# 'Fate' - A Short composition with Berlin Strings



## Tanuj Tiku (Apr 20, 2014)

Today I got some time to test Berlin Strings out on its own in the form of a short composition. 

Even though I have faced some problems with BS (Pre-update - haven't downloaded it yet), I still like some things is does and does it quite well. 

Just wanted to share this little piece of music I did. I had to add some reverb on top to mask the releases and make it sound a little bit more lush. 

Minimal EQ on a couple of tracks and some saturation with width enhancement. 

Basic stuff. 



Link: https://soundcloud.com/tanujtiku/fate




Tanuj.


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## dryano (Apr 20, 2014)

Now Tanuj, after creating something sounding like this, tell us right in our faces, that you ever want to go back to VSL strings again. This is just worlds ahead from anything VSL samples are able to do.


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## Tanuj Tiku (Apr 20, 2014)

dryano,

Hahaha! What you say is absolutely true in that VSL cannot do what I have been able to do with this particular piece of music. BS absolutely sounds superior for this kind of writing. 

However, BS comes with its own problems and I am still finding much use for VSL even after getting Albion II and III which are not really comparable but you get the point. 

I am open to new libraries and sounds as anyone should be and I have indeed been on a buying spree past 6 months. I am learning quickly about different libraries and for some things I do not touch VSL at times because simply it cannot do what other libraries can - for example, Albion Sordinos - they are the best I have heard so far. Neither BS nor VSL can pull that sound off. 

What I like about BS:

1. For slower lush passages, it sounds the best of all libraries I have heard so far. The legatos for slow to medium legato type writing is very good and beautiful. Very fluid. Some tweaks may be required. 

2. It has an edgy and lively sound (not as edgy as LASS which I sometimes do not like). 

3. It sounds like a string section without much noodling with EQ and/or reverb etc. 

4. It saves me to load 7 reverbs to make VSL work with a lot of other special processing - saving considerable amount of CPU power. 

5. Mod Wheel responds very well - better than Spitfire Albion II and III for me anyway and there is a dynamic range slider. 

6. Accents on legatos!

What I don't like about BS:

1. It is a monster and will very quickly use up a lot of your RAM and it takes much longer to load patches even from an SSD. Slowest loading times compared to any library I own. 

2. There are a lot of bugs which have been discussed at length elsewhere. The library is not consistent. 

3. Shorts are just not good enough for me. They just don't sound very good to me and I seriously cannot hear 24 RR. 

4. The library over all can sound a bit thin. The Celli and Bass lack that low end that is present in most other libraries. Phenomenal mids though. 

5. Faster legatos do not seem to be working very well as of version 1.0 with many drop outs.

6. No option to time stretch any samples and the mic blending is not always working for me. I have had absolutely no use of surround mics because of drop outs. Its better to put a reverb on top - not a major issue if you look at it like that. 

7. Some of the included articulations are not making much sense to me as of now. But I need to dig in deeper. I cannot seem to find any use for them. 


I am sure I have missed a point or two but these are my over all thoughts about it. So as you can see while BS does some things really well, it is not in its current form a complete string library that can replace VSL for me. 


Thanks for checking out the track!


Tanuj.


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## maestro2be (Apr 20, 2014)

Tanuj,

That is a gorgeous sound. Beautiful mix and music. After 15 seconds when the music went soaring into the upper register I was very convinced by the sound. Much more so than I normally am with samples.

I would sure love to hear how Sable and 8Dio strings could do on that song as well. They have a very similar sound quality to 8DIO to me. Although I am not happy with the basses of the 8DIO library. This music sounds much more full.

I am very impressed and convinced for this type of slow music they are a great match. I was even happy with the sound of the slurs between most notes.

Job well done.

Maestro2be


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