Modelling a guitar's dynamics - Reaktor? Anything else?

[mikejm]

I am trying to build a synth patch that effectively emulates the feel of an electric guitar.

The most difficult part of this so far seems to be that a guitar does not follow a simple ADSR envelope. In theory, it's just an attack with a decay. But in reality it's more complex. The attack is not linear exactly. In addition, the pickups compress a bit as you get to the peak of the attack, so it rounds out a bit at the top. Then there's a quick decay, followed by a fade (not a true sustain).

In other words, the envelope is too complex to captured by a simple 4 phase envelope. I am therefore needing something that can produce more complex envelopes. I have been looking at this:

http://www.nireaktor.com/reaktor-tutori ... n-reaktor/

Which seems to suggest that in Reaktor you can build envelopes with multiple phases and customize them to a detailed extent. I get the impression it already comes with multi-break envelope modules premade. It looks to me like this would possibly work, but I don't understand Reaktor so I am speculating.

Further adding complexity to what I want to accomplish, a guitar's dynamics change depending on whether it is played hard or soft. I am hoping to use velocity data from each MIDI note to change the shape of the envelope. ie. The greater the velocity, the stronger the attack with greater the "compression" at the peak of the attack of the envelope.

Would Reaktor be a good candidate for the job?

I really don't know anything about physical modelling. This will be my first foray. But I've tried a number of softsynths and the main failing seems to be the simple ADSR (or ADSFR) envelopes simply can't convey the energy and explosiveness of a heavy guitar pluck (vs the gentle softness of a light one).

Any thoughts or suggestions?

[gcoudert]

I use a real guitar!

[mikejm]

I use a real guitar!

Thanks. I have lots of guitars. I'm a guitar player. I'm trying to do things you can't do with guitars though and also get a slightly different sound than a true guitar.

I really just want to capture the dynamics of a guitar and apply them to a synth. It seems complex though. I still have to sit down and record a bunch of samples of playing my guitars and study the waveforms to know exactly how I need to emulate it. But I know already a simple ADSR isn't going to cut it.

[mute]

The newest version of String Studio by AAS looks pretty bad a*s... was mulling it over the other day.

https://www.applied-acoustics.com/string-studio-vs-2/

but be warned.. the demo video is really, really, really, really lame and not a fair representation (all of AAS's videos are horrible). There's a shining example of a bass guitar though if you skip to 5:40. You'd be better off lookin @ youtube for examples.

[gcoudert]

I use a real guitar!

Thanks. I have lots of guitars. I'm a guitar player. I'm trying to do things you can't do with guitars though and also get a slightly different sound than a true guitar.

I really just want to capture the dynamics of a guitar and apply them to a synth. It seems complex though. I still have to sit down and record a bunch of samples of playing my guitars and study the waveforms to know exactly how I need to emulate it. But I know already a simple ADSR isn't going to cut it.

OK, I see what you're trying to do. This is going to be very complicated because of the multiple factors that shape the sound of a guitar from the string type (wound or not), gauge, palm muting strength, fret noise, finger pressure to picking strength and harmonics and I could go on forever. I would love to hear the result of your efforts though.

[c-level]

i would say maybe start by analyzing guitar patches on synths that you have? when i tend to use guitar i use nylon guitar patches on my triton bc i dont have a real nylon. i know that probably doesnt help you to try to purely synthesize a guitar. my observation of a guitar strings tone fundamentally would that it would prob be more of a saw/tri wave than a square OSC waveform for one. both the volume and filter envelopes would have to be dynamic. id use a quick dynamic/key related filter envelope 'snap' to simulate the pick attack, with the env depth being varied, higher value for pick sounds, slower value and darker timbre for fingerstyle sounds. immediate attack for the amp, with a slower decay, some sustain and tiny release. keep in mind most of the guitar your used to hearing goes thru an amplifier. so amp/pedal modeling can help. maybe some resonant eqing and/or comb filtering to simulate the body of the acoustic... hope that helps...

[MitchK1989]

one thing you could do in a modular environment that you couldn't do elsewhere is run a sample of a guitar pluck through an envelope follower, then record the output of the envelope follower and use that as your attack/decay.

[ninja6485]

You might also want to look into something that can give you multiple key groups or something that can mimic the way that only one note per string will play at a time, and playing a second note will mute the first on that string. It gets complicated since on a guitar you can often choose to play that note on a different string, so you get the option of having the previous note either ring through the change, or mute depending on which string you play it on. A velocity setting might be helpful there too, or a controller that lets you sweep up and down the key.