Impact Soundworks Unleashes Shreddage 3 Hydra Virtual Metal Guitar

FULTON, MD -- Impact Soundworks released today SHREDDAGE 3 HYDRA, a virtual 8-string electric guitar ideal for rock & metal producers. It features a wealth of articulations, tones, and playing styles, covering sounds ranging from crystal-clear clean tones to screaming leads and brutal palm mute ‘chugs’. Powered by the cross-platform KONTAKT PLAYER plugin and fully NKS compatible, the instrument works in virtually any DAW and requires no other effects or plugins to use. Shreddage 3 Hydra is available now for $149 from Impact Soundworks.

Drawing on their decade of experience developing the widely-used and highly-acclaimed Shreddage series of virtual guitars and basses, Impact Soundworks spent nearly two years recording, editing, and programming Shreddage 3 Hydra.

“This has easily been our biggest guitar project ever,” said lead developer Andrew Aversa. “We spent over a year finding the perfect performer and recording chain to achieve the best possible sound. That’s how high our bar of quality was.”

The guitar recorded in Shreddage 3 Hydra features a ‘fanned fret’ (multiscale) design and two Fishman Fluence Tosin Abasi Signature pickups, the combination of which offers incredibly clear, long-sustaining and low-noise tone. Though excellent for rock and metal music, particularly progressive and heavy subgenres, Hydra’s clean, clear sound is highly versatile and can be used as-is with minimal processing.

With over 40,000 samples recorded at pristine 24-bit depth, Shreddage 3 Hydra includes 16 playing techniques with extensive variations for every note. These range from sustains that ring out for over 40 seconds, to palm mutes recorded up to 40 times per fret, to multiple types of legato transitions, to the highly-useful ‘tapping’ playing style prevalent in progressive metal music.

The instrument includes 55 production-ready snapshots out of the box, with effects that can be easily edited in the included Console FX rack and mixer. Novice users can easily create great-sounding riffs with minimal editing, while advanced users will appreciate extensive under-the-hood controls and settings allowing them to completely customize the instrument to their personal workflow.

See Shreddage 3 Hydra in action on YouTube: