# SSS 100% Vibrato Out Of The Box



## PaulieDC (Jun 2, 2020)

Not sure what question I have... I bought SSS in the sale, already have SCS which I'm bonkers about, I can load an ensembles patch and just play the garner ideas and its great. With SSS, out of the box the patches sound like they're going through a Leslie speaker because Vibrato starts out at 100%, at least in some of the patches I'm trying. 

When Spitfire or anyone else makes a default patch, it's initially something they like that you can use, so is that much vibrato expected in a Symphonic patch? If not, what do y'all cut it down to as a start? I'm knocking it down to under 20% then sliding it up as needed on my FaderPort 8. I know this is a weird thing to bring up, because I can set Vibrato wherever I like, but I'm still trying to discover best practices... so is 100% Vibrato simply where the software starts and you're expect to change it before you start, or is SSS supposed to sound like it's under water with every note?


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## jbuhler (Jun 2, 2020)

I think most SF products ship with vibrato all the way up. (Those instruments that have it.) It's the first thing I change. Along with the regular vib, SSS has molto vib when turned all the way up, so it's especially prominent.


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## Vik (Jun 2, 2020)

In presets with only two vibrato levels, it makes sense – in my opinion – to have the default to vibrato instead of no vibrato, because strings are more commonly used with some vibrato than no vibrato at all – and some presets unfortunately only offer no vibrato or a lot of it. Some libs (like SSS, Berlin Strings and Soaring Strings) have a very intense vibrato at the full vib level, while with some other libraries (like Afflatus), one will rarely find that it's too 'molto', or even miss a way to reach that level when needed. 

I often find myself thinking that all string libraries ideally should come with four vibrato levels, or - if they ship with only three, skip the no vib layer. Two vibrato levels is usually a no-no for me.


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## JohnG (Jun 2, 2020)

I turn the vibrato down / off most of the time. cc21


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## constaneum (Jun 2, 2020)

Vik said:


> In presets with only two vibrato levels, it makes sense – in my opinion – to have the default to vibrato instead of no vibrato, because strings are more commonly used with some vibrato than no vibrato at all – and some presets unfortunately only offer no vibrato or a lot of it. Some libs (like SSS, Berlin Strings and Soaring Strings) have a very intense vibrato at the full vib level, while with some other libraries (like Afflatus), one will rarely find that it's too 'molto', or even miss a way to reach that level when needed.
> 
> I often find myself thinking that all string libraries ideally should come with four vibrato levels, or - if they ship with only three, skip the no vib layer. Two vibrato levels is usually a no-no for me.



4 ? It's good to have at least 3 for a start. i dont like the way the turn on and off for vibrato. just like CSS.


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## LamaRose (Jun 2, 2020)

JohnG said:


> I turn the vibrato down / off most of the time. cc21


 
Do you use a breath controller? Whenever this tech is broached on the forums, it seems to get glowing reviews, and yet, it also seems to get lost in the conversation more often than not.


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## JohnG (Jun 2, 2020)

LamaRose said:


> Do you use a breath controller? Whenever this tech is broached on the forums, it seems to get glowing reviews, and yet, it also seems to get lost in the conversation more often than not.


I use a slider. Breath control might be a good idea but much of the time I ask strings to play senza vibrato anyway.


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## PaulieDC (Jun 2, 2020)

JohnG said:


> I turn the vibrato down / off most of the time. cc21


Thanks All! Very helpful!

John, that's what I needed to hear. One day I'll look back and think "why did I think I was doing something wrong turning that off" lol! I do have it mapped now to one of the faders on my FaderPort.


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## Vik (Jun 3, 2020)

constaneum said:


> 4 ? It's good to have at least 3 for a start.


Several libraries have 3 vibrato levels already: no vibrato, some vibrato and a full molto vibrato. No vibrato is important – I happen to not need it that often, but some/many do. Some/a lot of vibrato is needed too, but I often miss something between mild/medium vibrato and very intense vibrato. The string libraries that have no dedicated vibrato control allows you to change vibrato levels by crossfading between dynamic layers of course, but what I miss is more detailed control. There have been some major releases in the history of string libraries, where users got more control over details or where we simply got a lot more for the money than we used to do (CSS, Berlin Strings and SCS are all examples of such libraries), but I'm sure there will be a next step - both in terms of price/performance and in terms of having 'more of everything': more dynamic layers than the very common two or three (4 or 5 dyn. layers should be the new 'standard' IMHO, more detailed vibrato control, more control of which layers to disable when needed, at least four attack types etc. 

Instead of keep buying new string libraries (several VI-C users have claimed that they have bought a more than they need), maybe our money would be better spent if we bought fewer, probably more expensive, but way more flexible than most of those who exist today. I'd gladly replace a few of my best libraries with one that did all these things, combined with being expressive, have a nice tone and enough manual control of the things we often want to tweak.


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