Steinberg Virtual Guitarist 2 User Manual
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Virtual Guitarist 2 English The information in this documentation is subject to change without notice and does not represent a commitment on the part of Steinberg Media Technolo- gies GmbH. The software described by this document is subject to a License Agreement and may not be copied to other media. No part of this publication may be copied, reproduced, or otherwise transmitted or recorded, for any purpose, without prior written permission by Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH. All product and company names are ™ or ® trademarks of their respective owners. Windows XP is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation. The Mac logo is a trademark used under license. Macintosh is a registered trademark. Mac OS X is a registered trademark. Cakewalk SONAR is a registered trade- mark of Twelve Tone Systems. ReWire is a trademark of Propellerhead Soft- ware AB. Logic is a trademark of Apple Computer, Inc. registered in the U.S. and other countries. © Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH & Wizoo Sound Design GmbH, 2005. All rights reserved.
ENGLISH Virtual Guitarist English 3 Table of Contents 4Congratulations! 5Virtual Guitarist 2 - What’s The Deal? 6Register Your Software ! 7The Steinberg Key 8Minimum System Requirements (PC version) 9Installing Virtual Guitarist 2 (PC version) 9Minimum System Requirements (Mac version) 10Installing Virtual Guitarist 2 (Mac version) 11Activating the Steinberg Key 12Preparations 17Using a MIDI Keyboard 19First Test 19How to Play Virtual Guitarist 2 20Virtual Guitarist 2 Terminology 22Chord recognition 24Sustain pedal 26The Play Page 27Loading and Saving Styles 28Auditioning Styles 29The Parts Browser 30The Play Page Controls 35The Riff Page 36The Riff Editor 41Groove Settings 43The FX Page 44The Amp Section 46FX Section 47The Effects 55The Output Section 57FX Management 59Plug-in Version of the Effect Board 60MIDI Controller Default Assignments 62Assigning MIDI Controllers in Virtual Guitarist 2 63The Setup Page 68Additional Phrasings 70Reference
Virtual Guitarist 4 English Congratulations! Virtual Guitarist 2 is the new all-round rhythm guitar specialist for your computer based studio. Delivering 87 Styles that cover every genre in the history of guitar music you can think of, Virtual Guitarist 2 is a per- fectionist in every way: perfect sound, perfect timing, and the ability to flexibly adapt to your music. Virtual Guitarist 2 will add professional rhythm guitar tracks to your songs, without the need for a real player. You will get a perfect take every time. Even if you use real guitarists in your music as well, Virtual Guitarist 2 has the big advantage of enabling you to experiment with rhythm guitar parts at any time, and in any place, without the need for special recording equipment like a recording booth, preamps or microphones.
ENGLISH Virtual Guitarist English 5 Virtual Guitarist 2 - What’s The Deal? Virtual Guitarist 2 is a multi-format plug-in instrument providing a va- riety of rhythm guitar Styles. Each Style is ready-to-go with the correct guitar, microphone and amp, and a selection of phrasing controls. In the figurative sense, Virtual Guitarist 2 comes to your studio, brings a truck full of guitars, amps and FX and plays whatever you tell it to play, perfectly and without complaining. All you have to do is play the chord and key progressions via a MIDI keyboard. You can control the phrasing, sound, and many other play parameters, using the mouse, or by triggering them in real time using a MIDI controller or your software host. This enables you to adapt the rhythm guitar to seamlessly work within your song, and in any given musical style. Virtual Guitarist doesn’t use common single-note samples or synthe- sis to imitate guitars. The result would be extremely artificial, and if you’ve ever tried to simulate guitar playing on a MIDI keyboard, you’ll know exactly what we’re talking about. Perhaps surprisingly, the Virtual Guitarist concept is actually much simpler. Virtual Guitarist is based on a huge library of audio tracks re- corded by real guitar players. This means the result really is a genuine guitar recording—and not an artificial approximation. Virtual Guitarist’s approach makes it possible to select from these re- cordings in real time when you change a chord or any other parame- ter. Tempo changes are no problem as the guitar recordings have been processed in a way that enables all the beats to be triggered in- dividually. And, in addition, you can manually shuffle and edit the indi- vidual beats to create your own Parts - thanks to the spoon-throwing, ground-breaking Riff Page. The output signal of Virtual Guitarist 2 is fed into the Amp/FX section. Here the sound gets beefed up using several Amp, Cabinet, micro- phone set-ups – and an array of stomp box effects – just like in a real guitarist’s rig. Using Virtual Guitarist 2 is simple, especially if you think of the plug-in as a real rhythm guitar player—tell it what to play and it will play it. The playing is precise.
Virtual Guitarist 6English Despite all of these advantages, it is important to remember that Vir- tual Guitarist is a computer program and will inevitably have some dis- advantages when compared to a real player. It would be impossible for Virtual Guitarist to provide everything a real guitarist might theore- tically be able to offer. Register Your Software ! Before getting carried away with the software, which we’re sure you will be, please take a moment to complete and return the registration card enclosed with Virtual Guitarist. This will entitle you to technical support, and we’ll also keep you up to date with the latest news and updates.
ENGLISH Virtual Guitarist English 7 The Steinberg Key Please read this section before installing the Virtual Guitarist software. Included with the Virtual Guitarist 2 package, you will find an activation code for the Steinberg Key (sometimes referred to as a “dongle”), a hardware copy protection device that is part of the Virtual Guitarist copy protection scheme. Virtual Guitarist 2 will not run if there is no Steinberg Key and if this key hasn’t been properly activated. You can ei- ther separately purchase a new Steinberg Key for use with Virtual Gui- tarist 2, or use a key previously bought for use with a different Steinberg application. The Steinberg Key The Steinberg Key is, in fact, a little computer on which your Steinberg software licenses are stored. All hardware-protected Steinberg prod- ucts use the same type of key, and you can store more than one license on one key. Also, licenses can (within certain limits) be transferred be- tween keys – which is helpful, e.g. if you want to sell a piece of software. • If you have a Windows PC, the installation routine will initiate a restart of Windows after installation of the key drivers and the program soft- ware. After the restart, you can plug the key into the USB port to pro- ceed with the key activation. • If you have an Apple Macintosh computer, there will be no automatic restart. Be sure to read the information regarding the Steinberg Key that is displayed during the installation process. • If you already own copy-protected Steinberg software, remove any existing Steinberg Keys from the computer’s USB port during the Vir- tual Guitarist 2 installation routine.
Virtual Guitarist 8 English The Steinberg Key must not be plugged in before or during the installa- tion of Virtual Guitarist. Otherwise the operating system of your com- puter will register it as new USB hardware and try to find drivers that won’t be present before Virtual Guitarist 2 installation. If you already own a Steinberg Key (e.g. for Cubase or Nuendo), you can load your Virtual Guitarist license onto that one, using the activation code supplied with Virtual Guitarist. This way you need only one USB key for both your host application and Virtual Guitarist 2 (see below). Minimum System Requirements (PC version) • 500 MHz Pentium III or AMD 7 processor (1 GHz or faster recommended) • 256 MB of RAM (1 GB recommended) • 8 GB of hard disk space • Windows® XP Home or Professional • Windows MME compatible audio hardware (an ASIO compatible audio card is recommended). • If you want to use Virtual Guitarist 2 as a plug-in or ReWire slave device, you’ll need Cubase or Nuendo or another VST 2.0, ReWire or DXi 2 compatible host application • A Steinberg Key and an available USB port • A DVD-ROM drive for installation • Monitor and graphics card supporting at least 1024 x 768 resolution. • A working internet connection for the activation of the Steinberg Key. • Please also observe the system requirements of your host application. Please note that some features may not be supported in some host ap- plications.
ENGLISH Virtual Guitarist English 9 Installing Virtual Guitarist 2 (PC version) 1. Make sure the Steinberg Key is NOT plugged in. 2. Insert the Virtual Guitarist 2 DVD and – if this doesn’t happen auto- matically – open the DVD window. 3. Locate the Virtual Guitarist 2 Installer, launch it and follow the instruc- tions on the screen. 4. After you have completed the installation successfully, plug in the Steinberg Key and follow the instructions of the driver installer. 5. Next, you’ll have to activate the Virtual Guitarist 2 license on your don- gle (see “Activating the Steinberg Key” on page 11). After installing the Virtual Guitarist 2 software, the dongle drivers, and the Virtual Guitarist 2 license on the dongle, Virtual Guitarist 2 is ready to use. Removing Virtual Guitarist 2 (PC version) 1. Open the “Add or Remove Programs” control panel of Windows XP. 2. Select Virtual Guitarist 2 and click “Add/Remove.” 3. Follow the on-screen instructions. Minimum System Requirements (Mac version) • Power Mac G3 500 MHz computer (G4 or faster recommended) • 256 MB of RAM (1 GB recommended) • 8 GB of hard disk space • Mac OS X version 10.3.9 • CoreAudio compatible audio hardware • If you want to use Virtual Guitarist 2 as a plug-in or a ReWire slave, you’ll need Cubase or Nuendo or another VST 2.0, ReWire or AU compatible host application. • A Steinberg Key and an available USB port • A DVD-ROM drive for installation • Monitor and graphics card supporting at least 1024 x 768 resolution.
Virtual Guitarist 10 English • A working internet connection for the activation of the Steinberg Key. • Please also observe the system requirements of your host application. Please note that some features may not be supported in some host ap- plications. Installing Virtual Guitarist 2 (Mac version) 1. Switch on your computer and insert the Virtual Guitarist 2 DVD. 2. If the DVD window doesn’t open automatically, double-click on the Virtual Guitarist 2 DVD icon on your desktop. 3. Double-click the “SyncrosoftLicenseControl.mpkg” file (in the Copy Protection Driver folder) to run the copy protection installation pro- gram and follow the on-screen instructions. 4. Double-click the “Virtual Guitarist 2 Setup.mpkg” file to run the plug- in installation program and follow the on-screen instructions. 5. After installing the plug-in, copy the folder “Virtual Guitarist 2 Content” to your system hard drive in the folder “Library/Application Support/ Steinberg/Virtual Guitarist 2“. If you move the content to another directory on your hard drive you will have to run the “Set Content Location” application in the “Virtual Guitar- ist 2 Content” folder on your hard drive, otherwise Virtual Guitarist 2 will not find its data! Do not move the Virtual Guitarist 2 plug-in itself – it must stay in the VST plug-ins folder so the host application(s) can find it. 6. Next, you’ll have to activate the Virtual Guitarist 2 license on your don- gle (see “Activating the Steinberg Key” on page 11). After installing the Virtual Guitarist 2 software, the Syncrosoft drivers and the Virtual Guitarist 2 license on the key, Virtual Guitarist 2 is ready to use.