Ample Sound Ample Metal Eclipse v4 [WiN-MAC]

• Product: Ample Metal Eclipse
• Developer: Ample Sound
• Version: 4.0.1
• Format: Standalone, VST2, VST3, AAX, AU
• Requirements: Windows 10 or later, macOS 10.15 or later
• Source: amplesound.net/en/pro-pd.asp?id=16

Ample Metal Eclipse is a virtual electric guitar built from ESP Eclipse I bridge-pickup samples, covering ten articulations across a 4.6GB library edited through Riffer 4’s MIDI engine. A Strum Note object, dual Piano Roll/Tab view, and a Guitar Pro importer (GP3 through GP8) sit alongside a built-in amp and cabinet chain — seven heads, eight cabinets, eight mic positions each — so tracking, arranging, and tone shaping happen inside one instrument. Drop tunings extend to C1. Search intent: a single-model metal rhythm guitar with built-in tab import and amp modeling.

Key Takeaway

Opening a metal rhythm track from an existing Guitar Pro file with no live guitarist available puts Tab Reader 4 and Riffer’s Strum Note system to work, turning tab data into edited MIDI with fingering and articulation retained. Clean or dual-pickup tonal switching sits outside what a single bridge-pickup model covers. Guitarists tracking real parts can skip the Riffer layer.

Polyphonic Legato, Any Interval

Ten articulations — sustain, palm mute, natural harmonic, hammer-on/pull-off, legato slide, slide in, slide out, pop, pinch harmonic, tap — sit inside the 4.6GB set sampled from the bridge pickup of an ESP Eclipse I. The Polyphonic Legato and Slide Smoother connects any two notes across any interval and speed within that set, so a fast tapping run and a slow half-step bend pull from the same smoothing engine rather than separate patches.

Left-hand performance noise is sampled alongside the notes, carrying string squeak and fret movement into fast riff passages without a separate noise layer to trigger on position changes.

The set covers one pickup position. A rounder, cleaner neck-pickup tone isn’t part of this library — reaching for it means routing the same bridge signal through a different amp head rather than switching pickup position on the modeled guitar. Programmers building tight rhythm parts without a guitarist on hand get full use of the smoothing engine; guitarists layering their own live takes mainly use it to fill doubles.

Drop Tuning Down to C1

The lowest sampled note reaches C1, putting 7-string and 8-string drop tunings inside the same set rather than a separate baritone or extended-range library. Standard 6-string drop-D and drop-C riffing sits well inside that range with headroom left below it.

Range and articulation switching run through the same legato engine described above, so a riff that drops from a standard-tuned lick into a low chug doesn’t cross into a different patch or sample set mid-phrase.

Players writing exclusively in standard tuning don’t touch this range at all — the low extension only changes anything once a part actually drops below what a 6-string in standard tuning covers.

The Strum Note as One Object

Riffer 4’s Strum Note treats every sub-note inside a chord as a single editable object, so strum time, velocity gradient, and legato behavior get set once rather than per-note. Dual-view switching moves between Piano Roll and Guitar Tab in real time, and a string visualization layer shows which strings are occupied so the editor blocks impossible same-string polyphony and assigns fingering on its own.

That combination replaces manual key-switch and CC programming for riff-writing — technique, articulation, and expression get set through the Strum Note and string view instead of a key-switch map.

The string-aware logic is built around plucked-string behavior specifically. A part written for a non-string instrument imports into the piano roll fine but doesn’t activate the tab view or fingering assignment, since neither applies outside a guitar or bass neck. Producers building riffs entirely inside the DAW, without a live guitarist’s take to reference, get the most use out of the Strum Note and string view; those tracking a real performance mainly use Riffer to clean up timing after the fact.

Only Official Guitar Pro Files

Tab Reader 4 imports Guitar Pro files from GP3 through GP8, including full bass tracks, with fingering, articulation, and performance data retained on the way into Riffer. A tab archive built entirely inside Guitar Pro converts straight into an editable Riffer part — no manual note re-entry step in between.

Files produced by third-party tab editors that aren’t the official Guitar Pro application fall outside that support range, even when saved with a matching file extension. An imported tab that came from an unofficial editor may need manual reconstruction once it lands in Riffer rather than importing clean.

This turns an existing tab library into a working session starting point rather than requiring notes to be written from scratch — the workflow speed gain applies specifically to catalogs already built in Guitar Pro itself.

Seven Amp Heads, No Modulation FX

The amp section runs seven heads — Metal Double, Metal Treble, Lead 800, Jazz 120, 65 Twang, 65 Delight, 57 Delight — through eight cabinets, each captured with eight microphones. That range covers high-gain rhythm tones and clean or lightly-driven voicings inside the same instrument, so a part can move from a distorted chug to a clean arpeggio without leaving the plugin for a separate amp sim.

Built-in effects stop at an 8-band EQ, compressor, delay, and convolution reverb. Chorus, phaser, flanger, and other modulation effects aren’t part of the chain, so a part that needs modulation routes through an external plugin on the same channel.

Mixing entirely inside the instrument works for amp tone, cabinet selection, and dynamics control; anything needing modulation still leaves the plugin for that one stage.

No Neck-Pickup Voicing Onboard

The sample set runs one ESP Eclipse I in its bridge position throughout, so a cleaner tone has to come from re-routing that same signal through the Jazz 120 or 65 Twang amp head rather than switching pickups on the modeled guitar.

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