Add this virtual guitar instrument from e-instruments to your arsenal for “warm, emotive and atmospheric” guitar sounds

Looking for a virtual guitar pack to add to your production arsenal? German virtual instrument and plugin purveyor e-instruments has unveiled Velvet Guitars, a new instrument designed to explore “warm, emotive and atmospheric” guitar sounds.

The plugin comprises five distinctive instruments, each selected and performed for warmth and character, e-instruments says.

These are:

• Velvet Guitar  – classic semi-hollow guitar, finger-played with subtle vibrato
• Mellow Baritone – semi-hollow baritone with a “thick, woody tone”, played with a pick
• Shimmer Guitar – ’60s-style solid-body offset with floating tremolo and unmistakable shimmer
• Semi Hollow – non-traditional jazz guitar with a rounded, expressive sound
• Amped Acoustic – vintage acoustic recorded via magnetic pickup and routed through the same amps as the electrics.

The sounds in Velvet Guitars were captured using a signal path comprising Shure SM57 dynamic and Royer R-121 ribbon microphones, through Rupert Neve Designs Shelford channels.

At its core, the tonal foundation of Velvet Guitars is driven by two classic vintage amplifiers. Each note has also been shaped by a real spring reverb, recorded numerous times through both amps with both wet and dry variations. There’s also a tremolo effect modelled directly from the original amplifiers.

Designed for “immediate playability”, Velvet Guitars features a streamlined interface with a simplified control panel, “allowing users to focus on expression”.

“Velvet Guitars elevates classic guitar tones with an elegant, velvety character,” says e-instruments. 

“From gentle sustains to imaginative articulations including bowed strings, shimmering harmonics, reversed swells, drifting feedback, and unconventional performances using tools such as violin bows, coins, and toothbrushes, it offers a uniquely emotional palette of sounds. The result is a deeply musical instrument that transforms every idea into a rich and evocative creation.”

Pricing & availability

Velvet Guitars is compatible with Native Instruments Kontakt 8.5.1 or the free Kontakt Player, and also works with NI’s NKS2.

Price-wise, the instrument is available at an introductory price of €99/$99 until 9 February, after which it’ll rise to €149/$149. Customers can also purchase a bundle featuring Velvet Guitars and e-instruments’ Desolate Guitars for an intro price of €229/$229.

For more information, head to e-instruments.

Sam is the Associate News Editor for Guitar.com and MusicTech. Thoroughly immersed in music culture for the majority of his life, Sam has played guitar for 20 years, studied music technology and production at university, and also written for the likes of MusicRadar, Guitar World, Total Guitar and Metal Hammer.