Ample Sound has released Ample Guitar II, a completely recreated program with loads of new features, including:
New sample engine with significant performance improvement:

• Multiple instances can be loaded much faster and takes only a small amount of additional memory.
• Improved voice management significantly enhances performance.

New Strummer with drag & drop support:

• Users can search, browse and audition chords and patterns now with drag & drop support.
• Slash chord support is implemented for Detect Mode.
• Chord slots have been increased to 24 for Select Mode.
• Arpeggio can now be played on all six strings for every chord now.
• Improved humanization options are present in 2.0.
• New strummed patterns.

VST3 format is now supported for Mac & Windows.

Added Slide Guitar articulation/group samples for all guitars.

Improved and optimized GPX format support in the built-in tab player.

Completely new standalone app which can load all Ample Sound plugins with virtual keyboard support.

Other updates:

• Added capo option which enables transposing without the need of modifying MIDI.
• Added Auto Mod to enable automatic vibrato.
• Added Mod Range to adjust vibrato intensity.
• Added Poly Bender to enable multiple notes bend.
• Added the new Solo Mode, in addition to Keyboard Mode and Standard Mode.

Announcements:

• There will be sample library extensions in future, and this update has been designed to support this feature.
• The current release of Ample Guitar II only covers acoustic series of the product line-up. More changes will be brought about by the electric series, which is coming up soon.

Important Information
Ample Guitar II cannot load presets/settings created/used with previous 1.x version software directly. However, parameters in 2.0 version software cover all parameters in 1.x versions, which means copying details of parameters from 1.x presets to 2.0 software is doable by hand. Users can keep the old version 1.x while installing version 2.0. They can run and exist in parallel.

All updates are free of charge for owners of corresponding Ample Guitar software. Users can get their updates through the MyAmpleSound page.

Demo songs

Hahaha..., server kaput.

You have a very good server. You can not download anything.

Congratulations.

Same here

same After 4 Gig it not Finishing download

I remember when they started out a ways back (year or two) that there were DL issues and then it had been fixed. I haven't been to their site since and am a bit surprised that the original problem is happening.
Sent them a ticket and hope to hear back soon

After we released ample guitar 2, our server is receiving a huge amount of request far more than we expected. Please try again later after the peak passes. This is the first time we're facing such a heavy load and next time we'll be experienced.

Thanks guys. Got it ~

In Windows 8.1 x64 AGT II long time to start.

Won't work in Cubase 8 Win7/64 for me. There's a conflict with Windows X86 and Cubase won't activate past that point. I don't use it in X86 but my computer says there's a later version on my computer, don't recall the win program but it's a no go here. Did a full install, is there a part I should not be installing?

You can not perform activation - Win8.1 x64

Got it going, just have to watch when installing and not install the 32 bit product. It's working great and really improved performance. Great job guys! I had put the original AGM aside, it was hard to play and the strumming patterns were hard to work with. Now they are all right there and a ton more for all types of patterns. Also the playing articulation is spot on, I found the original a little hard to play, especially fast but this is a big improvement. Ample guitar is back at the top of my VST Acoustic guitar list. Looking forward to the electric guitar upgrades, I'm ready to buy that Gibson. Thanks, this is real update that matters.

RKeefe- The Gibson has a nice tone, but I experience the same issues as you describe for the acoustic versions. Sticky articulation, lag and latency I don't get on others I use (pettinhouse, Archtop, Torch on Kontakt, Real Rick from Musiclab). I'm looking forward to it smoothing out, because I really like the tone, and when it doesn't stick, it seems like it would be a go to for finesse vi guitar, particularly for rhythm. I can make it work, but it really would mess with my flow to have all those issues in real time. I have held off from getting the acoustics specifically because of this issue (the demo had the same feel), so I am glad to hear it has been addressed. I look forward to the release.

As far as strumming, there could be a real market for strumming patterns for all of these plug-ins. Someone who notates quickly sits next to an accomplished player, and transcribes just the rhythm. A lot of these VIs are close enough that it might only need a little tweeking from one to another.

None of my AG's are working now. All fail AU validation and for a new twist, they completely lock up AvaTool and Logic when trying to validate.
These VI's were a big investment but I went with Ample as they do sound very good (ignoring some tuning issues which they addressed).

Looking for resolution soon


OSX 10.6.8 (64 boot)
Logic 9.1.8 (64 bit)

Hi, please send an email to [email protected] if you have any activation problem.

Thank you. Yes, already sent

Thanks for the info. Make sure you check out the their guitars before purchasing if you can. There are a lot more strumming patterns and they are easier to access and audition. The articulation is better but this is not the fastest acoustic depending on the latency issues of your setup but it's better.

Konkakt's Strumming Guitar is interesting and I bought it with some discount help. It's like Scarbee, you can't play the instrument but it does strum well and there's a lot fx options. Ample is a much better deal $ for $ with the new updates. Also, Konkakt player now freezes up since installing Strumming in Cubase and Studio One so it's Konkakt. Put in a support notice but nothing yet. Thanks again.

www.soundcloud.com/tkeefe

I will try to remember to post here when they issue the Gibson II, to describe any changes in articulation I experience. I had just scoured my settings overall for all my frequently used plugins to minimize latency and other factors, and tried the paticular sticky ones as a single instance in a file (Logic x on a hazwell Mac, 8 gigs ram, external drives), so I am confident on my assessment. I remain very hopeful, and may try the demo of one of the already released "IIs" just to whet my appetite.

Definitely, I would love a good VST Electric guitar that plays well, strums and of course, sounds great. Ample has the sound down but it takes a lot samples to do it right and they're working hard to match the great sound to great playing. I'm still trying out the new acoustic and I need to keep tweaking my system to get the right balance. I've already moved away from Konkact Strummer, Konkakt player freezes my DAWs when I try to close it since installing it. Maybe a coincidence, who knows.

hi
why the AGTII is a long time to run?

Guess the best thing to do is wait a few weeks to give Amplesound time to sort out their server issues and host validation problems.

That said, I've noticed a number of people complaining about "lag" in playing
Amplesound guitars. To fix that, there is a knob on each Amplesound guitar Main GUI called "Start time". Set it all the way to the right which is 50ms. You'll
immediately get a lot less latency, and the instrument will be more playable.

Amplesound explains in their manuals that there is an average latency of 50ms between the time a guitar player plucks or pulls a string and the time you hear
the resulting note. I actually don't believe this explanation, but at any rate, setting the start time to 50 ms. solves the problem.

It does play faster, wow! Thanks for the tip. I wonder why or I'll just play is probably best. Thanks again.

Dear users,
If you have installed the 2.0.0 version on Mac, please login here to download and install this 2.0.1 patch.
amplesound.net
This should fix the activation failure issue, and the AU validation freezing issue (and possbily VST2 loading freeze issue).
The update also includes a fix to a SEQ drag and drop bug.
2.01 Windows update will be released soon.

We apologize for the inconvenience.

Thanks for your patience and supports.
Ample Sound

Hi there at Amplesound

The 2.0.1 didn't work for me... still crashes validation:(

IMac i7
Logic Pro 10.1.0
OSX 10.9.3

Anyone having the same problem?

Hi kelvyn,

Could you please copy the text in the crash Report window (by clicking the report button after crash) to our service email? Or send it to

shaoduo AT amplesound.net

Thanks.

Thanks for the reply... will do

Any news on the validation problem in Logic?

Dave, this is exactly right. I withdraw my reservations on the AGG, based on this simple solution. I tend to play chords on Guitar VIs by adding each note very slightly delayed up or down the chord (forgetting what the term for this might be, not an arpeggio, not legato exactly, as I continue to hold each note after pressed, to simulate the way a guitar might resonate or sustain). I noticed if I added the chord in a melodic line, notes would be dropped out. I suppose this artificial latency was clipping the notes because I was releasing too quickly or the legato function was overriding with the next note. Changing this to 50ms, all the notes came back, and now I feel I can use the instrument without getting distracted or annoyed by the blank spots I was or wasn't hearing.

Still looking forward to the release of the new version on electric however.

RKeefe, another one I really enjoy is the RealRick, but it tends to be for very specific sounds (I enjoy the "jangly" tones especially, and can get a great Byrds Roger McQuinn sound that arpeggiates nicely ala "Turn! Turn! Turn!"). The articulations and variety of tones I've found are not quite as great, and I find more character and range from the AGG. The demo is very playable, so that might be another option.

Finally got around to downloading and installing the 2.01 updates. (Btw, for anyone who hasn't installed the version 2 instruments, you have to go to your "My Amplesound" account and click on "email me the installers" link because you need the full installers, not just the update).

Amplesound includes a new standalone host system which you launch first and
then let it scan for all your Amplesound VI's. Then you can select one of the new ones and authorize it directly from the host. It's much faster than the old system,
really nice addition, thanks to Amplesound.

I use Digital Performer on a Mac - no AU validation issues at all.

Now for first impressions - the first thing I noticed is that the three "velocity"sliders are gone from the instrument's main page. I suppose Amplesound decided nobody was really using these much. Not a huge deal, but I kind of miss them.

Besides that, the new virtual capo is fantastic. It really works as advertised, and
is dead simple to activate. There was a way to activate the capo in the old versions but honestly I never got it to function correctly. When switching to chord detect mode, you now have two octaves within which you can form chords, the higher octave is where you trigger higher voiced chords. Awesome, love it.
The rest of the "new" features, such as polyphonic note bend and auto vibrato, work as advertised and they're very welcome.

Overall, the new V2 acoustics are indeed easier to play, and do load faster.
I still found myself reaching for that sample start dial and turning it to 50ms (all the way to the right) to get rid of latency while playing. I'd like Amplesound to explain why this feature exists…the explanation in the instruction videos doesn't make any sense to me.

At the end of the day, this is still the best acoustic guitar VI set I've used.
I was briefly considering Vir2's new Acousti6s library, but from the audio demos of that I don't hear it sounding any better than Amplesound's guitars, with the exception of a 12-string which Amplesound hasn't done yet. here's hoping that they do make a 12-string in the future.

Thanks for your support. We want to mention several things,

1. We didn't remove velocity layer sliders. They're now in Settings Panel.

2. Capo is a new feature in V2. It shifts all incoming notes without need to modify original midi, which is different from CapoMan feature in V1.

3. We expand select mode to two octaves, which means now you have 24 chord slots to switch.

4. We will release 5 extensions for AGM and AGT soon. More choices will be available then with lower price than a complete product.