Baritone Guitar
A Danelectro baritone guitar recorded in three different varieties.
ByJustin Merdsoy
The story
This Danelectro baritone guitar mostly sits in a rack feeling ignored. With the advent of PianoBook however, I’ve decided to give new purpose to this oft overlooked but beautiful instrument. Sampled in minor thirds with open strings being used as much as possible, this unique library comes in three flavors. Clean Amp, Dirty Amp and DI (for anyone who wishes to add their own amp sim and IRs). Additionally, Adam has added a LP filter, a secondary distortion and an Amp Sim that includes a simple bass and treble EQ and a tremolo function. The lower strings are rich and rubbery with a nice mellow pluck. As you ascend into higher string territory, you’ll find this instrument takes on an almost ‘harpsichord meets sitar at a club and gives birth to a zither’ vibe. Enjoy!
-Justin Merdsoy
2019
Reviews
What’s Not To Like?
So, as a keyboardist in a tribute band to The Cure, I gained a serious appreciation for the Bass VI. The mellow tone can't be matched with conventional six string guitars. As there is an unfortunate shortage of decent libraries for this guitar, I’ve looked at them all. I have the Soundiron Iron Pack 5 Baritone Guitar, Panoramic Guitars and this Merdsoy guitar. There is one that I don’t have, the Orange Tree Envolution Baritone Electric. At 179.00, it’s a bit pricey THOUGH very good! I’ve used the Merdsoy Bari on a few projects and it always holds up. I play it through a Fender Bassman sim from Nembrini Audio and add a touch of flanger to get it into the land of The Cure. I highly recommend this library. You won’t be disappointed.
Not my preference, but very well made!
Even though I didn't like initially the sound of it, I can see that this is very well made and it has a lot of character for sure. Be sure to test the amp setting, because I feel that the clean setting is the least preferable for me. Inside you will find a lot of options though, like an EQ, drive levels, tremolo speed and more.
The least favourite part of mine is that the dynamics are very limited, making it impossible to play smoother. I really believe though that there was a lot of effort put on this, and it shows!
James Bond in a Can
It's great that Justin shared his Barton guitar here, because they are seriously underrated instruments and with the amp, distortion, and tremolo settings provided here, this guitar sound is useful, playable, and inspiring. The only real thing I miss is round robins, because when you do want to play the James bond theme, you really need them for all of the repeated notes. In all seriousness, who you're playing just about anything, you won't miss the round robins, but you will find tons of inspiration after you download and load up this sample pack!