Steinberg Virtual Guitarist 2 User Manual
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ENGLISH Virtual Guitarist English 21 You can also trigger a fill by pressing the F# key on the remote octave of your MIDI keyboard. In the Part list on the Riff Page, Fills are marked with an asterisk (*). A Fill will repeat as long as the Modwheel is held up or the F# key is held. If, e. g., you want a Fill to play over three bars, hold the Fill key or the Modwheel up for three bars. If you want to trigger Fills by another MIDI controller, go to the Setup Page and select one from the Fill Trigger menu. Sustained Chords You can also use Virtual Guitarist 2 to play long (sustained) chords. •To play long chords, press the sustain pedal and play the chords as normal on your MIDI keyboard. There are two types of long chords, triggered by different MIDI note velocities: • A light key stroke produces a slowly strummed chord (not available in all Styles). • A stronger key stroke produces a heavy chord. This function is also assigned to the G# key of your MIDI keyboard’s re- mote octave. Double-click this key to lock the sustain mode, click again to unlock. Accents Playing a MIDI note in the Pitch Range with a high velocity (125 and above) will start the Part (depending on the Style) with an syncopated eighth or quarter length “Accent” note. This Accent is handy for vary- ing your performance in real-time.
Virtual Guitarist 22 English Remote Keys Remote Keys are special functions assigned in the Key Remote Oc- tave that influence the performance of Virtual Guitarist 2. These keys include: Slide Noise (C#), Stop Noise (D#), Fill trigger (F#), Sustain (G#) and Latch On/Off (A#). Aftertouch Vibrato Applying aftertouch will automatically produce vibrato in Virtual Gui- tarist 2. To set the Vibrato rate, depth and delay adjust the knobs on the Setup Page. Chord recognition Virtual Guitarist 2 features an intelligent chord recognition system, which always plays the correct chord based on the MIDI input from a sequencer or MIDI keyboard in real time. The MIDI input can consist of a complete chord or simple one-finger notes—you don’t need to make any special settings because Virtual Guitarist will always know what to do. Playing chords If you play a complete chord (for example, the notes C, F, and G for a Csus chord), Virtual Guitarist will automatically recognize it. • For the best possible chord recognition, all the notes of a chord must be played. Playing three notes is sufficient for major, minor or sus4 chords, but for other chord types (maj7, 7, 6, dim, mmaj7, m7, m6, m7-5, sus2 and 7sus4) you need to play all four notes.
ENGLISH Virtual Guitarist English 23 Chord inversions In most cases, it doesn’t matter what inversion of a chord you play. However, there are some exceptions where the bass note has to be the root or tonic note: • m7: For example, in Am7 the A must be the bass note because Virtual Guitar- ist would otherwise interpret the chord as a sixth (C6, in this case)—although the chord uses the same notes on the keyboard, it sounds totally different on the guitar. • dim chords (for example, Adim uses the same notes as Cdim, Eb-dim and Gb-dim). • +5 chords (A+5 uses the same notes as C#+5 and F+5). • m6 chords (Am6 shares the same notes as F#m7-5). One-finger chords For the chord types major, 7, minor, and m7, you don’t actually need to play all the notes in the chord. Although playing a single note al- ways indicates a major chord, you can indicate a different chord type by playing an additional key. For keyboard schemes, see “Chord reference” on page 70. Additional key Chord None major Next left white key 7 Next left black key minor Next left white and black keys minor7
Virtual Guitarist 24 English Chord display The chord display shows the currently playing or pre-selected chord. If the chord you play can’t be found or is missing in the current chord set, Virtual Guitarist will automatically choose the most appropriate replacement chord (indicated in the chord display). This will also be the case when the chord isn’t available because you’ve selected the MID or ECO chord set. Styles and Chords You’ll soon discover that the selection of available chords depends on which Style you have selected. Some Styles only offer neutral chords. But it is no problem to control this type of Style from a MIDI track con- taining more complex chords—Virtual Guitarist automatically selects the most appropriate chords from the available selection. Sustain pedal The sustain pedal has an important function in Virtual Guitarist, and it works differently depending on whether Latch mode is activated or not. Using a combination of Latch settings and sustain pedal with Vir- tual Guitarist will give you a lot of flexibility when arranging and per- forming. If you don’t have a sustain pedal, you can simulate it by using the G#- key in the Key Remote Range instead.
ENGLISH Virtual Guitarist English 25 Try experimenting with the functions described in the table below to get an understanding of how you can use the sustain pedal. Latch Mode OnWhile Virtual Gui- tarist 2 is runningVirtual Guitarist 2 will stop playing if you press the sustain pedal during playback. Latch mode is disabled for the time the sustain pedal is pressed. While the sustain pedal is held any notes or chords played in the Pitch Region will produce sustained chords. Virtual Guitarist 2 will return to playing normal Parts when the sustain pedal is released and a pitch key is pressed. Latch Mode OffWhile Virtual Gui- tarist 2 is runningVirtual Guitarist 2 will stop playing as soon as you release the keys played on the MIDI key- board, unless you release the keys while the sustain pedal is down. (This is similar to how the sustain pedal works when playing a piano instrument on a keyboard, for example.) Latch mode is enabled for the time the sustain pedal is pressed. Any Parts held will play until you re- lease the sustain pedal. Latch Mode On/ OffWhile Virtual Gui- tarist 2 is stoppedIf Virtual Guitarist 2 is not playing and you hold down the sustain pedal, notes played on the keyboard will result in single long chords, in- stead of starting the rhythm playing of Virtual Guitarist 2 as usual.
Virtual Guitarist 26English The Play Page The Play Page is the main interface in Virtual Guitarist. Here you can set all of the general playing parameters of the instrument, load and save Styles and Parts, and modify its general sound and rhythmic behavior.
ENGLISH Virtual Guitarist English 27 Loading and Saving Styles On the right hand side of the Play Page of Virtual Guitarist 2, you find a blue browser, listing the available Styles. Load There are three ways to load a Style: •Double-click its name in the list. •Select the desired Style and click the Load button on the bottom left of the Browser. •Right-click (Win)/[Ctrl]-click (Mac) the Load button and select the de- sired Style from the Load Style dialog. Save To save a Style click Save in the lower left of the Browser and use the standard Save dialog to enter a name and location for the saved Style. Depending on the speed of your computer a Style may take a few seconds to load.
Virtual Guitarist 28 English Auditioning Styles Each Factory Style comes with an audio preview. There are two ways of previewing: Listen Click a Style from the Style Browser (it becomes highlighted). Click Listen and Virtual Guitarist 2 will play a preview for as long as you hold the mouse button. Auto Clicking Auto activates the automatic preview mode. With Auto active a Style preview will play any time you click a Style in the Browser. The preview will play for as long as you hold the mouse button.
ENGLISH Virtual Guitarist English 29 The Parts Browser Clicking on the Parts button in the Play Page Browser displays the key assignments of all Parts and remote keys used in the selected Style. All Parts in the key remote range can be renamed. The assign- ments of certain keys to certain Parts or remote functions cannot be changed. When a Part, Fill or Remote Key is played it will become highlighted in the Parts Browser.
Virtual Guitarist 30 English The Play Page Controls Speed You can set Virtual Guitarist to play at half-, normal- or double-speed, independently from the tempo of the current song, by clicking on the buttons in the tempo section: Volume The Volume knob controls the output volume of Virtual Guitarist 2. Decay The Decay dial sets the decay time of the individual beats, which en- ables the guitar track to sound more “staccato” with shorter delay times, or more fluid and “legato” with longer decay times. Note that the decay dial controls an envelope that shapes the play- back of the originally recorded guitar tracks. Some dial positions sound more natural than others, depending on the selected style. Option Description Half (x 1/2) The tempo of Virtual Guitarist 2 is half that of the current song. Normal (x1) Normal tempo, which is the same as the tempo of the current song. Double (x2) The tempo of Virtual Guitarist 2 is twice that of the current song.