Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)Hey music lubbers. I wanted to write this review anyway but even more so that GP6 has received some tough criticism. Much of the dissatisfaction is from owners of previous versions of Guitar Pro. Since I'm new to the product I have a different perspective, one not colored by certain expectations. By the way, I'm also a software developer so I can add that to the equation as well.
From my "dual point-of-view" GP6 is both a great musical tool and a well-done piece of software. The slams it's gotten for being unresponsive, hard to use, buggy, etc. are a bit exaggerated. I believe those who have trouble with it don't have computers with the required firepower; it does ask for a fairly modern machine and it's not kidding! Though I've had it crash a few times, this is certainly no worse than Firefox; moreover, the program does very frequent updates that happen hemidemisemi-automatically.
It has a rich and satisfying palette of tools for painting your musical masterpiece. It has a plethora (oh yes El Guapo...a plethora!) of RSE2 instruments to fill up your canvas. Some of them sound great (fine oil paint), some are "good enough" (acrylics) and some are like throwing a crayon into the dryer (uh, don't try this!) Strangely, the best sounding ones are guitars and similar stringed instruments; oh wait, this is *Guitar* Pro, not Bassoon Hero!
I also love the effects/amps you can use to shade and enrich your tableau. They really make a dramatic difference to the sound, just as they do in the real world. You can try out effects you don't quite understand instead of "Daddy, what does a phaser do?" "Well son, it's used to kill Klingons." Yeah, dad's a trekkie, not a musician.
You probably already know that there are thousands of GP-based tab/chord downloads out there; unfortunately, it's hard to find sites that use the new .gpx format at this time. Regardless, GP6 can import all of its predecessor formats and others such as Power Tab. It also does a nice job with many ASCII tab files, which surprised me somewhat.
As nice as all of these features are, composition/playback is the heart of the package. Let's just keep it simple here. You can represent just about any musical notation and the scores are easy to manipulate. You'd likely go bonkers trying to figure out how many possible built-in scales there are, and what each term means; learn Latin and Italian if you really want to know what these are (c'mon, you really just wanna impress chicks--I know you!) The playback will let you set each track individually so you can use it for backing while you play...say...your bagpipes. And if you want to input via something other than a computer keyboard, voila, summon the useful (albeit slightly hokey) virtual fretboard/keyboard. Better yet, attach a MIDI piano/synth and do a live 'captcha'.
Anyway, you can find all of this out yourself, I'm just letting you know what I find impressive about Guitar Pro 6. Get a copy and let's all paint some great scores together!
Click Here to see more reviews about: Guitar Pro 6
Guitar Pro 6, a Win/Mac hybrid, is the ultimate toolbox for the guitarist! It includes all the tools you need to improve, compose and accompany yourself on the guitar. This simple and intuitive multitrack tablature editor is specifically designed for guitar, bass or other stringed instruments.
Guitar Pro 6 features the newest in playback technology including RSE - Realistic Sound Engine. RSE gives you real time playback of your scores with realistic sound samples taken from high quality guitars and real time effects such as wah-wah. Advanced notation features add drum notation, vocal notation and tablature support for any stringed instruments with four to seven strings. The newest version, Guitar Pro 6.0, includes over 40 new features while improving on those that have made it the most popular guitar tablature editor available.
Known for its ease of use, Guitar Pro allows you to enter notes by using keyboard keys, mouse clicks on an on-screen fretboard or directly through a connected MIDI device, all in just a few minutes. This revolutionary software can handle up to 256 tracks and you can switch from tablature view to standard notation for viewing or editing scores. With automatically calculated rhythms, Guitar Pro works out the note durations for you, and when you play the score, the music scrolls along with you, rendering guitar-specific effects like bends and slides.
Also included in Guitar Pro are a digital guitar tuner, a chord diagram engine, and a scales tool. You can easily import and export MIDI and ASCII tab formats allowing Guitar Pro to be used with a limitless number of songs. Tens of thousands of Guitar Pro format files are available on the Internet. The WAVE Export allows you to convert a Guitar Pro file into an audio file which is playable without Guitar Pro and can be burned onto an audio CD.
With its ease-of-use, versatility and variety of tools, Guitar Pro will have you creating music in no time! Features:
Multitrack/monotrack display, horizontal or vertical scrolling, the screen display adjusts to your preferences and score types.
Chord Diagram editor allows you to easily add chord diagrams to your score. Ask for any chord in any tuning and Guitar Pro will show you every diagram possible.
Scales Tool allows you to view and listen to a large number of scales, from the most common to the most exotic.
Digital or MIDI Tuner allows you to tune your guitar for every tuning possible, from 4- to 7-strings.
Fretboard (or Keyboard) allows you to view and enter notes on the score. It is able to show the notes of the current beat, but also the notes for the next beat, the complete bar or the selected scale.
Metronome gives the tempo while playing a score or even without playing it.
Professional Quality Paper Printings can be monotrack or multitrack. This way you can print several views of the same score, perfect for a band.
New Features for Guitar Pro 6:
Over 50 pedal effects and numerous sound banks (guitar, bass, drums, piano, orchestral etc.)
A New MDI User Interface (including full screen mode)
Piano Grand Staff
Rhythm slash
Simile marks
Multi-rest
Concert tone
Parametric equalization on each track
Configurable tones
Tap tempo
Jazz fonts
Anacrusis
Guitarist Magazine: "Guitar Pro is an intelligent, simple, clear and precise tool … the standard of its field."
Guitar Part: "Complete and easy to use … for a very low price considering its possibilities…"
RIFF Magazine: "Guitar Pro is unquestionably the best that can be found in the field of tablature editing for the PC."
