Reply To: What Is Your Absolute Go-To Physical and Virtual Gear?

[fretman]

What a great thread! I love reading why people use what they do.

My context: I usually try to replicate real acoustic/folk music so I don’t really use off-the-wall FX and stuff, although I still seem to collect them just-in-case. I have a poor recording space so I almost always use VIs, although I try very hard to make my music sound like real acoustic instruments are being played by real people. I have better success with some pieces than others. Also, I choose sound quality over ease-of-use when choosing my VIs.

Physical:

• Taylor guitars (814ce, 816ce build-to-order, 455ce special edition 12-string, GS Mini-e special edition)
• Deering Calico banjo
• handmade Red Diamond mandolin
• Kamaka ukes
• Of course, there are several others that I consider non-primary.
• Computer: custom built Win11 PC – virtually silent, no moving parts fans except a big slow fan on the CPU.
• Interface: RME’s Fireface UFX (rock solid on Windows)

Virtual:

• DAW: Studio One Pro (graduate from Cakewalk)
• Notation: Dorico (graduate from Finale, couldn’t stomach Sibelius’ subscription) and MuseScore (free, a tremendous value)
• FX:
  • Waves IL-L Reverb (Ryman Auditorium IR)
  • Ozone for mastering
  • Insight 2 for metering
  • Neutron sometimes when I need to tame something a little or add some sparkle so bass can be heard on tiny speakers
  • others if a special effect is needed
• VI:
  • AmpleSound is my 1st choice for plucked instruments whenever possible since they generally sound the most realistic to my ears, although  sometimes they come off too crisp/clean – I might even say they have a “modern” sound. But their banjo can be VERY tedious to use, although it sounds better for bluegrass than the other offerings (and I’ve tried them ALL, I think). Also, I wish I could adjust string noise during slides.
  • Orange Tree for:
    • Evolution Mandolin (but tremolo is tempo-locked so is rarely useable). This sounds EXACTLY like my real mandolin so I can easily mix recorded and virtual sections as I did here.
    • Evolution Dry Relic (for that old poor rough country/folksy sound).
    • Evolution 12-String (edit: this is my goto 12-string now. Amplesound is too polite. Plus OT lets me control the up and down strokes which is important for octave-tuned strings). This one really digs in.
    • Evolution Modern Classical- 4th choice for classical guitar (certainly better than most but still too crisp/metallic). I still need to audition their new Evolution Honey Nylon.
    • Their banjo is good for Celtic or that old poor rough country Deliverance sound.
  • Indiginus for:
    • fiddle (great folk sound but their vibrato is baked-in so I want to audition a replacement to get more flexibility).
    • dobro (great sound but I still need to use Kontakt’s pitch shift to get some of the articulations I need).
    • classical guitar 2nd/3rd choice.
  • Ilya Efimov for classical guitar 2nd/3rd choice and other interesting folk instruments. I’m curious what their product refresh will sound like.
  • Eduardo Tarikonte’s Accordion 2 from Best Buy. Great selections.
  • All of these except AmpleSound need Kontakt, so I use that ecosystem for all sorts of things.
  • Addictive Drums when called for.
  • Hammers and Waves keyboards when called for.
  • Shimmer/Shake/Strike or Skaka or  Sharine (my favorite due to its pre-roll) when called for.

Studio One, Windows, RME UFX, Yamaha MSP7

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