# Beautiful Sable



## Stephen Rees (Jan 31, 2014)

I rarely post my own music, but having owned Sable for a month or so now I was moved to write a piece for it and upload it. It really is a beautiful, special library that has added a wonderful palette of sounds to my strings arsenal. I'm very grateful to have it, and also to all at the team at Spitfire for making it.

I have no idea how to do the sound cloud widget thing, so a simple link will have to suffice 

https://soundcloud.com/stephen-and-jenn ... -1/s-BNAoV

For anyone that listens, I hope you enjoy hearing it, and if you don't have Sable, I hope it gives you an idea of what just one articulation and microphone position (flautandos and the 'A' mic) has to offer.


----------



## AC986 (Jan 31, 2014)

Stephen I'm going to be harsh. :lol: 

The sound of the Sable flautando is really great when used like this.

But you could have done more under it and over it. For example, a pianist of your capability could have added a piano of an ethereal nature which IMO would have brought out the flautando even more, sort of as an offset so you have differing sounds that compliment and make them even more noticeable.

Nice piece though.


----------



## Stephen Rees (Jan 31, 2014)

Thanks Adrian. That wasn't harsh at all 

I'm supposed to be writing mischievous children's music at the moment. Why can't I ever stick to what I'm supposed to be doing? I'm never going to get paid.....


----------



## AC986 (Jan 31, 2014)

You should hear and play the flauntando cellos and violas in Mural. That combined with the con sords and Sable could be stunning.


----------



## Stephen Rees (Jan 31, 2014)

SilentBob @ Fri Jan 31 said:


> Wonderful tone, extremly impressive. I love the flautando-articulation in general, and the tone from Spitfire in particular. And I'm glad that it is a strings-only-piece. o/~
> 
> And yes, your piece gives me an idea what can be achieved with Sable. I love it. It's such a hard struggle to decide which library to choose, so great options. And every time I'm thought the decision is done I'm hearing a demo from another library and i think i will never be happy without it. Because of your piece one more point goes to Spitfire. :D
> 
> Thank you.



Thank you 

There are so many wonderful choices these days and it is hard to choose. I hope you make the choice that is right for you and that you enjoy making music with whatever library you decide on.


----------



## Stephen Rees (Jan 31, 2014)

adriancook @ Fri Jan 31 said:


> You should hear and play the flauntando cellos and violas in Mural. That combined with the con sords and Sable could be stunning.



I bet they are. I have to decide whether my next Spitfire purchase will be Sable Volume 3 or Mural Volume 1. I think my mischievous kids music might be more in need of Sable's fast legatos than Mural's symphonic beauty so that might just have to win out for now.

(Just listening to Bruckner 9 - Carlo Maria Giulini with the Vienna Phil. - awesome)


----------



## AC986 (Jan 31, 2014)

I have Sable 3 but can't remember what it is. :?:


----------



## Stephen Rees (Jan 31, 2014)

adriancook @ Fri Jan 31 said:


> I have Sable 3 but can't remember what it is. :?:



It is the 'additional articulations' volume as you well know  

I wonder if they will release Volume 3B with the Sable update in February....


----------



## AC986 (Jan 31, 2014)

I _really_ couldn't remember because I'm one of these guys that doesn't use that many articulations. Very few in fact. Or mic positions. I tend to load the the patches as a whole but I am now getting more into loading single brushes or tm patches, where you can adjust spicattos for example. 8)


----------



## givemenoughrope (Jan 31, 2014)

Stephen, 

This isn't a critique but maybe a request. i love the piece, the sound, everything is great. And it is a good plug for Sable which Ive been thinking about for ages it seems but keep putting off (still learning other string libraries). The only thing I'm thinking is that everything sounds just a bit static. I realize that it's a stylistic choice…but what would happen it you added a bit more dynamics…like, between every few chords or at the end of 'phrases' or what have you. It sorta happens a couple times at 1:53 and 1:58 and a bit in the 2nd part. I'm just curious what that would sound like…just for my own understanding of Sable. I'm not saying you need that musically, just want to hear how these patched 'breathe'. I'm not expecting you to do this obviously but if you have time. Either way, thanks for this. Sounds great.


----------



## Stephen Rees (Feb 1, 2014)

givemenoughrope @ Fri Jan 31 said:


> Stephen,
> 
> This isn't a critique but maybe a request. i love the piece, the sound, everything is great. And it is a good plug for Sable which Ive been thinking about for ages it seems but keep putting off (still learning other string libraries). The only thing I'm thinking is that everything sounds just a bit static. I realize that it's a stylistic choice…but what would happen it you added a bit more dynamics…like, between every few chords or at the end of 'phrases' or what have you. It sorta happens a couple times at 1:53 and 1:58 and a bit in the 2nd part. I'm just curious what that would sound like…just for my own understanding of Sable. I'm not saying you need that musically, just want to hear how these patched 'breathe'. I'm not expecting you to do this obviously but if you have time. Either way, thanks for this. Sounds great.



Thank you 

You are quite right, the piece is static. I have actually sequenced it in a very un-strings way by playing in all the lines simultaneously at the keyboard whilst using an expression pedal, so in the performance the same cc data is being applied to each line which I then tweaked a bit afterwards. I should really have recorded each line separately which would not only allow it to breathe more, but would have allowed me to bring out the moving melodic lines a little more from the chordal texture.

I won't have an opportunity to redo it for a while for which I apologise (mischievous children's music beckons), but I'm confident a more skilled strings writer and sequencer than me could make these strings really breathe in the way you would be satisfied with. I'm really a novice when it comes to this kind of strings writing, so I hope it shows that even people like me can get acceptable results with Sable.

The other thing I did was use the 'transposition trick' to layer three sets of each section, so you are hearing three sets of Violins 1, Violins 2, Violas, Cellos.

Thanks again for listening, and your kind words.


----------



## TGV (Feb 1, 2014)

Very nice. The louder part is indeed a bit synthy, and that part doesn't work very well for me, but the whole piece is a gloriously sounding celebration of tranquility. Ending could have been a few seconds longer, just to bask in that lovely tone.


----------



## Stephen Rees (Feb 1, 2014)

TGV @ Sat Feb 01 said:


> Very nice. The louder part is indeed a bit synthy, and that part doesn't work very well for me, but the whole piece is a gloriously sounding celebration of tranquility. Ending could have been a few seconds longer, just to bask in that lovely tone.



Thanks very much.

Certainly don't judge the library on the 'synth' bit. That would be a combination of my inexperience and the fact that the soundcloud audio compression degrades the tone somewhat. Sable sounds much nicer 'in the flesh'


----------



## TSU (Feb 1, 2014)

The bottom dynamic layer of the sustains is very similar to flautando in Sable.
So I suggest to use sustains where dynamic changes are needed. (Or better legato with speed set to 0)
From the bottom to the middle layer in the louder part.
I just think that "synthy" feeling reason is the static dynamic.

Great piece by the way


----------



## Stephen Rees (Feb 1, 2014)

TSU @ Sat Feb 01 said:


> The bottom dynamic layer of the sustains is very similar to flautando in Sable.
> So I suggest to use sustains where dynamic changes are needed.
> From the bottom to the middle layer in the louder part.
> 
> Great piece by the way



Thank you, and thanks for that idea. Much appreciated! I will give it a try


----------



## Mahlon (Feb 1, 2014)

I agree that the only thing sounding synthy (if you can even say that at all about this piece) is the style. The sound of the strings themselves is really impressive and beautiful.

M.


----------



## Stephen Rees (Feb 2, 2014)

Mahlon @ Sat Feb 01 said:


> I agree that the only thing sounding synthy (if you can even say that at all about this piece) is the style. The sound of the strings themselves is really impressive and beautiful.
> 
> M.



Thanks for listening and your comment Mahlon.

The strings are indeed beautiful, particularly when used for divisi writing (the con sords are also fabulous - I've always wanted to get that 'hushed awe' sound you get in Vaughan Williams sometimes - like in the Romanza movement of the 5th Symphony, and the Sable con sords delivers that kind of sound beautifully - fantastic).


----------



## germancomponist (Feb 2, 2014)

Mahlon @ Sat Feb 01 said:


> I agree that the only thing sounding synthy (if you can even say that at all about this piece) is the style. The sound of the strings themselves is really impressive and beautiful.
> 
> M.



Exactly!

A great example of how good this strings sound is!

Thanks for sharing, Stephen!


----------



## Stephen Rees (Feb 2, 2014)

germancomponist @ Sun Feb 02 said:


> Mahlon @ Sat Feb 01 said:
> 
> 
> > I agree that the only thing sounding synthy (if you can even say that at all about this piece) is the style. The sound of the strings themselves is really impressive and beautiful.
> ...



You are welcome, and thanks very much Gunther


----------



## Saxer (Feb 2, 2014)

hey, beautiful peace... i actually like the static element. the slow build up is very effective!


----------



## dannthr (Feb 2, 2014)

I really enjoyed this, thanks for posting!


----------



## Stephen Rees (Feb 3, 2014)

Thanks to you both Saxer and Dan. Much appreciated


----------



## aaronnt1 (Feb 4, 2014)

Lovely piece, the simpleness allows one to bask in the tranquillity and of it all. Nicely chosen chords. I don't have Sable yet but these types of demos make me inch closer and closer!


----------



## Stephen Rees (Feb 4, 2014)

Thanks for listening and taking the time to comment Aaron. I wanted the piece to speak very directly and simply, so I'm delighted you enjoyed that aspect of it


----------

