NAMM 2008: GS-1 puts an acoustic guitar on your keyboard

AAS enables piano players to start strumming

The MusicRadar Team, Sun 20 Jan 2008, 12:16 am UTC

GS-1 has more tweakable controls than an acoustic guitar, that's for sure.

Applied Acoustics Systems is famed for its physical modelling technology, and the latest application of this is in a new acoustic guitar synth known as Strum Acoustic GS-1. This is described as the perfect solution for keyboard players who want to create authentic-sounding acoustic guitar parts.

GS-1 features both steel- and nylon-stringed acoustic guitar models. For extra realism, these are accompanied by dedicated voicing and strumming modules - the idea is that you can accurately recreate a guitarist's playing techniques on your keyboard.

When you play a chord, it's automatically voiced for guitar. Strumming can be activated automatically too, though you can also use special strumming keys or MIDI loops to do this.

EQ, multi-effect and reverb modules are also included.

Strum Acoustic GS-1 isn't quite ready yet, but you can expect to see it on the market before the end of the first quarter of 2008. It's Mac and PC compatible and supports the VST, Audio Units and RTAS plug-in formats.

Keep up to date with its progress at the Applied Acoustics Systems website.