Thank you cgerneay for all the information you give to us.  Can you tell me if the performance trill marcato can replace a traditionnal marcato performance patch?

For classical music,  am I right to say that Solo Strings 1 are better?  For fast passages and more complicated figures,  it would be very interresting to see what the DS can do...

From my point of view,  I see Solo strings 1,  Appassionata,  Orchestral,  and Chamber like pure instruments.  Dimension Strings,  for my needs,  would serve most as a mixing tool,  to improve the sound of Appassionata and Orchestral Strings 1 and 2.

I posted the beginning of my new piece for the eight Dimension Violins and Solo Violin on another thread, so i do here too.

You can hear that the Solo Violin and the Dimension work very fine together

http://www.markus-brylka.de/2012-09-30_Dimension_Violins.html

@ondine said:

I don't think they record the real portamento of each interval.

That's defenitely a wrong presumption. All intervalls are dedicated recordings for each interval!

For a "lighter" portamento effect especially for larger intervals the sul (force) G, D, A, E mappings are a good alternative.

The slide effect is shorter and faster, because it's a combination of position and fingering change.

best

Herb

 As you know, the Dimension Violins are not recorded as individual solo violins, they are recorded as a section, performing all violins together, but each instrument microphoned individually. Therefor there is a kind of bleeding between the instruments, which is most obvious with samples which are not static on one pitch like the portamenti. If you compare the individual players you will recognize that the portamento speed is slightly different for each player, a simply matter of personality and how the the players are used to perform their portamento.

Performing at least two players at the same time this kind of bleeding effect will dissapear even if the two players perform a portamento on different keys.

That's the most important difference to our dedicated solo string library, and therefor Dimension Strings are simply not promoted or recommended as a replacement of our solo string product.

As usual everything is also a matter of taste and depends on a lot of factors. To make a simple example: I wouldn't try to perform a Bach solo partita with a Dimension Violin, on the other hand I guess that the Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy String Octett Opus 20 would work quite well.

best

Herb

@ondine said:

when I play solo part of DS, sometimes it sounds like two violins playing instead of one (especially when portamento or legato is used). This is one of the reason I think it artificial just like solo part of LA strings. But this does not happen in VSL solo strings.

This is a result of a misconception of the Dimension strings vs. Solo.  They are not 8 separate solo violins.  They were all recorded simultaneously playing, but individually miked.  And so you get a "resonance" between the players.  It is both solo and ensemble at one time.  This was a huge innovation by VSL that solves two big problems in sampling - the too-uniform sound of a sampled ensemble , and the fact that you cannot create an ensemble with 8 separately sampled solo violins.  It sounds artificial, and this is why the Dimension strings approach was used.  It gives you individual control over each player, but the resonance and ensemble playing enriches the sound greatly over the solo strings.    Also - you are going to hear the other players a little especially with varying articulations like portamento.  That is essential to get the "Dimension" effect. 

However one thing you can do with both is to layer solo strings (or other strings) with Dimension - that creates some fantastic complexity (on top of the great complexity of the Dimension strings themselves). 

So if I understand all of the above correctly, for non-solo work such as a string quartet, Dimension would be the way to go? i.e. you'd only recommend going Solo for "real" solo work (as in a single string instrument up front)?

Thanks.

@Talino said:

So if I understand all of the above correctly, for non-solo work such as a string quartet, Dimension would be the way to go? i.e. you'd only recommend going Solo for "real" solo work (as in a single string instrument up front)?

Thanks.

For  string quartet I would recommend solo strings, as all parts are parts for a single instrument. Notice that Herb mentioned Mendelssohn's String Octett as a good example for what you could do well with Dimension Strings. That makes much more sense to me then a string quartet, as it is scored for 4 violins, 2 violas and 2 celli and the individual parts often aren't "solistic" but "ensemble" parts in character. (Even though changing from DS to Solo patches for prominently solistic passages in single instruments could be a way to go as well, things like that have to be tested in practice before you know how they really work).

And that's exactly what DS were designed for - ensemble writing (including very advanced and intricate divisi possibilities - for this aspect of DS, you can take a listen to the Wagner Lohengrin Prelude example here). 

Thank you. The Lohengrin Prelude sounds amazing, I had already listened to that a few weeks back...

If someone has a string quartet done with DS please chime in. I'd like to invest in the most forward-looking library for me, and I *do* make more large-ensemble music than quartets – the quartet I need to do is an unusual occurrence for me... However I don't have the budget for both. I'd love to hear something if anyone has an example handy.

Thanks a lot.