By a happy accident, my drum pads were set on a solo pp sustain cello channel, playing then produces really, really short notes, just a few clocks in length.
Playing arpeggios this way produces a really beautiful sound, very different to either staccato or spiccato. It sounds almost like the ring of a pizzicato note, but with a bow noise attack. I'm unable to get the same sound by playing on a keyboard, I just can't get the notes short enough, but of course they can be edited afterwards. The notes need to be less than about 30 clocks long, and very soft.
I guess what's happening in VI is that I'm hearing mostly release samples with just a little bow attack.
I'm sure I've heard this very 'folky' sound before, and wondered if there was a name for it? Or would you simply indicate 'very short' on a score?