Lemonstrum 2 VSTi Acoustic Guitar Strummer for PC lets you strum your midi keyboard just like a real guitar. It gives you 24 chord slots, each assignable with a custom chord and a keyboard trigger. The on-screen fretboard and keyboard allow you to plot new chords and keyboard triggers using drag n' drop. A dedicated upstroke key (C3 - two octaves below Middle C) can be played alternately with the keyboard trigger (down-stroke) to create an effective strumming pattern.

Lemonstrum is coming back in February! Check out the official announcement at mildonstudios.com. I'm giving away free copies to those who are willing to do a test run. If you want to participate just leave a comment on the article. Click here for more details, features, and an actual size screenshot.

Mildonstudios.com brings you a new plug-in series that can help you become a pro in mixing audio overnight... Back Stage. The first of the announced set of 9 plug-ins, Back Stage Vocals, has been officially released today. It combines the basic treatment applied to vocal tracks (EQ, filtering, early reflections, de-essing) into one easy plug-in. It automatically adjusts the frequencies depending on the effect you want. You can also adjust the clarity of the voice so that it stands out in the mix. And of course, there's that sweet stereo effect, which is becoming a signature in all Mildon Studios plugins.

FREE DOWNLOAD - http://mildonstudios.com/backstage.

Here's the link again. Apparently even if the Lemonstrum website is back up, all my ASP applications don't work yet. Just a little more patience...

http://cid-b65284e0a1217e47.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/milkguitar/lemonstrum.zip

I've released a new version of Lemonstrum with a brand new interface, graphical playing guide (no more annoying text instruction), and an all-new transpose feature. For those who are using the plugin already, do not use your host app's built-in transpose control, as it will displace the upstrum key and mess up some downstrum chords. This Publish entrynew version also reduces the shotgun-effect (only when strumming slowly). Another trick to reduce the shotgun effect is to use the host-app's Legato function and set the overlap to 0.

Lemonstrum has been downloaded over 1800 times during its first week, and a lot of people have found it to be useful inspite of the current chord limitations (only plays minor and major chords in the first inversion). An upgrade pack is coming in the next couple of weeks, so if you still haven't played with this toy, now is a good time to download it and see what a lot of musicians have been talking about.

I thank everyone who gave their comments and suggestions to help me make Lemonstrum the FREE guitar plugin that we've all been waiting for. Get it now!

Lemonstrum VST Acoustic Guitar Strummer is now here, and you can download it for free at the Lemonstrum website. It's got a full range of standard chords and it's even lighter than Milk Guitar (only 6MB!). The sound quality is tops, and we've spent a lot of time in the studio to record high-quality samples from each string. It's a great tool for songwriters, arrangers, and musicians - students or professionals. Its price is unbeatable for its quality. It's simplified to amplify. Go ahead and give it a try.

I'm close to finishing a working beta of an all-new VSTi guitar strummer that's got the simplicity of Milk Guitar with a new strumming engine and a full range of chords. Those who have signed up for the beta test will receive a full version of the VST strummer. you may still signup here while it's not yet out, just comment on this post and leave your email address. The full version will have more built-in chords and a few custom chords that you can assign yourself. It will probably have some other extra effects like stereo widening, harmonics, and filters. The price of that of course will be very cheap. The free version will have all major and minor chords. Almost there, so watch out.

I will also release Milk Guitar 2.0 updated with samples made from the new strummer for those who don't want to buy the full version but would like a good sounding diatonic guitar.

After a couple of months of beta testing (and hundreds of downloads), here's the first official release of Milk Guitar 1.9.1 final.

Milk Guitar is a strummable, MIDI-controlled virtual instrument which you can use with any multi-track vst-compatible host. It contains a few well-sampled chords that are easy to play and and strum using your midi keyboard. It has several built-in effects including room and reverb controls, harmonics, bass cut filter, and the super-sweet stereo widening effect. Pre-defined combinations and strumming keys allow you to strum and tap with ease. And because it's midi, it's very easy to quantize your guitar part.

Changes from beta 1.9:
-ultra-lightweight: unzipped DLL file is now only 10MB from 19.8MB
-reduced noise by over 80%
-remastered the same sample set
-fixed minor chord bugs

Plans for version 2.0:
-completely new samples

Audio demo:

Milk Guitar 1.9.1 final - Full Sound
Milk Guitar 1.9.1 final - With Effects

Download:

ZIP (6.3MB) Milk Guitar 1.9.1 final - Softpedia.com
ZIP (6.3MB) Milk Guitar 1.9.1 final - SkyDrive
ZIP (6.3MB) Milk Guitar 1.9.1 final - Fileden.com

***UPDATE***
Lemonstrum VST Acoustic Guitar Strummer is now here! Click here.

Those who've tried it gave a lot of suggestions for Milk Guitar, so now I have a lot of ideas for a future version. I wasn't really planning to work on any major updates anytime soon, but the response that I received from all of those who downloaded and tested it was just overwhelming. I too, just like everyone else, has been looking for an alternative to expensive strumming VSTi's for ages, and there just isn't one that I can afford. So this project has been very useful to me especially when it came to small demo projects. But now that Milk Guitar is out, it's former usefulness has been replaced by a hunger for a better FREE strummer VSTi.

Milk Guitar's construction was really simple, and I didn't have updates in mind when I designed it, so there's not a lot I can do to improve it. I can provide better samples-- well-recorded and mastered this time, and I can lessen the file size and memory footprint. That's the future of Milk Guitar.

As for that hunger I mentioned above, I'm currently cooking up something here in my studio. With this one you can control the way you strum: speed it up or slow it down. It's going to have a full range of chords (no need for the transpose feature anymore, but I'll still put it there). It has only one strumming key, and a new "scratch key," which you can use to strum as though the strings were muted. It probably won't be done anytime soon, but it's getting there.

I'll probably release two versions of it. One will have all the features I just mentioned and another one, which you can purchase for a very cheap price, that's got these extra features (note: these are not features of Milk Guitar, just plans for another VSTi):

-Body sounds
-simulated fret noise
-customizable chords- so you can change finger positions for any chord.
-Available in standard/diatonic tuning (the FREE version will use diatonic tuning only - DADGAD)

Anyone who's willing to beta test this will get the full version. If you're interested, please leave a comment here.
note: The features mentioned above are subject to change. It's the plan for now, but plans do change. :)

***UPDATE***
Lemonstrum VST Acoustic Guitar Strummer is now available! Click here.

Milk Guitar is a virtual instrument that can help you create realistic guitar strumming using any VST-compatible host (like Cubase, VST Host). Using pre-defined combinations and strumming keys, you can strum and tap from your midi keyboard. It's easy to learn, very useful for students and for those who don't have a guitarist at hand. For more information, you can read the review at freethegospel.org

Milk Guitar is completely free, and is available here as a free download.

ZIP 7.2MB Milk Guitar Beta 1.9
*This version fixes minor bugs and errors. Update your Milk Guitar 1.8 vst by simply unzipping and copying the DLL file to your VST plugins folder.

From now on, all updates to the Milk Guitar plugin will be posted here, not anymore on http://go.freethegospel.org/milkguitar. I've taken down the old download links, and I've uploaded a new file here. I've just purchased a new license key for my synthedit, so for those who have downloaded the plug with a different vendor name, I apologize for that. It's now licensed under my name.

I'd like to thank those who gave their opinions and suggestions. It will help me design future versions. It's just my first VSTi, so things could only get better from here.

Here's the new download link:

ZIP File (7.2MB) Milk Guitar Beta 1.8

I've been browsing through my projects from last year coz I've began work on my second album project scheduled to be released later this year or early next year. Then I found this simple guitar strummer vst that I created for my recordings. It still works great! If you work with vst, then you must have a lot of these vsti's. For those of you who are not really into pro-audio stuff, it's a software plug-in that allows you to use your keyboard to create realistic strumming tracks. It's still in its early beta stage, but I was already able to use it in a couple of tracks since my last update (version 1.8 beta).

Check back here for new versions of it, I'll be updating it really soon, with new sounds and new features. It's free, so enjoy!