Sugar Bytes Guitarist
Electric Guitar Virtual Instrument
Guitarist is a virtual guitar that's designed to emulate rhythm parts played on an electric guitar. The actual guitar player has been transformed into a step sequencer system with a huge level of customization when it comes to chords or fingering patterns and a detailed control over authentic nuance and expression.
Features
- Four electric Guitars with more to come soon
- More than 2,000 Samples for each Sixstring
- Control over Strum, Chords & Song Structures
- Action Section for real-time Control
- Slides, Vibratos or Portamentos
- Warm Amps and Direct-Out
- 10 Effects plus Wahwah Pedal & Talkmode
- Mute or De-tune individual Strings
The Patterns page in the center is actually very easy to use. On 16 steps you can determine if a chord is triggered, which strings are played and if the strum goes up- or downward.
Each string can be played individually at any time, guaranteeing gigantic arpeggios, nuanced metal riffs are also easily done. The damp and dead notes make it funky and lively.
The lower lanes are where you can define the chord sequences. Select a root note, choose one of 12 different chord types, each available in three fingering variations and use the "step-repeat" for longer patterns. You can also create up to 24 user chords (incl. impossible chords) by clicking on the fretboard.
The "Animations" page lets you program extra movements for each of the mechanical "fingers" on the fretboard. A finger can be moved up or down by one, two or three semitones per step, to enrich chords with harmonic elements.
The "Action Section" offers the means for immediate intervention. Loop parts with a press of a button, include dead- or damp notes, half-tempo works as well.
Three different guitars are built in: Fender's Stratocaster and Telecaster are included, along with a Duesenberg Starplayer Special. The Starplayer exists in a "Bright" and "Normal" version.
Each of these beautiful six-strings was recorded with 2,000 samples. Extensive sets of fretted notes and open strings have been sampled, each one repeated several times.
The "round robin" function can alternate the playback of different samples. In Random mode, a sample is selected at random from the available pool for the note triggered.
Two effect-units with 10 effects altogether provide the colors you are looking for. FX1 specializes in modulation effects, including a very nice Chorus, a throaty Phaser, and "Phase Wah" and "Auto Wah" effects. FX2 does classic delays and reverbs, and a reverse‑buffer delay effect.
Two wonderful sounding amp models are available as well as a direct out mode for your favorite amp-emulator-software.
And there's the Wah-Wah pedal. This is more sophisticated than the average guitar stomp-box, with an integral, variable‑rate LFO to sweep the effect back and forth (this can be deactivated, and a MIDI controller assigned for manual control). The LFO can be set to retrigger with input signals above a given threshold (another way of producing "auto‑wah" effects), and Max and Min controls allow you to set the upper and lower boundaries of the effect's sweep.
Here are some more features to improve workflow and provide an authentic setup
- Global Strum Speed controllable by host automation
- Export MIDI sequences to your DAW - can be useful when used to double on another instrument.
- Copy/Paste buttons all over the place for effective composing
- Detune strings by a semitones using the pegs
System Requirements
- MacOS 10.9 or higher (Intel or Apple Silicon)
- Windows 7 or higher
Plugin Formats
Audio Units, VST2, AAX Native, Standalone (all 64-bit only)
System Requirements
- MacOS 10.13 High Sierra and above
- Officially supported up to MacOS 14 Sonoma
- Windows 7 and above (64-bit only)
- Intel, AMD, or Apple Silicon CPU
Plugin Formats
AAX Native, AU, VST2, VST3, and Standalone