RealStrat 3

RealStrat - sample-based virtual instrument with an innovative approach to guitar sound modeling and guitar techniques emulating on a standard MIDI keyboard. RealStrat provides incredible playability based on the unique performance modes and easy-to-use keyboard layout as well as the advanced key/pedal/velocity switch system allowing a keyboardist to perform guitar parts with a whole new level of realistic expression. RealStrat Covers practically all sounds, articulations, and techniques a professional guitarist can produce on his Strat, including mute, bridge mute, harmonics, pinch harmonics, slap, unison bend, strumming, picking, chord chopping, scrapes, etc...
High quality dry samples recorded directly from Stratocaster pick-ups let you easily create any desired guitar sound using the included or your favourite amplifier simulator.

New in version 3 PDF

RealStrat innovations:
- Multi-channel layering technology, incorporating a custom library of specially recorded samples taken from every fret of all 6 strings of a real guitar 

-The unique Floating Fret Position technology, which imitates change of fret position of a guitarist´s hand on the neck. This gives you the possibility of playing on up to 140 guitar frets using just 46 keys of a standard keyboard! 

- Guitar Touch technology letting you easily imitate basic guitar techniques (strumming, plucking, sliding, bending, muting, etc...), using standard MIDI keyboard and MIDI controllers, such as Pitch Bender, Modulation Wheel, Sustain Pedal, Aftertouch 

- Sound Humanize technology allowing to wholly reduce ´machine gun´ effect on note repetition (tremolo, strumming, plucking, etc...)

RealStrat is equipped with powerful Pattern Manager containing complete MusicLab Guitar Pattern Library for easily creating guitar accompaniment tracks. All you have to do is to find the appropriate rhythm pattern[s] in the Pattern Manager tree view, copy it to the needed number of measures, start your sequencer and use MIDI keyboard to play chord changes, or alternatively add chords to a MIDI track via sequencer´s editor.

RealStrat bonus software:
RealStrat ships with IK Multimedia AmpliTube 3 Custom Shop software, which is a complete guitar amp modeling solution and effects powerhouse with ultra accurate models of the most sought after gear.

 Which guitar controller?

*RealAllGuitar 3 Bundle = RealGuitar 3 + RealStrat 3 + RealLPC 3
 

Video Demos

	RealGuitar 3 Some New Features
	RealGuitar 3 Some New Features Part 2
	Demo Video 1 - Voodo
	Demo Video 2 - Rock
	Demo Video 3 - RocknRoll
	Free Tutorial 1
	Free Tutorial 2
	Musikmesse 2008 Video

More infos

Image Gallery
New in version 3
Which guitar controller?
Jeffrey Abbott showing RealGuitar, RealStrat, RealLPC 2
Jeffrey Abbott showing RealGuitar, RealStrat, RealLPC 1
Demo RealStrat 3 Mac
Demo RealStrat 3 Windows

Systemrequirements

PC

• Windows XP SP3, Windows Vista SP2, Windows 7 (32Bit and 64Bit)
• Intel Core 2
• VST 2/DXi host

Mac

• OS X 10.5/10.6/10.7/10.8+ (32Bit and 64Bit)
• G5 or Intel Core 2
• VST 2/AU host, native VST3 64bit support

for all systems

• Free hard drive space 2GB+
• 1GB RAM (2GB recommended)
• RTAS support is available in ProTools 6/7/8/9/10 via FXpansion´s VST to RTAS adapter
• Internet connection and e-mail account for authorizing the software

 

System FAQs

Product activation:
An internet connection on any computer is required to authorize / activate the product (Challenge/Response).

Reviews

Keyboard Player, Issue 350
Computer Music 1/2008

Keyboard Player, Issue 350

Tony Cliff picks his way round MusicLab’s top-class trio of virtual guitars: RealGuitar 2L, RealStrat ans RealLPC, all priced around £160.

RealGuitar 2L
The guitar samples used this instrument are all acoustic guitars and after launching the program you must load your guitar of choice before you can hear any sounds. There are two different acoustic steel string guitars and each either picked or fingered, an acoustic nylon-stringed guitar (again picked or fingered), acoustic 12-string, and finally a particularly impressive stereo-sampled guitar. The sounds are all very convincing and include finger noise just as you would have when playing and releasing the strings of a real acoustic guitar.

The Solo mode is clearly designed for playing solo lead guitar figures and you can also set up various trigger keys to change the sound to a harmonic, slide, tremolo and so on to add even more realism to your guitar sound. Harmony Mode is set to play intervals such as 4th and 5th or octaves and power chords. The last three categories: Chords, Bass Chord and Bass & Pick are where things become more interesting. Basically there are various zones across your keyboard for either playing chords or strumming and picking notes. With a little experimentation and practice you can play the chords with one hand and strum or achieve a muted strum effect with the other hand. This is a very natural way of playing and for anyone used to quickly playing chords with the left hand, such as most keyboard players, then the right hand can set the guitar strum rhythms.

If you are not so happy playing in your own strumming patterns then you also have access to the Pattern Manager which is a collection of 1250 guitar accompaniment rhythm styles all categorised for easy selection. Once again it is very simply to assign two MIDI tracks to your RealGuitar performance, one for the required chords and then simply adding your selected patterns from the Pattern Manager to the other. Naturally everything will automatically synch to the tempo of your DAW software so that is not a problem. The patterns are very convincing and make full use of the capabilities of the program.

RealStrat and RealLPC
As I mentioned before if you have mastered the basic techniques for RealGuitar then you will very quickly adapt to these other instruments as they operate in a broadly similar manner. In these cases the interface you are presented when you call up the instrument is either a Fender Stratocaster or Gibson Les Paul Custom with the fretboard lighting up illustrating the notes or chords just as in RealGuitar.
I am pleased to recommend these products wholeheartedly and feel that if you wish to achieve realistic guitar recordings, and do not have a competent guitarist on hand, then they offer your solution and ideally it is good to have both an acoustic and an electric model.
 

Computer Music 1/2008

Real Guitar is one of our favourite virtual instruments. It's a clever piece of software that enables any user – whether they possess guitar-playing skills or not – to bring authentic acoustic guitar parts to fruition within a host DAW. At the time of its release, MusicLab promised that there would eventually be an electric guitar version... and here it is, in the shape of RealStrat, an instrument sampled from a Fender Stratocaster.

If it ain't broke...

RealStrat adopts a similar performance ethos to that of its acoustic sibling, in that five performance modes are available: Solo, Harmony, Chords, Bass & Chord and Bass & Pick.

Solo mode is polyphonic but otherwise speaks for itself, while Harmony is monophobic but doubles your chosen note at the octave. Chord an Bass & Chord modes let you 'strum' any chord of your choice, with the latter providing a bass root. Bass & Pick enables you to play picked or plucked parts with a supporting bass.

The other major performance element maintened from Real Guitar is that your controller keyboard is automatically divided into two discrete zones: Main and Repeat. If you're in Chord mode, the Main area is where you hold down chords, while the Repeat zones, at the extremities of the keyboard range, provide retriggers, so you can tap
out rhythms on them. The really nifty thing is that within the Repeat zones, white notes retrigger the full sound, while black keys trigger a muted variation.

Real Strat also comes packed with keyswitch options to keep parts sounding as realistic as possible. In Solo Mode, for example, a huge range of tricks can be assigned. Harmonics, slides, hammer-ons and many more are available, and you can keep tabs on which one is selected within the main GUI. See the Get real! Boxout for more
realism-enhancing goodies.

In Chord Mode, you can be musically specific in other ways, such as paring down chords to fewer than six strings. You can choose from a variety of ascending fretboard positions in order to emulate a guitarist's approach to chord changes, rather than that of a keyboard player.

Playing RealStrat is a real joy, particularly in Solo and Chord modes. The former offers a range of styles, with the fantastic-sounding plug-in responding to your every move. Velocity, mod wheel and pitchbend become expressive controllers and, after a little practice, you can produce authentic solos and strummed parts.

For non-guitar-playing producers, RealStrat could be the answer to their prayers. As ever, understanding how to play guitar will help in anchieving the best results, though it does a good job of making performance discrepancies by itself. And even if you do play, the lure of firing up RealStrat may ultimately prove all too strong!
Either way, this is magnificent stuff.


Verdict

FOR

+ A dream to play
+ Multiple flexible performance modes
+ Keyswitches galore
+ Effects mixer for fine-tuning
+ AmpliTube Duo bundled
+ Throw away that 'how to play guitar' manual

AGAINST

- Bad news indeed for session guitarists!


RealStrat can sound scarily similar to the real thing, representing the pinnacle of today's emulative technology. For a virtual electric guitar, this is the best option yet.
Testbericht : RealStrat  Computer Music 1/2008 Real Guitar is one of our favourite virtual instruments. It's a clever piece of software that enables any user – whether they possess guitar-playing skills or not – to bring authentic acoustic guitar parts to fruition within a host DAW. At the time of its release, MusicLab promised that there would eventually be an electric guitar version... and here it is, in the shape of RealStrat, an instrument sampled from a Fender Stratocaster.

If it ain't broke...

RealStrat adopts a similar performance ethos to that of its acoustic sibling, in that five performance modes are available: Solo, Harmony, Chords, Bass & Chord and Bass & Pick.

Solo mode is polyphonic but otherwise speaks for itself, while Harmony is monophobic but doubles your chosen note at the octave. Chord an Bass & Chord modes let you 'strum' any chord of your choice, with the latter providing a bass root. Bass & Pick enables you to play picked or plucked parts with a supporting bass.

The other major performance element maintened from Real Guitar is that your controller keyboard is automatically divided into two discrete zones: Main and Repeat. If you're in Chord mode, the Main area is where you hold down chords, while the Repeat zones, at the extremities of the keyboard range, provide retriggers, so you can tap
out rhythms on them. The really nifty thing is that within the Repeat zones, white notes retrigger the full sound, while black keys trigger a muted variation.

Real Strat also comes packed with keyswitch options to keep parts sounding as realistic as possible. In Solo Mode, for example, a huge range of tricks can be assigned. Harmonics, slides, hammer-ons and many more are available, and you can keep tabs on which one is selected within the main GUI. See the Get real! Boxout for more
realism-enhancing goodies.

In Chord Mode, you can be musically specific in other ways, such as paring down chords to fewer than six strings. You can choose from a variety of ascending fretboard positions in order to emulate a guitarist's approach to chord changes, rather than that of a keyboard player.

Playing RealStrat is a real joy, particularly in Solo and Chord modes. The former offers a range of styles, with the fantastic-sounding plug-in responding to your every move. Velocity, mod wheel and pitchbend become expressive controllers and, after a little practice, you can produce authentic solos and strummed parts.

For non-guitar-playing producers, RealStrat could be the answer to their prayers. As ever, understanding how to play guitar will help in anchieving the best results, though it does a good job of making performance discrepancies by itself. And even if you do play, the lure of firing up RealStrat may ultimately prove all too strong!
Either way, this is magnificent stuff.


Verdict

FOR

+ A dream to play
+ Multiple flexible performance modes
+ Keyswitches galore
+ Effects mixer for fine-tuning
+ AmpliTube Duo bundled
+ Throw away that 'how to play guitar' manual

AGAINST

- Bad news indeed for session guitarists!


RealStrat can sound scarily similar to the real thing, representing the pinnacle of today's emulative technology. For a virtual electric guitar, this is the best option yet.