Virtual Guitarist AMBER 2 | User Guide

 

VG AMBER2 User Guide.pdf

Table of Contents

Welcome to Virtual Guitarist AMBER 2 About the New Virtual Guitarist What’s New? UI Facelift MIDI Drag and Drop Building Songs Tuning Instrument Mode Stomp Box Finisher New Styles and Presets Resizable Interface Player Sync PreSonus Studio One Integration Loading Indicator You and Us Looking for Quick Help? Quick Reference Player Mode Instrument Mode Why so Few Controls? Trial and Authorization Trying, Buying, Authorizing Where to Put the Content Installing to a Different Location on macOS Installing to a Different Drive on Windows Changing the Content Location After Installation Controller Hardware Start Playing! Walkthrough Make a Sound and Learn About Chords Try the Presets Tell Your Player What You Want Play It More Performance – Tweaking Fun Play the Guitar Yourself Find Your Guitar Sound Add Some Effects! Reference Guide Menu Bar Loading Presets Save and Save As … Moving, Renaming and Deleting Presets Notification Icon Info Icon – About Page Volume Section Player and Instrument Mode Which Mode for What? Player Mode Instrument Mode Interactive Keyboard Open Chords Force, Bend and Damp Force (Player Mode only) Bend (Instrument Mode only) Damp Blend Character Mix Air Focus Width Variance Tune Stomp Box Stomp Box Mode Reference Finisher Finisher Drop–Down Menu FX Mode Reference Ambience Mode Reference Chord Recognition Player Mode Style Selector Common Phrases Special Keys Play Mode Reference of Common Phrases Style Phrases Stop Key Selector Play Range Play Mode: Note Transposing Phrases MIDI Drag’n’Drop (Player Mode only) Mixing Instrument and Player Mode What to Do With Dropped Phrases Micro Timing Parameters Speed Feel Swing Humanize Latch (Player Mode) Instrument Mode Play Range and Articulations Articulation Key Switches Trigger Mode MIDI Learn Automation

 

Welcome to Virtual Guitarist AMBER 2

Virtual Guitarist AMBER 2

We hope you will enjoy Virtual Guitarist AMBER 2, a powerful addition to your musical palette, and we thank you for being a part of the UJAM community of music creators!

About the New Virtual Guitarist

The original Virtual Guitarist was a best–selling virtual instrument series developed by Wizoo and distributed by Steinberg from 2002. The core people behind Wizoo, now in UJAM, also originated Virtual Guitarist AMBER 2 – your new virtual instrument.

UJAM has revived the success of the temporarily discontinued Virtual Guitarist series with a bunch of popular VGs (as we call them): Virtual Guitarist AMBER, SPARKLE, IRON,  SILK and CARBON. 

When we launched the series of Virtual Guitarists in late 2017, it was already a total remodeling of a successful but discontinued product series – the original Virtual Guitarist that Peter Gorges, Paul Kellett and a few others from today’s UJAM team co–developed with Steinberg in 2002.

The new Virtual Guitarist series – with VG AMBER 2 – marks yet another generation change. What defines a “new generation”, compared to an upgrade or update?

In this case, a new generation means a completely new technical and musical foundation under the hood – a thing we call the engine – that enables our users to do things they have been asking for for a long time that we weren’t able to provide them with in the previous series.

Virtual Guitarist AMBER 2 is based on an engine, a musical concept and an idea of a virtual guitar that is completely re–designed from the ground up. 

Just like the first series, it offers you an amazing player mode that automatically creates great guitar performances out of the press of a key.

Unlike the first series, it is based on a complete guitar model that gets “played” either by you or a Player. It is the quickest, most intuitive way of getting to realistic, inspiring guitar performances in case you don’t play the guitar. Many of our users know this concept from our Virtual Bassists, but being that the guitar is a polyphonic instrument, we had to take it to a whole new level.

 

Let’s look at one concept out of many so as to demonstrate what you’ll no doubt enjoy: When playing a virtual guitar instrument on a keyboard, it is almost impossible to create a realistic result, because strings and keys are very different. For example, there’s no concept of up– or downstrokes on a keyboard. So the first thing we set out to solve was how to make a virtual guitar realistic when played on a keyboard. A guitarist needs both hands to play – one hand controls the actual playing of the strings: strumming, picking, muting – whereas the other controls which notes get played by pressing fingers on the fretboard. 

We essentially transferred that concept to the keyboard of AMBER 2: You can now strum, play individual strings, mute and control stroke direction with the left hand while your right hand plays notes or chords, serving as fingers on a fretboard. 

Also, we added a voicing mechanism that ensures whatever notes you play, they will always be translated to the next suitable voicing of a guitar – because, here as well, keyboard and guitar are very different.

This is a long–winded way of saying that Virtual Guitarist AMBER 2 allows you as a non–guitarist to play things you would have never been able to without requiring you to learn the guitar. This opens up a whole new world for you.

Of course, we added countless other improvements and additions, many of which came as suggestions from you, our user base. AMBER 2 now has MIDI drag–n–drop functionality, a Finisher, Stomp Box effects and the microphone section has been completely re–designed to sound even better and more authentic than before!

We at UJAM did our best to create this new Virtual Guitarist with the hope that it will catch you thinking: “Wow, I can now play guitar although I can’t play guitar.”

Welcome to the new generation that is Virtual Guitarist AMBER 2!

What’s New?

The features we added and improved in Virtual Guitarist AMBER 2 are a mixture of the most frequent user requests and catching up with features we introduced in other instruments. Here’s a quick rundown of the new or upgraded features:

 

UI Facelift

Users of the original AMBER will find the user interface slightly extended and enhanced to reflect the new features. We made it a thing to keep the original usability as intact as possible though. Although we’ve added lots of functionality to the new Virtual Guitarist, using AMBER 2 is as easy as ever thanks to a new UI design that guides the eyes and looks even cleaner.

MIDI Drag and Drop

In Player Mode, the keys of the on–screen keyboard are now horizontally divided into two sections. The top section looks like a tab. 

Click onto a tab and drag into the Virtual Guitarist track of your DAW, then let go to drop the phrase into your track as a MIDI File.

Any phrases can be dragged and dropped: Common phrases and Style phrases. This opens up a slew of creative options:

• Tweak phrases to your liking by changing velocities or adding and replacing notes
• Combine phrases from multiple styles

 

Building Songs

If you play a key or chord before or while you drag, the dropped MIDI phrase will be in that key or chord. Use this to build entire songs: Hold a chord, drag phrase, hold next chord – you get it!

Tuning

You are now able to tune your Virtual Guitarist! Pitch it up or down by up to 3 semitones, depending on your needs.

Instrument Mode

The Instrument Mode was probably the most requested feature for AMBER, as many users wish to play the built–in guitar, rather than “just” triggering phrases and chords.

 

Stomp Box

The brand new Stomp Box effect allows you to choose from 30 different effect combinations in order to create a wide selection of classic guitar sounds that we all know and love so much. It’s a really amazing addition to Virtual Guitarist, but we didn’t stop there…

 

Finisher

The Finisher is a new section that adds even more guitar–optimized effects to your Virtual Guitarist and offers endless sound design possibilities.

New Styles and Presets

Virtual Guitarist AMBER 2 comes loaded with 30 brand–new style phrases, 354 phrases overall (330 style phrases and 24 common phrases), and more than 200 additional presets! As this is AMBER 2, we put a special emphasis on Pop, Rock, Folk and Electronic music (and the various sub–genres within).

Resizable Interface

Player Sync

 

PreSonus Studio One Integration

With the new VG AMBER 2, we provide Studio One users running on version 4.6.2 or later with an exclusive PreSonus chord track and Sound Variation feature.

Descriptions of styles and key switches are displayed on the piano roll to help you find the right styles and phrases faster and easier for your track. The Sound Variations are highlighted in red on the piano roll.

The chord track feature in Studio One automatically follows the chords and automatically changes the MIDI notes for you. Use the “Follow Chords” toggle underneath the right keyboard on the user interface. We recommend not setting a song key when using the feature.

 

Note:

• Changing styles or common phrases won’t influence or change the chord tracks, but the rhythmic input. Not all chords that are possible in the PreSonus Chord track, are recognized in our instruments. The closest interpretation will then be used.
• Also the performance of this feature depends on the latency setting of Studio One – we always recommend using a low latency setting to get the best results possible.
• Works only with VST2.

Studio One Audio Device Settings

 

Loading Indicator

We added a loading bar that displays the loading status of the sample library when opening the instrument in the DAW. If you use an external drive for the content files, loading it might take a little while, depending on the speed of your hardware.

Loading Indicator

You and Us

Virtual Guitarist AMBER 2 was built by musicians for musicians. We at UJAM are a pretty diverse bunch – from DJ to guitarist to weekend producer to Oscar–awarded Hollywood composer. We build every product for ourselves, and, like you, we’re all users of Virtual Guitarist too.

That means that before we even start developing, a lot of thought and discussion goes into finding out what the user will expect from the product, what problem it solves, which controls we can remove to make the product more inviting, and which hurdles we can destroy that might get between you and a perfect track.

Every Virtual Guitarist is optimized for one clear, powerful purpose: to produce great–sounding guitar tracks without distracting you from the complex endeavor that producing a song is.

We hope that Virtual Guitarist AMBER 2 transpires that philosophy in everything you do with it. 

Naturally, we’re always open to new ideas and critique, and you are always encouraged and welcome to talk to us:

• Reach out to our support: www.ujam.com/contact–us/
• Visit our Facebook page: www.facebook.com/ujaminstruments
• Watch our Youtube channel: www.youtube.com/ujaminstruments 
• Follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ujaminstruments
• Like us on Instagram: www.instagram.com/ujaminstruments

 

Looking for Quick Help?

If you’re just looking to figure out something quick, there are three ways to get there:

• The Quick Reference has super–short explanations for every control.
• The Walkthrough is a guided tour where you’ll try every control on the Virtual Guitarist AMBER 2 screen once – the quickest hands–on experience possible.
• If you’re looking for in–depth explanations of all functions and controls, head straight for the Reference Guide further down.

 

 

Quick Reference

 

Player Mode

In Player Mode, the rhythmical, articulation and phrasing aspect of the guitar performance are controlled by AMBER 2. All you need to do is select the phrases and chords you want to be played.

Player Mode Common phrases

 

 

Instrument Mode

In Instrument Mode, the keyboard emulates guitar playing technique. You play the Key Switch range with your left hand and the Fretboard range with your right hand to create performances.

Instrument Mode Key Switches

 

Why so Few Controls?

We are all musicians and we know that there’s never enough time to invent and lay down that amazing idea that’s in your head.

We are also UI (user interface) and UX (user experience) experts, and we know that there’s a trade –off between complexity – giving you maximum flexibility at the cost of time – and ease of use – letting you focus on your music at the cost of detailed editing options.

 

The way we design our user interfaces is aimed at giving you the best of both worlds:

• Easy, not simple: By eliminating unnecessary controls and carefully grouping, macrofying, and labeling those that we decide to include, we strive to offer you an instrument that allows you to focus your full attention on making it sound like you. This way you don’t have to waste too much of your limited time and energy on a cluttered screen that is too complex to navigate.
• Hardly any learning curve: Usually you can use any of our instruments straight out of the box, with minimal reading required. 
• Fail–proof interface: No matter how you set up the controls of Virtual Guitarist AMBER 2, the result will never be musically or technically wrong, and it gives you immense freedom and flexibility to create your sound. 

Most importantly (especially for those of us who don’t play the guitar), you can trust in the fact that tracks produced with Virtual Guitarist AMBER 2 are legitimate and professionally–recorded guitar tracks.

Trial and Authorization

We have designed the entire process of downloading, activating and authorizing Virtual Guitarist AMBER 2 with a strong focus on simplicity. It’s important to us to make it as easy as possible for you to get your hands on Virtual Guitarist AMBER 2 – and make it your own if you like it.

Trying, Buying, Authorizing

We only want you to spend money if you’re absolutely happy with Virtual Guitarist AMBER 2. Therefore, we grant you a 7–day trial period, during which the plugin will run without any limitation. 

When opening Virtual Guitarist AMBER 2 during the trial period (or when clicking the Authorize button in the menu bar), you will see this overlay which:

• Displays information about your trial status
• Provides a link to the UJAM website where you can purchase a permanent Virtual Guitarist AMBER 2 license after or during the trial period
• Allows you to enter your credentials and authorize Virtual Guitarist AMBER 2 once you’ve purchased your copy

Trial Screen

Where to Put the Content

The actual guitar goodness of Virtual Guitarist AMBER 2 – the audio content – is packed into so–called ‘blob’ files named ‘VG–AMBER2_part1.blob’ and ‘VG–AMBER2_part2.blob’. Together, they are about 8 GB in size.

You can keep the blob files anywhere you’d like (e.g. on a separate content drive).

During standard installation, it will be put into the following locations on your system drive:

Installing to a Different Location on macOS

If you wish to install the blob files to a custom folder on your local drive, you can set a different content installation folder in the installer. 

• Open the installer and follow the procedure to step “Installation Type”
• Click the “VG AMBER2” folder next to Package Name ‘Blob’ to select it – as shown in the image below – and follow the instructions in the installer.

macOS Installer – Change Content Location

 

Installing to a Different Drive on Windows

The Windows installer will ask you if you want to install the content to a different directory (for example on your external drive).

Note: On Windows, you can set a different location for the plug–in, however we recommend leaving this untouched unless you have a good reason.

Windows Installer – Change Content Location

 

Changing the Content Location After Installation

You can always change the plugin content location after the installation, by relocating the VG–AMBER2_part1.blob and VG–AMBER2_part2.blob files:

• Move both files to the desired location (e.g. different folder / different drive). Both blob files (part1 and part2) always have to be in the same folder!
• Launch your DAW and open Virtual Guitarist AMBER 2. It will present you with a dialog asking for the blob file part1 location. Simply point to the new location of the file – and you’re done.

Blob file relocation dialog

Note: If you don’t select the correct blob file you will see an error message. We  recommend restarting the DAW in that case. 

 

Controller Hardware

Virtual Guitarist AMBER 2 requires MIDI note input for playing and recording musical performances, and optionally Pitch Bend, Modulation and Sustain Pedal data for added real–time variation.

If you have a MIDI controller (keyboard), this will be the easiest and most straight–forward MIDI input method and it’s most fun as this way you control your guitar player in real–time. 

Of course, you can also control Virtual Guitarist AMBER 2 by using MIDI step sequencers or by entering MIDI notes manually into MIDI tracks. 

To get to know Virtual Guitarist AMBER 2 and for testing purposes, you can also use the interactive keyboard in the top half of the Virtual Guitarist AMBER 2 window. This works best with the Latch function enabled. 

Please note that whatever you play on this keyboard won’t leave Virtual Guitarist and therefore won’t be recorded in your DAW.

Start Playing!

Before we look at things in more depth, let’s first explore how to play Virtual Guitarist AMBER 2, as that may be all you need for now. 

Let’s go through the various playing modes and how you can use them:

• By default, Virtual Guitarist AMBER 2 is set to Player Mode.
• When you press keys from C3 upwards, Virtual Guitarist AMBER 2 will start playing a phrase with the notes you hold on the keyboard. When you release the key(s), playback will stop (if it doesn’t, check to see if ‘Latch’ is enabled!). 
• MIDI notes below C3 don’t represent musical keys but instead select the phrases of your player in real–time. This is a powerful way of making your performance interesting and dynamic. 
• Switch between ‘Note’ and ‘Chord’ mode from the dropdown and you’ll see that the first is optimized for melodic riffs, while the latter interprets chords from your input.

When using a keyboard, combine left hand (phrase select) and right hand (notes) to build your performance.

• By switching to Instrument Mode, you turn Virtual Guitarist into a virtual guitar, i.e. you can play it like a real guitar, string by string. The interactive keyboard will display different options now. For demonstration purposes, please set Trigger Mode to ‘On’ (more on this later!).
• The left range of the keyboard (labeled ‘Key Switches’) lets you choose different articulations and strumming styles rather than phrasing. Play a few notes in the Play Range while the left hand selects from the black keys ranging from Bb2 to Eb2. Notice how the instrument switches between playing dead notes, muted, half–mutes and sustains (going up the keyboard respectively).
• The other “black” keys (not really black on our sleek on–screen keyboard) trigger Stops and Releases. Click on the Keyboard tooltip button for a more detailed overview of what each key controls.
  
  
  

If you know these things and can switch presets, you know all that you need to in order to start producing with Virtual Guitarist AMBER 2.

*C3 is middle C. The MIDI note number is 60. Some DAWs refer to it as C4.

Walkthrough

If you’re pressed for time or if you already know the basic concepts behind Virtual Guitarists, then this walkthrough may be all you need for now, and you can come back later to look up deeper explanations as you need them.

We will take a quick tour across all controls of Virtual Guitarist AMBER 2. After this, you will have a basic understanding of the instrument and how to use it.

We assume you have Virtual Guitarist AMBER 2 opened in your DAW. Ideally you have a MIDI controller connected, otherwise use the interactive keyboard.

Make a Sound and Learn About Chords

• With Player Mode selected, play C3 or a higher note. Your guitarist will start playing. Play a few notes and get a feel for how it works. 

Try the Presets

• At the very top of the Virtual Guitarist AMBER 2 window you can load presets. A preset is always a complete setting of Virtual Guitarist AMBER 2, i.e. it will change the performance as well as the guitar and effects. 

Note: the presets apply to both Player and Instrument Modes, and the Latch feature is independent of preset settings.

• At this point, you can simply go through different presets to get an impression of the musical and sonic palette of Virtual Guitarist AMBER 2. 

Tell Your Player What You Want

• In Player mode, activate the Latch button on the far left above the interactive keyboard. Now Virtual Guitarist AMBER 2 will keep playing even if you don’t hold a note. Let it keep playing.
• Now play a note in the correspondingly labeled ‘Style Phrases’ range of the keyboard, C2 – A#2. Go upwards through the Style Phrases and notice how the phrasing gets more intense. These are the phrases you can replace by loading different Styles. Let’s do just that now:
• Load different Styles by clicking the Style name or the arrows above the interactive keyboard. You will notice that your guitar player masters a vast range of playing techniques and musical genres. 
• Now try keys in the C#0 – B1 range, labeled Common Phrases. These phrases will always be there no matter which Style you’ve loaded, and can be freely combined with the Style Phrases.
• Interrupt your player temporarily by holding the Silence key (C0). Playing will continue when you play another note. Now stop your player by pressing or clicking the Stop key (B2). 

You can use the ‘Silence’ key with ‘Latch’ mode on to mute your phrase but keep it running. This is different from lifting the key and playing it again as that will restart the phrase. 

Play It

• Switch the ‘Play Mode’ between ‘Note’ and ‘Chord’ and notice how ‘Note’ mode is optimized for individual voicings, while ‘Chord’ mode will automatically play up to 4–voice chords interpreted from your input.
• Try setting the ‘Key’ parameter to the key of your song and notice how it limits what is played to ensure that the chords work within the selected scale. This is a nice helping hand if you’re not too familiar with keyboard playing or music theory.

More Performance – Tweaking Fun

• Have Virtual Guitarist AMBER 2 keep playing. Open the Micro Timing menu by clicking the Micro Timing icon on the right side of the middle control bar. 
• With the new Player Sync option, you can now quantize the AMBER 2 player to match the playback. Quantize to the current grid (Song Position), 1/4, 1/8, or 1/16 notes. This new feature keeps the instrument in sync with the DAW timing position to make sure you have the phrase in time and on the right beat. Give it a try!
• The Speed switch lets you set Virtual Guitarist AMBER 2 to half time or double time – this is extremely handy when you like a particular style that plays half– or double–time relative to your existing arrangement.
• Now experiment with the Feel slider right next to the Speed control. It makes subtle changes to the timing, creating a rushed or relaxed feel. Maybe play a drum loop along for better comparison.
• Slowly turn up the Swing control that is next in line. As you will notice, this will delay the off–beats until the phrasing resembles a ternary feel that is common in Swing music (hence the name), often also called Shuffle or Groove depending on your DAW. 
• Finally, start playing around with the Humanize slider, which is the last control in the Micro Timing menu.

Play the Guitar Yourself

If you’re a prolific keyboard player, you might as well play the entire guitar yourself:

• Switch Virtual Guitarist to Instrument Mode by clicking ‘Instrument’ on the left side of the middle control bar (close the Micro Timing menu first if it’s still open). 
• Note how the interactive keyboard reflects the new mode – here, all keys from C3 upwards control the chord selection, while the Key Switch range below lets you strum chords or pick the individual notes and control the articulation of how the notes are played. Play open, half muted, muted, dead notes and stops. Experiment with your left hand while your right hand plays chord changes.
• Deactivate the Trigger Mode by pressing C#1 and notice how the Play Range changes to the Fretboard (now much more guitar–like).
• When Trigger Mode is off, you can silently change chords on the Fretboard on the right. Try using the Articulation keys with your left hand while your right hand changes the notes – pretty much like a guitarist does it with one hand stroking the strings and the other working the Fretboard.
• A not so obvious but cool feature: AMBER 2 can hold a chord in Instrument Mode. Activate Latch and the last played chord will get remembered, which allows you to use both hands for the Key Switches. This really comes in handy when playing live with a MIDI controller.

 

Find Your Guitar Sound

Let’s look at the top half of the Virtual Guitarist AMBER 2 window. Here you set up the guitar and the mix, and you can shape the sound in almost any way you like. 

• Activate Player Mode with Latch on so the instrument will keep playing while you tweak the controls.
• First, play with the Character selector. Notice how each selection changes the timbre of the guitar sound in a unique way. This control offers you four of the most suitable sound characteristics for rock guitars (more details in a later section).
• Now experiment with different mix settings and the Air knob. This does a bunch of well–adjusted things inside the array, practically controlling the overall sound and the signal level of additional room microphones, which have been used during the sample recording.
• With the Blend and Focus knobs you can quickly and easily change the character of your guitar sound.

 

Add Some Effects!

• Some people on the UJAM team think that so far you’ve only seen half the fun of AMBER 2, because the other half is the effects section. It lets you mangle and twist the sound of AMBER 2 in a lot of ways – from subtle adjustments to total craziness. Let’s try it:
• While AMBER 2 is playing, click through the Stomp Box and Finisher presets by using the arrow buttons next to the Amount knob, or by selecting presets from the menu that opens when you click the preset name.
• With every preset you try, turn the Amount knob up and down and listen for the alterations in the sound! A complete guide to the presets is included in the Reference section.

 

By now, you have a pretty good first impression of what AMBER 2 can do! Keep playing and experimenting. There’s nothing to break. When you’re done, just start laying down tracks or continue to the Reference Guide for more detailed information.

 

Reference Guide

In the following part of this user guide, every feature of Virtual Guitarist AMBER 2 will be explained in depth.

Menu Bar

The top bar of the Virtual Guitarist AMBER 2 interface lets you load and save presets. It also contains important management functions from checking your trial status to contacting support.

Menu Bar

Loading Presets

Preset Browser

A preset in Virtual Guitarist AMBER 2 is a complete setting of the entire plug–in including Style selection and all control values. Here’s how you can switch presets:

• Advance to the next or previous preset by clicking one of the arrows to the right of the preset name.
• Click on the name of the current preset in the preset menu to open the Preset Browser (see image above).

As you can see, the Preset Browser is a clean, organized list of presets that is categorized by simple musical terms. 

Virtual Guitarist AMBER 2 ships with a lot of Factory Presets. Take your time exploring them, as this is the quickest way to get an overview of what Virtual Guitarist AMBER 2 can do!

If you have freshly installed Virtual Guitarist AMBER 2, there will only be ‘Factory Presets’. ‘User Presets’ will appear once you create and save your own custom presets:

Save and Save As …

Once you’ve created a preset that you like, you can save it by selecting ‘Save As...’. A pop–up will prompt you to name your preset and select a category for it, if desired.

“Save as…” Dialog

 

The difference between the ‘Save’ and ‘Save As…’ buttons is as follows:

• ‘Save’ replaces the active preset with the changes you just made. 
• ‘Save As…’ lets you assign a new name and a category, so it does not replace the current preset.

Note that you cannot overwrite Factory Presets. You can only select ‘Save As…’ to create a new preset with the changes that you’ve made.

Moving, Renaming and Deleting Presets

You can move, rename or delete Presets directly in your operating system. You will find Virtual Guitarist AMBER 2 Presets in these folders (replace “USERNAME” by your actual username):

Notification Icon

Notification Icon

 

When you launch Virtual Guitarist AMBER 2, it will automatically check for updates. If an update is available, the notification icon will be activated. 

Clicking it will open a dialog that lets you choose whether you want to download the update now or later:

We built this mechanism to save you the pain of manually checking for updates in order to keep up with the latest improvements of Virtual Guitarist AMBER 2.

Info Icon – About Page

About Page

The About Page is the place for information about your version and licensing status of Virtual Guitarist AMBER. It is also a portal to other services:

• Visit Product Site – takes you to the UJAM website with regularly updated news, videos, tutorials and other helpful stuff.
• Contact Support – lets you report problems and ask questions.
• Read User Manual – opens this document.
• Acknowledgments – the people behind Virtual Guitarist AMBER 2.
• License Agreement – legalese for gourmets.

Volume Section

Volume Meter and Slider

Although a virtual instrument such as AMBER 2 lives inside a DAW with multiple level faders, a correct output level setting is important. If nothing else, it makes sure that subsequent audio processors, particularly dynamics or distortion, work in their optimal range.

Therefore, the Volume slider and meter on the right side of the plug–in lets you set and automate AMBER 2s output level between –inf and +12dB, and monitor the resulting level.

All components in AMBER 2 are adjusted so you won’t exceed the level meters top range, but it’s still ideal to watch it, particularly if you will be automating the Stomp Box and Finisher controls.

Player and Instrument Mode

Player/Instrument Switch

Virtual Guitarist AMBER 2 can perform either as a guitar player or as a guitar instrument, and you can switch between those two at any time.

• In Player Mode, the rhythmical, articulation and phrasing aspect of the guitar performance are controlled by AMBER 2. All you need to do is select the phrases and notes you want to be played.
• In Instrument Mode, Virtual Guitarist AMBER 2 emulates a guitar instrument that you can play on your MIDI keyboard.

 

Note that the Interactive Keyboard and its MIDI note assignments are very different in INSTRUMENT and PLAYER mode. Also, certain parameters such Micro Timing are only needed in PLAYER Mode and therefore hidden in INSTRUMENT mode to avoid clutter and confusion.

 

Which Mode for What?

Interactive Keyboard

The Interactive Keyboard is both a display of received MIDI notes and an actual functional on–screen keyboard – with the only exception that notes you play on the Interactive Keyboard are not recorded into your DAW.

The layout and functionality of the Interactive Keyboard changes between PLAYER and INSTRUMENT modes as shown below.

Interactive Keyboard in Player Mode

Interactive Keyboard in Instrument Mode

 

Open Chords

Open Chords selector (in the “on” position)

This feature, when activated, lets you play open guitar chord voicings which changes the overall sound aesthetic. Chords will sound wide and spherical. Depending on the selected chord, additional chord notes like 7, 9, 11 or 13 will get added automatically, which adds tension and makes the overall sound more interesting.

Note:

• This feature works very well together with guitar picking, try it for example with the style ‘Youngsters’.
• Does not work for Power Chords.

Force, Bend and Damp

The three controllers represent the standard wheels on a MIDI Keyboard. They behave a bit differently in both modes, so we’ll cover them here.

 

Force (Player Mode only)

 

 

Bend (Instrument Mode only)

 

Damp

Blend

Blend allows you to blend between two distinct signal sources: the microphone mix and the piezo pickup.

The AMBER 2 acoustic guitar was recorded using multiple microphones,  to capture a wide dynamic range and subtle nuances. These different mic signals are organized in mixes which you can select in the Mix section. In addition to the microphones, we also recorded the guitar's piezo pickup, which offers a different tonal character, typically more direct and focused.

If turned all the way to the left , you will only hear the full-bodied and organic sound captured by the microphones. If turned all the way to the right, you will hear the clear and direct sound of  the pickup. By adjusting the Blend knob, you can achieve the  blend  between  these two signals that suits your musical needs. Whether you want a natural acoustic sound, a direct plugged-in tone, or anything in between , with the Blend knob you are in full control. 

 

 

Character

During the sampling process, we captured the acoustic guitar at different velocity levels. This allows the Character switch to genuinely reflect these different intensity levels, providing a highly authentic and flexible playing experience. The sound of the guitar changes accordingly with each switch position, giving you a rich palette of tones to choose from.

 

Note: The following descriptions provide general guidelines and technical info. We encourage you to always try out all Character positions for any given track.

 

 

Mix

The Mix selector is a powerful tool for shaping your acoustic guitar sound. It lets you switch between different mix presets, each one offering a unique tone and character for a large range of musical styles. Each setting is a microphone setup tailored to a specific use case. Every mix is carefully crafted and includes proper signal processing like EQing and multiband compression, to create a specific sound profile.

 

 

Air

The Air knob provides an additional layer of ambience to your guitar sound: It allows you to add a  stereo signal of two room microphones on top of the Mix. This control essentially allows you to add a sense of depth and space to the sound of the guitar, simulating the natural ambiance you would get when recording an acoustic guitar in a well-treated room.

By turning up the Air knob, you can introduce more of this room sound into your mix, giving your guitar tracks a more expansive stereo feel. Conversely, if you want a more direct, centered and close-miked sound, you can turn the Air knob down.

Focus

The Focus knob controls a morphing EQ. Across the range of the knob we have placed 4 distinct EQ settings, optimized for Virtual Guitarist AMBER 2. Instead of just switching between those settings, the Focus control lets you morph through them, allowing you to tweak the character of the sound before you send it to the Finisher.

 

 

Width

The Width control is a complex engine–in–the–engine that is capable of doubling guitar signals by using slightly different guitar samples and positioning them vertically and horizontally across the sound stage.

This means that it doesn’t merely multiply a single guitarist’s signal.This knob is the equivalent of what a sound engineer would do when having to disentangle multiple guitar tracks – all fighting for the same frequency ranges and just creating a ton of mush – in order to re–establish transparency and the ability to distinguish the various guitars from one another. The sound–engineering term for this would be “un–masking”.

As you will notice over time, AMBER 2 is most powerful when doubled, as the Width control saves you the tedious work of setting up various instances with their respective mix settings.

Of course, there will be situations where you do want to use several instances – e.g. to have multiple AMBERs with different Mix settings or Finisher presets, or when you want total individual control over each guitarist's tone. But for a big coherent sound, the Width control is a super–convenient and optimized tool.

Using Width, you can build all kinds of guitar scenarios from subtle intro guitar to huge Walls of Sound.

Variance

This parameter allows you further control over how realistic Virtual Guitarist AMBER 2’s behavior truly is. At higher values, the Variance control more realistically mimics a live guitarist’s performance.

 

It is theoretically impossible for a guitarist to strum multiple strings at the same exact time. That’s because there is a physical distance between the strings, causing them to be strummed sequentially rather than simultaneously. At higher values, the Variance control increases the presence of this strumming delay, while also adding additional fret noise to bring the performance to life.

 

Tune

This knob allows you to detune AMBER 2 by three semitones up or down. Fine tuning is pretty useful when playing along to songs that are in an unusual tuning or slightly out of tune, which was quite common in the ancient times of tape recordings. The Tune knob up can also be used for adjusting single notes, adding a vibrato or bending single notes during a guitar part.

Stomp Box

Stomp Box Section

 

The brand new Stomp Box lets you choose from 30 different effect combinations in order to create a wide selection of classic guitar sounds that we all know and love so much.

You’ll find the Stomp Box at the center of the screen, slightly to the left. It consists of an on/off button, an Amount knob, and a Mode Selector. 

Step through the 30 modes using the arrows on the Mode Selector, or select one from the list by clicking on the title in the drop–down menu.

Use the Amount knob to adjust the effect. You’re very encouraged to use the Automation feature for the Amount knob for dynamic transitions or modulations. The Stomp Box effects are selected and optimized for Virtual Guitarist AMBER 2. They cover compression, modulation, EQ and ambience – often all in one Mode. Experiment with them and enjoy!

 

Stomp Box Mode Reference

 

Finisher

Finisher Section

The Finisher is a new section that adds even more guitar–optimized effects to your Virtual Guitarist. It was introduced with Virtual Guitarist Carbon in late 2019 and became so popular that we made it into its own product line and we will integrate it into all of our instruments over time!

Finisher is a super powerful custom effect array, with no less than 20 individual effect processors, macro–controlled by a single selector and control knob. Within the two categories FX and Ambience you will find many effects from EQs to multiband compressors to distortion, delay, chorus, phaser, flanger, and reverb to a convolution unit (providing impulse responses of cabinets and more), to more experimental stuff.

It lends the raw guitar sound all kinds of finish, from subtle character changes to standard effects such as delay, reverb or modulations to crazy grain clouds that render the original sound unrecognizable. 

The Finisher section is the way to go for creative sound–design. It comes with over 60 modes, specifically created for Virtual Guitarist AMBER 2. Every preset sets up the 20 individual processors in a new way and connects them to the Amount knob.

Best of all: the Finisher is optimized to be played live. Using the Finisher knob you can create amazing morphing sounds. And it couldn’t be simpler.

 

Finisher Drop–Down Menu

Drop–down Menu

 

To select a Finisher mode preset:

• Click on the preset name to open the full list, or
• Click the arrows next to the knob to step through the list

 

FX Mode Reference

 

 

Ambience Mode Reference

 

Chord Recognition

 

The chord recognition with its artificial intelligence is basically the brain of VG AMBER 2. Without having a song key selected, you are able to input your own chords. AMBER 2 will then interpret those chords and choose a proper acoustic guitar voicing for you, so that you don’t have to worry about the right order of the notes. As there are many possibilities of how a chord can be played on a guitar, this is really what makes the unique AMBER acoustic guitarist character of this plugin.

 

VG AMBER 2 can recognize up to four notes at a time:

Player Mode

Style Selector

Here you choose a Style – the selection of phrases accessible via the Style Phrases range on the keyboard.

Common Phrases

Common Phrases

The lower left of the MIDI keyboard (C0 – B1) is reserved for a collection of so–called Common Phrases. These phrases are “hard–wired” and won’t change regardless of the Style you select. Common Phrases are more generic and versatile, so they can be applied in conjunction with various Style Phrases and it will always sound good!

Note: Virtual Guitarist AMBER 2 lets you switch phrases in real–time without interrupting the performance. That’s a great way to create dynamic and interesting phrasings of your own by quickly switching phrase keys.

 

Special Keys

Within the Common Phrase range, certain keys have special functions:

• The lowest key of the Common Phrase range (C0) is the Silence key – it will keep playback running, but with an empty phrase. Use it to create temporary gaps without having to restart phrases. 
• The Bb1 key plays a Slide Down effect, while the B1 key plays a Pick Slide effect. Both of these serve as great ways to start the guitarist’s performance! Note that these keys still act as Phrases – once selected, you must then press a key from the Play Range area in order to hear the effect.
  
  

Play Mode

Reference of Common Phrases

Style Phrases

Style Phrases

Keys in the C2 – Bb2  range play phrases of the currently selected Style. There are 11 phrases in each of the 30 Styles, which you can freely combine with the Common Phrases.

 

Stop

The highest key of the Style Range – B2 – is the Stop key. In Latch mode, pressing this key will stop playback. 

Key Selector

Play Range

Play Range on the Interactive Keyboard

The right section of the keyboard is the one that actually starts and stops the guitar performance and determines the notes or melodies your guitar player will play. 

Play Mode: Note

In Player Mode there’s a new feature called Note mode. This mode allows you to select individual notes so you can build your own chords.

Let the Phrases play the rhythm while you play a single note, an interval or even full guitar chords with both hands. Keep in mind that on a real guitar each string can only play one note at a time. So if your input is not physically playable on a guitar, the plug–in may decide to omit certain notes so it sounds more realistic!

 

Transposing Phrases

When you transpose recorded or dropped MIDI notes from AMBER 2 in your DAW, make sure you transport only the notes in the Play Range section of the keyboard. Do not simply transpose the entire track altogether! Doing so will cause you to transpose the articulation and phrase selection notes, resulting in completely different playback.

MIDI Drag’n’Drop (Player Mode only)

The easiest and fastest ways to create your own phrases are by using Player or Instrument Mode to record them into your DAW.

What will usually end up in your instrument track is the MIDI notes that represent the actual notes, along with the phrase keys to go with them.

Sometimes you may really like a Style in Player Mode but want to detail–edit the notes, velocities or timing. This is where Phrase Drag’n’Drop will help.

You may have noticed that the keys in the Common Phrases and Style Phrases range of the interactive keyboard show little handles with six dots at the top. By clicking this handle and dragging it onto an instrument track in your DAW, you will create a MIDI copy of that particular phrase, pitch taken from the last notes you played in the Play Range.

 

 

Note: This is an advanced and not necessarily easy–to–use feature. We recommend you only use it if you’re ready and willing to do manual editing in your DAW! Micro Timing settings do affect the dragged MIDI note output, which can result in MIDI notes exceeding the regular ending of a bar.

Mixing Instrument and Player Mode

A dropped MIDI phrase will resemble what you would have recorded if you’d played this phrase in Instrument mode. 

In fact, under the hood, AMBER 2 plays back these phrases in Instrument Mode while you can remain in Player Mode and even mix both modes in one track.

The way AMBER 2 identifies dropped phrases is by the note C–2, which you will see inserted in all your dropped phrases. Make sure not to delete these note events, as that may mess up the result.

What to Do With Dropped Phrases

Here’s what you can do by dragging and dropping phrases into Instrument tracks:

• Build a song structure by dropping multiple different phrases one after the other
• Create a melodic or harmonic structure by editing the note pitches from C3 upwards
• Change the articulations of notes by editing the black keys between Eb2 and Bb2
• Change the timing of notes by editing note positions
• Change the velocities of notes – e.g. lower them in intros, increase in verses. Velocities of the keys that are outside of the Play Range (e.g. Articulation keys) make no difference
• Use the phrase as a toolkit for building an entirely new phrase
• Use MIDI transformation in your DAW (double speed, half speed)

IMPORTANT: When you transpose notes, always make sure to not drag the corresponding select keys below C3, otherwise articulations might get messed up!

A typical MIDI export (here shown in Logic Pro X), with the MIDI region at the top, the note editor below showing both the notes and the select keys, as well as their velocity levels.

Micro Timing Parameters

Micro Timing Menu

• Only in Player Mode, you will find a button called Micro Timing on the right hand side of the middle control panel.
• Click this button to open a selection of timing parameters that you can use to adjust your Virtual Guitarist’s performance to better suit your song.

Speed

The Speed switch lets you halve (0.5x) or double (2x) Virtual Guitarist AMBER 2’s tempo relative to the song tempo. 

Feel

You can tweak the feel of your guitar player’s performance either towards relaxed or rushed using this control:

• As you move the slider to the left, the player will play off–beats slightly earlier, leading to a rushed or ‘pushed’ feel
• In the opposite direction, off–beats will be slightly delayed, creating a relaxed or ‘pulled’ feel 

Feel has a stronger effect when listened to against other tracks. If you’re not sure what it does, try playing a drum loop along with Virtual Guitarist AMBER 2 and tweak the control. You will notice that the off–beats will play earlier or later than the off–beat drums (usually hi–hats or snares) as you turn the control.

Swing

This function, also called “Shuffle”, delays the off–beats. Virtual Guitarist AMBER 2 will automatically switch the Swing resolution to 8th or 16th note depending on the selected Style

Use this control to match the timing of Virtual Guitarist AMBER 2 to a shuffled or triplet–based song. At maximum position, the off–beat will have the same timing as the last note of a triplet.

Note: Not all phrases contain 8th or 16th note off–beats. In these cases, the Swing control has no effect.

Humanize

Like a real human, your session player in Virtual Guitarist AMBER 2 plays ever so slightly around the quantized note grid. You can vary how “human” you want those phrases to be played: 

• In the center position of the slider, phrases are played with average timing.
• Towards the right or “tight” position, the phrases will get more and more quantized, until they match the grid exactly. Use this setting for example when using Virtual Guitarist AMBER 2 along with drum machines or generally in sequenced, electronic music.
• Moving the slider towards the left or “Loose” position intensifies the timing variations – the guitar performance sounds intentionally off grid.
• The slider setting will be saved into a preset.

Latch (Player Mode)

Latch Button

When Latch is activated, once you press a key in the Play Range, Virtual Guitarist AMBER 2 will keep playing until you press the Stop key. 

 

When Latch is off, Virtual Guitarist AMBER 2 only plays for however long you hold the keys in the Play Range. Latch is convenient when testing or setting up sounds, and is more practical if you build a track by manually entering notes into your MIDI track. 

You can use an optional Sustain Pedal as a temporary Latch. Lifting the sustain pedal unlatches any notes that are no longer held, even if the Latch switch is still on.

Note: Latch behaves differently in Instrument Mode. Please read on!

 

Instrument Mode

If you are a skilled player and know how to play the typical phrasings and riffs of a guitar, then Instrument Mode might be for you, as it allows you to control rhythm, chords, play individual notes and use different articulations.

Actually, Instrument Mode is active in Player Mode too – it is the guitar model that gets played by the Player.

We wouldn’t be surprised if playing Virtual Guitarist AMBER 2 in INSTRUMENT mode felt like your keyboard were hooked up to a mechanism playing the physical guitar.

This is because a Virtual Guitarist is not just a multisample, but a real model that emulates the behaviors of a physical guitar. While there’s a slight amount of wanted “unrealism” in Virtual Guitarist AMBER 2, unwanted “unrealism” of a conventional sampled guitar won’t be found in Virtual Guitarist AMBER 2 – such as machine–gun effect when repeating notes, synthesized note–offs or pitching/transposition artifacts.

 

Playing tip: Unlike many other instruments, realistic, grooving guitar performances rely not only on the correct onset of notes, but also on their ends! A succession of long guitar notes with no pause in between is easy to play on strings, but hard on a MIDI keyboard. In these cases, try recording your guitar performance at half the original tempo – chances are this will still sound more realistic than note–length editing.

Play Range and Articulations

The first thing that is helpful to know is that you’ll be using your right hand to play notes in the Play Range – which defines which notes you play and when – and your left hand to play notes in the Key Switches range to control the Articulations, which define how these notes get played (i.e. as dead, muted, half–muted, or sustained notes).

Play Range in Instrument Mode

The Play Range of the Interactive Keyboard is inspired by a regular six string guitar – it ranges from C3 to F5 on the virtual keyboard, but actually represents the note range D2 to F4.

 

The Play Range is where you play the guitar like any MIDI instrument, up to four–note polyphonic and velocity–sensitive.

Articulation

Use the black keys from Eb2 to Bb2 to select the articulation of the guitar.

One of the most important techniques used to create rhythmic patterns is damping the strings with the thumb–ball of the right hand, varying length and harmonic content of the note. 

AMBER 2 offers four different articulations plus velocity sensitivity for a large expressive range:

Key Switches

 

 

This is how you use Key Switches:

• In Instrument Mode, activate Latch. This makes it easier to play the guitar, as the plugin will now remember the last Fretboard input (until you input another note or chord)
• Play any chord in the Play Range (Fretboard)
• While playing chords, play with the keys in the Articulation Range to trigger the respective events

 

Trigger Mode

 

 

MIDI Learn

Using MIDI Learn, you can assign any Virtual Guitarist AMBER 2 control to hardware controls of MIDI keyboards or other controllers. 

To assign a control, simply right–click or ctrl + click a control in Virtual Guitarist AMBER 2 to open the ‘MIDI Learn’ context menu of your DAW.

 

MIDI Learn

Automation

Almost all controls in Virtual Guitarist AMBER 2 can be automated. In combination with the phrase select keys this is a very powerful way of creating more dynamic performances. For example, automate Finisher, Stomp Box or the Air control with faders to create dynamic transitions, or switch–automate Mix and Character to drastically change the sound throughout your song.

For instructions on how to activate Virtual Guitarist AMBER 2 parameters for automation, please refer to your DAW’s user guide.