Steinberg Virtual Guitarist 2 User Manual

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Depending on the capabilities of your host application, you can auto-
mate the dials and switches in Virtual Guitarist with your sequencer’s 
automation features, instead of using MIDI Controller numbers. This 
type of automation is available in Steinberg’s own host applications, 
Cubase SX/SL and Nuendo, for example.
86Wah on/off
87 Cabinet on/off
88 Delay on/off
89 Delay Mix
90 Reverb on/off
91 Reverb Level Reverb Mix
92 Tremolo on/off
93 Modulation on/off
94 Modulation Mix
102 Fuzz on/off
103 Fuzz Mix
104 Amp Gain
105 EQ Bass
106EQ Mid
107 EQ Mid FREQ
108 EQ High
109 EQ Presence Cc# Name Virtual Guitarist Parameter 
						

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Assigning MIDI Controllers in Virtual Guitarist 2
As well as the preassigned MIDI Controllers listed in the previous 
section, you can assign many features of Virtual Guitarist 2 to MIDI 
controllers for automation or real-time control via, for example, the 
control elements of your MIDI keyboard.
There are two ways to assign a Virtual Guitarist 2 knob or parameter 
to a MIDI controller:
1.Right-click (Win)/[Ctrl]-click (Mac) the parameter and choose a con-
troller number from the CC pop-up list.
2.Right-click (Win)/[Ctrl]-click (Mac) the parameter, select Learn from 
the pop-up menu and move the desired knob or controller on your 
MIDI keyboard or sequencer host. Virtual Guitarist 2 will set this MIDI 
controller to the parameter you have chosen.  
						

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The Setup Page
To switch to the Setup Page, click on the Setup tab at the top of Virtual 
Guitarist. 
The Virtual Guitarist 2 Setup Page provides access to all global pa-
rameters that affect how the instrument will play.
When you save a Virtual Guitarist 2 Style, all information on the Setup 
Page is also saved. This means that if you exchange your project files 
with another Virtual Guitarist 2 user, then it will perform in exactly the 
same way on their computer as it did on your system. 
Save Setup
Click the Save Setup button to save all setup parameters including 
the MIDI controller assignments. These settings will be used each 
time you load a new instance of Virtual Guitarist 2.   
						

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Key Remote Range
The Key Remote Range selector lets you set which octave on your 
MIDI keyboard will be used to remote control the Virtual Guitarist 2 
functions. Disable the remote keys facility altogether by selecting Off. 
Each of the displayed note values indicates the lowest note of the 
chosen octave, so if you select C1, the octave between C1 and B1 
will be reserved for remote control.
Chord Set
The Chord Set parameter is used to limit the number of chords loaded 
into RAM when a Style is selected. The XXL set loads all available 
chords, the MID set is limited to ten, the ECO set to the six most im-
portant chords.
The loading times of MID and ECO sets are significantly shorter, and re-
quire 30% and 60% less RAM, respectively.   
						

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XXL
All available chords—up to 15 for each key, depending on the Style.
• Major, Maj7, 7, 6, +5, −5, dim, minor, mMaj7, m7, m6, m7-5, sus4, 7sus4, 
sus2
MID
Only the ten most common chords are loaded, which reduces RAM 
requirements to approximately two thirds of the XXL set.
• Major, Maj7, 7, dim, minor, mMaj7, m7, sus4, 7sus4, sus2
• These will not be loaded: 6, +5, −5, m6, m7-5
ECO
Only the six most common chords are loaded—RAM requirements 
and loading times will be reduced by two thirds, compared to the XXL 
set, and by half compared to the MID set.
• Major, 7, Maj7, minor, sus4, sus2
If you use several Virtual Guitarists in one song, you can use different 
chord sets for each Virtual Guitarist by changing the ECO, MID, XXL set-
tings before you load the Style.
If you work with the MID or ECO chord set and play a chord that’s not 
included in the set, Virtual Guitarist will automatically select the most 
appropriate replacement chord. 
When you’ve changed the chord set parameter, you need to reload the 
currently selected Style for the changes to take effect. 
						

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Vibrato
Some Styles were recorded with vibrato by the original guitarist. 
Other Styles let you control the amount of vibrato by using a MIDI 
controller, which can be configured with these parameters:
Fill Trigger
The Fill Trigger parameter sets the MIDI controller to be used for trig-
gering Fills. For information about playing Fills with Virtual Guitarist 2, 
take a look at the section “Sustain pedal” on page 24.
Velocity Switch
The Accent switch sets the velocity value where Virtual Guitarist will 
play syncopations or accents. Normally, a value between 90 and 110 
will work best, but this depends on your playing style and MIDI key-
board.
When you play the keyboard, there’s always the possibility of playing 
a wrong note. Although such a mistake will often go unnoticed in key-
board parts, when playing the Virtual Guitarist a wrong note could 
lead to the misinterpretation of a chord.     
						

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Because wrong notes tend to have lower velocities than intended 
notes, Virtual Guitarist lets you set a Minimum velocity threshold 
where notes are ignored if they fall below this level. We recommend a 
Minimum setting of between 10 and 30.
Master Tune
The tuning dial sets the master tuning of Virtual Guitarist by cents of a 
semitone.
Setting the Chord Change Quantize value
The Chord Change Quantize function sets the position in the bar 
where Virtual Guitarist will make a chord change. For example, if you 
set this parameter to half notes (1/2), the chord change will only hap-
pen when the next half note position in the bar is reached, regardless 
of when you actually played the chord.
This makes real time chord input much easier and prevents unwanted 
chord changes.
Accents, syncopations, and long chords are not affected by this function.   
						

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Sync Settings
By default, Virtual Guitarist is set to First Note. This means that Virtual 
Guitarist synchronizes to the host tempo, but not to the host bar posi-
tion. This is generally the best setting when you are working with Vir-
tual Guitarist.
When Sync is set to Beat, Virtual Guitarist synchronizes to the host 
tempo and to the host bar position. This means a riff that is triggered 
on the last quarter of a bar will not play from its starting position but 
from the position in the riff that corresponds to the host bar position.
Additional Phrasings
You can control Virtual Guitarist 2 via any MIDI channel except for chan-
nel 16. This channel is a special feature for advanced programming.
Triggering on MIDI channel 16 starting from C1 and above, all the 
slices making up the currently selected Part can be accessed individ-
ually, note by note. This allows you to create and record additional 
phrasings. The pitch selection in this case is still carried out on MIDI 
channel 1. 
Handling this seams complicated at first glance, but your patience will 
be rewarded.  
						

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Playing Slices Via MIDI Channel 16
Example
1.Select a Style and set up two tracks in your host application triggering 
Virtual Guitarist 2. Set one track to MIDI channel 1 and the other to 
channel 16.
2.If you want to add phrasings to a certain Part, select the part you want 
to use. If you want to create individual riffs on channel 16, select an 
empty Part from the Part pop-up on the Riff Page.
3.Use channel 1 to set the pitch: Play a note or chord in the Pitch 
Range.
4.Use channel 16 to trigger the slices: Play single notes starting from 
C1.
This function comes in handy for varying and thickening Parts without 
having to create a new Part and edit it. 
						

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Reference
Chord reference
The chord reference table below lists all the chord types (based on 
the key of C) as an overview. It includes the notes, one-finger, and 
chord set reference.
• It might be a good idea to make a copy of this page and display it some-
where near to your keyboard.
*Csus2: You need to press E or Eb for the chord recognition although 
this note is not sounding in the chord.
One Finger Scheme In Chord Set
Chord Notes ECO MID XXL
CC-E-G Root note x x x
CMaj7C-E-G-B x x x
C7C-E-G-Bb + next lower white key x x x
C6C-E-G-A x
C+5C-E-G# x
C-5C-E-Gb x
CmC-Eb-G + next lower black key x x x
CmMaj7C-Eb-G-B x x
Cm7C-Eb-G-Bb + next lower white and black keys x x
Cm6C-Eb-G-A x
Cm7-5C-Eb-Gb-Bb x
Csus4C-F-G x x x
C7sus4C-F-G-Bb x x
CdimC-Eb-Gb-A x x
Csus2C-D-(E)*-G
C-D-(Eb)*-Gxxx