Chamber Strings and Noodling

[nicks]

Dear All,

I am using chamber strings, and am trying to produce something like the following:

Semiquavers (or sixteenth-notes to those over the pond), alternating between two notes (say E4 and C4), at around crotchet (or quarter-note to those over the pond) = 60. These are played by violins, grouped in bunches of four notes with each group played with a different bow, played piano (although I'd happily accept pianissimo). e.g.

ECEC ECEC ECEC ECEC

This is otherwise known as noodling.

Sounds simple. However, I'm finding some difficulty getting everything realistic and in time. The reason is that any of the sustain or performance legato patches seem to take a few milliseconds to get going - therefore, since the main thrust of the sounds is just a bit late, it leaves the whole passage sounding as if it is behind the rest of the orchestra.

I have tried the performance legato and sustain patches, as I mentioned above. Staccato and portato are not appropriate, and the 0.5s, 0.3s patches just don't sound legato enough.

Does anybody have any ideas / experience about getting around this problem.

Kind Regards,

Nick.

[gugliel]

You won't want vibrato or detache patches for such short notes; there are some instruments called '0sus' that have a fast attack (VI-6_0sus is the violin version). Try those. The performance legato instruments should work, too, for that matter. (Use the 'fast' version). If you use the 0sus, just be sure that the note velocities stay within the range of one dynamic level or you'll have unwanted accents.

If all else fails (though at the tempo you've indicated the above should work), divide into two tracks, with notes alternating between the tracks, then give unrealistically long durations to each note (so there is apparent overlap).

[nicks]

Thanks for your response, Gugliel. I'll try the 0sus - I haven't tried those yet.

I have already tried the performance legatos including the fast version, but the attack is not fast enough.

I might be missing the point, but I don't see how splitting the notes into two tracks is going to speed up the perceived attack unless I actually move them forward in time; I think I would just end up with two tracks of notes that appear to sound later than they should - could you explain further?

[gugliel]

You're probably right, that the two track solution will still be behind the beat -- but part of the problem with fast unobtrusive notes is that the sound never develops when using a sample with a slow attack -- and this way the overall sound will be more accurate. Then if necessary, you can slip the notes forward in the midi stream a few ticks, as a group.

[nicks]

For the benefit of other users:

The 0sus patch got me close enough that I wasn't too bothered about the slight lag - so I was pretty happy with the result.

Thanks Guglielmo.