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When Synfire 2 was released, I started taking notes of features I'd like to see added. To my pleasant surprise, most of them have been added without me needed to request it. I especially appreciate the updated MIDI import function as it was something that had been vexing me since Synfire 1.
- Guitar Picking Factory. I have a feeling that IK Multimedia and/or Toontrack will release a new guitar VI at some point soon. It would be nice to have a guitar picking factory to build phrases for them. I'd like to see a guitar picking factory that is arranged similar to how the Piano Parts Phrase factory is with separate Bass and Melody section along with a Rhythm parameter. I've been extracting rhythms from MIDI drum beats and dragging it into the Rhythm outlet of the Piano Parts factory to great effect. I would love to see something similar with a guitar picking factory.
- Snippets Control. I have to admit that I slept on Snippets for a long time. Then I recently decided to give it a try and I'm not going back. It's so much fun to load figures and improvise with different combinations and song structures. The Snippets feature combines the best parts of the Ableton and Bitwig clip launchers. The only thing that could improve this feature is to be able to launch snippets from my Novation Launchpad. I know this may be a long term project rather than something that can be implemented soon. Still being able to launch snippets and scenes from my Launchpad would be so much fun and creative.
Also, I would like to see an in-depth Snippets tutorial. I remember the Snippets showcase from before Synfire 2 was released, but it wasn't really designed to be a tutorial. I'd like to get some tips from KIM and Andre of ways to use Snippets that I may not have thought of.
Sun, 2023-10-01 - 20:12 Permalink
If you consider chord grids (grip patterns) and playability, generating guitar picking phrases is not trivial. You certainly can't just generate a bass line without taking into account what the other fingers are currently doing. Also, a bass can never be lower than the lowest open string.
If you don't care about that, you can already use the other factories to generate finger picking phrases. Just use the green chord symbols with arps, up/down runs, etc and keep the bass line sparse.
Mon, 2023-10-02 - 19:52 Permalink
Using Touch OSC to launch snippets would be very exciting. Keeping my fingers crossed that we Android users will also be represented if this works out.
@janamdo I've used Real Guitar and I think it has its merits. But overall, I find it underwhelming. The guitar sounds are thin (this is coming from a guitar player) even when using the best amp sims. And rearranging the preset patterns to make custom phrases is convoluted and tedious.
In the absence of a guitar picking factory, my best bet is to wait for the release of something like EZGuitar from Toontrack. EZKeys 2 has several "Generic" patterns that are designed to fit the most common situations. I suspect something like EZGuitar will have something similar. It's a simple task to import those kind of MIDI patterns into Synfire and arrange them in different ways. By comparison, the Real Guitar VST feels antiquated.