even soon). Toontrack was certainly responsive to those of us asking for an upright EZBass.

So, how ’bout it? Are you ready to “meet your new guitar player”?

Been a while since anyone posted a request for EZGuitar, maybe it’s time.

I’ve been using Superior Drummer 3, EZDrummer 3, EZ Bass, and EZKeys 2, and I love ’em all, not just for the sound quality and excellent programming tools, but for the integration in the ways they work together. With the features of these programs, Toontrack has created an incredible workflow that is consistent across all of their instruments and is versatile almost beyond imagination. And it is rock solid and intuitive after using it a while. In my experience, no other company comes close.

But there’s a huge and significant gap in “the band” because there is no EZGuitar to complement the other instruments. All of the available guitar VSTi’s have limitations requiring somewhat tedious workarounds, and Toontrack has already demonstrated its ability to get past those limitations.

OK, I play guitar, so – in theory – I can just mic/plug in a guitar and lay down a track reasonably quickly, and I often do that. I also record “live” keyboardists, bassists, and drummers. But for songwriting, arranging, and laying down guide tracks to record to, I work with MIDI instruments. The advantage is, I can change keys/tempo, swap out chords, change instruments, and more, to shape the song. And if I get that midi refined enough for the guide track, I often keep it in the final recording without re-recording my own playing.

Thing is, I KNOW Toontrack can do this…actually, they already have. My favorite “guitar” VST right now is EZKeys 2. With its new interface and expanded capabilities, I can play a part, send EZK2 MIDI out to one (or two) of my guitar VSTs, mute the piano, tweak a MIDI guitar part (including melody and strumming), automate the parameters of the guitar VSTs, and my Toontrack “band” has a guitar player, with the many tweaks and refinements that Toontrack offers.

But I keep thinking how wonderful it would be if I had a dedicated EZGuitar VSTi to do all of this “under one roof,” with all that Toontrack finesse. EZK2 is brilliant; I have every reason to believe EZGuitar is within reach and would be equally brilliant.

Maybe if enough of us request it, this would happen (maybe even soon). Toontrack was certainly responsive to those of us asking for an upright EZBass.

So, how ’bout it? Are you ready to “meet your new guitar player”?

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Thanked by: Hallgrimur Bergsson, Eric Turman, SnareManiac and 7 others.

Topic

[drobinson0280]

We want it!

3

Thanked by: Tony Shaffer, Eric Turman and SnareManiac

[SnareManiac]

I have been ceaselessly incentivizing Toontrack for the upright EZBass.
It turned out brilliant, as ever.

Same there about guitar, and by guitar, I mean all kinds of. The good old 6-string, baritone, up to 8 strings, and the good old 4-string bass guitar, up to 9 strings (yes!)

You’re right, it’s very often super convenient to have all instruments at your fingertips without having them physically, especially in matters of workflow. I’m traveling loads and bringing my kids (my instruments) with me is a logistical nightmare. MIDI is far from perfect, especially when you don’t play in equal temperament, but whatever… as long as the long awaited EZGuitar release is a bit more than a forum rumor, count me in.

I‘ve been wondering if I should give this topic a nudge, and I’m glad you did. Now, do we wait or team up?

If it’s a matter of strength by numbers, then why don’t we don’t bring up our friends, family, bandmates, colleagues ? Even folks not playing music for a living have their say. Without an audience, would there be a point in pouring all of our energy and feelings into something worthwhile ?

 

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Thanked by: Tony Shaffer and Brian

[William Brockman]

Hello awesome EZ Team! So, a 12 string bass but still no EZ Guitar? Please help finish the band line up and let the guitar player join the band:)

Thank you!

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Thanked by: Tony Shaffer and Eric Turman

[Stuartcata]

Yes, I use pretty much everything from Toontrack in my own studio. I use both my acoustic and electric guitars, but I must admit that the whole package would sound interesting together with EZ Guitar. Yes, I think it’s time for Toontrack to think about the next step!

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Thanked by: Tony Shaffer

[Tony Shaffer]

It’s been almost exactly two years since I posted this originally. I like to think that those of us who lobbied for an upright bass helped move that idea into reality, and that our constant requests for an upgrade of EZKeys paid off too.

…maybe more people asking for EZGuitar would give this idea a little momentum.

I’m sure it’s a daunting task, trying to figure out where to start on a guitar VSTi in a world that has an overwhelming number of actual guitars along with near-infinite variations. So…

Maybe it’s time we let Toontrack know what kind of features we would like to see in EZGuitar. I’ll start:

1. Of course, the main functionality of EZGuitar would be in the Grooves and the Grid Editor. In my opinion, that’s where Toontrack really stands out over all the others. It seems much of that work is already done in a way that would work for a guitar VSTi. Toontrack can handle notes, chords, rhythmic variations, various patterns of playing, and ways to edit and refine the parts. And all of it integrates seamlessy.
2. As for which guitar to start with, I’m betting an electric will create more excitment and interest than an acoustic, and for that first instrument, I’d say any iconic archtype solid-body guitar of the last 75 years would be a contender and work in about any style. (Basically, the same thinking Toontrack has used with all of their instruments.)
3. Considering style/genre, my guess would be, having a little of a lot of genres would be smarter than going way deep into any specific style. I’d opt for “meat ‘n’ potatoes” licks and strums, including the ability to edit and a healthy effects rack to vary the sounds.
4. The “other” guitar (acoustic) would, I think, make a better “second offering” after getting the ball rolling. I don’t think brand matters here as much as body style, starting with dreadnought.

After all, we don’t need “everything” right now; we just need to get started so we can form an idea of where we want to go. And I definitely think it’s time.

So, my wishes for EZGuitar would be:

A three-pickup, solid-body sunburst guitar with a handful of amps (including IR loader), and some generic effects (reverb, tremolo, delay/echo, distortion, compression), along with some MIDI biased toward bluesy, which can lean toward Rock, Americana, Country, and of course, Blues.

Thoughts?

[Al_12]

Yes EZ Guitar We Need It!!!

1

Thanked by: Brian

[Brian]

Yes we do – any news?

[Em_9]

I am also someone who has been patiently waiting for a Toontrack guitar product.  What bothers me most about this thread is that I see no response from Toontrack in this thread which has been going on for a few years.

It certainly would be nice if Toontrack would respond.  Is a guitar product still in the works for Toontrack or has that idea been abandoned?

[John]

Hi,

Toontrack never engages in discussions about hypothetical products or future updates but always listens to user feedback and requests. I very much doubt that you have seen someone from Toontrack stating anything about:

Is a guitar product still in the works for Toontrack or has that idea been abandoned?

If a new product would be announced, it would be via the main site and/or an official newsletter.
BR,
John

John Rammelt - Toontrack
Technical Advisor

3

Thanked by: Tony Shaffer, Em_9 and rixa

[Thomas Hansen]

Since Shreddage has many guitars and basses with lots of articulations, amps, etc. I think the main value proposition here would be the EZ part.   Shreddage is not easy to use, especially for a non guitar player since you have to create somewhat complex MIDI note and CC patterns to get the sounds you are looking for.   A huge value add would come from a more simplistic approach to score the guitar and/or a mechanism to take audio samples (stems) of guitar parts and convert them to a score which can then be modified to be recording ready.

[Travtek]

I think Toontrack sees the writing on the wall.  I believe the game has passed them by, and their lack of concrete communication implies their fatal hesitation.  One could hypothesize that the creative art and science of developing an EZ version of guitars would lead consumers to believe that adding two more strings to the fretboard wouldn’t be such a big deal since EZ Bass was published years ago.  And as any purist guitarist knows, consumers are oversimplifying what, in reality, is tens of thousands of lines of programming code written by a team of software engineers to attempt to capture the emulation of an imperfect instrument that’s been around since the Renaissance Period.  Maybe Toontrack’s ‘brain trust’ has retired or moved on to other pursuits in the music industry’s SAAS, and that’s the final shoe drop.  Nobody wants to work hard anymore; they feel disenfranchised after working somewhere for six months without becoming CEO.  We’d get a lot more done as a society if we all would just ‘shut up and do the work.’

The only thing I learned in the 1970s was how hard guitar playing is, and I never picked up a guitar again.  Then samplers became available in the 1980’s, and as cheesy as electric guitars sounded back then, you could hear me playing the opening guitar chords (minus the harmonics from Mark Knopfler) to ‘Money for Nothing.’

Fast-forward to the 1990s and sampled acoustic steel and nylon guitars began to sound more ‘convincing.’ Electric guitars: meh.  Not so much.

Then, in 2010, I finally dropped $400 on ‘Electri6ity’ by Vir2 Instruments.  With much pain, I was able to mimic an electric guitar solo from Steve ‘Luke’ Lukather.

And just like YouTuber guitar purist, Professor Rick Beato says, “Fake guitars just sound like keyboard synths.” Deep down, I agreed, until now.

To be honest, ‘Shreddage 3 Stratus’ by Impact Soundworks was never on my radar until I read Thomas Hansen’s post in this thread (Hat Tip).  But I did my due diligence and saw the company’s passion and commitment to its core consumers.  I remember when Toontrack did that about 15 years ago, with videos featuring a guy who was a guitar player and constantly gave shade to bass players because the bass instrument only had four strings and assumed that’s all bass players could handle.  But all I know is that Davie504 is the king of bass playing on YouTube and has perfected sarcasm to the point of slapping certain people, per se, in his reaction video reviews, besides slapping a bass.  But I digress.

Even as good as the digital sample libraries are now, with the advent of AI (GASP!), wannabe musicians can crawl out of bed and crank out a tune on Suno just by entering a prompt without any musical training or decades of experience in composing and writing lyrics (like some of us do for creating with AI generators breathtaking images in 4K to 6K resolution in a matter of seconds).  Some just enter a song title, and boom, the whole song is built in seconds.  Don’t get me started on the number of streams these AI artists are receiving and now are filling up streaming platforms like Spotify.  The number of fake bands that are created every few seconds is astounding.  Fake news – fake bands – fake music – fake personas.  Garbage in – garbage out.

But somewhere beyond those extremes, the good folks at Celemony, who brought untrained, tone-deaf singers ‘Melodyne’ (and its controversial impact for decades), have really come a long way with a completely different approach to state-of-the-art digital music production.  They take world-class musicians to not only play a note, but also play melodies of many genres, like real session players – just like old school style before the guys from TOTO finally formed a group, now well into their 4th decade.

Imagine having the players listen to your opening chord progression and then throw in some rhythm and blues or MOV country-pop chops that really inspire you.  I don’t know about you, but the older I get, the less motivated I am to learn the keys to technical prowess like the greats on all the instruments I love but will never learn play.  It’s a subscription-based model that’s totally affordable, either annually or monthly, and it gives you access to EVERYTHING in their libraries – far beyond guitars.  And for musicians like us, we know those guys should be able to earn commissions off these performances as ancillary residual income.

Personally, I can sleep better at night knowing I didn’t just send another talented and gifted musician down to Skid Row.  Their solution is called ‘Tonalic.’  This is the wooden stake, the garlic clove necklace, the holy water, the Holy Cross, and the silver bullet to any hope that Toontrack will ever produce an EZ Guitar series of libraries and expansion packs.  In a way, if you are already a guitarist with the whole rig setup, Toontrack is the glue that adds all the other instruments a guitarist might need (but never learned to play) for a band, helping you share concepts with your real-world bandmates using a demo.  And I think that still can pay the bills at Toontrack for at least another decade.  But if you’re ‘The Hitman’ David Foster, you will complete your arsenal with Native Instruments and their third-party NKS sample library makers to get all the finishing glitz and gloss. The takeaway for me is that I can vicariously feel like Steely Dan or Brian Wilson did back in the day and just produce music for the sake of music.  Not to tour and play live concerts.  I’ve composed, produced, and arranged about 60 songs back from my early adult years, and they are a cringeworthy catalog at best in terms of terrible mixing, much less any mastering, that would blow out speakers from the low end of the audio spectrum, the Yamaha 4-track cassette recorder with crosstalk galore, and later on VHS tape I used as recording media, for two-track digital recording instrumentals, complete with dropouts, and the low oscillating hums from unbalanced Radio Shack cables and connectors back in that era.  Now I can do justice to those long-ago ballads, jingles, instrumentals, and potential motion-picture soundtracks, and give them new life.   If I get booted from Toontrack for saying this, I hope it at least reaches someone like me before they delete the post.  I get nothing for mentioning this optional product that goes beyond owning a sampled library and some really cool DSP effects.  Tonalic just takes a good idea and finds a cohesive, synergistic solution where everybody wins.  The more you know…

Hope this helps,

Travtek

ASUS ROG MAXIMUS Z890 HERO INTEL ULTRA 9 24-CORE, Crucial 4X4 TB SSD, Corsair 7100 - 192 GB RAM 4400) Corsair AIO iCUE Link Titan 420 RX LCD CPU Cooler, 8 iCUE Link RX RGB case cooling fans, ASUS PRIME GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16GB 128-Bit GDDR7 PCI Express 5.0 x8 DLSS 4.0 Graphics Card, CORSAIR HX1500i 1500 W ATX12V 2.52 Power Supply, CORSAIR 7000D AIRFLOW Full-Tower ATX PC Case, NI KONTROL S88 MK3, NI MASCHINE MK3 R2, Fender Studio One 7, Quantum ES 2, Slate Immersion One Headphones, M-Audio BX8 Monitors.

• The post has been modified 4 times, last modified 4 months, 3 weeks ago by Travtek.

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Thanked by: Em_9

[Keith Dunwoody]

Celemony beat Toontrack to the punch. They brought the whole band, in fact. Tonalic is very intriguing. Like Band in the Box but sounds cleaner and gives more control. The subscription model is a turn off, however.

[Author]

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