Tech talk - The technology behind the Six-String sound
When working with samples to authentically simulate the sound of a stringed instrument you'll soon run up against the limits of sampling technology. The sound of an oscillating string is just too detailed and dynamic to emulate with a static sample.

Extended information

For this reason Six-String employs a newly developed physical modeling technique. The fundamental Six-String sound production technology was developed by Dr. Rudolf Rabenstein and Dr. Lutz Trautmann at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg. Their wholly new mathematical approach for the first time models a "genuine" string, with all its physical characteristics, in real time. Multiple factors - string diameter and tension, rigidity and excitation type etc. - are editable and have exactly the same influence over the sound as in the real world.



Acoustic or electric?
The Six-String emulates both electric and acoustic string instruments-so, in a way, you're getting two instruments with the Six-String. The two instruments differ in a couple of ways. Because the Six-String was developed specifically to emulate guitars, a body is modeled for the acoustic model, while pickups and a tube amplifier are modeled for the electric guitar. In addition, the graphics are different for each version. Because what the eye sees is what you finally hear...



Direct Access to the Sound
The beauty of physical modeling is that you have substantially more direct access to the sound than is possible with other methods, such as sampling. Only with this kind of control can the sound have real life and the instrument its own unique character.

Because of the vast possibilities of the Six-String's direct access design we put a high value on intuitive operation. The goal of playing an instrument is, after all, to enjoy it. Therefore we've made it easy to select different string types (steel, nylon, bass strings...) and the position and type of stimulation (plectrum, fingernail, finger tip...). And of course, the stimulation can be controlled by MIDI velocity so you can play the Six-String with realistic dynamics.

With the acoustic model you can select from among several body profiles. With the electric you can choose to use one or two virtual pickups. In addition you can control characteristics such as slap and damping-and much more.

A large library of presets is available to help you reach your desired result quickly. To adjust the string stimulation characteristics you can use either Easy Edit mode or a Pro mode that provides additional parameters. Here, again, the easy handling of the Six-String is facilitated by the descriptive graphics.

Finally, if you're not into editing instrument parameters you will find over 250 Six-String sounds, some of which will no doubt be suitable for your production. These sounds, reflecting the broad spectrum of the instrument and covering most musical styles, were programmed by noted sound designers.



The Effects Section
An effects section rounds off the structure of the Six-String. It features a guitar amplifier, with a simulated vacuum tube stage, and a stereo chorus and delay.

The virtual amplifier is in no way infereior to a genuine amplifier. Its two vacuum tube simulation provides extremely realistic amplifier sonic characteristics, from smooth and round to heavy overdrive. And an integrated equalizer makes for the greatest flexibility in sound design. Different amps are provided as Presets, or you can store your own configurations.