v1.0 Documentation and Instrument Guide
Introduction
Before you hammer out some metal with your new weapon of sonic warfare, note the following:
- Installation: The archive with the files uses .rar compression, so extract it with WinRar (for Windows) or UnRarX (for Mac). Keep the folder structure intact, and drop it into your library.
- License: Use these sounds however you like in your personal projects, as instruments or sound effects. Don’t repackage them or resell them. That’s all there is to it.
Playing THRASH DI
Thrash DI (Direct Input) puts the sound of an un-amped guitar at your fingertips. Metal purists will ask: “What good is a guitar with no amplification? Is it some kind of grandpa’s guitar?” They are, of course, right to ask this. Through whatever means you are comfortable with, amplify this instrument. Distort it, give it some gain, scoop the signal, and blast the sound. You will need an amp sim to get the most out of Thrash DI. If you don’t have one, check out Thrash, the pre-amped version of this guitar for Kontakt.
By default, Thrash DI has ‘solo mode’ enabled for both the lower range of powerchord 5ths and the upper single notes. This enables performance of flowing chord chugs and lead lines. The powerchords and the single notes are governed by separate solo scripts, so you can leave one set on and turn off the other if you wish. Turning ‘solo mode’ off is accomplished by going into instrument edit mode, and selecting the appropriate ‘solo mode’ script in the Script Editor. Just use the GUI controls there to disable either the lower or upper ‘solo mode’ range.
Layout
The main Thrash guitar patch is set up with three zones: Powerchords, single string notes, and the ‘Chug Zone.’ The powerchords extend from D1-F2, and the single string area runs from D3-F4. The Chug Zone occupies G0-B0. Additionally, striking C3 plays a note-off noise.
Let’s take a look at each of the zones…
POWERCHORDS (D1-F2)
This range of keys is split by velocity into palm mutes and sustains. If you strike a key lightly, you will get a single-string palm-muted staccato. A bit harder, and you’ll hear a full 5th dyad palm-muted staccato. Harder yet, and you will hear the full 5th dyad sustained version of the note.
All powerchord sustains have 4xRR, and palm-muted staccatos get 8xRR per layer.
SINGLE NOTES (D3-F4)
These keys play single note sustains, with 4xRR. If you have the ‘Solo Mode HIGH’ script turned on, you will be able to play nice flowing leads. This script is on by default. If you bypass or delete the script, you can play this section of notes polyphonically and build your own chords. If you need something other than a 5th dyad powerchord, you have the flexibility to go play whatever note combination you need.
CHUG ZONE (G0-B0)
Depending on how the “Chug” knob on the Thrash DI GUI is set, all five keys in this area play palm-muted staccatos on either the open D or E strings. The reason I added this zone is that it is otherwise really difficult to play triplets or very fast riffing on the same note. In metal, six-stringed guitars most often have their low string tuned to either D or E, and that open low string gets abused with lots of fast riffing.
SUSTAIN KNOB
Why is there a sustain knob on the GUI? This perplexing control is used, unsurprisingly, to activate sustain— aka MIDI CC64, which will keep notes playing until they ring out completely. It works really well with Solo Mode on, but it is sort of a holdover from Thrash DI’s big brother, Thrash, where it was much more important. I left it here in case you want it. It can make some playing techniques easier, but is turned off by default.
Amp Sim Recommendations
You are probably wondering ‘which amp sim should I use to properly melt people’s faces?’ There are as many amp simulators available as there are drummers in Norway. As countless as the power metal bands in Germany. As many, indeed, as there are true brothers in metal scattered across the globe. Some commercial, some free. Some good, some bad, some awful. Personally, I only own Guitar Rig 4 and Dammit Distortion at the moment, but have demoed a whole bunch of other ones fairly extensively. Here are my thoughts on a few contenders:
- Guitar Rig 4: This is a solid, workhorse amp sim. It co-exists well with Kontakt on my system. The amp models are pretty decent for metal tones. Not great, though. It will get the job done, and sound reasonably good. You get a nice variety of tones. I am somewhat excited by the sounds I have heard from NI’s new Rammfire pack, I think it is a definite step up from what you get in vanilla GR4. A lot of you out there probably have this by default as part of Komplete, so it will be a decent choice.
- Vandal: It seemed like it took forever for these guys to release their monster amp sim. Spectacular tone, great presets, just a really really fine amp for metal sounds. I haven’t bought it yet, but will at some point. Try the demo and see what you think of it. It may be the best one on the market right now in terms of pure sound quality.
- Dammit Distortion: I very much regret that this does not seem to like existing alongside Kontakt on my system. It is my go-to amp sim otherwise. Great life to the sound, great tone, I really like it. There’s not a lot of variety to the sounds you can get but what is there is top notch. If it worked with Kontakt open on my system, I would recommend it with no reservations. It may just be a quirk on my computer. Download the demo and try it.
- Amplitube 3 / Metal: I like this better than GR4 for metal tones. They have a wide variety of amp models and the sounds have a lot of life to them. They also have a very cool harmonizer pedal effect in there that sounds awesome for metal lead lines.
- Revalver III: Personally, I like this a lot less than the other options out there. There’s a demo, though, so you could give it a shot and see how it strikes you. None of the amps they modeled really seem to have the right bite for metal, to my ears.
- Free amp sims: None of them measure up, in my opinion. I have tried loads and loads of them. Probably every one out there. And you really are better served looking at the products above. Rammfire might be the best ‘value for your dollar’ metal amp sim. It is cheap and has a very nice tone. I am basing that opinion off the demo tracks they released, so take it for what it’s worth. But the freebie amp sims just sound cheap, to me. If you are making rock music, Freeamp 3 (by Fretted Synth Audio, who don’t seem to have a website anymore so I am linking to Rekkerd’s archive of their VSTs) is good. It doesn’t really hack it for metal in my opinion, though.
The Guitar
In case anyone was wondering and didn’t mouseover any of the images on this page, the guitar used in Thrash is a Schecter Blackjack C-1 with Seymour Duncan humbucker pickups.
Rock On
I hope you have a great time shredding with Thrash DI. Amp it up and let it burn. \m/
- Joel Steudler