Thanks for this extensive explanation of these VSTs! I have the Hollywood Orchestra and it is wonderful! We live in such amazing musical times! Wonderful.
I'd recommend Chris Hein Solo Strings over any of these. I own Spitfire Solo and BBCSO Pro, but Hein is is so deeply and vastly sampled it's mind-blowing. It does have a particular tone you should check first, and by default the dynamics are controlled by velocity on the key, but they're so incredible. So many instruments in the Extended version too. 4 different Violins, 4 Celli, 3 Violas, 3 Basses, and ensemble patches using them. It goes on sale once a year I think, and yeah, it's my favourite library hands down.
Can the Cremona Quartet do dry? I'd like to be able to combine a bunch of libraries and put them all through a single reverb plugin for the sake of consistency, which rules out libraries with unavoidable baked-in reverb.
I recently bought the Sample Modeling Strings after owning East West Hollywood and some VSL Libraries. I highly recommend using cc11 for dynamics over cc1 for vibrato. You can go from ppp to fff with now noticeable crossfades. That's huge. What's great for Ensemble strings ist, that they are build from several patches with different humanization settings. So runs sound very natural. Once you know how to use the library it's MUCH easier to program than any other library I have. BUT the short repetition of the lower (solo) strings can sound machine-guny
If I'm not mistaken, SampleModeling and AudioModeling were the same company that split. AudioModeling now makes the SWAM stuff, which has great woodwinds and solo strings but the brass isn't great. SampleModeling has amazing solo brass on the other hand, even though it doesn't look as good as SWAM in terms of UI.
SWAM is absolutely amazing for their expressiveness if you can control it well. Still think the base sounds of sample libraries is better. Propably also a matter of opinion tho. But I really don't think at least non pro's could afford a full orchestral library of it. Expensive stuff 🤥
Really? Maybe I need to play with the mics more but if that's what a Stradivarius sounds like they can throw them in the bin. It's got a horribly harsh twangy sound especially in the upper registers. 😮💨
My favorite string library at the moment is Session Strings Pro 2. It has like 26 articulations, and I find it to be very useful when you write complex and realistic string music
I genuinely can’t tell if this is a joke or not. You mean the NI one that comes with Komplete 14 Standard? It sounds like garbage to me, even the free Spitfire BBCSO Discover sounds better. Maybe less articulations but SSP2 sounds like a synth from 2002.
Honestly none of the instruments in this video really catch my attention too much aside from the Cremona quartet. But i watched all of it regardless of that because your narration and presentation of it is spectacular, taking into consideration all of the personallity you show through the video, it's the only reason i watched it. Thanks for making this
I have waited for a comparison like this. As a violin-player I think, that still nothing comes close to the real instruments. Meanwhile I realize string-quartet recordings with the cello-part programmed using VSL Solo strings, but I record the upper three voices live. In the past I have tried to program all parts, but with VSL alone it sounds stiff and lifeless. Now when I listen to all those libraries I think, that Samplemodelling is capturing the dynamic range of the strings much better than the other libraries, while the sound seems to be a bit artificial. Soundwise I prefer Spitfire. In fact string-instruments are much harder to recreate via sampling than many other instruments.
I'd LOVE to see a video that tours your workspace, and how it all works, including the Monogram and that very fancy live video camera switching device thingeymebob, Guy!
I don't have Cremona Quartet but I do have Stradivari Violin and I love it's expression capabilities. Just having a mild issue playing double stops with it. Tripple stops - not an issue but not so doubles. An exhaustive overview of solo strings there Michael - thank you for your time and showcasing the options. I think I will just expand what I have when I can and go the Cremona route.
@ThinkSpaceEducation Hi Guy, if someone hasn't already said, Cubase has retrospective recording. If you look at the inspector on the left at 1:18:07 you should see it. Click and press "insert as linear recording" and it will insert what you played even though recording wasn't engaged. Hope that helps! Thanks for yet another amazing video!
I love that you can change the speed of vibrato in the cremona series. Random speeds across patches that dont relate to the musics tempo or feel is all that most libraries offer and that's not really how vibrato is played a lot of the time right? Normally in time in 8ths or triplets. Or even speeding up and slowing down with the swell.
Great video! You really showcased a lot of the strengths of each library without trying to shoehorn each one into the same demo or use case. I'd love to see what you do with Virharmonic's Bohemian series as well as Audio Modeling's solo strings. Perhaps a part two? Either way, good stuff, and thanks for the extensive comparison.
Really nice work. Also your on-the-go creativity is always inspiring. These are all wonderful libriaries but to me, if we speak about the bare violin solo vsts, Joshua Bell remains unbeatable. Thanks for the video!
As usual your zany nutty professor personality makes you such a joy to watch, I would like to see you come up something different like composing a piece of American civil war folk music like a Cumberland gap or fisher’s hornpipe
Well that’s not too far from my home here in Nashville just over 6hrs drive time A small distance in my world, anyways gd luck with your adventure, just thought it would be good for some of out]r beloved composer to take on some traditional American folk or triumphant military tunes anyways gd luck
So very ,very helpful Guy.The opportunity to hear so many of these in one video. So important when are investing your faith as well as your money in these libraries.Thank you!
My favorite violin is the Joshua Bell Violin. It's super easy to play + it sounds amazing. As a former violinist I have some issues with the realism of the BBC solo strings, even tough I love the spiccato and pizzicato sounds and use them a lot.
I would love to hear your opinion on the Haunted Strings 2 too. Cant really find anything other than the demo videos made by the creators. But yes, will watch this now, perhaps some of these can work in its stead :)
Guy, thank you for this! Can you do one for BRASS? Particular Big Band trumpet hits hitting those crazy high note blasts and portamento runs or tubas hitting those super low buzzy blahs and wahs. Or explain the proper names of all those various brass techniques. I've the hardest time finding free or
Love the 8dio Deep Solo libraries. And best thing about them, apart from how great they sound, is they are sometimes on sale, $25 each instead of $98 each.
Yes. And what is even better, a new customer can combine sales, autobundle option and 15% for the fist purchase. As a result I bought each of them for $15!!
Excellent Sir! I love your channel, topics and talents. If you have time... could you please tell me what the make and model is of the "Control Surface" product sitting on your keyboard? Thank you so much if you can. (I'm in the market for one.) ____Much appreciated Mr Michelmore 🙂
And just as I was thinking - at last! Samplemodelling sounds so alive! - along comes Peteris Vasks to show that full, detailed sampling of characterful performances has so much to offer!
As Guy himself said, he didn't at all show Samplemodeling's full potential (which you know, but I'm still saying anyway). Using a breath controller or even an MPE keyboard such as the recent Seaboard RISE 2 would show what Samplemodeling truly has to offer.
That one struck me as particularly refreshing, realistic and most importantly, musical. I have Musio (and a few Cinesamples), Spitfire BBC and E/W Hollywood Orchestra. As Guy said, they all have their own character and such, and you can't really go wrong, although some of these sounded harsh or uninspiring.
Guy, you had me cracking up as I watched this educational and informative video. I yell the same phrases at myself when trying to record... "noooo!" "this is not my finest work." "pfffffff rubbish!"
Solisti from Salm Audio Tools is the most realistic violin solo library for short notes! Incomparable! Phrasing is natural between each articulation, and the sound is purely dry! 😎
For SampleModeling, it's almost impossible to manage all the settings with sliders. That's not the right approach. I'd suggest using a breath controller or MidiPaw software that works with a LeapMotion. I use the later and can control 9 different CC in real time and EASILY! MidiPaw is amazing. I move my hand up to make level up the dynamics, and progressively turn my hand while doing that to add vibrato. So natural, so easy, so expressive. I set different hand moves for different CC, and that makes the instrument very expressive and real. Also know that you can EQ your strings if the tone is not perfectly what you want. And don't use SampleModeling dry, with a good convolution and reverb plugin, their violins are unbeatable in term of real term performance and musical expression.
I recently bought the SM-Strings to use in Dorico. In the Expression Map editor you can set any cc Parameter or key switch and assign it to any notation marking (like "no vibrato", "Pizzicato", legato) and even can set the note length relative to notated length. Along with the playback rules that are becoming better every year I can just notate my music an load the SM-Strings. So around 80% of my music is done. And than I export MIDI to finish it in cubase. Great. I also recommend the Aaron venture WW and Brass. Similar approach.
Thanks a lot for this amazing video , very helpful .for now i love bohemian violin from virharmoniic, easy to play , amazing sound and very realistic. The alto library could out soon . Emotional cello is my best cello . Embertone fisher viola great too .
I Bought BBC Pro to have a general library with orchestral parts and soloists, to be honest, I learned how to use it and to hate it but in the end, I don't regret the decision. Quite solid in my opinion but for heaven's sake ... wait for the discounts.
Which is the most dry sounding? I want super close and intimite strings. I own the ones from 8DIO and have tried spitfire solo strings. Both are basically drowning in reverb. Any recommendations?
This is a brilliant video, very thorough and informing as always, though I suggest throwing in free options as well for those of us who are poor or (more likely) students! Would be very useful to know what kind of free stuff is out there!
Can you explain how you deal with the latency of the Cinematic Studio Solo Strings? Do you just nudge to get them in time, or are you strictly playing it in live and leaving it as is?
Very nice! QUESTION: considering that different instrument sets may make different articulations available in different ways (e.g. different patches vs mod controller), how would one go about turning a composition produced using any of these instrument sets to an orchestral score that could be followed by a real orchestra? That seems like it could be a challenge, with a different approach needed for each different instrument set. Is there any known software solution for cracking this tough nut?
Thank you, this was awesome. Would be great to hear have you ever tested Emberton’s Joshua Bell solo violin? I love that thing but unfortunate bugs on UX side..
come on Guy when you forget to record, just hit retrospective recording to bring it up, I'm sure I learned that in one of your previous videos, great review loved it going to watch it again
Hey Guy! I am likely to buy Cremona Quartet in the very near future, and in your video you show the library as $179.50, but on the webpage it asks for full price. Is there a special promotion going on? Has it ended already? If not, I would greatly appreciate you or a commenter posting a link to the discounted purchase. Cheers!
If you look closely at the top right corner of the video, you will notice that Guy recorded it end of June… And yes, at that time, NI‘s „Summer of Sound“ Sale was still in full swing, and most of their libraries were 50% off… (I think that sale ended around July 7th or so…)
I just bought the VSL solo strings I through the VI 50% sale. Hard to find any playthroughs! I think I will love it between timbre and control oh my! And the “old” VI player has roughly 1,000,000,000X the control of any player I’ve used like spitfire kontakt etc barely anything but dynamics and articualtioms
Question Guy, how do these libraries actually handle the vibrato, is it generated by the programming or is it blending between vibrato and non vibrato samples. Asking cause many synths or romplers dependent on how you define it still today sadly often seems to be using fairly small samples with looping to create vibrato, witch is often a hit or miss if it fits into anything. either there is practically nothing or too much of it, and normal LFO style hardly ever produce a legit vibrato sound that sounds anything like a real musician other than for synth sounds. (wich is incredible when you think how cheap it is to throw a fairly big memory bank in instruments to be able to hold a reasonable good library of usable samples)
Check also Iconic Violin by Streamtech Music it was released two days ago. It has 21 articulations plus very smart performance samples. I think it's beautiful solo violin with top notch programming behind the samples which identify your playing style.
Hi Guy - really interesting to hear those side by side. Here's a thought - with the developments in synthesis technology,do you think we'll reach a point where it outdoes sample libraries? Maybe a vid...? 😊
What CC is the vibrato in CSS and CSB? I really want CSSS because obviously it blends with those well but also i know a game composer blending CSSS with Tokyo Scoring Strings, Which is the only other pro level string library i own. So they will be a good pair of libraries to have. It really has a nice sound with Tokyo Scoring. Very Anime sound. The Virharmics solo libraries are super nice too. I'd love to get those down the road some day. They coming out with a Viola any time now. I'm sure next will be the Bass.
Thank you, Guy. This is so helpful.... hmm, hearing these all back to back, and being a composer cloud subscriber, I realize that I probably have the worst sounding string library 😛 that's not a good realization. Unfortunately my wallet doesn't support my tastes 😄
Interesting video, thanks for making it. I'd echo others in suggesting Embertone's Joshua Bell Violin is a great one, too - easy to get a wonderful, convincing result with virtually no effort. Of course, that's just a single instrument, so it doesn't really fit into this video anyway. I'd also recommend the Chris Hein solo strings libraries as being pretty fantastic. They require a great deal of finessing to get the best result, but it can be worth the effort. I've played the cello for nearly 40 years, more than half of that in a professional string quartet, and the Chris Hein solo cello is the only one that actually fooled me in a blind listening test. On the subject of the Samplemodeling offerings... oh boy. I've seen so many people rave about their instruments, but they have never sounded even remotely realistic to me - to the point that I wonder if I (or they) have taken crazy pills. The level of control they offer is great, but the end result always sounds over-processed and unpleasant to me. Samplemodeling is to real instruments as Cheez Whiz is to real cheese. Different strokes, I guess.
So many solo strings libraries. I cannot imagine how many full string libraries you own! Which begs the question.....why are there so many string libraries?
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Oh my gosh, this was exactly the type of video I was looking for. Thanks for making these for us, Guy!
Youre welcome
I think this is the best way to review things. Actually seeing them used in something.
That’s my view yup
Very appreciate your effort to demo all the libraries by making a hold demo for each
Thanks for this extensive explanation of these VSTs! I have the Hollywood Orchestra and it is wonderful! We live in such amazing musical times! Wonderful.
I absolutely love the way you composed some lines and showed us how it all works….I subscribed 💥Thank You 🤝
Guy, Your on-the-fly creativity is inspirational. Thank you for sharing with us.
Really fantastic, thank you. I've got the Spitfire library and subscribe to East West, but that Cremona library is now VERY tempting.
To me VSL is a clear winner. Thanks for video!
Mr. Michelmore. It's really great to see another long format video, I miss these. Thanks for all your fantastic work.
Wow! What an epic Guy Michelmore video!
Yup!
Amazing and brillianly done!! Thank You Guy!! glad to see you back in The Shed!.
You should do something like this for Choirs, strings are easy to come by but I still haven't found a good choir plugin.
What about Hollywood Choir Diamond? I don't have composer cloud though.
Eric Whitacre Choir is my favorite. such a beautiful tone and amazing legatos!
are any of these actual plugins or do I need kontakt for all of these?
Thank you for this, really enjoyed the reviews and quirky behavior
Dominus Choir by Fluffy Audio is really good if you're looking for a softer sound!
I'd recommend Chris Hein Solo Strings over any of these. I own Spitfire Solo and BBCSO Pro, but Hein is is so deeply and vastly sampled it's mind-blowing. It does have a particular tone you should check first, and by default the dynamics are controlled by velocity on the key, but they're so incredible. So many instruments in the Extended version too. 4 different Violins, 4 Celli, 3 Violas, 3 Basses, and ensemble patches using them. It goes on sale once a year I think, and yeah, it's my favourite library hands down.
Totally agree ! they are so underated
What price is it when it goes on sale?
Here i was just now googling bout solo strings and Guy hears my wishes and makes this!❤
tadah!
Can the Cremona Quartet do dry? I'd like to be able to combine a bunch of libraries and put them all through a single reverb plugin for the sake of consistency, which rules out libraries with unavoidable baked-in reverb.
Hi Guy, the piece you wrote with the VSL solo strings really stood out to me; lovely composition and sound!
Honestly Guy😂 its like you where in my head. I needed this
yup!
I recently bought the Sample Modeling Strings after owning East West Hollywood and some VSL Libraries. I highly recommend using cc11 for dynamics over cc1 for vibrato. You can go from ppp to fff with now noticeable crossfades. That's huge. What's great for Ensemble strings ist, that they are build from several patches with different humanization settings. So runs sound very natural.
Once you know how to use the library it's MUCH easier to program than any other library I have. BUT the short repetition of the lower (solo) strings can sound machine-guny
If I'm not mistaken, SampleModeling and AudioModeling were the same company that split. AudioModeling now makes the SWAM stuff, which has great woodwinds and solo strings but the brass isn't great. SampleModeling has amazing solo brass on the other hand, even though it doesn't look as good as SWAM in terms of UI.
SWAM is absolutely amazing for their expressiveness if you can control it well. Still think the base sounds of sample libraries is better. Propably also a matter of opinion tho. But I really don't think at least non pro's could afford a full orchestral library of it. Expensive stuff 🤥
Thanks for this! verry nice to see all of these librarys next to each other and hear your opinion on them!
I have Cinematic studio solo strings but I have to say those Cremona plugins I got with komplete are some of the best I’ve used. Just gorgeous.
I just got the Cremona as well. My wife was shocked when I showed her how they work after listening to a track.
Really? Maybe I need to play with the mics more but if that's what a Stradivarius sounds like they can throw them in the bin. It's got a horribly harsh twangy sound especially in the upper registers. 😮💨
@davidlee-michaels9430 This was my thoughts too.. perhaps I need to give them a second chance
@@davidlee-michaels9430 I thought the same!
Back in the shed! Hooray!!! 🌞💐🦜
My favorite string library at the moment is Session Strings Pro 2. It has like 26 articulations, and I find it to be very useful when you write complex and realistic string music
I need to check that out
I agree this is by far the best string library
I genuinely can’t tell if this is a joke or not. You mean the NI one that comes with Komplete 14 Standard? It sounds like garbage to me, even the free Spitfire BBCSO Discover sounds better. Maybe less articulations but SSP2 sounds like a synth from 2002.
Thanks Guy!
I've been looking forward to seeing the VASKS strings in action.
I just wish it wasn't so darn expensive!
Honestly none of the instruments in this video really catch my attention too much aside from the Cremona quartet. But i watched all of it regardless of that because your narration and presentation of it is spectacular, taking into consideration all of the personallity you show through the video, it's the only reason i watched it. Thanks for making this
I have waited for a comparison like this. As a violin-player I think, that still nothing comes close to the real instruments. Meanwhile I realize string-quartet recordings with the cello-part programmed using VSL Solo strings, but I record the upper three voices live. In the past I have tried to program all parts, but with VSL alone it sounds stiff and lifeless. Now when I listen to all those libraries I think, that Samplemodelling is capturing the dynamic range of the strings much better than the other libraries, while the sound seems to be a bit artificial. Soundwise I prefer Spitfire. In fact string-instruments are much harder to recreate via sampling than many other instruments.
I'd LOVE to see a video that tours your workspace, and how it all works, including the Monogram and that very fancy live video camera switching device thingeymebob, Guy!
Lovely stuff !! My favorite solo string library is Joshua Bell one
Ah I forgot that one
I don't have Cremona Quartet but I do have Stradivari Violin and I love it's expression capabilities. Just having a mild issue playing double stops with it. Tripple stops - not an issue but not so doubles.
An exhaustive overview of solo strings there Michael - thank you for your time and showcasing the options. I think I will just expand what I have when I can and go the Cremona route.
@ThinkSpaceEducation Hi Guy, if someone hasn't already said, Cubase has retrospective recording. If you look at the inspector on the left at 1:18:07 you should see it. Click and press "insert as linear recording" and it will insert what you played even though recording wasn't engaged. Hope that helps! Thanks for yet another amazing video!
I love that you can change the speed of vibrato in the cremona series. Random speeds across patches that dont relate to the musics tempo or feel is all that most libraries offer and that's not really how vibrato is played a lot of the time right? Normally in time in 8ths or triplets. Or even speeding up and slowing down with the swell.
Lower volume, slower vib, getting louder and faster vibrato for more intensity etc
Great video! You really showcased a lot of the strengths of each library without trying to shoehorn each one into the same demo or use case. I'd love to see what you do with Virharmonic's Bohemian series as well as Audio Modeling's solo strings. Perhaps a part two? Either way, good stuff, and thanks for the extensive comparison.
Always good to hear about the ones I missed!
i love Audio Modeling's solo strings
Really nice work. Also your on-the-go creativity is always inspiring. These are all wonderful libriaries but to me, if we speak about the bare violin solo vsts, Joshua Bell remains unbeatable. Thanks for the video!
As usual your zany nutty professor personality makes you such a joy to watch, I would like to see you come up something different like composing a piece of American civil war folk music like a Cumberland gap or fisher’s hornpipe
Im doing a wildlife film set in Missouri soon so maybe that will happen!
Well that’s not too far from my home here in Nashville just over 6hrs drive time A small distance in my world, anyways gd luck with your adventure, just thought it would be good for some of out]r beloved composer to take on some traditional American folk or triumphant military tunes anyways gd luck
Im blown away!!! Absolutely amazing!
best string libraries review ever waiting for sax and woodwind ones thanks for sharing
So very ,very helpful Guy.The opportunity to hear so many of these in one video.
So important when are investing your faith as well as your money in these libraries.Thank you!
Glad you liked it
My favorite violin is the Joshua Bell Violin. It's super easy to play + it sounds amazing. As a former violinist I have some issues with the realism of the BBC solo strings, even tough I love the spiccato and pizzicato sounds and use them a lot.
Same - Joshua Bell / Embertone streets ahead for me
@@aldo34 How about the Bohemian?
@@aldo34thanks pierce
Very useful, indeed! Than U!
Dude is rly dishing out bangers one after the other while we over here overthinking a reverb setting
I would love to hear your opinion on the Haunted Strings 2 too. Cant really find anything other than the demo videos made by the creators. But yes, will watch this now, perhaps some of these can work in its stead :)
I think the best solo violin EastWest has is the violin from the Gypsy library. I've found it more useable than their symphonic strings solo violin.
He also demo'd the HOOPUS violin, but your point still applies.
Yes and whole Gypsy library is wonderful.
Yes
agreed, surprisingly
Great video Guy, just what I needed right now, thanks!
Fantastic more of this please 🎉
I was a little dissapointed not to see Tableau Solo strings from Orchestral tools but enjoyed listening to what I need to upgrade to.
Iconic Violin looks interesting .. see if you can add that to the shoot out :)
I have most of these. I've got to say that one I don't have--Cremona--sounds amazing. That's now on my future must buy list.
Guy, thank you for this! Can you do one for BRASS? Particular Big Band trumpet hits hitting those crazy high note blasts and portamento runs or tubas hitting those super low buzzy blahs and wahs. Or explain the proper names of all those various brass techniques.
I've the hardest time finding free or
Wow! A really exciting comparison!
Love this, thanks Guy!
Love the 8dio Deep Solo libraries. And best thing about them, apart from how great they sound, is they are sometimes on sale, $25 each instead of $98 each.
Yes. And what is even better, a new customer can combine sales, autobundle option and 15% for the fist purchase. As a result I bought each of them for $15!!
Currently on sale for black friday bundle for $88. Heavily considering it.
Very helpful! Thank you!
With Samplemodeling I strongly recommend to use the breath controller
Excellent Sir! I love your channel, topics and talents. If you have time... could you please tell me what the make and model is of the "Control Surface" product sitting on your keyboard? Thank you so much if you can. (I'm in the market for one.) ____Much appreciated Mr Michelmore 🙂
This is so great Guy. Thank you!
youre welcome
I want one of those boxes!
And just as I was thinking - at last! Samplemodelling sounds so alive! - along comes Peteris Vasks to show that full, detailed sampling of characterful performances has so much to offer!
As Guy himself said, he didn't at all show Samplemodeling's full potential (which you know, but I'm still saying anyway). Using a breath controller or even an MPE keyboard such as the recent Seaboard RISE 2 would show what Samplemodeling truly has to offer.
@@TheUnderscore_ Good points.
That one struck me as particularly refreshing, realistic and most importantly, musical. I have Musio (and a few Cinesamples), Spitfire BBC and E/W Hollywood Orchestra. As Guy said, they all have their own character and such, and you can't really go wrong, although some of these sounded harsh or uninspiring.
Guy, you had me cracking up as I watched this educational and informative video. I yell the same phrases at myself when trying to record... "noooo!" "this is not my finest work." "pfffffff rubbish!"
lot of work putting this together. thx!
Solisti from Salm Audio Tools is the most realistic violin solo library for short notes! Incomparable! Phrasing is natural between each articulation, and the sound is purely dry! 😎
The Cremona sort of blew my mind.
For SampleModeling, it's almost impossible to manage all the settings with sliders. That's not the right approach. I'd suggest using a breath controller or MidiPaw software that works with a LeapMotion. I use the later and can control 9 different CC in real time and EASILY! MidiPaw is amazing. I move my hand up to make level up the dynamics, and progressively turn my hand while doing that to add vibrato. So natural, so easy, so expressive. I set different hand moves for different CC, and that makes the instrument very expressive and real.
Also know that you can EQ your strings if the tone is not perfectly what you want. And don't use SampleModeling dry, with a good convolution and reverb plugin, their violins are unbeatable in term of real term performance and musical expression.
I recently bought the SM-Strings to use in Dorico. In the Expression Map editor you can set any cc Parameter or key switch and assign it to any notation marking (like "no vibrato", "Pizzicato", legato) and even can set the note length relative to notated length. Along with the playback rules that are becoming better every year I can just notate my music an load the SM-Strings. So around 80% of my music is done. And than I export MIDI to finish it in cubase. Great. I also recommend the Aaron venture WW and Brass. Similar approach.
Thanks a lot for this amazing video , very helpful .for now i love bohemian violin from virharmoniic, easy to play , amazing sound and very realistic. The alto library could out soon . Emotional cello is my best cello . Embertone fisher viola great too .
I Bought BBC Pro to have a general library with orchestral parts and soloists, to be honest, I learned how to use it and to hate it but in the end, I don't regret the decision. Quite solid in my opinion but for heaven's sake ... wait for the discounts.
But don't wait for the promised updates. Or a piano...
@@LeeGee So true ...
@@LeeGee Spitfire as already released BBC Symphony Orchestra Piano.
Hey Guy, how about a tutorial on how to use the mod wheel (with actual exercises)?
Which is the most dry sounding? I want super close and intimite strings. I own the ones from 8DIO and have tried spitfire solo strings. Both are basically drowning in reverb. Any recommendations?
This is a brilliant video, very thorough and informing as always, though I suggest throwing in free options as well for those of us who are poor or (more likely) students! Would be very useful to know what kind of free stuff is out there!
I love you, you make me laugh and you're really an amazing composer :)
Cheers from France!
Can you explain how you deal with the latency of the Cinematic Studio Solo Strings? Do you just nudge to get them in time, or are you strictly playing it in live and leaving it as is?
Another amazing film Guy was just what i was looking for
Really good show!
A review on Samplemodeling, huzzah!!
The Cremona set says write string quartets, spitfire stuff is predictably ok, I like the 8dio. The modelling one is way beyond me.
Hi Guy, I love strings with guitar and bass which one of those would fit in a band set up. Thanks.
Very nice! QUESTION: considering that different instrument sets may make different articulations available in different ways (e.g. different patches vs mod controller), how would one go about turning a composition produced using any of these instrument sets to an orchestral score that could be followed by a real orchestra? That seems like it could be a challenge, with a different approach needed for each different instrument set. Is there any known software solution for cracking this tough nut?
CineStrings Solo plus CSSS layered offers superb results. These are my go to's.
Thank you, this was awesome. Would be great to hear have you ever tested Emberton’s Joshua Bell solo violin? I love that thing but unfortunate bugs on UX side..
Next time....
I was looking at that Vasks strings collection thinking it was pretty cool, but omg it's perfect! 🤯😱
How is it possible to clip the Spitfire library by itself? How much CPU does it require? Thanks for the video.
Thank you ya crazy guru. You're epic!
Like the 8dio
come on Guy when you forget to record, just hit retrospective recording to bring it up, I'm sure I learned that in one of your previous videos, great review loved it going to watch it again
I d di o that all the time but it doesn’t always work
Love your energy. Infectious.
Peteris Vasks is really cool.
Hey Guy! I am likely to buy Cremona Quartet in the very near future, and in your video you show the library as $179.50, but on the webpage it asks for full price. Is there a special promotion going on? Has it ended already? If not, I would greatly appreciate you or a commenter posting a link to the discounted purchase. Cheers!
If you look closely at the top right corner of the video, you will notice that Guy recorded it end of June… And yes, at that time, NI‘s „Summer of Sound“ Sale was still in full swing, and most of their libraries were 50% off… (I think that sale ended around July 7th or so…)
I think that’s it
Darn, thank you both for taking the time to respond though!
i lihe so much , i'm italian, u so fast on speaking , but clear, great man . thanks for your videos
Scuzi - oggi sto a San Gemini vicino di Terni e fa affa!!! caldissima!
@@ThinkSpaceEducation ahah! Grandissimo Guy!
@@ThinkSpaceEducation oh oh , how nice , I live very close to terni and yes today is very hot
@@toyokenstudio
usually the heat drops the pressure, but I think the air conditioner is set very low
@Guy_Michelmore 🤝
I just bought the VSL solo strings I through the VI 50% sale. Hard to find any playthroughs!
I think I will love it between timbre and control oh my!
And the “old” VI player has roughly 1,000,000,000X the control of any player I’ve used like spitfire kontakt etc barely anything but dynamics and articualtioms
What would be the more CPU friendly of the lot?
Question Guy, how do these libraries actually handle the vibrato, is it generated by the programming or is it blending between vibrato and non vibrato samples. Asking cause many synths or romplers dependent on how you define it still today sadly often seems to be using fairly small samples with looping to create vibrato, witch is often a hit or miss if it fits into anything. either there is practically nothing or too much of it, and normal LFO style hardly ever produce a legit vibrato sound that sounds anything like a real musician other than for synth sounds. (wich is incredible when you think how cheap it is to throw a fairly big memory bank in instruments to be able to hold a reasonable good library of usable samples)
Check also Iconic Violin by Streamtech Music it was released two days ago. It has 21 articulations plus very smart performance samples. I think it's beautiful solo violin with top notch programming behind the samples which identify your playing style.
Hi Guy - really interesting to hear those side by side. Here's a thought - with the developments in synthesis technology,do you think we'll reach a point where it outdoes sample libraries? Maybe a vid...? 😊
Guy, have you tired using Leap Motion Controller as midi controller?
Hello Guy, what is this "Creator" app at 37:44 ?
What CC is the vibrato in CSS and CSB? I really want CSSS because obviously it blends with those well but also i know a game composer blending CSSS with Tokyo Scoring Strings, Which is the only other pro level string library i own. So they will be a good pair of libraries to have. It really has a nice sound with Tokyo Scoring. Very Anime sound. The Virharmics solo libraries are super nice too. I'd love to get those down the road some day. They coming out with a Viola any time now. I'm sure next will be the Bass.
Bohemian Violin and Cello are half price atm! Viola due soon.
what is that device on your keyboard at 13:03
Thank you, Guy. This is so helpful.... hmm, hearing these all back to back, and being a composer cloud subscriber, I realize that I probably have the worst sounding string library 😛 that's not a good realization. Unfortunately my wallet doesn't support my tastes 😄
"Unfortunately, my wallet doesn't support my tastes" can be applied to so many things in life... 😁
@@ThomsenTower 😁
Interesting video, thanks for making it. I'd echo others in suggesting Embertone's Joshua Bell Violin is a great one, too - easy to get a wonderful, convincing result with virtually no effort. Of course, that's just a single instrument, so it doesn't really fit into this video anyway. I'd also recommend the Chris Hein solo strings libraries as being pretty fantastic. They require a great deal of finessing to get the best result, but it can be worth the effort. I've played the cello for nearly 40 years, more than half of that in a professional string quartet, and the Chris Hein solo cello is the only one that actually fooled me in a blind listening test. On the subject of the Samplemodeling offerings... oh boy. I've seen so many people rave about their instruments, but they have never sounded even remotely realistic to me - to the point that I wonder if I (or they) have taken crazy pills. The level of control they offer is great, but the end result always sounds over-processed and unpleasant to me. Samplemodeling is to real instruments as Cheez Whiz is to real cheese. Different strokes, I guess.
So many solo strings libraries. I cannot imagine how many full string libraries you own! Which begs the question.....why are there so many string libraries?
Everyone needs strings! But yes there are a ridiculous number
Remember, the above reply "reach out" is nothing to do with Guy, its spam bot.
Ah! A lucky day in the shed; look at you glowing there in the sun!
Yes warming up nicely
Who cares about all these libraries?! I want that string quartet in the box! Hands-down the best ;)