Ilya Efimov is the name of a Russian composer who is a very proficient jazz pianist, a very successful arranger composer, and the owner of this company.
From one of the links on the VI Control forum, I went to this company's webpage to take a look at their products.
I was initially quite surprised by the limited number of virtual instrument this company has to offer. It only makes 4 products, out of 2 virtual instruments. 2 of the products are a Nylon and Accoustic Guitar, and the other 2 are the intelligent and authentic strumming counterparts of the Nylon and Accoustic Guitar VIs.
I took a listen to their instruments and I was quite blown away. They are incredibly authentic, lively and they do not sound repeated. With about 3500 samples per instruments, you can automatically or manually select the string used to play every note. There are 14 different articulations on each guitar. These include legato, glissando amongst others. Also, each note on each string is recorded with multiple takes so the takes could be triggered in a round robin fashion when the passages require the same notes triggered repeatedly. They also come with effects such as reverb, delay, EQ and compressor.
The Strum version of their guitars sound really really good too! There's a youtube video on their page, but somehow I could not play it. I'll try to find it on youtube. I've seen some screen shots of the instrument and it looks like the controls are sensibly laid out for easy and straightforward operation.
The prices are not bad too! A single VI product costs EUR99, but if you buy them in a bundle (the solo guitar + the strum version of the VI), it costs only EUR149.
Go have a listen at their demos, and let me know if you find that it sounds good too ;)
I've got my eyes on these guitars!
Waiting for Kontakt 5 sales - I got my eye on this guitar too :3
ReplyDelete