Can Delta do Guitar Voicings?

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freshkidblaze
Posts: 158
Joined: 20 Oct 2020

27 May 2021

I want to do guitar melodies that sound like guitar melodies and not keyboard. Could this be achieved with the quantizer set to notes a guitar can play and a few delays?

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Jackjackdaw
Posts: 1400
Joined: 12 Jan 2019

27 May 2021

A guitar can play all the notes a keyboard can. What do you mean?

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guitfnky
Posts: 4408
Joined: 19 Jan 2015

27 May 2021

do you mean voicings that are easier to play on stringed instruments due to how the string intervals are set up? like, it’s possible to play the same pitch simultaneously on multiple strings, for example?

I would think that would have to be handled by the instrument device, but my understanding generally (I could be wrong) is that the vast majority of virtual instruments treat incoming notes at the same pitch as notes that are ringing out by retriggering them, not allowing both notes of the same pitch to overlap.

another difficulty is that a note on one string has a particular timbre to it, which is different than the same note, same pitch, on another string—it’s one thing that makes guitar and other stringed instruments sound so interesting, but I don’t know if there are (m)any virtual instruments capable of recreating that. maybe possible with an MPE instrument, perhaps, but then we’re talking about other DAWs.
I write good music for good people

https://slowrobot.bandcamp.com/

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Jackjackdaw
Posts: 1400
Joined: 12 Jan 2019

27 May 2021

I was messing around with multisampling and sampled my acoustic guitar into Halion 6. I had each note played 3 or 4 times and triggered round robin and a few positions up the neck across the keyboard. Sounded better than any stock workstation guitar sounds and probably the closest you'll get.

I expect Frikton can do some fairly nice guitarish sounds and note repeat can be set up to strum chords.

Not sure Delta has anything that will add guitar mojo to the keys though

freshkidblaze
Posts: 158
Joined: 20 Oct 2020

27 May 2021

guitfnky wrote:
27 May 2021
do you mean voicings that are easier to play on stringed instruments due to how the string intervals are set up? like, it’s possible to play the same pitch simultaneously on multiple strings, for example?

I would think that would have to be handled by the instrument device, but my understanding generally (I could be wrong) is that the vast majority of virtual instruments treat incoming notes at the same pitch as notes that are ringing out by retriggering them, not allowing both notes of the same pitch to overlap.

another difficulty is that a note on one string has a particular timbre to it, which is different than the same note, same pitch, on another string—it’s one thing that makes guitar and other stringed instruments sound so interesting, but I don’t know if there are (m)any virtual instruments capable of recreating that. maybe possible with an MPE instrument, perhaps, but then we’re talking about other DAWs.
I meant melody (my bad). I want to make guitar melodies but I don't want them to sound like I'm playing a keyboard. I tried drawing them but I'm bad at it (even after watching tutorial). Tried using scaler but I don't understand the fretboard . .

I was drinking coffee and had a what if thought. Could I make a patch in delta that can output guitar like melodies (paired with a guitar of course, I use nrs electric guitar).

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guitfnky
Posts: 4408
Joined: 19 Jan 2015

27 May 2021

freshkidblaze wrote:
27 May 2021
guitfnky wrote:
27 May 2021
do you mean voicings that are easier to play on stringed instruments due to how the string intervals are set up? like, it’s possible to play the same pitch simultaneously on multiple strings, for example?

I would think that would have to be handled by the instrument device, but my understanding generally (I could be wrong) is that the vast majority of virtual instruments treat incoming notes at the same pitch as notes that are ringing out by retriggering them, not allowing both notes of the same pitch to overlap.

another difficulty is that a note on one string has a particular timbre to it, which is different than the same note, same pitch, on another string—it’s one thing that makes guitar and other stringed instruments sound so interesting, but I don’t know if there are (m)any virtual instruments capable of recreating that. maybe possible with an MPE instrument, perhaps, but then we’re talking about other DAWs.
I meant melody (my bad). I want to make guitar melodies but I don't want them to sound like I'm playing a keyboard. I tried drawing them but I'm bad at it (even after watching tutorial). Tried using scaler but I don't understand the fretboard . .

I was drinking coffee and had a what if thought. Could I make a patch in delta that can output guitar like melodies (paired with a guitar of course, I use nrs electric guitar).
gotcha. well, to Jackjackdaw’s point, you’ve got all the same notes available from keyboard to guitar anyway. it’s really hard to say how a particular kind of melody is more or less guitar-like than another, since it’s really down to stylistic choices. a good guitar player can play just about any melody you throw at them, and vice versa. if you’re talking about a bluesy pentatonic thing, for example, that’s generally easy to play on guitar, but it’s a style that grew out of the physicality of the instrument. there are probably thousands of other styles that would sound wildly different, which are influenced just as much by a guitar’s physicality. you could theoretically program a Player or MIDI device to limit you to notes and chords that are physically possible for a guitarist to play, but there’s a lot of gray area there too. some people have big hands, which means they might be able to play more options than someone else. then how do you program it to handle notes on open strings (I can play a chord with 5 super high notes at the 12th fret, and play a note more than an octave below those by playing an open low E). what about emulating capos or alternate tunings?

I guess the easy answer is that there’s no easy answer. 😅 the best way currently would probably be to learn about certain guitar styles you’re looking to emulate and study those—it’s got to be really difficult to find a MIDI generation tool like a Player that would do this well, natively.
I write good music for good people

https://slowrobot.bandcamp.com/

freshkidblaze
Posts: 158
Joined: 20 Oct 2020

27 May 2021

guitfnky wrote:
27 May 2021
freshkidblaze wrote:
27 May 2021

I meant melody (my bad). I want to make guitar melodies but I don't want them to sound like I'm playing a keyboard. I tried drawing them but I'm bad at it (even after watching tutorial). Tried using scaler but I don't understand the fretboard . .

I was drinking coffee and had a what if thought. Could I make a patch in delta that can output guitar like melodies (paired with a guitar of course, I use nrs electric guitar).
gotcha. well, to Jackjackdaw’s point, you’ve got all the same notes available from keyboard to guitar anyway. it’s really hard to say how a particular kind of melody is more or less guitar-like than another, since it’s really down to stylistic choices. a good guitar player can play just about any melody you throw at them, and vice versa. if you’re talking about a bluesy pentatonic thing, for example, that’s generally easy to play on guitar, but it’s a style that grew out of the physicality of the instrument. there are probably thousands of other styles that would sound wildly different, which are influenced just as much by a guitar’s physicality. you could theoretically program a Player or MIDI device to limit you to notes and chords that are physically possible for a guitarist to play, but there’s a lot of gray area there too. some people have big hands, which means they might be able to play more options than someone else. then how do you program it to handle notes on open strings (I can play a chord with 5 super high notes at the 12th fret, and play a note more than an octave below those by playing an open low E). what about emulating capos or alternate tunings?

I guess the easy answer is that there’s no easy answer. 😅 the best way currently would probably be to learn about certain guitar styles you’re looking to emulate and study those—it’s got to be really difficult to find a MIDI generation tool like a Player that would do this well, natively.
🤣 I dig bro, I think this is a sign for me to just learn how to play.

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challism
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Joined: 17 Jan 2015
Location: Fanboy Shill, Boomertown

28 May 2021

freshkidblaze wrote:
27 May 2021
guitfnky wrote:
27 May 2021


I guess the easy answer is that there’s no easy answer. 😅 the best way currently would probably be to learn about certain guitar styles you’re looking to emulate and study those—it’s got to be really difficult to find a MIDI generation tool like a Player that would do this well, natively.
🤣 I dig bro, I think this is a sign for me to just learn how to play.
Learning to play the guitar is super easy, once you get past that first major plateau. Learning the basic chord shapes (majors, minors, sevenths), and learning the basic pentatonic scale (major, minor and their extensions) can go a LONG way. Mastering the guitar, on the other hand..... very difficult.
I personally think the guitar is much easier than the piano to achieve a minimal level of proficiency.
Players are to MIDI what synthesizers are to waveforms.

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Socram
RE Developer
Posts: 172
Joined: 04 Jul 2015

28 May 2021

To do my best effort to answer your question, there are strumming, inversion, octaving, chord/interval generation, and humanization patches in Delta that _might_ help with making MIDI based guitar playing more realistic or interesting, but that really depends on the results you're trying to achieve, source material, etc.

I second the suggestion to take the time to learn guitar, its a really fulfilling and valuable instrument to even just know the basics of. The notion of moveable chords and scales can really unlock song writing and open up working in different keys in ways that most instruments can not.
Static Cling - Rack Extension Developer of Tome, Index, Optic, Chord Detector, Delta, and AutoLatch.
www.StaticCling.io
info@StaticCling.io

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jam-s
Posts: 3035
Joined: 17 Apr 2015
Location: Aachen, Germany
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28 May 2021

In general MIDI cannot do (guitar) voicings for instuments that can play the same note on different strings (or in different techniques) very well. Thus "key switches" were invented as a workaround. As Players only process MIDI inforamtion a player cannot really help that much with respect to the original question. But there are some good guitar VSTis or Kontakt patches that can rearrange chords to the strings of the guitar to be more realistic like Matcha (wait for it to go on sale for ~30€!).

freshkidblaze
Posts: 158
Joined: 20 Oct 2020

29 May 2021

jam-s wrote:
28 May 2021
In general MIDI cannot do (guitar) voicings for instuments that can play the same note on different strings (or in different techniques) very well. Thus "key switches" were invented as a workaround. As Players only process MIDI inforamtion a player cannot really help that much with respect to the original question. But there are some good guitar VSTis or Kontakt patches that can rearrange chords to the strings of the guitar to be more realistic like Matcha (wait for it to go on sale for ~30€!).
I thought about buying matcha a month ago but so many comments said it needed to be updated. The neptune electric guitars is good but would be better if it was a vst and not a refill (i have to constantly read the manual to remember what key does what keyswitch).

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