Vienna Symphonic Library Forum
Forum Statistics

199,044 users have contributed to 43,151 threads and 258,882 posts.

In the past 24 hours, we have 3 new thread(s), 10 new post(s) and 61 new user(s).

  1. Home
  2. Sample Libraries
  3. Vienna Instruments Libraries
  4. Viennese vs Triple Horn

  • Viennese vs Triple Horn

    PaoloTP
    PaoloTP

    Hi,

    I'm trying to decide between the two solo horns of the collection. Viennese Horn has more articulations, stopped sounds (as in the nature of the instrument), vibrato/non vibrato, more portamento and attack options.

    However, the Special Edition included the Triple Horn instead of the Viennese one. Is there a reason to choose the one over the other? By judging from the demos (and the SE Triple Horn I have), I would say the Viennese has a richer, fuller sound, both useful for Romantic age recreation of the natural horn, and for a more epic sound.

    Was the Triple Horn chosen only because it it the "standard" sound?

    (I noticed that older instruments, in the VSL library, have more articulations, and maybe a thicker sound; has the style evolved during the years? Are some of the older articulation became obsolete with the most recent players?)

    Paolo
  • PaulP
    VSL Team
    PaulP

    Hi PaoloT, 

    You are correct, the Triple Horn is the "standard" sound and was demanded right after we release the Viennese Horn. 

    Regarding the articulations: We managed to add so many useful features to VI and VI PRO that some of the articulations were simply not as important anymore. Remember that, with our original collections, we were using 3rd party sample players that didn't offer features  like flexible time-stretching, Humanize, Velocity Xfade, Cell Xfade....

    Best, 
    Paul

    Paul Kopf Head of Product Marketing, Social Media and Support
  • PaoloTP
    PaoloTP
    Paul, thank you very much for your answer. I think to understand, however, that the Viennese Horn has more articulation capabilities even in the real world, hence the higher number of patches. Paolo
  • W
    W

    The triple horn actually has a darker richer sound than the Viennese horn, but the Viennese is one of the early solo instruments in which VSL went berserk sampling articulations and it has way more articulations  - like the solo trombone and first solo trumpet, etc.  Thos early solo instruments have a huge amount of articulations compared to later solo instruments which tend to have only the most needed,  "select" ones.  So the early instruments have a lot more variations - for example, short portato as well as long portato, or in the case of the trombone short staccato as opposed to long.  I seem to end up using the Viennese horn the most, though the triple horn is very beautiful sounding.  It is best to have them both to give more variation possibilites.  

    By the way another thing that is possible with the Viennese horn, because of the larger amount of articulations, is to create two entire solo horns with no transposing simply by using these variations.  On one piece I used staccato and short portato for the same short notes on horn 1 & 2, and vibrato and non-vibrato for sustain and legato.  This is not weird orchestrationally, because the vibrato is so subtle it is like an individual player's variation of playing style, and might easily be heard in a live orchestra, and so you in effect are getting two useable horns with the one Viennese horn and they fit together as perfectly as the Dimension horns.    
  • PaoloTP
    PaoloTP

    William, very interesting indeed! I hadn't thought to this use of the different articulations.

    Paolo
  • PaoloTP
    PaoloTP

    While I only have the SE version of the Triple Horn, I tried to mix it with the Viennese (Full) in the classic four-horn setup.

    They are very different indeed. Different timbre, different dynamic curve. I find it better not to mix so different instruments, and keep the ensemble homogeneous.

    Both are fantastic. I suspect the Viennese would be my preferred one, being both mellower and brassier (due to the highest dynamic range), but it is unfair to compare an SE instrument with the full version.

    Paolo