Symphonic Guitars

Symphonic Guitars is a plugin for orchestral sounds created solely with guitars.

Sounds of violin, viola, cello, flute, and horn recreated with different guitar techniques.

Symphonic Guitars is a plugin that creates orchestral instruments on the guitar. It contains 50 instruments in total, including variations with effects.
The orchestral instruments that we managed to recreate on the guitar were the cello, the viola, the violin, the flute, and the horn. Depending on the instrument, we are able to create long notes, staccato (short notes), and pizzicato sounds.

• Cellos (9 presets)
• Flute (4 presets)
• Horn (4 presets)
• Pizzicato (7 presets)
• Special (5 presets)
• Staccato (8 presets)
• Viola (5 presets)
• Violin (8 presets)

How was Symphonic Guitars made

At ZAK Sound, we used violin bows and electronic bows to create most of the sounds. We used different playing techniques for each instrument. For example, to get the violin sound, we used the violin bow on the first two strings of the guitar. On the other side, to obtain the sound of the cello we use the sixth string, which sounds thicker.

We did other experiments, like pulling the strings and muting at the same time, to get a sound similar to the pizzicato of the violin or cello. There are also versions with effects to create usable sounds for different styles.

All of this was recorded with four microphones: two XY small-diaphragm condensers, one large- diaphragm, and one dynamic.

Interface:

• Slider to control the depth and speed of the vibrato.
• Mics volume (3 microphones)
• Settings: Mode, glide, width, attack, and release.
• Reverb: Size, width, and mix.
• Delay: Time, repeat, and mix.
• Filer: Lowpass/highpass.