Shreddage 3 Hydra

The ultimate badass 8-string guitar for rock and metal music! Write crystal-clear clean tones, screaming leads, or brutal chugs with incredible realism. With two distinct pickups, 30,000+ samples, and over 50 included tone snapshots, Shreddage 3 Hydra is the most complete Shreddage guitar ever.

$149

$149

127 in stock

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    World-Class Support

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    Loyalty
    Program

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    World-Class
    Support

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    Loyalty
    Program

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    Authentic and
    Realistic Sounds

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    Deep Customization
    for Power Users

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    Authentic and
    Realistic Sounds

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    Deep Customization
    for Power Users

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    Inspiring
    Presets

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    Easy-to-Use
    Interface

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    Inspiring
    Presets

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    Easy-to-Use
    Interface

Audio Demos

  1. Hand Of Blood Javi Perera 3:32
  2. Tear of the Goddess (feat. Jenn Sakura) Pentakill (arr. Nabeel Ansari) 2:18
  3. Holy Orders Daisuke Ishiwatari (arr. Andrew Aversa) 1:40
  4. Veil Aurora Alan Sasha Laskow 4:24
  5. Crystal Lion Nabeel Ansari 2:40
  6. Xeno Crisis - Perimeter Savaged Regime (arr. Daniel Bärlin) 3:34
  7. Galaxy's End SeamlessR 3:04
  8. Headstrong Infinity Tone 1:52
  9. Top Gear (SNES) - Las Vegas Barry Leitch (arr. Tremendouz) 1:50
  10. Hand Of Blood (Instrumental) Javi Perera 3:32

Product Info

Content

Over 40,000 pristine 24-bit samples

Recorded through two separate pickup positions (neck and bridge) DI, so you can make your own tone.

8 string guitar drop-tuned to low E

Ideal for heavy rock, metal, progressive genres, or any high-gain player. Super clean pickups with low noise.

All crucial lead and rhythm articulations

Sustains, powerchords, palm mutes, staccatos, harmonics, pinch harmonics, tapping, tremolo, slides, fingered vibrato, FX, hammer-on, pull-off, rakes, and chokes.

Realistic performances through meticulous sampling

Every string sampled from open up to the highest fret with up to 4x down/4x up strokes per note, 3 dynamic layers, and 5 palm mute layers.

55 production-ready tone snapshots

From hi-gain amped options to clean, ambient playing.

Stylish Synthesizer

Features

Cutting edge virtual guitarist engine
Beautiful, wide UI
Poly input feature for realistic chords
Total articulation control technology
Console FX rack and mixer

Requirements

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14GB disk space

7200 RPM hard drive or solid state drive recommended.

6GB of RAM

Higher amounts of memory let you load more instruments.

Apple M1, Intel i5 or equivalent CPU

A faster CPU with more cores will allow you to play more simultaneous voices.

Kontakt Player 6.7+

This instrument will run in the FREE Kontakt Player.

Kontakt Requirements - Mac OSX

Intel Macs (i5 or higher): macOS 10.14, 10.15, 11 or 12 (latest update).
Apple Silicon Macs (via Rosetta 2 & natively on ARM in Standalone or in hosts that support it): macOS 11 or 12 (latest update)

Kontakt Requirements - Windows

Windows 10 (latest Service Pack, 32/64-bit). Intel Core i5 or equivalent CPU. Graphics hardware support for OpenGL 2.1 or higher.

Tutorials

Shreddage 3 Hydra Walkthrough

S3 Masterclass Part 1

S3 Masterclass Part 2

S3 Masterclass Part 3

S3 Masterclass Part 4

Details

Shreddage 3 Hydra is the culmination of everything we at Impact Soundworks have learned in 10 years of creating virtual guitars. This is our vision of what a no-compromises, maximum-quality 8-string guitar should be. Our internal bar of quality was so high that we recorded the entire sample set three times in our pursuit of the perfect performances and tone.

Now it’s finally done, and you can enjoy the ultimate rock and metal virtual guitar in your music.

We selected an “Iron Label” RGIF8 drop-tuned to low E for our guitar, and equipped it with Fishman Fluence Tosin Abasi Signature pickups. These pickups put Shreddage 3 Hydra in its own class, even compared to our other instruments. They not only have distinct and useful tones (neck & bridge positions), but their clarity and low noise floor is unmatched. Some open-string sustain notes ring out for over 40 seconds!

Thanks to exhaustive sampling of all useful articulations, dynamics, RR variations, and layers, Hydra gives you all the tools you need to create absolutely incredible guitar tracks. With the right writing (see our ‘Masterclass’ series on YouTube, below) you can make rhythm parts, chords, and leads that will drop jaws with their sound and realism.

Naturally this is a killer guitar for rock and metal music, particularly heavy subgenres and progressive variations. But as you can hear in our walkthrough video and demos, the clean tone possibilities are just as impressive. The clarity and sustain in the pickups make Hydra a great choice for any kind of ‘gaze’ style music too.

Whatever style or genre of music you like to make, we know that Shreddage 3 Hydra will become an essential part of your production workflow. It certainly has for us!


Console: Modular FX Rack and Mixer


Console is our new 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 recorded just for Shreddage 3! 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 Shreddage 3 products. It also allows you to mix and blend between guitar pickups, with custom inserts on each if you’d like.

Download the Console manual here to learn more!


Total Articulation Control Technology (TACT) 2.0


Shreddage 3 Legacy includes an updated version of TACT, 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.

Download the TACT 2.0 manual here to learn more!

Reviews

stars
Shreddage 3 Hydra – Beat Magazine

“Whether you’re looking for gripping distorted riffs or screaming solos, Shreddage 3 Hydra is an expressive, nuanced, and playable instrument that feels right at home with metal & rock music. However, it’s not just the distorted and hi-gain tones that are convincing. The clean tones are also excellent.” (6/6 Stars)

BEAT Magazine (06/07 2020)

stars
Shreddage 3 Hydra – Sample Library Review

“The most surprising thing about this 8-string guitar library for Kontakt? It is so much more than just a heavy metal guitar. Hydra takes the Shreddage line to another level adding new engine functionality, custom-designed amps and a diverse range of presets.”

Don Bodin (Sample Library Review)

stars
Shreddage 3 Hydra – StrongMocha

“Obviously the library is going to appeal to those who like baritone and progressive metal, but you can use the guitar for other styles, like rock and jazz fusion…I could easily say this is one of the best 8-string guitar libraries available…it’s just a great all-around library, and it does what it’s supposed to.”

Cory Pelizzari (StrongMocha)

stars
Shreddage 3 Series – Sample Library Review

“Impact Soundworks have blown the lid off my DAW with Shreddage 3. This is the electric guitar library I have long been looking for. Whether you want a rocking rhythm guitarist, a wailing, screaming guitar soloist, or simply a tool for writing your own rhythm and solo guitar parts, Shreddage 3 fits the bill. You can easily write a full rock track with Shreddage 3 that sounds authentic and believable. It’s hard to ask for much more than that.”

Raborn Johnson (Sample Library Review)