Steinberg Virtual Guitarist 2 User Manual

							 
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Virtual Guitarist
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Activating the Steinberg Key
 
Whether you bought a new key when you bought Virtual Guitarist 2, or if 
you want to use one you previously bought with a different Steinberg 
product: your Steinberg Key does not yet contain the license required 
for Virtual Guitarist 2. You must download this license before you can 
 
launch Virtual Guitarist 2!
 
Use the activation code supplied with the program in order to down-
load the license for Virtual Guitarist 2 to your Steinberg Key. This pro-
cess is the same both for existing and new keys. Proceed as follows: 
1. 
After installation of the dongle drivers and the program software (and, 
on a Windows PC, after restarting your computer), plug the Steinberg 
Key into the USB port. 
If you are unsure of which port this is, consult the documentation of your computer.
 
2. 
If this is the first time a copy protection device is plugged in, it will be 
registered as a new hardware device. On a Mac, drivers are found au-
tomatically without further user interaction. Windows will display a di-
alog asking you whether you would like to find drivers for the device 
manually or automatically. 
Under Windows, choose to find drivers automatically. The dialog closes, and you may 
have to reboot your computer.
 
3. 
Make sure that your computer has a working internet connection. 
License download is made “online”. If the computer on which you installed Virtual Guitar-
ist 2 is not connected to the internet, it is possible to use another computer for the online 
connection – proceed with the steps below and see the help for the License Control 
Center application.
 
4. 
Launch the “License Control Center” application (found in the Windows 
Start menu under “Syncrosoft” or in the Macintosh Applications folder). 
This application allows you to view your Steinberg Keys and load or transfer licenses.
 
5. 
Use the License Control Center “Wizard” function and the activation 
code supplied with Virtual Guitarist 2 to download the license for Vir-
tual Guitarist 2 to your Key. Simply follow the on-screen instructions. 
If you are uncertain about how to proceed, consult the help for LCC.
 
When the activation process is completed, you are ready to launch 
Virtual Guitarist 2! 
						

							 
Virtual Guitarist
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Preparations
 
The following sections describe how to set up Virtual Guitarist 2 for 
use with different interface formats.  
Setting up Virtual Guitarist 2 as a VST Instrument in Cubase 
 
The following information refers to the use of Virtual Guitarist within 
Cubase SX. We assume that you have correctly set up both Cubase SX 
and your MIDI and audio hardware. 
Should you wish to use Virtual Guitarist within another VST host 
 
application such as Nuendo, please refer to its documentation.
 
Proceed as follows to activate Virtual Guitarist: 
1. 
Make sure that Cubase SX receives MIDI data that you generate with 
your external MIDI master keyboard. 
2. 
In Cubase SX, open the “VST Instruments” window from the Devices 
menu, and select “Virtual Guitarist 2” from the pop-up menu of a free 
VST Instrument slot. 
3. 
Clicking the “Power” button in the rack will activate/deactivate Virtual 
Guitarist 2. 
By default this is automatically activated when a VST Instrument is loaded.
 
4. 
Click on the “Edit” button (“e”) to open the Virtual Guitarist 2 window. 
• 
Make sure that the currently selected Cubase SX track is set to MIDI 
channel 1 or ANY.
When set, you are ready to start using Virtual Guitarist 2! 
						

							 
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Virtual Guitarist
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Setting up Virtual Guitarist 2 as a DXi2 Instrument
 
The following information refers to the use of Virtual Guitarist 2 within 
Cakewalk SONAR 1. We assume that you have correctly set up both SO-
NAR and your MIDI and audio hardware. Should you wish to use Virtual 
Guitarist 2 within another DXi2 compatible host application, please refer 
 
to its documentation.
 
Proceed as follows to activate Virtual Guitarist 2: 
1. 
Make sure that SONAR receives MIDI data that you generate with 
your external MIDI master keyboard. You can check this visually with 
the “MIDI In/Out Activity” tray icon. 
2. 
In SONAR, open the “Synth Rack” window from the View menu. 
3. 
Click the Insert button (or select the Insert option on the main menu). 
4. 
Open the DXi Synth submenu and select “Virtual Guitarist 2” from the 
pop-up menu. 
5. 
By default, the “Insert DXi Synth Options” dialog appears. To create 
one MIDI track and connect an audio track to the outputs 1 and 2 of 
Virtual Guitarist, activate the options “MIDI Source Track” and “First 
Synth Output (Audio)”. To create all available Virtual Guitarist outputs, 
activate “All Synth Outputs (Audio)”. 
Refer to your host application’s documentation for further details.
 
6. 
Clicking the “Connection State” button in the Synth Rack will activate/
deactivate Virtual Guitarist 2. By default this is automatically activated 
when DXi SoftSynths are loaded. 
7. 
Double-click on the “Virtual Guitarist 2” entry or click the “Synth Prop-
erties” button in the toolbar of the Synth Rack to open the Virtual Gui-
tarist 2 window.  
8. 
In SONAR, select the previously created MIDI track “Virtual Guitarist 2”. 
Virtual Guitarist 2 will now receive MIDI data from the selected track. 
Make sure that the MIDI channel of the currently selected SONAR track 
is set to the channel on which Virtual Guitarist 2 is to receive MIDI data.
When set, you are ready to start using Virtual Guitarist! 
						

							 
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Using Virtual Guitarist in an AU compatible application
 
You can use Virtual Guitarist in an AU host application (e. g. Logic) .
The Virtual Guitarist 2 AU version is installed in the folder “Library/
Audio/Plug-ins/Components”.
For Logic Pro 7 proceed as follows: 
1. 
Open the Track Mixer and choose the desired Instrument channel. 
2. 
Click the I/O field and, in the pop-up menu that appears, choose 
Stereo, AU Instruments, Steinberg and finally, Virtual Guitarist 2. 
Now Virtual Guitarist 2 is loaded and ready to play.
 
Virtual Guitarist stand-alone and ReWire
 
Virtual Guitarist can be used as a stand-alone application, indepen-
dently of any host application. This makes it possible to use Virtual 
Guitarist in sequencer applications that do not support one of the pro-
vided plug-in formats of Virtual Guitarist (i. e. VST, DXi and AU), but 
allow for data exchange using ReWire.
ReWire 2 is a special protocol for streaming audio and MIDI data be-
tween two computer applications. When using ReWire, the order in 
which you launch and quit the two programs is very important, as the 
first audio application launched will capture the audio card resources.
Proceed as follows: 
1. 
First, launch the sequencer application you wish to use (e. g. Ableton 
Live, ProTools). 
If your sequencer supports ReWire, it will provide a way to assign audio and MIDI chan-
nels for the exchange of data. See the documentation of your sequencer application for 
details.
 
2. 
Now, launch Virtual Guitarist as a stand-alone application. 
You can launch the program just like any other application on your computer through 
the Start menu or desktop icon (Win) or by double-clicking the application symbol in 
the Applications folder (Mac). You can also double-click the Virtual Guitarist program 
file in the installation folder.
 
When you now play with Virtual Guitarist, the sound is streamed via Re-
Wire to the assigned mixer channels in your host. 
						

							 
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Virtual Guitarist
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Note that you are now running two completely separate applications. 
When you save your sequencer project, this will include the overall 
channel and bus configuration, but none of the settings in Virtual Gui-
tarist! To retain your Virtual Guitarist settings, choose the Save Bank 
command (which can be found in the File menu for Windows or the 
Virtual Guitarist menu for Macintosh). You may want to choose a file 
name that indicates that the file contains settings created for a partic-
ular sequencer project.
Similarly, when you re-open a project in your sequencer application and 
have launched Virtual Guitarist, use the Load Bank command in Virtual 
Guitarist to reload the Virtual Guitarist settings pertaining to this parti-
cular project. 
The Preferences dialog
 
When running Virtual Guitarist as a stand-alone application, you will 
find a Preferences item in the File menu in the top left corner of the 
application window (Win) or in the Virtual Guitarist menu in the top left 
of the display (Mac). When selected, a dialog with a number of op-
tions opens.  
• 
Select an audio card driver from the ASIO Device pop-up. 
• 
In the table below the ASIO device pop-up, click one of the entries in 
the ASIO Output column to change the assignment of virtual outputs 
of your VST Instrument to the physical outputs on your audio hardware. 
Click the ASIO Control Panel button to open a dialog with advanced settings for your 
ASIO device.
 
• 
Use the MIDI Input pop-up to specify a MIDI input. Click the Reset 
MIDI button to reset all MIDI controllers. 
Clicking Reset MIDI is similar to pressing the Panic button on a MIDI keyboard.
 
• 
The Tempo and Time Signature fields provide Virtual Guitarist with 
tempo and time signature information. 
In stand-alone mode, such information is not available from a host application.
 
The other items on the File menu (Save/Load Bank and Save/Load 
Program) are the same as on the VSTi’s rack menu. 
						

							 
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Latency
 
Although Virtual Guitarist is practically latency-free, high latency times 
(the delay between pressing keys on your MIDI keyboard and hearing 
a sound) can occur when you play Virtual Guitarist via your MIDI key-
board in real time. 
This is often caused by the audio card or the MIDI interface, although 
it won’t be an issue when playing back a song with a Virtual Guitarist 
2 MIDI track. To get rid of annoying real-time latency, we recommend 
you to replace your current audio card with a professional audio card 
for which an ASIO driver is available. Most soundcards built into off-
the-shelf computers don’t use an ASIO driver and usually produce 
large latencies of up to several hundred milliseconds. 
Tempo
Virtual Guitarist automatically adapts itself to the tempo of the current 
song, which is set up in the host application (such as Cubase). Virtual 
Guitarist 2 will also automatically follow tempo changes during play-
back, like an accelerando, for example. 
However, the slowest song tempo that Virtual Guitarist plays correctly 
at is 70 bpm (beats per minute). With high shuffle values (see below), 
the minimum tempo played back correctly is slightly higher. The slow-
est tempo for perfect triplets (Shuffle at 100%) is 85 bpm. However, 
there are no upper limits to the tempo of Virtual Guitarist 2 – except for 
taste!
Multiple Virtual Guitarists
You can use as many Virtual Guitarists simultaneously as your host 
application and computer allow. There’s nothing wrong in using two 
rock guitar tracks at the same time with different phrasing, and then 
throwing in an additional riff from a third instance of Virtual Guitarist 2 
here and there. 
						

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Virtual Guitarist
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Virtual Guitarist 2 - Compatibility to Earlier Versions
Please note that Virtual Guitarist 2 is not backwards compatible to 
Virtual Guitarist 1 and Virtual Guitarist 1 Electric Edition. Although all 
Styles and Parts included in former versions of Virtual Guitarist are in-
cluded in the current version of the program, older projects using Vir-
tual Guitarist 1 or Virtual Guitarist 1 Electric Edition will not play 
correctly when simply trying to substitute version 1 with version 2 of 
Virtual Guitarist. 
Using a MIDI Keyboard
When using a MIDI keyboard to play Virtual Guitarist 2 there are two 
ranges (or zones) used for different purposes:
The Key Remote Range
The keyrange between C1 and B2 is called the Key Remote Range 
and triggers Parts and Fills as well as a few other useful features. Only 
the white keys from C1 to B1 are assigned to Parts by default, but the 
white keys in the octave from C2 to B2 can be freely filled up with 
Parts by the user, on the Riff Page. The function of each key can be 
seen in the Parts Browser which is explained below.  
						

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By default the Key Remote Range is assigned as follows:
You can select which range on your MIDI keyboard is used as the Key 
Remote Range on the Setup Page.
The Pitch Range
The keyrange outside the Remote Range on your MIDI keyboard is 
called the Pitch Range and controls the pitch of the played Parts or 
Fills. In this range you can play notes or chords and Virtual Guitarist 2 
will intelligently follow your playing. Playing any note in the Pitch 
Range with a high velocity (>125) produces an syncopated eighth or 
a quarter note, depending to the Style. This so called Accent is handy 
for varying your performance in real-time.
Key Function Description
C1 - B1
(white keys)Trigger Default Parts 1-8 Part selection
C2 - B2
(white keys)Trigger User Parts 9-16 (if 
available)Part selection
C# Fret noise Triggers a fret noise
D# Stop noise Triggers a stop noise
F# Fill trigger Triggers a fill
G# Sustain pedal Same effect as using the sustain pedal (dou-
ble-click to lock sustained mode)
A# Latch Enables/disables Latch mode 
						

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Virtual Guitarist
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First Test
Now everything is set up for a hands-on approach to Virtual Guitarist 
2, so:
1.Activate Virtual Guitarist 2 (as described in the section “Preparations” 
on page 12) and load a Style from the blue Style list on the right by 
double-clicking it. Click the Latch button on the Play Page to activate 
latched play mode.
2.Play a chord or note on your MIDI keyboard in the region above C3, 
and Virtual Guitarist 2 will start to play. Because we activated the 
Latch button, playback will continue when you release the key(s).
3.If you have a sustain pedal connected to your MIDI keyboard, press it 
to stop Virtual Guitarist 2.
If you don’t have a sustain pedal, you can also press the G#1 key on your MIDI key-
board.
The MIDI symbol in the chord display lights up when Virtual Guitarist 2 
receives MIDI-Events.
How to Play Virtual Guitarist 2
There are several ways of playing Virtual Guitarist 2:
• You can play chords and vary the expression using keyboard velocity, MIDI 
controllers, the sustain pedal, and program changes.
• If you’re not familiar with a keyboard, you can enter chords and other MIDI 
events using one of the editors provided by your sequencer software. 
• You can use Virtual Guitarist to dub the chord tracks of existing songs and 
MIDI files to improve the way they sound. Many commercial MIDI files include 
special chord tracks, although duplicating a typical "Pad sound” track (such 
as strings) with Virtual Guitarist 2 will usually produce good results. 
						

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Virtual Guitarist 2 Terminology
Style
In the terminology of Virtual Guitarist 2, a Style is a set of riffs and fills 
(called Parts) suiting a unique musical style. However, it is more than 
just a sound or rhythm, each Virtual Guitarist 2 Style refers to a parti-
cular guitar, sound (amp, speaker, etc.), and dedicated playing style. 
Each Style consists of 16 preassigned Parts (basic Part + particular 
Fill) triggered by the white Keys between C1 to B1. You can build 
your own Parts and Fills and assign them to the white keys from C2 to 
B2. You can load a Style by double-clicking it in the Style Browser.
When a Style is selected, up to 200 MB of sounds are loaded into your 
computer’s RAM, which may take a while. You can use the Chord Set 
option to decrease loading time and RAM usage, although this reduces 
the number of chords available.
Parts
A Part is a riff, groove or phrase varying in rhythmic and melodic struc-
ture triggered by the white keys in the Remote Range of your MIDI 
keyboard. The Parts from C1 to B1 are preassigned. You can edit 
Parts on the Riff Page and assign them to the white keys from C2 to 
B2. When playing Parts, Virtual Guitarist 2 will quantize the changes 
to the nearest 16th note by default. You can change this quantize set-
ting on the Setup Page of Virtual Guitarist 2.
Each Style offers up to 16 different Parts. A Part is a riff varying in 
rhythmic phrasing and note structure (e.g. single notes, chords, oc-
taves). You can either play the same Part all the time, or switch Parts 
while playing to add variation to a track.
Fills
While Virtual Guitarist is playing, you can trigger a Fill (a little variation 
of the current Part) by using the modulation wheel on your MIDI key-
board. Simply turn the modulation wheel forwards and back, and Vir-
tual Guitarist will play a fill before carrying on with the normal groove.