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  • Help me pick a Standard String Library

    M
    M

    I’ve outgrown the SE strings and I’m trying to decide between Solo Strings 1, Chamber Strings 1, and Appassionata Strings 1 (all Standard Libraries). I can’t afford Orchestral 1 and 2, though those have the ideal sound that I would like.

    I’ll mainly be using them to play classical pieces live with a Ztar MIDI guitar controller, using a very complex program I’ve written in Max that lets me play numerous instruments simultaneously. The articulations I’m most interested in are performance patches (they work great when played from my midi guitar) legato, detache, sustained, and lots of velocity layers for smooth crescendos and decrescendos.

    These are the pros and cons I see with each library

    Solo 1

    Pros:  Performance fast and regular legato, and when I get some more money the extended library has performance detache. 3x the amount of samples of Appassionata 1.

    Cons: solo instruments don’t have as “full” of a sound as I would like

    Chamber 1

    Pros: “fuller” sound then solo instruments. 2x the amount of samples of Appassionata 1

    Cons: no fast legato patch or performance detache in extended version

    Appassionata 1

    Pros: Sweet sound, Performance legato and fast legato

    Cons: no short detache, and considerably less articulations then the other libraries. I’m starting to think that Appassionata strings would be very useful when used with Orchestral Strings in order to “sweeten” the sound, but I don’t know how well it would work as my main string library. I’m playing a lot of classical pieces and I don’t want everything to have that “Hollywood Sound”

    I’d really appreciate any input from those who own these libraries, as to which one you think would work best for me.

    I guess I can sum up everything with this one question, if you could only have one of these libraries to use with the SE 1 and 2 to play arrangements of chamber and orchestral works, which one would you pick?

    Thanks so much for your advice!

    Michael
  • N
    N

    Based on your comments, and goals, I would suggest Chamber Strings I.  If at all possible get both the standard and the extended portions.  The dynamics articulations, while not as extensive as those in Orchestra Strings, are nonetheless very helpful, along with providing a more complete array of standard bowing articulations.

    As far as Chamber Strings not having fast legato, there are two very viable alternatives.  First, the performance trill legato patch can work quite well, particularly for very fast runs.  Another option is to create an alternate legato articulation in VI Pro.  You can shorten the initial attack portion of the sample, and that will also give you a faster legato.

    For my own interests - like your own, classical rather than film - I would also suggest libraries other than AP Strings.  For classical type scoring, AP Strings simply does not have as many articulations, and the double-bass articulations, while fine for cinema uses, are lacking for traditional classical scoring.  Note that at present I own Solo Strings I, Chamber Strings I, and Orchestra Strings I and II (and very long-term could add AP Strings).  IMO, you are probably right that Orchestra Strings would be your most logical choice, but especially for smaller sized classical orchestras, chamber strings will do quite fine.
  • M
    M
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    @noldar12 said:

    As far as Chamber Strings not having fast legato, there are two very viable alternatives.  First, the performance trill legato patch can work quite well, particularly for very fast runs.  Another option is to create an alternate legato articulation in VI Pro.  You can shorten the initial attack portion of the sample, and that will also give you a faster legato.

    Thanks noldar. If I create an alternate legato articulation as you suggested, would I be able to save that as a patch and then load it into a custom matrix?
  • C
    C

    Essentially, yes - you can't save your edits at patch level, but if you edit a patch and save the matrix, the patch will retain its edits when you load that matrix. Hope that makes sense!
  • N
    N

     As Conquer said, it will be saved as part of the instrument's matrix.

    In essence you take the following steps:

    1) Place the standard legato in an open cell (say in a cell right below the "real" standard legato you will keep).

    2) Go into the advanced portion of VI Pro and go to the stretch function.

    3) Shorten the length of the attack portion of the sample however much you wish (leaving the end of the sample at the standard length)

    4) Load that sample.  Each time you load the matrix, the correct alternate map will load.

    Note that these new sample maps do require additional memory, and when many alternate lengths for different samples/bowstrokes are created (detache, portamento, etc.), the needed addititional memory can be significant.
  • A
    A

    If you can wait a bit, I would consider Dimension Strings for roughly the same price (via the introductory offer) as Chamber.  Violins are super; cellos due very soon; violas?, basses?
  • N
    N

    When one starts getting into the world of Dimension Strings, IMO, one also starts needing to give more consideration to one's computer specs.  If the OP has a lower end computer, Dimension Strings might not be the best choice.
  • M
    M
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    @noldar12 said:

      If the OP has a lower end computer, Dimension Strings might not be the best choice.

    I'm using a dual core MacBook Pro with 4 gigs of ram that is a few years old and an external Glyph firewire drive. I don't think it could come close to handling DS! I may try out an external SSD drive to see if that helps improve performace at all with my new library.

    I'm looking to get a string library that I can use for about a year, and then buy a powerful workstation and either get Dimensions Strings and Brass, the cube or some combination of both to use with MIR.

    With my new library, I'll be making my own Matrixes with only a few articulations. For example the next arrangemnt I'm going to do is Barber's Adagio for Strings. It doesn't have many articulatioins, but lots of crescendos and decrescendos, so it would be nice to have sustained patches with lots of velocity layers to crossfade and an expressive violin.