e-instruments Velvet Guitars

e-instruments announced today the release of Velvet Guitars, a virtual guitar instrument designed to explore warm, emotive, and atmospheric guitar sounds. Velvet Guitars elevates classic guitar tones with an elegant, velvety character. From gentle sustains to imaginative articulations including bowed strings, shimmering harmonics, reversed swells, drifting feedback, and unconventional performances using tools such as violin bows, coins, and toothbrushes, it offers a uniquely emotional palette of sounds. The result is a deeply musical instrument that transforms every idea into a rich and evocative creation.

All sounds were recorded through vintage amplifiers with real spring reverbs, preserving the natural movement and depth that define classic guitar recordings. Rather than relying on emulations, Velvet Guitars captures the organic liveliness of physical hardware, producing tones that feel alive, dynamic, and beautifully unpredictable.

At the heart of Velvet Guitars are five distinctive instruments, each selected and performed for warmth and character:

• Velvet Guitar – a classic semi-hollow guitar, finger-played with subtle vibrato
• Mellow Baritone – a semi-hollow baritone with a thick, woody tone, played with a pick
• Shimmer Guitar –a ’60s-style solid-body offset with floating tremolo and unmistakable shimmer
• Semi Hollow – a non-traditional jazz guitar with a rounded, expressive sound
• Amped Acoustic – a vintage acoustic recorded via magnetic pickup and routed through the same amps as the electrics.

Velvet Guitars was recorded using a high-end studio signal path, combining Shure SM57 and Royer R-121 ribbon microphones with Rupert Neve Designs® Shelford channels. Every take was carefully phase-aligned and balanced to deliver a full, natural cabinet image.

Two classic vintage amplifiers form the tonal foundation of the instrument. Each note is further shaped by a real spring reverb, recorded multiple times through both amps with dry and wet variations, resulting in a reverb that remains fluid and evolving rather than static. Authenticity extends to modulation, with tremolo effects modelled directly from the original amplifiers alongside additional pedal-inspired styles. Sync-to-host functionality is included for modern production workflows, blending analogue heritage with digital convenience.

Velvet Guitars is designed for immediate playability. Its streamlined interface avoids complex key switching, allowing users to focus on expression. Sustains, mutes, chords, swells, harmonics, feedback, slides, bowed textures, and evolving soundscapes are easily accessed, with the mod wheel serving as a central expressive control for blending articulations and shaping movement in real time.

Velvet Guitars works with Native Instruments Kontakt 8.5.1 or the free Kontakt Player and is fully compatible with Native Instruments NKS2.

www.e-instruments.com