Six-String

dawman · Post by **dawman** » Sun Apr 13, 2008 11:53 am

Anyone using Six-String for strumming?

I could use a few tips on this.

I have achieved some cool finger picking results, and can get some decent texturers and leads.

But the strums just don't get a real feel, and either does my sampled guitar stuff.

I refuse to use loops of somebody playing since I have my own ideas, but the closest I can get to strumming is a harp like type strum that Greg Lake used on From The Begining song years back, and Black Water by the Doobie Brotha's.

Appreciate any help in this matter.

Mr Arkadin · Post by **Mr Arkadin** » Sun Apr 13, 2008 12:28 pm

Well i assume you're doing the obvious thing of delaying the notes slightly from low (earliest) to high for a downward stroke (the tight scrunching is probably only achievable by MIDI manipulation). There's also the problem of string voicing that you can't recreate on a keyboard controller (like playing the same note on two different strings etc.) To be honest i've always thought the time and effort spent programming this in MIDI would be better spent buying a guitar and learning a few chords.

dawman · Post by **dawman** » Sun Apr 13, 2008 2:52 pm

I couldn't agree more w/ U on that .

I am trying to get everything from Six-String and samples prior to buying an acoustic.

Electric guitar and Pedal Steel GVI's are actually quite good, it's the acoustic aspects I am lacking.

Post by **garyb** » Sun Apr 13, 2008 2:57 pm

midi guitar controller?

pollux · Post by **pollux** » Sun Apr 13, 2008 3:05 pm

you could give a try to Guitar Pro for building your chords and lines.. It can spit midi instead of using it's own engine.

Mr Arkadin · Post by **Mr Arkadin** » Sun Apr 13, 2008 3:20 pm

i haven't used my Expressionamte in a while, but i think you have one. Could you program a really fast arpeggio triggered by the ribbon? Divide the ribbon into three and have an up arpeggio on one side and down on another so you could alternate strumming. Not sure if that's even possible on the Expressionmate.

You might also want to track down one of those old Oberheim Strummers which was supposed to do that automatically.

dawman · Post by **dawman** » Sun Apr 13, 2008 5:21 pm

That's what I was trying to remember.

The Oberheim Strummer.

I saw it at a NAMM show last century and although the samples were on an Oberheim DPX ( EMU format ), it was decent.

I am striving for a live, not recorded sound, as once again I am forced to cover guitar parts.

I could just record our guitarist and use VDAT for this as I will be doing backing vocal tracks also.

But I am a Ham and prefer trying to pull this off.

Thanks Brotha' Men.

Tau · Post by **Tau** » Sun Apr 13, 2008 7:07 pm

Funny, i was experimenting with that a couple of days ago, guitar strumming and six-string...

I made a device in Live that maps the keyboard notes to different MIDI channels routed to six different monophonic six-strings, which are first mixed together, then processed as a whole. I had the notes mapped from E2 to G#2 to channel 1, A2 to C#3 to channel 2, etc.

Even though it's limited to the first 5 frets, I thought it sounded much better than a single instance of Six-string with 6 voices and it's good for playing low arpeggios and strums (with a guitar chord-chart in hand

)

With some MIDI fiddling one can get convincing results, but it's never the same as a real guitar+player combo!

Mr Arkadin · Post by **Mr Arkadin** » Mon Apr 14, 2008 9:04 am

XITE-1/4LIVE wrote:
The Oberheim Strummer.

I saw it at a NAMM show last century and although the samples were on an Oberheim DPX ( EMU format ), it was decent.

i have the Oberheim Cyclone, which is more of an arpeggiator. It's great fun but can crash a system when changing modes. Don't know if the Strummer is the same in that regard - it looks a bit simpler than the Cyclone so may be OK.

Kymeia · Post by **Kymeia** » Tue Apr 22, 2008 1:27 pm

You could try Mamba which is a rather nice midi strumming programme - freeware too:

http://www.bluespook.com/

darkrezin · Post by **darkrezin** » Fri Apr 25, 2008 11:23 am

Never used this or its predecessor (Omnichord) but it looks potentially interesting.

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/ ... sku=210003

Me$$iah · Post by **Me$$iah** » Fri Apr 25, 2008 11:40 am

Ive got me an Omnichord....

bought it for next to nothing at a bootsale.

It really is good at the stumming thing, however the sounds on it are crap and theres no midi or nothing...... its more of a toy really than anything useful

It rocks a bit tho.

I'll bet that new one, Q-chord or whatever it is would be awesome tho, due to the fact it has a midi out.

I see if I can record and post some samples of my omnichord for ya