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Although it originated in 18th century Italy, the mandolin has occupied a cherished space in American roots music for nearly a century. An iconic element of bluegrass music, it has also had an enduring presence in country, folk, Celtic and world music. Legendary rock bands such as Led Zeppelin, Queen, Rod Stewart, and R.E.M. have featured it in some of their greatest hits. Our aim with Rosette Mandolin was to provide a beautifully detailed instrument that would shine not only in a bluegrass role but across a wide range of genres.

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For this newest entry in our Rosette series, we turned to legendary bluegrass musician and multi-instrumentalist Ronnie Stewart, recording him at bluegrass veteran Rickey Wasson’s Kentucky studio. To achieve the ultimate in realism with our virtual mandolin, we recorded up and down strokes on every string and fret, in a broad set of articulations. These include:

• Chops, the quick strums characteristic of bluegrass playing
• Tap, for fast passages
• Tremolo, tempo synced as well as manually controllable
• Slides
• Grace notes
• Chokes
• Legato, both manual and automatic with hammer ons and pull-offs

All articulations are conveniently mapped and completely editable. The articulation set and deep sampling gives you the detail, variation, and expression to create a realistic performance and blend it smoothly with live instruments.

The powerful Rosette engine (built on Shreddage 3.5) works behind-the-scenes to make the instrument imminently playable, providing a natural and musical legato, using hammer-ons and pull-offs as needed. Conveniently mapped (and editable) key switches allow you to access the additional articulations efficiently. If you’re looking for a different tone or performance style, you can quickly run through presets to audition a wide variety of tones as well as alternative fretting and picking styles.

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Recording artists, bands, and composers have turned to the mandolin again and again for its ability to shine across a wide spectrum of musical expression. It’s capable of a driving rhythmic energy, a gritty as well as folksy sound, and a heartfelt and intimate tone that can be lyrical or quietly contemplative. It can be heard in everything from country to pop to video game fantasy music to children’s music.

We’ve aimed to capture the full spectrum of the mandolin’s capabilities. It is famed as a nimble instrument for fast playing, and we’ve made rapid passages more realistic through multiple legato types as well as articulations such as tap and chop. Rosette Mandolin performs equally well as a lead instrument, with its singing tone and melodic expressiveness thanks to deep sampling and several performance styles. It blends beautifully with vocals and a huge range of instruments, from modern ones like electric guitar, bass, and keyboards to period instruments like recorder and hurdy gurdy. Its high register extends the range and broadens the palette of any ensemble or band.

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The Rosette line is built on the updated Shreddage 3.5 engine, expanded for the needs of acoustic instruments, and designed to not bog you down with complicated menus and controls. The algorithms and settings of this engine work behind the scenes to turn your keyboard playing into a realistic mandolin performance without ever having to go “under the hood.”

You can customize the sound and performance quite easily with the intuitive controls, most of which are under the Main tab. The Performance Style drop-down menu provides presets that tweak the instrument to best suit the chosen style. For example, use the standard performance mode to emulate a real musician’s hand movements up and down the fret. Or use the Workstation mode to allow much freer (and possibly less realistic) motions and movements across the frets. Other performance parameters include a variety of fretting and picking modes.

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Rosette Mandolin features Ronnie Stewart, a multi-instrumental bluegrass musician who has played with countless bands and on a staggeringly long list of recordings in addition to several of his own solo albums. He won the International Bluegrass Music Association award for Fiddle Player of the Year in 2000 and Banjo Player of the Year in 2011. Ronnie’s performance was recorded in Rickey Wasson’s Main Street Studio in Clay City, Kentucky — a state-of-the-art studio in the heart of bluegrass country.

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Console is our mixer, modular effects rack, and pedal board, designed to give you full control over your virtual guitar tone. Unlike our previous FX racks, which were limited to a small amount of preset modules, Console gives you 30 effects modules to choose from!

These include multiple EQs (digital and analog-style), compressors, spatial FX, modulation FX, amps, distortion pedals, reverbs, and a selection of over 30 custom cabinet IRs! These cabs cover all the most important sounds you would want, with both dynamic & condenser mics in multiple positions plus a ribbon mic for certain models.

Using Console, you can easily save and load FX chains or presets between projects or even different Console-enabled products. It also allows you to mix and blend between mic signals, with custom inserts on each if you’d like.

Download the Console manual here to learn more!

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Rosette Mandolin includes an updated version of TACT, as introduced in Tokyo Scoring Strings, allowing you to customize how all articulations are mapped and triggered! Everyone has their own preferences for how to perform or write for virtual guitar, and with TACT you can create the perfect setup for your DAW.