DIMENSION STRINGS 3

[William]

Now that Synchron Strings are complete VSL needs to do the third volume of Dimension Strings which will supply the articulations that Orchestral/Chamber/Solo Strings have but with Dimension recordings.

I know this is outrageously greedy, and Herb is certainly chuckling at my naive lack of understanding of cost-effective, business-savvy thinking. 

But the reason I demand this is that the Dimension Strings are the most technologically advanced and powerful string library in the world, far beyond any other library. This is due to the fact that the actual quality of a string ensemble is truly captured. This quality is having the ensemble sound, but also each individual player present and audible and different.  The Dimension Strings are capable of almost inifinte musical expression because of the complexity of manipulation possible and the differences in the individual player's sound.  On another thread someone is asking about divisi.  Well with Dimension Srings you can have 24 PART DIVISI ! 

I feel that Dimension Strings though incredibly labor intensive to produce is the Manned Lunar Landing of sample libraries that makes the company utterly different from any other library.  No one else in the world has done this and so it needs to be completed just as Werner von Braun completed and guided the Saturn V and Apollo mission to the moon!  

Now I know Paul will chime in here and say politely VSL is not considering Dimension Strings 3.  But IT NEEDS TO RECONSIDER!  If anyone feels similarly I urge you to record your vote for...

DIMENSION STRINGS 3! 😛👍🍺🎉😃

[mh-7635]

+1...oh and a 2nd violin section please. No more embarrasing transposition nonsense, especially from a flagship company.

AND (you got me started now William😉)...how about some more effects and articulation options and dynamic layers and......sorry VSL, just a doubtless impractical wish list... I still love you.

[William]

Yes and  one basic articulation I was thinking about particularly -  sampled trills instead of performance trill that has to be played - even (since we are merely dreaming I know) larger interval trills such as Orchestral Strings have - up to maybe fourths.  That is one of the most atmospheric effects for film scoring and would be fantastic with Dimension. 

[antcarrier]

Oh yes! Dimension Strings 3 is by far my greatest wish for anything new from VSL. I have a good chunk of VSL's offerings, and in my experience DS stands head and shoulders above the rest in it's capacity to emulate realism. I consider it to be the greatest sample library ever made (from any developer) - it's a composer's dream to have that much control over each player. Its also versatile enough to seemlessly fit in a mix in any genre - be it classical, jazz, electronic - I even use it over metal riffs and it works great! Not many libraries can do that ;) The way that it enables imperfections of timing and pitch of individuals is also a big advantage. Obviously it would be hard to augment it, because you'd have to set it all back up with the same players with the same instrument in the same position. However, it would absolutely benefit from more velocity layers, quieter velocities in particular. More articulations, such as flautando, would be useful, as would additional variations of existing articulations, for example legato/sustain variations with different vibrato speed and intensity. I'm actually wishing I had a 'muted no vibrato' option in DS 2 at the moment. But in spite of what potential there still is to make DS even more betterer than everything else - it already is the best anyway. It's an amazing time to be alive as composers :)

[William]

You're right on all that. I was thinking flautando also, ponticello and pont. tremolo.  Those are used all the time in film scoring.  

That's a good point about composers having the control over each player - it is really true with Dimension and in fact, the control one has over individual players is far more than any conductor of a live ensemble has, because he cannot hear each player without the others (unless he demands they play alone).  But with Dimension one can hear how each player is doing his own part and it is amazing how different each one sounds, though together they play as a great ensemble. 

I have been experimenting with the most extreme individual variations I can do, going as far as possible with detuning and inaccuracy.  It is noticeable how much this does to emulate a live ensemble  Strings are hugely inaccurate compared to perfect MIDI timing in even great orchestras and this is one of the best features of Dimension.

[PaoloT]

Dimension Strings are, in my opinion, the best sounding strings made by VSL. I hope they will continue to develop the library and the concept.

Paolo

[William]

It's difficult to say which is the "best" as they are all suitable for different purposees.  I have only started working with Synchron recently but the sound is awesome, perfect,  and the amount of samples amazing - I think they will beome the best overall film scoring string library because of the rich yet clear ambience of the Synchron stage and the thoroughness of the sampling.

However the Appassionata are probably the best for huge-sounding "Epic" strings, the Chamber are best for a more intimate ensemble that won't tax a CPU like the full Dimension ensemble,  the Orchestral are the most complete in articulations.  Also the Solo add not only the actual solo instruments but an extremely expressive layer on top of any the other ensembles - a Baroque style sound with Chamber, but also an expressive layer even on Appassionata's huge ensemble. 

But you have to mention also the ultimately controllable string sound from VSL which is probably Dimension with the solo strings and the second violin and cello layered.