Review: Evolution Texas Twang by Orange Tree Samples
Wonderful and unique sounding Danocaster guitar sampled with an impressive amount of detail.
Guitar performed by Chris Bullard, a noted Nashville session player.
Unique Nashville country sounding guitar.
Impressive amount of articulations including sustain, palm mutes, and harmonics which can be triggered multiple ways including velocity making the instrument extremely playable and expressive.
These articulations are expanded by a collection of midi articulations including octaves, grace notes, buzz trills, and tempo synced slides.
Includes a large collection of tonal presets.
Includes a collection of built in FX including distortion, tremolo, chorus, flanger, reverb, etc.
The strumming engine is extremely realistic and very easy to work with.
Also includes a large collection of presets as well as the ability to create and save your own.|
Realistic legato samples for slides and hammer ons/pull offs allowing for realistic performance of melodies.
Auto chord function allows users to play keyboard voicings and have them be translated into voicings that are playable and standard on a guitar.
Some users may find 179 USD to be a steep price, not strictly speaking a con, the instrument represents a very niche sound making it perhaps not the best choice if one were to only purchase one guitar library.
A small nitpick is that the white dots showing where on the fretboard the note is being played is the same size and color as the fret markers and fretboard to look confusing if too many notes are being played as it’s easy to mistake a fret marker with a note marker.
With the release of the Evolution Texas Twang, Orange Tree Samples has given the market a unique and truly special instrument that is capable of realistically capturing and emulating the sound of the Nashville country guitarist.
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Jump to the Demos of Evolution Texas Twang by Orange Tree Samples
Review: Evolution Texas Twang by Orange Tree Samples
Though sampling has come a long way in the last while, an instrument that seems to still be elusive in terms of realism is the guitar. At their worst they can sound like some strange harp like instrument and, in the past, their best was somewhere in the uncanney valley. Orange Tree Samples seems to be on the cutting edge here with guitar sampling. This is not the first Orange Tree guitar that I have reviewed and, like the others, this one seems to be setting the bar in a new and extremely high place! With the release of the Evolution Texas Twang, Orange Tree Samples has given the market a unique and truly special instrument that is capable of realistically capturing and emulating the sound of the Nashville country guitarist.
Evolution Texas Twang sells for $179 from Orange Tree Samples
Thoughts
Though instruments like pianos are all unique and different, the tonal differences between high end pianos is relatively subtle compared to the massive sound variations of different guitars. A Les Paul and a single coil Strat can sound like totally different things. A nylon string guitar and a highly distorted metal shred guitar barely sound like the same instrument. This creates a unique challenge for someone who’s in the market for a sampled guitar. There are so many different sounds available that it becomes a huge undertaking to find which is right for you. Though this problem is not solved with this release, what has happened is that there now exists a stunningly realistic Telecaster style guitar on the market which is capable of creating the authentic sound of Nashville country musicians. Because of this niche realism, this instrument is not the go-to library some may be hoping for for a one stop shop guitar.
It’s worth mentioning that the guitar that was sampled was not in fact a Telecaster but rather a Danocaster. These excellent guitars are made by Nashville based guitar maker Dan Strain. Though it might be easy to write this off as a knock off Telecaster, anyone who has played one knows how unique and special they sound. They are an absolutely favorite and staple of the Nashville country sound so it’s really wonderful that one was sampled in so much detail. The samples were beautifully performed by Nashville session musician Chris Bullard, who’s experience in the Nashville studio scene imbues the instrument with an extra level of authenticity.
The UI is clean and clear offering several panels each with access to a different slew of controls. The main panel gives the user control of the various articulations as well as how they are accessed. These include sustain, palm mutes, mutes, harmonics, octaves, grace notes, buzz trills, and tempo synced slides. What’s really wonderful about this is that you can control how the articulations are triggered. For instance you may choose to have low velocities trigger palm mute samples, medium velocities to trigger normal sustained, and the very highest velocities to trigger harmonics. This flexibility is really symptomatic of a philosophy I love about Orange Tree Samples: they allow you to play the instrument the way you feel most comfortable as opposed to telling you what’s best. As well as these articulations, the instrument features wonderfully recorded legato transitions for slides, hammer ons, and pull offs. Playing scale wise lines on even the initialized patch will put a smile on your face. Additionally, two dedicated keys are present for repeated notes making performing tremolo passages a breeze.
The tone can be shaped through a large collection of built in effects to model tone including distortion, tremolo, wah, reverb, compression, chorus, delay, and flanger. We are also given a a huge collection of snapshot tone presets that can either be used as a starting point when crafting your own sound, or simply used as they are.
The strumming engine is an absolute stand out allowing the user to create realistic strumming patterns using their intuitive strumming engine. This also comes with a large collection of wonderful sounding and idiomatic presets. The strumming engine can be engaged using a key switch. Because the strumming is happening procedurally and was not recorded, it offers a huge amount of flexibility.
The chord function allows users to play keyboardistic voicings and have them be automatically translated in guitar voicings. Custom chords are also an option. Guitar can be an instrument which relies on negotiating with it. By this I mean that you only have 6 strings. If you want to play a certain voicing, it may not be possible so it becomes necessary to carefully choose which of the chord tones is most important and in what order they ought to be played. Because of this, someone who doesn’t play guitar, may have a hard time knowing what voicings will be possible to play. The chord function takes this problem away allowing someone who has never touched a guitar before to instantly have access to realistically playable guitar voicings.
This instrument is most certainly not what I would recommend if one were to only buy one guitar library to be their bread and butter guitar. It sounds extremely niche and has been specifically designed for the sound of Nashville country. Having said that, it does that extremely well. Playing it is an absolutely wonderful feeling as it’s so intuitive and natural. If you’re searching for that twangy country sound then this is perhaps the best guitar on the market for you!
Facts
The Evolution Texas Twang guitar from Orange Tree Samples is a deep sampled Danocaster guitar designed for emulating the sound of Nashville country guitar. The instrument weighs in at 9.22 GB. It features a strumming engine which includes a large collection of presets as well as the ability to create and save your own. It also includes a huge collection of tonal presets. The tone can be shaped using a series of built in effects including distortion, reverb, chorus, flanger, etc. The guitar features legato transitions for slides, hammer ons, and pull offs. The instrument will work with the free Kontakt player 5.7.0 +
Evolution Texas Twang sells for $179 from Orange Tree Samples
Demos of Evolution Texas Twang by Orange Tree Samples
Videos of Evolution Texas Twang by Orange Tree Samples
Contributor Shaun Chasin reviews Evolution Texas Twang by Orange Tree Samples
“With the release of the Evolution Texas Twang, Orange Tree Samples has given the market a unique and truly special instrument that is capable of realistically capturing and emulating the sound of the Nashville country guitarist.”
