What are the main differences between Cinematic Guitars 1 and 2?
The main difference in between the two is literally everything; new recordings, new sounds, new interface. With CG2 we focused on taking our recording to a new level by physically destroying and mutilating a guitar in order to capture sounds that have never been heard. Another difference is in the user interface controls. CG2’s interface is all about giving control back to end-users. We want them to have infinite control and the freedom to craft their own unique instruments; and on the fly in real-time.
Can you tell us a little bit about the development process of creating CG2 (how long was the development process, what were the different working stages, how many people were involved etc.)?
Cinematic Guitars 2, from concept to final product, took an entire 2 years to develop. We brought back Steve Ouimette who engineered and performed all of the source recordings for the original Cinematic Guitars, but this time to take things to the next level. Working with Steve again allowed us to capture all new and different material, stepping outside of the box. From there we had a number of additional team members working on CG2, GUI designers, scripters, mix and mastering engineers, programmers, graphic artist and the list goes on. A team effort for sure!
Any cool stories that you can share about the development process?
You mean other than incinerating a guitar in the desert?!?! The process of dreaming up ideas for taking the creating a new and unique user interface is always cool. We come up with tons of crazy ideas and then give the scripter the challenge of making them come to life, such as the new Multi Script Macros, Triggers, and the eye-catching graphic animations.
Tell us a little bit more about the Triggers and Multi Script Macro features and how did you come up with these ideas?
We are always thinking and trying to invent new and clever ways of giving users controls that not only sound cool, but actually controls that are powerful and yield instant results. We want the user to make the library performance their own, so that is why we designed Triggers for CG2. Triggers offer up to 48 unique effect combinations (chains) that users activate to drastically change up the sound non-destructively way. This makes it quick and easy to apply and revert to the way the instrument originally sounded.
The Multi Script Macros were developed as part of our mission to be at the forefront in developing and advancing user interface controls with our instruments. With the popularity of our Multis among our users, we really wanted to create a way for them to instantly dial in any set of parameters from any combination of instruments. The goal was not only for live performance applications but for also automating a multi over time in the DAW.
What is your favourite patch and your favourite multi in CG2 and why?
Honestly, we don’t have a favorite. We love all of our Patches and Multis. We focused on making sure that everything in CG2 was amazing and I think we really achieved this.
Can you share some tips and tricks about sound design that you used in CG2?
While we can’t give away our techniques, we can shed some light on our programming/creation process a bit. The CG2 interface is so powerful, that this time around we found ourselves using the interface itself to craft and create completely new and unique sounding instruments. Using CG’s built-in effects like the LFOs and the Arpeggigater made it really easy to take an instrument into a completely new direction. CG2 is that inspirational!
How can CG2 help a composer when composing?
The cool thing about CG2 is that it well suited for any composer, producer, or performing artist. Our goal was to not only make the instruments and multis sound great right out of the box, but to provide the user with the power to take the sound in infinite directions. To that end, CG2 is great for the novice composer to the A-list composer on a deadline, or anyone in between. No matter who uses the CG2, they’ll have an amazing sound right out of the box. For the composers/producers who don’t want the same sounds as everyone else, they can easily move a few knobs to get their own personalized instrument.