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GuitarFlex vs UJAM Virtual Guitarist
UJAM's Virtual Guitarist and GuitarFlex both put a guitar into a song on Windows, but they work in opposite ways. Virtual Guitarist is a line of six guitar players built from recorded phrases: more than 350 phrases in over 30 styles per title, on Windows and Mac, at a list price of $129 each. GuitarFlex is modeled, not sampled: presets for steel-string and nylon-string acoustic and electric clean, crunch and heavy guitars, an 18.2 MB download, and $79.
What they have in common
- Windows 10 and 11 as a plugin, with VST3 in both.
- No other program needed. Neither one runs inside a player from someone else.
- Acoustic and electric guitars, steel-string, nylon and clean to heavy electric among them.
- Notes you play yourself. Version 2 of Virtual Guitarist has an Instrument mode for playing notes, and GuitarFlex plays whatever MIDI you give it.
- A way to try first. UJAM's 7-day trial is fully functional. GuitarFlex has a demo you can download and try before you buy.
Where Virtual Guitarist stands out
- Mac as well as Windows, with AU and AAX plugins, on macOS 12 to 26.
- It turns a held chord into a guitar part. Over 30 styles and more than 350 phrases per title, with Open Chords for picking over strumming. GuitarFlex has no phrases or patterns of its own.
- Six players, from steel-string and nylon to rock, clean electric, metal and cinematic textures.
Where GuitarFlex stands out
- A standalone program as well as a plugin. UJAM lists no standalone for Virtual Guitarist.
- Small. An 18.2 MB download that installs at 43.9 MB. UJAM states 8 GB of free disk.
- One price. $79, against UJAM's $129 list for each player (shown on sale at $28.38 on 2026-11-07).
- No account and no online activation. A license key and your email address, entered once for each Windows user on each computer, and one license for one person, to use on all of their own computers.
- It never connects to the internet.
- Four slots (A to D) to switch between sounds or layer them, with Compare, Vary and Randomize, and over 70 sliders from pluck to cabinet.
- Your song to a file. It renders a MIDI file to FLAC, or to WAV with the included command-line renderer.
- Built to play ComposerFlex's band, our songwriting program, on the same PC with no setup. GuitarFlex does not strum by itself and has no keyswitches. With ComposerFlex it plays down and up strums, open, palm-muted or dead, with Strum spread and Strum fall.
Which to pick
- On a Mac: Virtual Guitarist.
- To hold a chord and get a finished guitar part: Virtual Guitarist.
- On Windows, with ComposerFlex or your own MIDI writing the parts: GuitarFlex.
- If you'd rather have no account, a standalone program and a price of $79: GuitarFlex.
Owning both
Virtual Guitarist turns a chord into a part, and GuitarFlex plays the parts ComposerFlex writes or any MIDI you hand it, so each has its own job on one PC. UJAM's trial is on ujam.com, and GuitarFlex's demo is here. This page doesn't compare how they sound. That's for your ears.
The facts side by side
Every fact about UJAM Virtual Guitarist is from UJAM's own pages, checked on 7 November 2026. Prices are list prices in US dollars; sales come and go.
| GuitarFlex | UJAM Virtual Guitarist | |
|---|---|---|
| How it makes its sound | Modeled. It computes every note as you play, from the physics of plucked strings: the acoustic presets sound through the guitar's body, and the electric presets through a pickup, an amp and a cabinet. It plays no recordings. | Recorded: phrases played on a recorded guitar (the maker's words: "recorded with carefully selected microphones"), with an Instrument mode in version 2 for playing notes yourself. |
| Price | $79, one-time | $129 each; the bundle of six $249. On 7 November 2026 the maker showed a sale price shown on 7 November 2026 that will not last: $28.38 each and $99.60 for the bundle |
| Download and disk space | 18.2 MB download, 43.9 MB installed | 8 GB of free disk space |
| Memory the maker asks for | 4 GB, with 4 cores or more and 100 MB of disk (the minimum we state for every Flex program) | 8 GB of RAM (4 GB for the metal title); a 1280x768 display and an internet connection are listed |
| Runs on | Windows 10 and 11, 64-bit | Windows 10 and 11; macOS 12 to 26 (Intel and Apple Silicon) |
| Forms | Standalone and VST3 | VST3, VST2, AU 2 and AAX, 64-bit. A standalone program is not listed |
| Needs another program | Nothing else | A host program (a standalone program is not listed) |
| Copy protection | A license key and your email address, entered once for each Windows user on each computer. No account and no online activation. | Authorization through the UJAM App, or an email and password entered in the plugin |
| Computers per license | One license for one person, to use on all of their own computers | Not stated on the maker's pages |
| Demo | A demo to download and try before you buy | A fully functional 7-day trial ("Try for Free") |
| Guitars included | Presets in groups: steel-string and nylon-string acoustic, electric clean, crunch and heavy, and a two-guitar band preset; four slots to layer sounds | Six titles: steel-string acoustic, nylon-string acoustic, rock, clean electric, metal and cinematic textures. More than 30 styles and 350 phrases per title (the titles read), played from the keyboard; Open Chords, for picking over strumming; an Instrument mode for playing notes yourself; 30 stomp box combinations and a Finisher with 60 multi-effect chains; phrases and sounds royalty-free |
More: virtual guitars compared: modeled and sampled, a table of 25 products, and all about GuitarFlex.
If something here is out of date, write to [email protected] and we'll correct it.