Results for Vir2 Instruments

Vir2 Instruments prouds itself in creating some of the most advanced virtual instrument libraries for Kontakt. The recently released electric guitar instrument Electri6ity took over three years to develop, and listening to the audio demos it shows.

Vir2′s previous release is World Impact: Global Percussion, a comprehensive sample library featuring ethnic, world, and cinematic percussion from around the world.

Sampled in meticulous detail and programmed for maximum and instant musical usability, the collection includes hundreds of varied percussion instruments from Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Australia, and more.

A massive 4.2-gigabyte collection of Japanese Taiko drums recorded from multiple microphone positions forms a central part of the library.

Each instrument has been recorded with numerous alternate takes and velocity layers, assuring realistic and dramatically expressive sonic results. World Impact is an essential tool in the toolbox of every film composer, movie trailer producer, and aficionado of world percussion instruments.

The list of instruments available in World Impact is kind of ridiculously long. Over 300 instrument patches are available, neatly categorized by region and instrument type.

Instruments can be browsed separately or as menu patches to preview instruments. These menu patches include many instruments, each one mapped to a single key on the keyboard. As the instrument’s name shows up for each note played it’s a great way to audition/find the sound you are looking for. And when you do you will want to load that particular instrument patch, as it will include the full set of samples, articulations, and the extensive features of World Impact’s pattern engine.

More than a set of samples

World Impact features a massive 13 gigabyte collection of high quality 24-bit samples. Having tons of quality samples is great, but if you ever tried to create a convincing realistic percussion performance with samples you know this can be quite tricky.

Like many other sample libraries, World Impact features multi-sampled instruments with multiple velocity layers and round robin techniques (some of the instruments actually only use a relatively small amount of samples). To more faithfully reproduce the way a real percussionist would play you need more than a collection of samples. That’s where Kontakt comes in.

Vir2 uses Kontakt’s powerful scripting engine to create various articulations which can be triggered by notes. World Impact comes with choke, flam, 3-stroke roll (16^th/32^nd/64^th notes), and roll (32^nd/64^th notes), and a number of rhythmic patterns (tempo-synced) is included with each instrument. You can create your own custom patterns as well, and store them in one of the 25 user patterns.

The patterns include separate step sequencers for velocity, smooth, and pitch. To create a more authentic, realistic sounding percussion performance World Impact includes a useful Humanize page, in which you can set randomize parameters for pitch, timing, and volume.

Also included is EZRoom, a convolution reverb library which provides some 50 custom sonic spaces;

everything from chapels and halls to caverns, small rooms, and unique esoteric spaces is included

I will briefly demonstrate these Kontakt script features in the video below.

The audio in the video isn’t so great so make sure to check the official audio demos below to get an idea of the sound quality of World Impact.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

As mentioned earlier World Impact includes too many instruments to list here (you can find them on the Vir2 website), but I did want to highlight the Taiko drums. From the manual:

The Taiko drums were recorded on a large stage with three sets of mics capturing the drums: close mics, stage mics (approximately at the conductor’s position), and room mics. Every sample of each Taiko patch has been phase-aligned and is triggered whenever you hit any Taiko note. These controls give you fine control over the sonic balance between the three pairs of mics.

A total of 15 Taiko drums instruments is included; over 4 GB sampled material!

So what do I think?

World Impact is probably the most comprehensive percussion library I have ever seen. The amount of instruments is overwhelming at first, so it’s not a bad idea of Vir2 to include those menu patches for easy auditioning of sounds.

The sampled material is of outstanding quality and the use of the Kontakt engine/scripts really adds value to this library. Although the articulations and patterns don’t work equally well for every instrument it is an amazing way to create realistic sounding percussions with little effort.

World Impact should easily take care of most your percussion needs.

More information: Vir2 Instruments / World Impact: Global Percussion

Vir2 Instruments has released Electri6ity, a virtual electric guitar instrument powered by Kontakt Player 4.

After more than three years of development, Vir2 Instruments presents Electri6ity, an epic electric guitar virtual instrument containing the most advanced, detailed, and versatile collection of electric guitars ever made in a virtual instrument.

Electri6ity features

• Recordings of eight guitars: Strat, Tele, P90, Les Paul, Rickenbacker, Danelectro Lipstick, ES335, L4.
• Three pickup positions: Front, Rear, Front + Rear Blend.
• Recorded variations per sample: Downstroke/upstroke, Picked/strummed, Seamless velocity layers.
• More than 24,000 recorded samples per guitar, recorded at 24-bit 44.1KHz fidelity.
• Playing modes: Polyphonic, Monophonic, Legato (Sustain/Muted).
• All modes can be combined with a Slide Mode for real-time slides from each fret to each other fret..
• Articulation list: Sustain Neck <> Bridge, Sustain <> 5th / Octave Pinch Harmonics, Dead Notes <> Muted <> Half-Muted, Ghost Notes Clean, Ghost Notes Dirty, Chucka-Chuckas, Harmonics, Hammer On (played after sustain note) / Hammer On (tapped), Pull Off (played after sustain note) / Pull Off (tapped), One and two frets Slides Up / Down, Slides (from and to every available fret), FX Samples (Screams, Scratches, Whammy-FX, etc.).
• Release types: Finger Noise, Finger Noise Short, Mixed I, Mixed II, Hand Mute (fret can be selected), Palm Mute, Slide Down Short, Slide Down Medium, Slide Down Long, Slide Down (1 fret, short), Slide Up (1 fret, short), Slide Noise Down, Slide Noise Up, Pick Noise.
• A.M.T (Articulation Morphing Technology) & V.M.T (Velocity Morphing Technology) allows you to seamlessly morph from soft to loud notes, from dead muted to sustain, and even from sustain to fifth or octave pinch harmonics! The morphing is phase-aligned without any phasing artifacts.
• Advanced string and fretboard positioning – the AI chooses the best fitting strings and fretboard position for you. It takes speed, timing, notes and polyphony into account. Manual overwrite is possible whenever you need it (by manually choosing a string or a position on the fretboard).
• Advanced guitar noise engine – adds pick, finger and slide noises according to your playing.
• Advanced legato engine – fluid legato lines in real time.
• Advanced vibrato engine.
• Advanced humanization – nothing is random, everything is artificial intelligence.
• Advanced guitar chord detection – almost two thousand chords are detected and transferred into guitar chords in real time. Most guitar chords are available in up to three different voicings..
• Inversions and chords with additional root keys are detected.
• Easy Double-Tracking – without increasing the memory footprint.
• Auto Unison-Bends.
• Dynamic sympathetic resonance simulation.
• Performance keys for strumming and picking – powerful yet easy to use.
• Performance keys for trills, tremolo picking, one and two fret slides (it’s possible to slide whole chords as well).
• Full control over the engine, tweak and control the playback with more than 100 parameters.

Electri6ity is available to purchase for Windows and Mac (VST/AU/RTAS/Standalone), priced at $399.95 USD.

More information: Vir2 Instruments / Electri6ity

Vir2 Instruments has announced Electri6ity, an epic electric guitar virtual instrument containing the most advanced, detailed, and versatile collection of electric guitars ever made in a virtual instrument.

Electri6ity contains eight of the most famous and distinguished guitar tones from the history of the instrument: the Strat, Tele, P90, Les Paul, Rickenbacker, Danelectro Lipstick, ES335, and L4. More than 24,000 24-bit samples were taken of each guitar. Three pickup options (front, rear, and mixed) are available on every guitar. An impressive amount of samples allow you to play every articulation on every fret of every string for an absolutely authentic guitar sound. Downstrokes, upstrokes, seamless velocity layers, ghost notes, mutes, flageoletts, hammer-ons, pulloffs, slides, releases, and FX…the sky is the limit with Electri6ity.

Electri6ity features

• Electri6ity includes eight guitars: Strat, Tele, P90, Les Paul, Rickenbacker, Danelectro Lipstick, ES335, L4.
• Three pickup positions: Front, Rear, Front + Rear Blend.
• Recorded variations per sample: Downstroke/upstroke, Picked/strummed, Seamless velocity layers.
• Playing modes: Polyphonic, Monophonic, Legato (Sustain/Muted), All modes can be combined with a Slide Mode for real-time slides from each fret to each other fret.
• Articulation list: Sustain Neck <> Bridge, Sustain <> 5th / Octave Pinch Harmonics, Dead Notes <> Muted <> Half-Muted, Ghost Notes Clean, Ghost Notes Dirty, Chucka-Chuckas, Flageoletts, Hammer On (played after sustain note) / Hammer On (tapped), Pull Off (played after sustain note) / Pull Off (tapped), One and two frets Slides Up / Down, Slides (Slide in and from each fret to each other fret), FX Samples (Screams, Scratches, Whammy-FX, etc.)
• Release types: Finger Noise, Finger Noise Short, Mixed I, Mixed II, Hand Mute (fret can be selected), Palm Mute, Slide Down Short, Slide Down Medium, Slide Down Long, Slide Down (1 fret, short), Slide Up (1 fret, short), Slide Noise Down, Slide Noise Up, Pick Noise.

Integrated engines:

• A.M.T (Articulation Morphing Technology) & V.M.T (Velocity Morphing Technology) allows you to seamlessly morph from soft to loud notes, from dead muted to sustain, and even from sustain to fifth or octave pinch harmonics! The morphing is phase-aligned without any phasing artifacts.
• Advanced string and fretboard positioning – the AI chooses the best fitting strings and fretboard position for you. It takes speed, timing, notes and polyphony into account. Manual overwrite is possible whenever you need it (by manually choosing a string or a position on the fretboard).
• Advanced guitar noise engine – adds pick, finger and slide noises according to your playing.
• Advanced legato engine – fluid legato lines in real time.
• Advanced vibrato engine.
• Advanced humanization – nothing is random, everything is artificial intelligence.
• Advanced guitar chord detection – almost 2000 chords are detected and transferred into guitar chords in real time. Most guitar chords are available in up to three different voicings..
• Inversions and chords with additional root key are detected.
• Easy Double-Tracking – without increasing the memory footprint.
• Auto Unison-Bends.
• Dynamic sympathetic resonance simulation.
• Performance keys for strumming and picking – powerful yet easy to use.
• Performance keys for trills, tremolo picking, one and two fret slides (it’s possible to slide whole chords as well).
• Full control over the engine, tweak and control the playback with more than 100 parameters!

Electri6ity is available to pre-order for PC and Mac (VST/AU/RTAS/Standalone) for $399.95 USD. It will be shipping in Spring 2010.

More information: Vir2 Instruments / Electri6ity

Vir2 Instruments has announced it is now shipping World Impact: Global Percussion, a world percussion library powered by Kontakt Player 3.

Get ready for a perfect storm of ethnic, world, and cinematic percussion. Featuring a massive collection of varied percussion samples, World Impact spans the globe featuring percussion instruments from large to small, west to east, north to south, and traditional to rare. Sampled in meticulous detail and programmed for maximum and instant musical usability, the collection includes hundreds of varied percussion instruments from Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Australia, and more.

A massive 4.2-gigabyte collection of Japanese Taiko drums recorded from multiple microphone positions forms a central part of the library. Each instrument has been recorded with numerous alternate takes and velocity layers, assuring realistic and dramatically expressive sonic results. World Impact is an essential tool in the toolbox of every film composer, trailer producer, and aficionado of world percussion instruments.

World Impact: Global Percussion features

• More than 300 patches of world percussion instruments categorized by Geographical Region and instrument type.
• 13GB of 24-bit samples.
• EZRoom control in all patches, allowing the ability to instantly place the percussion in any one of over 50 different sonic spaces.
• Integrated Humanize engine, offering quick control over pitch, tuning, and volume randomizations.
• Custom articulation and pattern engine built-in, allowing instant triggers of chokes, flams, 3-stroke rolls, full rolls, and rhythmic patterns, all of which are automatically synced to host tempo.
• Onscreen EQ controls allowing independent control of three bands (frequency, gain, and bandwidth).
• Velocity curve settings that allow easy adjustment for normal, louder, and softer playing.
• Multitimbral operation, supporting up to 64 simultaneous instruments loaded (subject to RAM availability), receiving up to 64 MIDI channels (16 in plug-in mode).
• Kontakt Player 3 engine, supporting standalone operation as well as plug-in operation in all major hosts that support AudioUnit, VST, RTAS (Pro Tools 7 & 8) plug-ins.
• Special upgrade pricing to the full version of Kontakt 3, which allows for fuller editing of the instruments.

World Impact: Global Percussion is available for purchase now for $399.95 USD.

More information: Vir2 Instruments / World Impact: Global Percussion

Vir2 Instruments has released version 1.2 of MOJO: Horn Section, a virtual instrument for pop, funk, jazz, and big band horns.

Now at the tips of your fingers is the most versatile horn section in the world, MOJO: Horn Section, offering the most flexible and innovative approach to pop, funk, jazz, and big band horns ever created in a virtual instrument. Inspired by legendary groups like Tower of Power and the big bands of decades past, MOJO is capable of emulating everything from a sultry sax solo to a screaming full big band playing at the top of their lungs.

Changes in MOJO: Horn Section v1.2

• New microtuning feature available in the main menu, allowing for instant access to more than a dozen different common alternate tunings.
• All instruments tweaked sonically to improve their overall sound.
• Improved sound and performance for Punch feature, now converted to a pulldown menu (adjustable from 1-5).
• Improved load time across all instruments.
• Optimized polyphony usage across all instruments, resulting in less voices used and less CPU hit.
• Trombone doit release issue fixed.
• Improved tempo-syncing of all crescendos and swells across all instruments.
• Improved quality of timestretching of all crescendos and swells across all instruments.
• Miscellaneous tuning improvements across the library.
• EZRoom loading fixed.
• CIL Trombone script issue fixed.

Note: A few of the MIDI CC designations in the printed manual are now slightly altered (details available in the MOJO 1.2 Update Notes).

More information: Vir2 Instruments / MOJO: Horn Section

Vir2 Instruments has announced World Impact: Global Percussion, a world percussion library powered by Kontakt Player 3.

Get ready for a perfect storm of ethnic, world, and cinematic percussion. Featuring a massive collection of varied percussion samples, World Impact spans the globe featuring percussion instruments from large to small, west to east, north to south, and traditional to rare. Sampled in meticulous detail and programmed for maximum and instant musical usability, the collection includes hundreds of varied percussion instruments from Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Australia, and more.

A massive 4.2-gigabyte collection of Japanese Taiko drums recorded from multiple microphone positions forms a central part of the library. Each instrument has been recorded with numerous alternate takes and velocity layers, assuring realistic and dramatically expressive sonic results. World Impact is an essential tool in the toolbox of every film composer, trailer producer, and aficionado of world percussion instruments.

World Impact: Global Percussion features

• More than 300 patches of world percussion instruments categorized by Geographical Region and instrument type.
• 13GB of 24-bit samples.
• EZRoom control in all patches, allowing the ability to instantly place the percussion in any one of over 50 different sonic spaces.
• Integrated Humanize engine, offering quick control over pitch, tuning, and volume randomizations.
• Custom articulation and pattern engine built-in, allowing instant triggers of chokes, flams, 3-stroke rolls, full rolls, and rhythmic patterns, all of which are automatically synced to host tempo.
• Onscreen EQ controls allowing independent control of three bands (frequency, gain, and bandwidth).
• Velocity curve settings that allow easy adjustment for normal, louder, and softer playing.
• Multitimbral operation, supporting up to 64 simultaneous instruments loaded (subject to RAM availability), receiving up to 64 MIDI channels (16 in plug-in mode).
• Kontakt Player 3 engine, supporting standalone operation as well as plug-in operation in all major hosts that support AudioUnit, VST, RTAS (Pro Tools 7 & 8) plug-ins.
• Special upgrade pricing to the full version of Kontakt 3, which allows for fuller editing of the instruments.

World Impact: Global Percussion will be shipping on October 15, 2009. A pre-order is available now for $399.95 USD.

More information: Vir2 Instruments / World Impact: Global Percussion