[LAU] Possible to have realistic guitar strumming sounds using my keyboard?

[Ng Oon-Ee]

On Tue, 2009-12-01 at 11:49 -0700, Bob van der Poel wrote:
> On Tue, Dec 1, 2009 at 11:41 AM, Rob <lau at kudla.org> wrote:
> > On Tuesday 01 December 2009 04:42 am, Ng Oon-Ee wrote:
> >> No arguments here on the last sentence. I'd still like to know how
> >> feasible it is though, and if anyone has any pointers. Basically, to put
> >> it very bluntly, I'm a much better keyboardist than guitarist =p.
> >
> > Years ago I was able to do what I considered to be passable downstrums
> > after practicing a lot, but even then, I'd only want to use those as
> > accents in a song otherwise carried by keyboard sounds, not as actual
> > rhythm guitar parts -- if it's possible to simulate alternating downstrums
> > and upstrums fast enough to do that, it would have to be done by someone
> > who's a much better player than I am.  I think the key is to make sure you
> > keep in mind what is and isn't possible on a guitar.  The subset of that
> > that's also possible on a keyboard is what you have to work with.  I ended
> > up buying a basic acoustic/electric for a hundred bucks, and as poor as I
> > am at guitar, I still do better with it.  (Getting a good recording of it
> > is what makes me still not do it very often.)
> >
> > I vaguely remember that there was some Windows software that would
> > "strumify" MIDI chords for you back in the 90s in non-realtime, and the
> > demos sounded pretty passable, but I never tried that.
> 
> My accompaniment generator, MMA, attempts to do strumming. It's not
> bad, but not great either. The biggest problem is that when you strum
> a guitar you're not really just hitting one string after another ...
> and that's what my program does ... simply puts in a timing delay
> between each note. Like others have said, best to play a guitar (or
> sax or kazo...) if you want a specific sound :)
> 
Looks like things are pretty unanimous, then.

So, to summarize the thread thus far:-
1) there ARE specialist keyboards/equipments with 'strummers' for the
specific sound
2) Attempting to replicate the guitar strum sound on the keyboard is
very technically challenging, some strings will have to be skipped for
example on up-stroke?
3) In the end, just recording a guitar is still the best way even for
non-advanced guitarists.