Strum GS-2 Falls to €70.83, Half Off Until 28 September
Strum GS-2 is listed at €70.83 at Plugin Boutique, down from €140.79. That is €69.96 off Applied Acoustics Systems' physically modeled guitar and bass engine, which builds every note from a string model rather than a sample library, and the offer runs through 28 September.
This sale has ended. The figures above were the sale price on 15 September 2026, so check the store for today's.
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Checked against the store page on 15 September 2026. The end date above is the vendor's own, not our estimate. Prices move without notice, so confirm before you buy.
Buy it if you need playable guitar and bass parts on a keyboard and cannot justify the disk space of a sampled guitar library. Skip it if you already own one you trust for lead lines, because that is where the modeling shows its edges hardest.
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Most virtual guitars are sample libraries with a lot of round robins. Strum GS-2 is not. Applied Acoustics Systems builds every note from a physical model of a string, a body and a pick, which is why the whole instrument installs in about 100MB and why it can generate strumming patterns a sample library could never fit on disk.
What Is Actually In It
Over 200 acoustic and electric guitar models, covering nylon and steel strings plus single coil and humbucker electrics, run clean through crunch and distortion. A 2-channel amp, spring reverb, cabinet sim and effects chain sit alongside the guitar engine itself.
Three playing modes handle the actual performance. Guitar mode reads chords from your left hand and auto-strums them, Keyboard mode lets you play lead lines and your own voicings directly, and Loop mode triggers any of 102 included MIDI riffs across the covered styles. Automatic chord recognition and voicing mean a composer who does not play guitar can still get a convincing rhythm part into a cue.
The Modeling Trade-Off
The reason to reach for this over a sampled guitar is articulation variety. A physical model does not run out of round robins or velocity layers, so a strummed pattern that changes dynamics bar to bar does not repeat the same sample twice. That is the specific gap a sample library cannot close without a huge multi-gig download.
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The trade is a slightly synthetic edge, most audible on sustained single notes and solo lead lines rather than on strummed chords, where the ear is listening for a rhythm rather than a tone.
The Real Costs
Lead lines and single-note melodies are the weak point. The strumming and chord engine is convincing, but ask GS-2 to carry an exposed solo and the modeling starts to sound like modeling rather than a guitarist. Keep it on rhythm and comping duty and that never comes up.
The amp and cabinet simulation is serviceable rather than a reason to buy on its own, so a composer who already runs amp sims elsewhere in the template will likely route around it.
Feed prices exclude VAT, so checkout may read higher than the figures above depending on where you buy from.
Buy this for the rhythm guitar parts a template usually has to fake with loops or a thin sample patch, and keep a sampled or real guitar on hand for anything that needs to carry a melody. It sits alongside AMBER 2 and Ample Guitar in the best acoustic guitar VSTs roundup, where the trade-offs against sample-based alternatives are laid out in full.
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Felix Ward
Felix is an indie-folk songwriter and session guitarist who values vibe over perfection. He looks for tools that potentialize 'happy accidents' and offer immediate inspiration. If a plugin requires reading a 100-page manual, he's probably already moved on.