Three Body Tech Heavier7Strings — Free Download

Purpose and Sampler Engine

Heavier7Strings is a sample-based virtual instrument designed for producing metal and rock guitar parts in real time. At its core is a custom-built sampler that reads samples directly from disk, allowing for immediate playback. The sampler includes a shared sample buffer between instrument instances, which reduces memory usage when using multiple copies.

The instrument’s sample library was recorded with top-quality equipment over four years, using a meticulous process. While the exact sample count is not specified, the recording was done at a high resolution of 24-bit and 48 kHz, capturing the nuances of a metal guitar. The self-developed sampler is fully integrated, so there is no reliance on third-party samplers, offering a streamlined and efficient workflow for the user.

Key Performance Techniques

Heavier7Strings is built for expressive playability, offering a wide range of performance articulations. These include infinite sustain, hammer-on and pull-off legato slides, pinch harmonics, tremolo, glissando, palm-muting, and picking noise. Polyphonic legato allows for realistic chord transitions, while the instrument automatically detects string and fretboard positions. Up and down picking are emulated, and strumming can be deduced from partial chord notes, with power chords easily triggered from a root note.

The built-in DSP engine, THRASH, adds a layer of tonal control. It provides a true doubling effect, where two guitars play simultaneously on left and right channels, each with individual note delay and round-robin selection. A sample-based LFO modulates pitch with curves extracted from real vibrato, offering a more realistic feel than simple waveforms.

Effect Rack and MIDI Patterns

The effect rack in Heavier7Strings is production-ready, featuring a selection of nineteen heavy metal effect modules, including a screamer, EQ, amp, flanger, and ping-pong delay. It includes sixteen amp models covering styles from metal to clean, processing the sample rate up to eight times. There are sixty-six cabinet impulse responses, allowing four to be mixed simultaneously with varying delay, volume, and phasing.

The instrument also includes a MIDI patterns library with two hundred predefined patterns, each paired with specific effect rack configurations. These patterns span styles like metal, rock, pop, and clean, as well as non-rhythmic noise and ambient sounds. Users can drag these patterns directly into their host DAW as MIDI clips, and also create their own patterns from scratch.

Workflow and Integration

In a typical workflow, a producer can load Heavier7Strings, pick a factory MIDI pattern from the library, and drag it into the DAW to establish a rhythmic foundation. The pattern instantly applies the corresponding effect rack preset, offering a starting point for tone shaping.

For detailed tweaking, the THRASH engine’s features, such as true doubling and realism-enhancing LFOs, can be adjusted to broaden the sound. The effect rack’s preset manager is particularly useful for saving custom chains and recalling them across sessions. Since the patterns are MIDI, they are fully editable within the DAW, allowing for precise note adjustments and humanization.

Key features

• Self-developed sampler with disk streaming and shared buffer
• THRASH DSP engine for tonal control and realistic playing
• Over a dozen performance techniques including polyphonic legato
• Nineteen effect modules with sixteen amps and sixty-six cabinet IRs
• Two hundred factory MIDI patterns with matching effect presets
• Twenty-four inspiration keys for triggering special sounds
• Direct pattern drag-and-drop into host DAWs

Best for

Best for music producers and composers who need realistic, ready-to-use metal guitar tracks without a live session. It suits genres like metal, rock, and pop, and is ideal for songwriting, demos, and full productions where customization of tone and performance is key. Works well for both studio and live performance contexts.