why stereo?

[FilmTunes]

Maybe my question is a stupid one, but I don't have anything to lose: in fact, why make stereo samples of mono instruments? (I don't talk about several instruments like string sections.)
I could never understand the idea of having two channels for a trumpet way back in the orchestra. The only purpose could be the space-imbedding in the hall where it was recorded. But since the samples are supposed to be completely "pure" and since we prefer (we do, don't we?) to emulate the orchestral spacing ourselves, this can't be the reason for having stereo samples.
So what is the reason?

Cheers,
Bernhard

[Dietz]

Bonjour Bernhard,

Two reasons: First - although an instrument may be monophonic, you always listen to it binaurally ("with two ears"). By definition there's nothing like a monophonic acoustical event, as long as you don't put a finger into one of your ears. This is more evident when you're close to the instrument being played, of course. - The absence of "reverb" doesn't mean the absence of "room", BTW. Acoustic instruments need air to breath, and our Silent Stage is just that: a sound-stage, and _not_ an anechoic chamber.

Second: the Vienna Symphonic Library features ensembles as well as solo-instruments; to our ears the transition from an ensemble-part to a solo-line is more convincing when the same (or a similar) recording technique is used. That means - stereo! :-]

Finally, you are free to pan instruments from the Library to mono if you want to, because great care has been taken for mono-compatibility of every single sample; in those extremely rare cases were phasiness could get recognizable, we will indeed offer a dedicated mono-version of an instrument, too.

Hope this answered your question.

/Dietz - Vienna Symphonic Library