pop strings

[mstedeford]

I am looking for a suitable strings library for pop songs.. After reviewing many, including the very expensive vsl strings, I am left with this question:

Do the vsl strings ensembles (14 violins, violas, cellos) include both up and down bows of long notes? I must assume from the price that it does, but couldn't find them in the articulations list.

[DG]

There is no difference in sound between up and down on long notes.

DG

[mstedeford]

oh really? There surely is for the start of the note, no?

I hear lots of pop music with strings that you can actually hear the up and down bows. It's very subtle, but does exist. They make a slightly different sound at the start of each note.

So in that case, I guess vsl strings isn't what I'm looking for.. legato and portamento is great but to be honest I also need an up and down bow too.

Maybe the chamber strings, or is there anything else which has the up and down bows at vsl.. there is so much here, it's hard to see the wood through the trees!

[DG]

As I said, there is no difference. You can make a difference if you like, and you can play less legato to make a difference, but good players spend years learning not to make a difference [:D]

DG

[magates]

all the repetions and alternation patches (which inlude legato reps some of which can be played quite slowly) use alternating bow strokes. Perhaps you could use a mixture of the legato repetions and long notes to get what your looking for.

There are two good reasons why you would need alternating bow strokes for long notes is for a)repetion on the same note - you can get something very similar to the machine gun effect on long notes too. b) or things where you want the subtle cresc/decresc that the a single stroke sustain can give.

a) I think the repeating note issue is taken care of by the perf-rep-legato patches (anything longer/slower would be unoticable)

b) some of the shorter dynamic patches may very well be played in single bows (am I right?).

(I am not a string player forgive anything amiss and correct me).

In short buy the new VI strings 1 and 2 and you won't be disapointed.

[DG]

Alternating bow strokes is not the same thing as asking for Up and Down. Often players will "hook" bowing in order to make it more convenient to play, but to the uninitiated it sounds like up and down (or down and up).

Repeated notes are a recorded to eliminate the machine gun effect, and as Matt says the new VI will make all of these easily useable. You will be able to make a difference between repeated notes and "start or not" notes, but don't confuse this with up and down bows. To any professional player, any composer who specifies an up or down marking within a legato section is asking for trouble, unless they really know what they're doing; many players will exaggerate some kind of accent just to make a point [6]

If you have no desire to go "live", then it doesn't really matter, so just use alternative samples if you want a different sound (or as Matt says when using the VI, try the repeated note samples).

DG

[PolarBear]

Three ways if you don't want to use different programs (where you have plenty to select from) are e.g. to build crossfade programs from the different marcatos (for Opus that's two for each length, i.e. "up" and "down") to the sustain programs - that way you also control the attack of the strings a bit more while still having them as sustains.
Then the fastest thing - to switch between oV/mV/legato or porta (start notes).
And last but not least, to take the articulation of desire and shift it up or down a halftone in the editor, and getting a fully new articulation that way. This one will not be possible with the VIs.

For pop strings I'd also suggest you to have a look at the Chamber Strings package...

Hope this helps,
PolarBear