AAS All That Jazz

[Magic Russ]

The pattern generation is great, acoustic sounds are ok, electric not so much.  Even stripping away the effects and putting into a dedicated amp sim, the sounds are not there.

I often use both this and NI's guitar libraries to sketch out patterns for a song.  With NI I am likely to leave the track as stands.  With Strum-GS2 I will almost always re-record the track.

 

[Grem]

15 minutes ago, Magic Russ said:

to sketch out patterns for a song

I think this is Strums best use.

I have thought about using it as a filler, to add to a track, but never have used it in that way. 

[paulo]

7 hours ago, Grem said:

IOW, a good keyboard player could make some good sounding guitar tracks with it.

 Not sure that the demo video here backs up that statement. There are better options available. I do like that AAS continue to add midi options to it, but they mostly fall short of being actually usable to my ears.

[Grem]

1 hour ago, paulo said:

they mostly fall short of being actually usable

Yes, but they are usable as a scratch pad for writing. I have used it on my Surface Pro (with very limited disc space) to get going on songs, or to fill in on a song in progress. But the whole time I was using it I kept thinking this is more geared for a keyboard player. Which is why I was agreeing with you about it needing an update. I would like it to have a UI that is more friendly to users not having a keyboard. But... that may have been the target audience! 

[Doug Rintoul]

2 hours ago, paulo said:

 Not sure that the demo video here backs up that statement. There are better options available. I do like that AAS continue to add midi options to it, but they mostly fall short of being actually usable to my ears.

Are you talking about All That Jazz or Strum GS-2 in general?

[paulo]

7 hours ago, Doug Rintoul said:

Are you talking about All That Jazz or Strum GS-2 in general?

Both.

As has been said. it's ok for messing with ideas, but ultimately it sounds like what it is. 

 

[X-53mph]

On 7/22/2021 at 10:20 AM, paulo said:

The fact that it's so buried in the mix probably tells you all that you need to know. GS2 is very much in need of an upgrade now.

I agree. I love the company and their helpfulness, but GS could do with a major upgrading. Something to make it more realistic and responsive in general.

[paulo]

2 hours ago, Philip G Hunt said:

I agree. I love the company and their helpfulness, but GS could do with a major upgrading. Something to make it more realistic and responsive in general.

Yeah, good guys for sure and I have all their synths except the newest one (bit of a kick in the teeth for loyal customers there)  but GS2 is certainly letting the side down in it's present form. Hopefully they're already on it.

[marcL]

IMO Strum GS-2 is not so bad, I like it! But I set almost all effects to off for a freeze and add them later with other plugins.

But in general I think there are too many instruments (guitars, drums, ...) with effects and patterns that are too busy, too wide to be easily integrated in a mix! Most of them sound awesome if you play them alone (that's good for marketing!), but they are terrible in a mix, you have to thin them totally out and move them to the background and this sounds awful! E.g. Ample guitars are great instruments, but their patterns, riffs, etc. are not well usable in a song, absolutely too busy! The same thing with effects in drum instrument presets and patterns (AD2, NI, ...), they sound skillful if you listen to them alone, but for a mix I set most of the effects off and thin the patterns before I bounce to audio. Also EZKeys is like that, most parts are too busy to be used in a song as addition to other instruments (bass, guitar, ...), unfortunately!

If you listen to real good band songs (old or new), then you can hear that each of those top musicians knows that he cannot play something in already occupied frequencies and sections. Thus they deliver subtle additions to what the other band members play. It is the proficiency to supplement and not compete what is already there that makes great songs!

[abacab]

1 hour ago, marled said:

If you listen to real good band songs (old or new), then you can hear that each of those top musicians knows that he cannot play something in already occupied frequencies and sections. Thus they deliver subtle additions to what the other band members play. It is the proficiency to supplement and not compete what is already there that makes great songs!

Point taken! Don't know if classic rock is your cup of tea, but I was always amazed by the rock trios ZZ Top and Rush, and how 3 dudes with 3 instruments totally put up such a huge wall of sound!