# Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- NV-Vib Quicktime Demo Added



## Synesthesia (Oct 13, 2011)

Friends,

We chaps at Spitfire are delighted to announce *SOLO STRINGS* - our forthcoming library of three extraordinary soloists recorded in the wonderful Air Studios in London.

The library will release on Nov 14th. You will need the full version of Kontakt 4 to use the library, which will be watermarked to protect your investment.

The ethos of this library is to provide a tool for sketching out Soloist lines, for adding detail to your existing libs, and with an absolute minimum of fuss, to get a superb sound out of the box.

To that end, we have carefully selected the most useful articulations, and recorded them in two ways, the legato patches have a single mixed mic balance, with a control to allow you to vary the size of the Hall reverb tails. The reason for this is that solo strings legato with multiple mics in our experience, is not with our current technology controllable enough for us to guarantee a perfect sound whatever mix you choose. 

However, outside of legato, we have multimic patches with three user controllable mic positions, so that you can still have a lot of control over the sound you want.

In short, a very useful addition to any composer's toolkit, with the sound and passion of world class players in a great studio.

The price is £179 RRP *discounted for the preorder period to £139* (plus VAT if you are in Europe.)

Demos will come over the next few weeks, for now we are still busy refining and making things perfect, but we wanted to give plenty of time for our clients to plan their preorder purchase.

Go to our website http://www.spitfireaudio.com/spitfire-solo-strings.html (here) and scroll down to preorder.

Here are some more details about the articulations. We have enough material to construct separate Violin 2 patches as well, which we will be working on prior to release.


*Violin*: (Andrew Haveron)

3x True legato: Slurred, Bowed & Portamento
Longs MV
Longs V
Longs NV
Spiccato RR x4
Staccato RR x4
Pizzicato RRx4
Harmonics long
Harmonics short RR x4

*Viola*: (Bruce White)

2x True legato: Slurred & Portamento
Longs MV
Longs NV
Spiccato RR x4
Staccato RR x4


'*Cello*: (Caroline Dale)

3x True legato: Slurred, Bowed & Portamento
Longs MV
Longs V
Longs NV
Spiccato RR x4
Pizzicato RRx4
Harmonics long
Harmonics short RR x4


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## noiseboyuk (Oct 13, 2011)

Wow, fantastic!!!!

And cue the barrage of questions!

Will there be a away of integrating the legatos (bowed, portamento and slurred) on a single patch based on key velocity a la LASS? If so, then I'm definitely in (as opposed to merely very probably in).


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## Andy B (Oct 13, 2011)

noiseboyuk @ Thu Oct 13 said:


> Wow, fantastic!!!!
> 
> And cue the barrage of questions!
> 
> Will there be a away of integrating the legatos (bowed, portamento and slurred) on a single patch based on key velocity a la LASS? If so, then I'm definitely in (as opposed to merely very probably in).



Hi Guy,

Yes that's already implemented and velocity controlled.

Thanks,

Andy.


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## Synesthesia (Oct 13, 2011)

Hi Guy,

Yes - that is how they work: lowest vel is portamento, medium range is fingered and highest range is bowed.

Thanks!

Paul

edit: whoops! Andy beat me to it,


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## noiseboyuk (Oct 13, 2011)

Synesthesia @ Thu Oct 13 said:


> Hi Guy,
> 
> Yes - that is how they work: lowest vel is portamento, medium range is fingered and highest range is bowed.
> 
> ...



....and pre-ordered. Thanks guys!


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## noiseboyuk (Oct 13, 2011)

Oh, the next question... from the same patch is it possible to cross from NV through to V?


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## Synesthesia (Oct 13, 2011)

We are testing three different ways of switching/fading between nv and v: all I can say is watch this space, we'll announce the best solution in due course!


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## Stephen Baysted (Oct 13, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- preorder now!*

Pre-ordered.


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## dedersen (Oct 13, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- preorder now!*

Judging by the short demo you posted a while back, I think I will find it very difficult not to pick this one up on pre-order, especially since the price is so relatively low.


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## noiseboyuk (Oct 13, 2011)

Synesthesia @ Thu Oct 13 said:


> We are testing three different ways of switching/fading between nv and v: all I can say is watch this space, we'll announce the best solution in due course!



Good stuff, really looking forward to this one. Playable solo strings are the biggest orchestral black hole for me - LASS FC does as good a job as it can, but really solo parts are out of its remit, and other solutions involving 39 keyswitches are unappealing. A very timely release.


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## Ed (Oct 13, 2011)

This sounds great!! Whats the dynamics like ?


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## Simon Ravn (Oct 13, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- preorder now!*

Awesome news, guys! And I might need this for my current project, to do more convincing solo strings mockups. What's the ETA, if there is one?


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## zvenx (Oct 13, 2011)

"
The library will release on Nov 14th. ....."

rsp


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## Synesthesia (Oct 13, 2011)

It varies.. most of the longs have two, some have three.

We found that with careful and intelligent programming you can reduce the system overhead while maintaining a very wide dynamic range.

As we all know - crossover points in solo strings are particularly problematic and need careful attention in programming.

The patches have a wide dynamic range and can go from whisper to full tilt.


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## zvenx (Oct 13, 2011)

curious is their controllable vibrato? Have always been curious how come developers don't map aftertouch to vibrato or something like that (there may libraries that do it that I dont' know about)
rsp


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## Pzy-Clone (Oct 13, 2011)

Great news!

Altho i don`t grasp the logic that dicates that Violas don`t have Pizzicato and the Celli has no Staccato?

Anyway, it all looks very good, ...are the longs the same as the sustained part of the legato patches, or entirely different samples?


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## Ed (Oct 13, 2011)

ooh Ill no doubt get this but would love to hear how soft and intimate it can go when you guys do demos!


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## zacnelson (Oct 13, 2011)

Can we use a spitfire voucher towards this purchase? I have one from my last spitfire purchase. I'm so pleased that the portamento/legato is velocity controlled, that was my first question but others got in before me! Also, I'd love to know about the vibrato question raised by someone a few posts above.


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## jamwerks (Oct 13, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- preorder now!*

Hi Paul, Hope to preorder.

Sorry for my mumbling, but why no pizz for the Violas? I just don't get it why 80% complete libraries exist. :shock: 

You're working on a piece, creatively moving forward, the ideas are coming together, only to realize, oops I can't do that, my violas can't pizz >8o 

True your price is reasonable. Maybe you will do a "Pro" expansion once the money if flowing in? I'd love to buy into the Spitfire line even on a long term basis, and I don't mind spending money. But the articulations need to be there.

Seems like VSL are the only one's who do fairly complete articulation set (but they forgot the complete mic positions!). :mrgreen:


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## Maximvs (Oct 13, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- preorder now!*

This is a great news, finally my wishes to see a solo string library after a long time have been heard

Unfortunately this solo library treat the Viola like a second class citizen... in other words, why don't you include the pizzicato and harmonics samples for this instrument?

Please, please, please make this library a complete one this time and add this important articulations so we don't need to wait for a future update.

Sorry Spitfire but unless you add these much needed viola articulations I am not going to pre-order this time...


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## ysnyvz (Oct 13, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- preorder now!*

dear Bruce White play some pizz notes,please :mrgreen:


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## FriFlo (Oct 13, 2011)

> curious is their controllable vibrato? Have always been curious how come developers don't map aftertouch to vibrato or something like that (there may libraries that do it that I dont' know about)
> rsp


That is exactly, what I wonder, too. There actually is no solo instrument library that makes any crossfades, either Vib-NonVib, nor pp-FF, sound realistic. There are some that do it justice, but mixed "in your face", little or no background tracks. I haven't heared a single convincing library. Sample Modeling is coming very close IMO, but no strings ... 
I don't really know, how Sample Modeling does it, but from what I understand it is with convolution and modulation of samples.
Maybe Kontakts AET would be an option?


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## Udo (Oct 13, 2011)

zacnelson @ Fri Oct 14 said:


> Can we use a spitfire voucher towards this purchase? I have one from my last spitfire purchase.


Yes.
"We are delighted to offer you 25% off *any* purchase(s) from our commercial range ...."

...but you'll get more benefits if you apply it to something more expensive, e.g. Spitfire Percussion


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## dedersen (Oct 14, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- preorder now!*

Ooh. Just noticed the lack of staccato on the Cello. That's a bit of a letdown. Any reason for not including these (and pizz on the Viola)? Besides the obvious, such as time constraints.


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## Pedro Camacho (Oct 14, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- preorder now!*



Synesthesia @ Thu Oct 13 said:


> *Viola*: (Bruce White)
> 
> 2x True legato: Slurred & Portamento
> Longs MV
> ...



No Pizzicatos here! :(

Anyway preordered


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## Scrianinoff (Oct 14, 2011)

Udo @ Fri 14 Oct said:


> zacnelson @ Fri Oct 14 said:
> 
> 
> > Can we use a spitfire voucher towards this purchase? I have one from my last spitfire purchase.
> ...



This was in the e-mail that Spitfire sent after my order of Albion:
"We are delighted to offer you 25% off any purchase(s) from our commercial range (currently includes Harp and Percussion) - just select the item(s) you want in your basket and then use this discount code"

Am I foolish to understand that this means that the 25% discount is applied to all the item*s* in your basket?

Edit: Since I don't have Spitfire's percussion and harp yet (talk about foolish!), that will be a considerable discount. Now where's my credit card


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## Synesthesia (Oct 14, 2011)

That's right you can use it for the whole basket!

Guys, we will add pizz on the Viola. 

It will have to wait until our next day in Air so it will be a free update after Xmas.


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## dfhagai (Oct 14, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- preorder now!*

Are trems & Trills on the menu to?


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## zvenx (Oct 14, 2011)

Or Cello Staccatos?

thanks
rsp


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## Synesthesia (Oct 14, 2011)

No, fraid not. 

Unless you want us to triple the price. 

:D


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## ysnyvz (Oct 14, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- preorder now!*

why not?
double or triple articulations and price (same thing for Albion)
may be an upgrade version?

ps. i voted for Albion in Sound on Sound Awards
http://www.sosawards.com/vote-2012


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## Malo (Oct 14, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- preorder now!*

I'll gladly pay for the thrill of trills, tremolos and cello pizz. Please consider a payed upgrade for those "missing" articulations.


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## zacnelson (Oct 14, 2011)

Woohoo! I might get the harp at the same time... how do I hide the credit card transaction from my wife.... mmmm (strokes chin thoughtfully)


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## Pzy-Clone (Oct 14, 2011)

Synesthesia @ Fri Oct 14 said:


> No, fraid not.
> 
> Unless you want us to triple the price.
> 
> :D



yes...absolutely i would pay 3 times as much for a far more extensive articulation list, really..consider expanding this in the future, if it lives up to it`s expectations...i think quite a few people would be willing to do so as well. 
It would still be relatively inexpensive!


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## Danny_Owen (Oct 14, 2011)

From the missing articulations (which I really do find bizarre), it really looks like this library is targeted specifically for nice lyrical stuff- as such I'll wait to hear demos of things in that vein before making up my mind, and I think if I did purchase it I'd not be expecting to do anything more than lyrical stuff. If, however it is very good at that kind of thing I'd certainly consider it worth investing in- to be honest, I would very very rarely use these solo instruments for anything other than lyrical things, so keeping the price down would be good for me if going back into the studio would double or triple the cost.

I do think the cello staccs should be included though I have to say.

Please record the triangle at your next Air Session!!!


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## mpalenik (Oct 14, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- preorder now!*

Looks really cool--I want to hear some demos before committing to order, though. It's a shame about the missing articulations, but for certain articulations, like staccatos, the Kirk Hunter solo strings library I have is ok, so maybe it won't be too much of an issue.


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## Andy B (Oct 14, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- preorder now!*

Just to let you know that more demos will be coming but, for those of you who missed it the first time, here's the quick teaser demo we posted before:

http://www.vi-control.net/forum/viewtop ... sc&start=0

Thanks,

Andy.


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## Udo (Oct 14, 2011)

Scrianinoff @ Fri Oct 14 said:


> Udo @ Fri 14 Oct said:
> 
> 
> > zacnelson @ Fri Oct 14 said:
> ...


Yes, sorry, I meant add items to your basket and so increase the value of the discount.


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## Diffusor (Oct 14, 2011)

Can we get some more demos up before the preorder ends?


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## noiseboyuk (Oct 14, 2011)

Diffusor @ Sat Oct 15 said:


> Can we get some more demos up before the preorder ends?



In the OP it's said that there will be more demos coming "over the next few weeks", so I'd say that's a "yes".


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## marcotronic (Oct 16, 2011)

Although those solo strings sound pretty awesome I prefer to get the promised fixes/update for Albion and the Triangel in Percussion first before I invest in another Spitfire product 

Thanks
Marco


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## british_bpm (Oct 16, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- preorder now!*

Hi Guys,

Christian from Spitfire here.

With apologies for the essay-let in advance, I thought I'd bring this board up-to-date with our methods for those who haven't been part of the Spitfire family for long. But to also explain away some of the very valid questions and critiques posted herein. 

When developing a new library we feel it absolutely necessary to keep the production process open through alpha stages and into it's initial release. That doesn't mean that the libraries we release are beta, but are very much "living libraries" which we hope to improve and develop over time.

This has allowed us to return to the hall to correct lessons learned across the entire orchestral range. It allows us to release libraries early to garner your feedback and take onboard your requests. Whilst we are working composers ourselves and think we have a fairly good idea of what we want, we're not arrogant enough to dictate this to you, so we really really do take onboard everything you suggest here or direct to us via our site. We understand that these tools take a while to "bed-in" to our palettes and the only way of really testing their worth is over a period of time and in "anger".

Paul released the Small Strings articulations list early so you guys would know what would be available in v1.0. This is of course short in a few respects and once we have formed a consensus on what everyone wants we will of course return to the hall for further production (we have already done much more production work on Albion for example). We totally respect people not wanting to buy a library that's 95% done, but really welcome those who do, who want to get their hands on this stuff early and be involved in it's chrysalis. We're a small company, and we do consider our user-base as part of a family, we don't want to dictate how you guys work and we don't want to spend 4 years developing something no-one wants! Some of the suggestions made for us to make the solo strings more pro-end both in features and in price-point is very flattering. But the addition of a "fuller" feature-set has an exponential effect on costs, yes in production, but, especially in distribution. But more importantly, it is our experience that a higher price-point hits the number of willing and able users exponentially in an earthward direction. This is why the price-points for our bespoke range are so radically different both within the range and by comparison to our commercial modules. If we were to do what has been understandably suggested by some of the posters on this forum, as Paul has already stated, you're not only likely to triple the price, but we won't have this done, ncv'd and beta tested by Native Instruments (big production queues) until summer next year. The articulation list published has taken 9 months to edit alone! (love d'em mic positions) So for me, a low price-point and available in a month's time, simply available via download with watermarks from our site, vs something triple the price available next summer? I'll leave the trills for now!

We don't like sending out millions of updates, as a busy composer I never seem to have time to do these (which is why my main-rig is still on Albion Betas! you're all more up-to-date than me!) So we make sure every update is either vital or meaningful. Percussion updates? We're on it. Albion updates? Wait to you see what we've got up our sleeves! They are part of a workflow from production to distribution and are placed in order of what we deem to be a possibility cost-wise, important and meaningful which is why it may sometimes seem a little out-of-sync, or indeed at odds with the wishes and desires of individuals.

Finally, and especially in respect of Solo Strings. We are in the business of providing composers with compositional tools. We know what it's like to be at the coal-face and base (and sometimes name) our products primarily and initially on the needs we face on a work-day to work-day basis. Which is why we design tools that are easy, effective and quick to use out of the (virtual) box. We are not trying to put musicians out of work and indeed feel that Spitfire is an excellent show-case of British talents. In addition to this, our comparatively - new commercial range is designed to work on a variety of rig strengths and at a price-point that everyone can enjoy. Solo strings is the biggest challenge we have faced, it's really really difficult to get this stuff right, whilst finding a balance between ease-of-use, cost and believability. For me, solo strings will be a tool that I will use quickly and easily to demonstrate to directors with view to hopefully booking real players (and if available the same players!) to replace them. Again, my position is; spending two days finely tweaking a massively complicated 40 key-switched, 8 controller, cpu hog of a fiddle (pun intended) patch, on a PC the size of something they'd use in Cerne, into submission is a false economy. It's not only a waste of time, but for me, it's just not an inspiring, expressive or spontaneous way to work (herein lies the original kernel behind Albion's Ostinatum). So here's me, a recovering musician myself hoping you guys do the same wherever possible. We all know the big Wagnerian orchestral line-up is beyond most of our reach, but there's always an amazing pro-fiddle player but a phone call away or even a willing brilliant student. Our entire library is designed to support and promote musicians and the wonderful magic they bring to our music, and if we get it right, to improve the music we write for them.

I hope these thoughts are helpful and thank everyone again for your enormous support and feedback. Paul and I started this thing up being composers who didn't like what was out there for us, we're so proud that everyone seems to enjoy and "get" our approach too and I hope this little essay clarifies our techniques and approaches further.

Thanks for taking the time to read it.

Oh... and thanks to the dozens of you who have already pre-ordered Small Strings, it fills us all with a combination of pride and fear that you put so much faith in us. But most of all lights the necessary candles under our posteriors at the most difficult and tiring stage of development. We hope you'll all be happy with your investment.

Best.

Christian Henson, Director - Spitfire Audio LLP


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## eschroder (Oct 16, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- preorder now!*

Amen! Loved and agreed with everything you said.

Very much looking forward to this library.


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## bsound76 (Oct 16, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- preorder now!*

Great post, Christian. Thanks for taking the time to write it.


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## dedersen (Oct 17, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- preorder now!*

Yeah, excellent post, and a great approach to sample library development! I'm anxious to hear more about the Albion updates, I'm finding myself using that wonderful library more and more lately.


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## noiseboyuk (Oct 17, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- preorder now!*

Thanks Christian, yes indeed an excellent post. It has taken me quite a long time to work out that I really don't want the 40 keyswitches in a VI, thank you! I value your approach.

The Small Strings product I think is especially conducive to encouraging musicians. It's within the realm of a lot more budgets to hire a handful of solo players than it is to hire a full concert orchestra. Since solo parts tend to be the most expressive and therefore difficult to capture by conventional techniques, there is an obvious link to be made with regard to the ultimate aspiration of the product. Short of some new technique completely, can we really expect it to make every conceivable part sound as perfect as Hilary Hahn? I don't think its defeatist to admit that your product will never be as good as the real thing - I was always struck by Andrew K's introduction to LASS (which, on release, was incredibly pioneering with its use of divisi in particular) when he stressed exactly the same thing. It tends to be the hallmark of an honest developer, imho.

We all want the impossible - perfection on a single easy-to-play pass where we somehow control every note and nuance - and our buying choices I guess tend to be dictated by what compromises we are most comfortable with. I like your philosophy very much, I'm really glad to be supporting this product - cheers.


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## Stephen Rees (Oct 17, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- preorder now!*

Do you know roughly how big the final product download will be?

Stephen


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## british_bpm (Oct 17, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- preorder now!*



Stephen Rees @ Mon Oct 17 said:


> Do you know roughly how big the final product download will be?
> 
> Stephen



Hi Stephen it's really too early to say as the team are trying to make the library have as much functionality available in V1.0.

We would have known by now on Albion as we had to send the module away to Native Instruments for 6 weeks, on this library, the minute it's done, it'll be out of the doors and onto your drives!

May be worth checking back here from time to time for updates:

http://www.spitfireaudio.com/solo-strings-production-notes.html

...and of-course any important announcements we'll place here.

C.


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## Stephen Rees (Oct 17, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- preorder now!*

Thanks for the quick reply Christian.

Will keep my eyes peeled for news.

All the best,

Stephen


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## Ned Bouhalassa (Oct 17, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- preorder now!*

Thanks for the excellent post, Christian!


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## Pedro Camacho (Oct 17, 2011)

Synesthesia @ Fri Oct 14 said:


> Guys, we will add pizz on the Viola.
> 
> It will have to wait until our next day in Air so it will be a free update after Xmas.



Paul = 0oD 
Thanks!!!


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## mpalenik (Oct 17, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- preorder now!*



Andy B @ Fri Oct 14 said:


> Just to let you know that more demos will be coming but, for those of you who missed it the first time, here's the quick teaser demo we posted before:
> 
> http://www.vi-control.net/forum/viewtop ... sc&start=0
> 
> ...



I did miss that the first time and it sounds great. I still want to hear more demos before buying but I'm having a hard time restraining myself. I might just click buy by the end of the day either way because I've been wanting to something like this for a while now.


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## Diffusor (Oct 17, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- preorder now!*



mpalenik @ Mon Oct 17 said:


> Andy B @ Fri Oct 14 said:
> 
> 
> > Just to let you know that more demos will be coming but, for those of you who missed it the first time, here's the quick teaser demo we posted before:
> ...



Do it man! You know you want to. I'd do it if I were you.


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## TheUnfinished (Oct 18, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- preorder now!*

Great stuff. Looking forward to hearing more demos before I inevitably push the button!


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## shakuman (Oct 18, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- preorder now!*



TheUnfinished @ Tue Oct 18 said:


> Great stuff. Looking forward to hearing more demos before I inevitably push the button!



+1....Please Paul more demos o/~ 

Shakuman.


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## Rob Elliott (Oct 18, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- preorder now!*

Vln 2 (built from the Vln 1 recordings) - good enough I am sure

Va's pizz - great

Vc staccs/spiccs (I'd pay for those. Adding what should be real solo Vc 'grit' to existing Vc section - staccs/spiccs - would be VERY useful.) Most Vc string sections available are way to 'wall o sound' and 'sloppy' to pull off aggressive low end agitato. Solo strings added and mix to taste really sell this.


Great niche to supply Paul and Andy! Will preorder soon.


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## Andy B (Oct 18, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- preorder now!*



Rob Elliott @ Tue Oct 18 said:


> Vc staccs/spiccs (I'd pay for those. Adding what should be real solo Vc 'grit' to existing Vc section - staccs/spiccs - would be VERY useful.) Most Vc string sections available are way to 'wall o sound' and 'sloppy' to pull off aggressive low end agitato. Solo strings added and mix to taste really sell this.



Hi Rob,

Just to let you know that we have got spiccs for the VC but not staccs.

Thanks,

Andy.


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## Rob Elliott (Oct 18, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- preorder now!*



Andy B @ Tue Oct 18 said:


> Rob Elliott @ Tue Oct 18 said:
> 
> 
> > Vc staccs/spiccs (I'd pay for those. Adding what should be real solo Vc 'grit' to existing Vc section - staccs/spiccs - would be VERY useful.) Most Vc string sections available are way to 'wall o sound' and 'sloppy' to pull off aggressive low end agitato. Solo strings added and mix to taste really sell this.
> ...



Sorry I missed that. You picked the right one to have. IMHO. :D


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## Mariatchy (Oct 18, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- preorder now!*

I have pre-ordered and used my discount voucher I received from purchasing Albion and was pleased to have a final payment of £125.10 (tax included), nice price. I look forward to the release :D


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## Andy B (Oct 18, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- preorder now!*



Rob Elliott @ Tue Oct 18 said:


> Andy B @ Tue Oct 18 said:
> 
> 
> > Hi Rob,
> ...




I agree. I always get a lot more milage out of my spiccs than staccs but I'm not about to start telling people what they should and shouldn't use... >8o 

Andy.


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## Apina (Oct 18, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- preorder now!*

A while ago I decided I will not to buy any more libraries this year. Well, I just pre ordered Solo Strings. Just couldn't resist. I've been using Albion a couple of months now and there is something very appealing about that library. Maybe it's the players, or that Lyndhurst hall, but somehow I seems to fit very well in everything I do, even with it's current limitations. I expect Solo Strings to be (at least) as good.


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## Winslow (Oct 19, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- preorder now!*

Just pre-ordered. But I didn't use my discount voucher from Albion. I hope there will be better times to use it. 

Cheers,
Winslow


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## british_bpm (Oct 19, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- preorder now!*



Winslow @ Wed Oct 19 said:


> Just pre-ordered. But I didn't use my discount voucher from Albion. I hope there will be better times to use it.
> 
> Cheers,
> Winslow



Indeed! I would suggest this as an excellent Christmas present to yourself (and your neighbours):

http://www.spitfireaudio.com/spitfire-percussion.html

:wink: 

Christian.


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## Daryl (Oct 19, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- preorder now!*



Andy B @ Tue Oct 18 said:


> Just to let you know that we have got spiccs for the VC but not staccs.


Although technically the set of spiccs is a subset of the set of staccs. :shock: :lol: 

D


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## Andy B (Oct 19, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- preorder now!*



Daryl @ Wed Oct 19 said:


> Andy B @ Tue Oct 18 said:
> 
> 
> > Just to let you know that we have got spiccs for the VC but not staccs.
> ...



Sorry, I'm not quite sure if I understand what you're saying here.

Andy.


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## Maximvs (Oct 19, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- preorder now!*

Thanks Christian for your writing, it is always interesting to know what is going on in the mind of the developers.

Knowing that this library, like any other past and future Spitfire product, is a live library with future updates coming is reassuring. 

I have been waiting for a solo string library for a long time as I was never convinced and happy with what was available.

I have listened to the demo and the sound is really great and wonderful. 

Please add at least the Viola Pizz. and after listening to a few more demos I am in...

Keep up the great work

PS: When the pre-order period will end?


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## BachN4th (Oct 19, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- preorder now!*

Any chance that the small strings will come with a discount voucher I can use on the percussion? This would be my first purchase from Spitfire. I'm planning to get the small strings, harp, and percussion and I'd like to find the most cost-effective way of doing this.

I'm stuck in the rut between no-longer a student, but not yet making any money from my music either.


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## british_bpm (Oct 19, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- preorder now!*



BachN4th @ Wed Oct 19 said:


> Any chance that the small strings will come with a discount voucher I can use on the percussion? This would be my first purchase from Spitfire. I'm planning to get the small strings, harp, and percussion and I'd like to find the most cost-effective way of doing this.
> 
> I'm stuck in the rut between no-longer a student, but not yet making any money from my music either.



We'd love to but in order to keep the price as low as possible on this module decided against it. You can be sure of us offering similar deals with larger releases price-point-wise in the future, but if you do the math on your suggestion; £139 pre-order price for Solo Strings - 25% off Albion = £87 means that you're in fact getting Solo strings for £52! 

We have a responsibility to our musicians to pay them a royalty and therefore can't throw away one library in favour of another.

Having said that, we're utterly delighted you're interested in buying the complete range and I wholeheartedly.... and this coming from a composer who suffered penury for the first 10 years of my career..... have no doubt that what you suggest would be an incredibly wise investment. I would suggest that Albion and Perc are no brainers, Solo Strings at this price.... total steal.... but maybe you could leave the harp for now? Save that icing for a cake you're gonna bake in the future? I say this knowing that the harp is awesome but maybe something you're not going to use as much, the other 3 potentially more work-horses?

Sorry we couldn't help more.

Best.

Christian.


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## BachN4th (Oct 19, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- preorder now!*

Thanks so much for such a nice reply!

Unfortunately Albion isn't something I'm particularly interested in, as I have gone a different route for brass, woodwinds, and strings. Just seeking good percussion and harp. I had originally only planned on getting those two, but when I saw mention of discount vouchers I hoped I might be able to use one so that I could afford the solo strings as well, but it is something I can easily live without for now.


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## plugaudio (Oct 20, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- preorder now!*

Voucher ... hmmm I bought Albion and percussion samples , few days ago I preordered strings ... But I have never recived discount voucher ... What did I do wrong ?


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## ricother (Oct 20, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- preorder now!*

I know I will eventually purchase it, but... demos please o


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## british_bpm (Oct 20, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- preorder now!*



plugaudio @ Thu Oct 20 said:


> Voucher ... hmmm I bought Albion and percussion samples , few days ago I preordered strings ... But I have never recived discount voucher ... What did I do wrong ?



Hi there, you did nothing wrong, the voucher people are referring to is the one that came with the Albion pre-order deal before it was released in July. At the time Albion was very much a new concept for us, and we felt it prudent to offer as much encouragement for people to buy as we could! 

Please feel free to contact us direct from our support page if you wish to make any other enquiries as we only check this board periodically.

Best.

Christian.


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## mpalenik (Oct 27, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- preorder now!*

Ok, it's been 2 weeks since the original announcement. How about some more demos? o[])


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## Rob Elliott (Oct 27, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- preorder now!*



mpalenik @ Thu Oct 27 said:


> Ok, it's been 2 weeks since the original announcement. How about some more demos? o[])




If it means getting the library 10 mins sooner - hold the demos and load the servers. :wink: 

Ok - how about both?


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## Riffs (Oct 27, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- preorder now!*

Have pre-ordered. Really like what you chaps are doing. Albion is great.

Keep up the good work.


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## Maximvs (Oct 28, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- preorder now!*

When the pre-order period will end?

Yes more demos will be appreciated.

Thanks o/~


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## british_bpm (Oct 30, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- preorder now!*

Hey guys,

We're hard at it, we really want you guys to have this before the 14th of November release date, so excuse any lack of demo action for the time being, please be rest assured we'll have some more demos up before it's release.

Best.

Christian.


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## Synesthesia (Nov 2, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- preorder now!*

Hi everyone,

Work is progressing at a fast pace! Andy B did a quick piece to show off the detached legato transitions with the Solo 'Cello.

More demos will be coming over the next week as we work towards release date.

Enjoy!

Paul :D 

[mp3]http://spitfire-webassets.s3.amazonaws.com/audio/Solo%20CelloLegDet.mp3[/mp3]


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## Mike Connelly (Nov 2, 2011)

What are the pitch ranges like, particularly for the legatos? Are they fairly full ranges or more limited (like Albion missing the bottom octave)?


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## lamandolina (Nov 2, 2011)

Hi Paul, it's sound really good, will you have a download version or just the box one? I live in Buenos Aires and I don't know if it's possible to import this kind of things...


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## Synesthesia (Nov 2, 2011)

Hi Mike - 

We went as high as was reasonable (when you get very high it all becomes a bit 'out of sorts'!) - I'll post up the exact ranges tomorrow.

We start at the bottom of the range for each instrument.

Lamandolina - its download only, thats how we keep the price so fabulously low!

Cheers guys!

Paul :D


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## Mike Connelly (Nov 2, 2011)

Thanks for the info, like the demos so far. If you guys end up shipping earlier than the 14th, will the preorder date move up or will you keep that date?


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## Synesthesia (Nov 2, 2011)

I doubt we'll ship before! 

But we will honour the preorder offer to the 14th.

Cheers,

Paul


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## Rob Elliott (Nov 2, 2011)

Synesthesia @ Wed Nov 02 said:


> I doubt we'll ship before!
> 
> But we will honour the preorder offer to the 14th.
> 
> ...




Paul - sounds good. The vibrato at the very end sounds a bit frantic (which is ok at times) but can that be tamed? A no vibrato to vibrato would be idea. Looking forward to this one.


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## lamandolina (Nov 2, 2011)

Thanks Paul for the info


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## noiseboyuk (Nov 2, 2011)

Rob Elliott @ Wed Nov 02 said:


> Paul - sounds good. The vibrato at the very end sounds a bit frantic (which is ok at times) but can that be tamed? A no vibrato to vibrato would be idea. Looking forward to this one.



I think they all have three levels of vibrato, don't they? I'm guessing this is the strongest.

Honestly I'm far less keen on this demo than the first, it doesn't sound natural to me at all I'm afraid. I'm not quite sure what's going wrong there, I think the vibrato is far too pronounced at the front of each note, which gives an almost drunk or wow/flutter effect. In general I'd expect to hear the vibrato not come in hard at the front of each note. I think I'll be majoring on the lesser vibratos except for the odd note or phrase, on this evidence.


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## Rob Elliott (Nov 2, 2011)

noiseboyuk @ Wed Nov 02 said:


> Rob Elliott @ Wed Nov 02 said:
> 
> 
> > Paul - sounds good. The vibrato at the very end sounds a bit frantic (which is ok at times) but can that be tamed? A no vibrato to vibrato would be idea. Looking forward to this one.
> ...




Couldn't agree more about the frontside of each note vibrato. This is the reason I don't use the VSL solo strings anymore. I too would like a whole lot less vibrato 'baked in'. Or at least controllable it most important for expression.


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## Diffusor (Nov 2, 2011)

I love the tone of the cello! Finally someone get's it right.


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## bsound76 (Nov 2, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- preorder now!*

New demo sounds great.


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## Udo (Nov 2, 2011)

Rob Elliott @ Thu Nov 03 said:


> Couldn't agree more about the frontside of each note vibrato ....... I too would like a whole lot less vibrato 'baked in'. Or at least controllable it most important for expression.


+1


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## noiseboyuk (Nov 3, 2011)

Rob Elliott @ Wed Nov 02 said:


> Couldn't agree more about the frontside of each note vibrato. This is the reason I don't use the VSL solo strings anymore. I too would like a whole lot less vibrato 'baked in'. Or at least controllable it most important for expression.



As someone who as preorderd (and is now a little nervous!) personally I'd take a 2 month delay of the release to fix this. If there's an easy and natural-sounding way to switch from a regular patch to this for small moments I'll rest a little easier though - what do you think, guys? I agree the tone is really good which is encouraging.

EDIT - just noticed on Facebook, they explain that these are "detached legatos", which is rebowing every note. I'll be honest - I don't quite understand how this is legato at all (not a string player - can you tell?) Anyway, there is also fingered legato, so here's hoping that figered is a more natural sound. Can someone post an example of real detatched vibrato - I can't say I've ever heard real strings sound like this demo, but I want to be fair and see what this sort of playing is supposed to sound like.


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## Hicks (Nov 3, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- preorder now!*

I remember I tried to explain what is legato playing on this forum one year ago. I got bashed, because the term legato is wronlgy used in VI world that there is a large wrong interpretation of this term!!

So as a violin player, I will start again to explain what is legato playing, and hope this time I woudl get a more cheerful comment:

Legato playing means to play a phrase with no stops (ie non staccato when phrases are chopped...).

So legato means connecting the notes together without any stop between them.

Now, for a string player there is several way to bind them together:

1) Slur note: playing more than one note within the same bowing movement. Notes will be obviously connected. Most libraries when they talked about "legato" means slur (VSL or LASS).

2) Rebowing: If one rebows one note after the other, they won't be any stop between the two notes, but we can hear an attack on each note. Please note that string players work hard to make the attacks as smoother as possible (actually HS is doing this automatically. We can have a rebowing effect with LASS by leaving a small gap between notes and on VSL by usign a detache sample instead of legato sample when we want a rebowing).

3)Portamento: When a string player needs to move his left hand to reach a given note. He will slide on the string, creating the portamento effect. Note: String players often try to avoir this effect unless they really mean it for the musical purpose.


So 1,2 and 3 are all legato.


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## noiseboyuk (Nov 3, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- preorder now!*



Hicks @ Thu Nov 03 said:


> I remember I tried to explain what is legato playing on this forum one year ago. I got bashed, because the term legato is wronlgy used in VI world that there is a large wrong interpretation of this term!!
> 
> So as a violin player, I will start again to explain what is legato playing, and hope this time I woudl get a more cheerful comment:
> 
> ...



Thanks Hicks. I don't want to go too far off topic on a Commercial thread, but I think it is worth clarifying this basic terminology.

OK, so what I hear as the basic legato in, say, LASS is slur? That's a very strange term for it, as it isn't slurred in any way! That just sounds like a smooth, natural connection between the notes. Obviously you have port and gliss options in LASS, I'm talking about the basic legato. I've always assumed that was rebowing, but done subtly (as in this latter part of this video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHyLD_PoTuk ). If you're playing a smooth legato line over a few bars, at some point you HAVE to rebow anyway, right? 

So right on topic, as a violin player, does the Spitfire Cello sound like natural rebowing with heavy vibrato to you? I know my negative reaction to this is pretty strong here - from your description I totally get what this should sound like, I know that sound (I think) but I'm not sure its working right yet in the Spitfire version. Again, if someone can link a good example of accented rebowed legato in a piece, that would be helpful.

They just referenced "fingered legato" on Facebook... I guess that could mean either slur or portamento?


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## Justus (Nov 3, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- preorder now!*



noiseboyuk @ Thu Nov 03 said:


> a smooth, natural connection between the notes.



And that is exactly what "slurred" means. :wink:


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## Hicks (Nov 3, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- preorder now!*

Regarding LASS sound, maybe my english is bad. When I use the term slur, I playing several notes within the same bowing movement.

Definitely, LASS legato transitions sounds like slurred notes. However some connections are smoother on some notes than others.
Same issue with VSL. And my guess is because it has been recorded close to the violin. So when the player hit the new note, one can hear the finger tapping the neck of the violin (expecially with VSL) or it can be issues on programming.
But I'm pretty sure it is slurred.

Regarding the Spitfire demo, 3 things:

1)They are using only detache patch it seems, so sometimes I can hear an attack when no one would have use one, but play slurred. But I guess this was the purpose of the demo. So it sceams "SAMPLES". But I'm pretty sure by combining slur+ detache + portamento, we can get a pretty convincing stuff.
2)There are some strange noise sometimes, the noise of the player with his instrument. That's normal but since there are lot of detache notes, this noise occurs far too muc.
3)Vibrato: A string player will 90% start the note without vibrato and then increase it during the life of the note. The last note is strange due to this. As it is a last note, the player would have start by bowing very slowy the note without vibrato and then increased the speed of the bowing and adding vibrato to finish molto vibrato. And at the end decrease rapidely the dynamic to finish pp. (This would have bee common playing. If the music sheet state: play forte molto vibrato, that's another story).

Hope it helps. 

PS: I don't say that the example here is bad. I just say that using detache only, it sounds pretty good, but will not be the way how a real player would have played this.


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## Markus S (Nov 3, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- preorder now!*



Hicks @ Thu Nov 03 said:


> I remember I tried to explain what is legato playing on this forum one year ago. I got bashed, because the term legato is wronlgy used in VI world that there is a large wrong interpretation of this term!!
> 
> So as a violin player, I will start again to explain what is legato playing, and hope this time I woudl get a more cheerful comment:
> 
> ...



Agreed. Why would someone bash you for this information? 

A legato transition on a bowed string instrument has no transition glide or slide in them. It's a pretty hard direct attack actually, but it doesn't sound like a re-bow. It's the finger hitting a bowed string.

Just one precision : Portamento and position changing are two different things though. While you will move the position of the hand on one string in both cases, portamento has an audible glide, while position changing is made as inaudible as possible. The portamento would not occur necessarily as a need of changing the position, but rather an expressive effect.

About the rebow : You mean two strokes in the same direction? There is a little stop though, most of the time, in my experience, but it is almost inaudible. The difference with alternate strokes is mainly about "dynamic". In example a 3/4 : Given an impulsion and two strokes weaker in the same direction, will create a nice pattern rather than changing direction oddly.

As said before, up and down strokes should not sound any different. We work very hard to get them even.


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## Synesthesia (Nov 3, 2011)

Chaps - 

A couple of quick points. This demo was made to show how the 'bow change' legato works in the legato patch. Hence the 'player' is playing molto appassionata with a fullish bow on every note.

We wanted you to be able to clearly hear the quality of the bow changes! 

We'll put something else up later with a variety of bowings in.

The legato patch has: fingered, bowed and portamento transitions.

Currently it is using vibrato only. As I explained before, the reasoning for this is that we are still experimenting with a way to incorporate non vib intervals alongside vib. IF we can find a way to do this that sounds nice and plays nice, it will be in an update.

NEVERTHELESS!! You still have the main (multimic) patch which has non vib as well, and you can play going to and from nonvib to vib.

Anyway - I'll get back to tweakery now! We'll bung up another demo later.

This is the same patch as the original demo. All we are doing is tightening things up, tunings, etc.

You are going to love this little lib. Its easy to play, and sounds great. AND its really good value for money.

Cheers,

Paul :D


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## George Caplan (Nov 3, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- preorder now!*

hello paul. this has a good sound and i like it being a bit of a classical buff. what i asked before about controllable vibrato may have been out of line given that you need to keep things tight pre sales and i understand that. now you have announced can you indicate whether or not the vibrato will be controllable? i listened to vls solo strings and while they have a pretty good sound the vibrato is sounding a little unnatural. can you get that vibrato more natural? thanks.


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## noiseboyuk (Nov 3, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- preorder now!*

Thanks to everyone for their input here - so slur is more meaning "blurred" or "seamless" rather than a pitch slur? If so, that makes sense.

Cheers Paul for those clarifications - forgive for more questions! So what we heard on the cello demo was MV / detached legato only? I'm beginning to see how so many options can cause headaches, it was the combination of detached and vibrato that sounded very odd to me. I'd imagine slurred / MV would sound different, or detached / NV different again. I'm still a little confused as to what patches are what - the multimic is non-legato, right? And the only legato patch is MV for now? I must admit with regard to detached legato, the non-legato intervals would potentially make a huge difference.

I appreciate you guys are full on with it right now, but looking forward to more demos with some slurred legato especially.


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## Hicks (Nov 3, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- preorder now!*

[quote="Markus S @ Thu Nov 03, 2011 4:52 am]
Agreed. Why would someone bash you for this information? 

A legato transition on a bowed string instrument has no transition glide or slide in them. It's a pretty hard direct attack actually, but it doesn't sound like a re-bow. It's the finger hitting a bowed string.

Just one precision : Portamento and position changing are two different things though. While you will move the position of the hand on one string in both cases, portamento has an audible glide, while position changing is made as inaudible as possible. The portamento would not occur necessarily as a need of changing the position, but rather an expressive effect.

About the rebow : You mean two strokes in the same direction? There is a little stop though, most of the time, in my experience, but it is almost inaudible. The difference with alternate strokes is mainly about "dynamic". In example a 3/4 : Given an impulsion and two strokes weaker in the same direction, will create a nice pattern rather than changing direction oddly.

As said before, up and down strokes should not sound any different. We work very hard to get them even.[/quote]

1)Bashed: One year ago I was explaining that portamento was part of legato playing... I got a large part of the forum against me... But nevermind.

2)you're right about position changing. Portamento is used depending of the style. On classical stuff, you won't hear portamento if there is no position changing (but doesn't mean each time you are doing position changing you'll hear portamento - as we both said 99% of the time the player avoir portamento). 
When playing fiddle or Klezmer or rock, portamento occurs far more often, even without changing position.

3)rebow: I mean alternate bowing (strange, two guys leaving in paris explaining what they want to say in english o-[][]-o ) .


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## Ed (Nov 3, 2011)

I think it sonunds really good for fast playing with lots of vibrato... but I'm more interested in hearing a soft delicate legato and a soft dynamic... if possible?


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## Synesthesia (Nov 3, 2011)

Thanks Ed! OK we'll put a couple of bits up later today.

Guy - its really simple - the legato patch is just legato. This has three types: fingered (using the fingers to change note), bow changed or 'bowed' (combining a note change with a bow direction change) and portamento (sliding in pitch from one note to another)

Then you have a multimic patch, which has all the articulations as listed in my first post in this thread, **APART** from legato.

Hope that clears things up!


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## noiseboyuk (Nov 3, 2011)

Synesthesia @ Thu Nov 03 said:


> Thanks Ed! OK we'll put a couple of bits up later today.
> 
> Guy - its really simple - the legato patch is just legato. This has three types: fingered (using the fingers to change note), bow changed or 'bowed' (combining a note change with a bow direction change) and portamento (sliding in pitch from one note to another)
> 
> ...



Moooostly! The final bit of the jigsaw - the legato is only MV for the moment?


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## Synesthesia (Nov 3, 2011)

No, the actual long notes are just normal vib, but if you play ff and change bow very quickly the effect is of molto vib..


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## noiseboyuk (Nov 3, 2011)

Synesthesia @ Thu Nov 03 said:


> No, the actual long notes are just normal vib, but if you play ff and change bow very quickly the effect is of molto vib..



Clever stuff. Ok, grilling over (til the next demo!) cheers


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## Hannes_F (Nov 3, 2011)

Synesthesia @ Thu Nov 03 said:


> - its really simple - the legato patch is just legato. This has three types: fingered (using the fingers to change note), bow changed or 'bowed' (combining a note change with a bow direction change) and portamento (sliding in pitch from one note to another)



Friends,

life would be so much easier if sample developers would have agreed early on calling _dense detaché _what they are calling _bowed legato _now - and it would be much more correct and beneficial for composers. 'Bowed legato' exists but is something very special since it means producing an endless note (like a looped sample) or a note change, where the bow change is really unhearable (even less hearable than in the not so good youtube link above if done by somebody that can really do it). In a way it is not an articulation but an off-the-records trick, and the audible result would ideally not differ from normal legato and therefore an extra patch would not make any sense.

However it makes very much musical sense to play the bow changes very dense, with other words to have a little natural accent at the beginning of the new note _but no hole before it_. This is very common practise on live instruments and I would call this dense detaché (notes are detached bow-wise but without holes between them). However older sample libraries did not take it into account - either you had legato (no bow accents alltogether) or short notes with breaks in between. If you wanted to do dense detachés with an older library you needed to get tricky with an extra track and an extra instance of Kontakt on it and start the new note on the second stem when the note on the first stem ended. Therefore it would make very much musical sense to include _dense detaché _patches in modern sample libraries.

Think of it like singing the word "riding". You have the 'd' and it clearly indicates the new syllable, however the 'ri' before is not a short note but lasts until the change comes. Very natural thing, very common, we really need that (much more than samples of somebody singing with circular breath which would be the equivalent of bowed legato).

But in regards to the name the horse seems to be out of the stable forever and everybody now knows it better than the players themselves. This is actually not the fault of Spitfire but of other sample developers that introduced the term before, and now it is established in this community. EastWest is particularly guilty for that.

However if any of you ever deal with real players _(in my country at least)_ and want them to change bow audibly but dense ... use these words: _dense detaché_. Or, if you don't like french words, use 'can you play that bow change(s) more dense, please?'. Alternatively: 'Can you play the notes longer, just until the bow change?'

Be is as it be, a _dense detaché_ samples patch would make much more sense for a composer than a _bowed legato_ patch since that is very often used on real strings.

Side note: It could even happen that because of this misunderstood wording a sample developer would not get the result in a sampling session that he originally aims for. Because if he calls for 'bowed legato' the player will indeed try to produce _that_, even if the developer originally means 'dense detaché'. The result will sound somehow unarticulated.

I must say that Peter Alexander sent me his first review on Hollywood Strings for my 'expertise' but when I said exact the same thing as above all he did was asking Doug Rogers about it, and according to DR all was OK with 'bowed legato'. Of course, as there seems to be the source of this misunderstanding. ARRRRGGGH.


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## mpalenik (Nov 3, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- preorder now!*



Synesthesia @ Wed Nov 02 said:


> Hi everyone,
> 
> Work is progressing at a fast pace! Andy B did a quick piece to show off the detached legato transitions with the Solo 'Cello.
> 
> ...



After reading everything else in the thread, I have to say, that's actually a really cool sound to be able to get when you want it, as long as that isn't the only legato available (which it's not). It doesn't sound fake to me, it's just a specific sound that you probably wouldn't use incredibly often.

edit: That's actually one of the least objectionable vibratos I've heard in a sample library (for when you want that much vibrato) and the room ambiance sounds very natural, IMO.


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## jamwerks (Nov 4, 2011)

Synesthesia @ Thu Nov 03 said:


> Thanks Ed! OK we'll put a couple of bits up later today.
> 
> Guy - its really simple - the legato patch is just legato. This has three types: fingered (using the fingers to change note), bow changed or 'bowed' (combining a note change with a bow direction change) and portamento (sliding in pitch from one note to another)



Sounds great Paul. These 3 options on legato will give us total control. Well done!


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## Andy B (Nov 4, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- preorder now!*

Hi All,

Just thought I'd try to clear up a bit of the possible confusion with 'legato' sampling here. :D 

For whatever reason, the term legato now seems to be used in the VI world for anything that's been sampled with some sort of connectivity between notes. So that may be between intervals or even the same pitched note. 

I think a much better way of describing the 'legato' techniques that we've captured for the solo strings would be to refer to them simply as interval sampling. So, we've recorded intervals which are slurred (what most people think of as legato), portamento or glissando (depending on where you're from) intervals and finally detached intervals. We've never bothered with 'bowed legato' as the players are so good at hiding the change of bow that it's difficult to hear the difference between that and a slur, so the detached intervals make a point of sounding intentionally different to the slurs. All three of these techniques are in the one patch and are triggered by velocity, with a bias towards the slurs.

Here's a demo we've done which features all three of the interval techniques that we've captured. Oh, and don't forget that this is how it sounds unprocessed. No reverb or EQ added.

[mp3]http://spitfire-webassets.s3.amazonaws.com/audio/SoloCelloALLINTERVALS.mp3[/mp3]

Hope you enjoy it. :D 

Thanks,

Andy.


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## noiseboyuk (Nov 4, 2011)

Oh wow.

I'm only able to listen on laptop speakers right now, but that sounds incredible. The detached, in context of occasional use, is great - clearly the trick is to be sparing.

Can't wait to listen to this properly - really exciting.


----------



## Justus (Nov 4, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- preorder now!*

I am your biggest fan, Andy (and the 100000th viewer of this thread)!


----------



## Hannesdm (Nov 4, 2011)

Fantastic Andy!


----------



## Rob Elliott (Nov 4, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- preorder now!*

Wonderful latest example Andy. Really expressive and the 'legato' transitions work well adding to the realism of it. I still would like to 'at times' tame that vibrato if possible. I am a big fan of the note starting lightly bowed with almost no vibrato developing into vibrato.

I realize that may be asking too much from any 'sampled' instrument but would be absolute nirvana for me.


Having said that - I haven't heard another cello sound this good. I am a customer for sure.


----------



## zacnelson (Nov 4, 2011)

That latest demo is incredibly expressive! And it's great to know you didn't add any eq or reverb, demos are best when they show the raw sound out of the box. I am very tempted to get this now!


----------



## noiseboyuk (Nov 4, 2011)

Finally had a proper listen, and yes that's exceptional stuff. I think the bar has been duly raised. Are the different legato transitions chosen via keyswitch or velocity? In my mind possibly the easiest to play would be port on low velocity, slur medium and rebow on the very highest.

The ultimate I guess to find some way of integrating all three vibrato intensities, but I appreciate that's beyond the scope of 1.0. Even as it is, these should be the best solo strings out there. Again, it's a superb tone as well, really nice to listen to and as Zac says, wonderfully expressive.


----------



## Hannes_F (Nov 4, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- preorder now!*



Andy B @ Fri Nov 04 said:


> Hi All,
> 
> Just thought I'd try to clear up a bit of the possible confusion with 'legato' sampling here. :D
> 
> ...



Andy, well said and well done. A bravo for both from me.

Hannes


----------



## Andy B (Nov 4, 2011)

Thanks for all of the positive feedback guys.



noiseboyuk @ Fri Nov 04 said:


> Are the different legato transitions chosen via keyswitch or velocity? In my mind possibly the easiest to play would be port on low velocity, slur medium and rebow on the very highest.



Yes the different techniques are vel triggered and in the order you've guessed: 

Vel 1-19 Port
Vel 20-80 Slur
Vel 81-127 Detached

It makes more sense, for realtime playing of the patch, to have the majority of the velocity share given to the slurs.

Thanks,

Andy.


----------



## jamwerks (Nov 4, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- preorder now!*

Sounds terrific.

Those are the close mics right? If I remember correctly, those are the only mics you guys have for all the interval samples.

This make me wonder how the whole instrument might function; playing lines that include short notes, pizz, etc. (using main and close mic samples), and also interval samples (using only close mics)? How does this mic mix-match work and sound? >8o


----------



## Andy B (Nov 4, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- preorder now!*



jamwerks @ Fri Nov 04 said:


> Sounds terrific.
> 
> Those are the close mics right? If I remember correctly, those are the only mics you guys have for all the interval samples.
> 
> This make me wonder how the whole instrument might function; playing lines that include short notes, pizz, etc. (using main and close mic samples), and also interval samples (using only close mics)? How does this mic mix-match work and sound? >8o



The samples used in the interval patches are a mix of tree and ambient mics, which will be simple to recreate with the rest of the patches which are all multimic - close, tree and ambient. 

We're also including an option for lowering the level of the reflections of the hall in the interval patches, which works a bit like a 'size' control in a reverb unit.

Andy.


----------



## Synesthesia (Nov 4, 2011)

Hi Jamwerks

The intervals patch is a mix of close, tree and ambient premixed. 

It's incredibly easy to match this mix with multimic patch. 

Thanks,

Paul


----------



## jamwerks (Nov 4, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- preorder now!*

Seem very well thought out ! 

Hope you guys will also do (quickly) a winds library in the vein of these solo strings !!


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## noiseboyuk (Nov 4, 2011)

Andy B @ Fri Nov 04 said:


> It makes more sense, for realtime playing of the patch, to have the majority of the velocity share given to the slurs.



Great news, makes sense to me too - can those figures be tweeked? Knowing my keyboard, I'd find it hard to avoid detaching all the time, if I could I'd push 'em way up over 110.


----------



## Andy B (Nov 4, 2011)

noiseboyuk @ Fri Nov 04 said:


> Great news, makes sense to me too - can those figures be tweeked? Knowing my keyboard, I'd find it hard to avoid detaching all the time, if I could I'd push 'em way up over 110.



They can't be tweaked at present but it may be a possibility.

Andy.


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## mpalenik (Nov 4, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- preorder now!*

I'm sold!


----------



## George Caplan (Nov 4, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- preorder now!*



Rob Elliott @ Fri Nov 04 said:


> I still would like to 'at times' tame that vibrato if possible. I am a big fan of the note starting lightly bowed with almost no vibrato developing into vibrato.



it does sound good to me. most string players particularly in slower passages start off just as you say. the vibrato comes in gently or not so gently dependent on stylistic requirements and not immediately. when playing fast passages there is not really any vibrato obviously due to physical constraints.

is there any choices here with these solo strings or is the vibrato always present? is this a dumb question because its too difficult to achieve with sampling libraries? and does it really matter when trying to do fast passages?


----------



## Rob Elliott (Nov 4, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- preorder now!*



George Caplan @ Fri Nov 04 said:


> Rob Elliott @ Fri Nov 04 said:
> 
> 
> > I still would like to 'at times' tame that vibrato if possible. I am a big fan of the note starting lightly bowed with almost no vibrato developing into vibrato.
> ...




Let me just say. I am buying this product. BUT - if someone could handle the 'morphing' of NV to V and do it 'naturally' (haven't heard done to date with 'modeling' or samples) - I would be ecstatic.

Honestly, I'll still bring in solo string players cause we all admit it is ALWAYS better but having the ability to 'play' and 'express' it in the mockup like I want and then show a player the track would be great tool (picture worth a 1000 words kinda thing.)


----------



## KMuzzey (Nov 4, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- preorder now!*

want want want

need need need

love love love

o/~


----------



## Ryan Scully (Nov 4, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- preorder now!*

Damn..


This last demo sold me. I'm in!!





Ryan


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## synergy543 (Nov 4, 2011)

Oh wow, oh wow, oh wow.


----------



## jgarciaserra (Nov 4, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- preorder now!*

Sounds really great. Very professional interpretation of the musicians... well done!
Pre-order here!

(some discount to VI-control people??? hahah)


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## Diffusor (Nov 4, 2011)

Awesome. I had a feeling this one would be the one.


----------



## Ned Bouhalassa (Nov 5, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- preorder now!*

Happily pre-ordered! I CANNOT WAIT!!

=o o/~ =o o/~ =o o/~ =o


----------



## Diffusor (Nov 5, 2011)

Just placed my order for Albion and Solo Strings! This shit is seriously good.


----------



## termin (Nov 5, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- preorder now!*

preordered 

sounds great, can't wait!


----------



## zacnelson (Nov 5, 2011)

I just pre-ordered


----------



## RMWSound (Nov 6, 2011)

Well, I couldn't resist this after that last demo. Pre-ordered.


----------



## marcotronic (Nov 6, 2011)

You crazy bunch of geniuses 

I know I said I´m not gonna buy another Spitfire product before the promised update for Albion and the triangel for percussions is out...

but I just couldn´t resist: pre-ordered! 

Marco


----------



## Diffusor (Nov 6, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- preorder now!*

hmmmm weird. IMO that cello has more body and soul than any solo cello sample on the market I have heard.


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## Synesthesia (Nov 6, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- preorder now!*



askmusic @ Sun Nov 06 said:


> After listening a couple of times to the currently available demos, I have a little problem with the overall sound. The instruments seem to lack a bit of body. They sound airy and quite sweet, but the sound doesn't really reach my heart. Its a bit difficult to explain - hopefully you understand, what I mean. Is that only a problem caused by the mixed microphone position for the legato? I would be really grateful, if we can hear more of the different positions, especially the close recordings. The vibrato issue has been discussed already - I hope, we will get more subtle vibrato options for the legato patches, too.
> 
> In addition I cannot really understand the problem of the legato mic mixing. As I take it, you think, the legato would not sound good in every mix configuration, a user would choose, so you decided to make an ideal mix with additional room control. But other libraries offer different mics for legato solo instruments and it works well, at least for me. Whats exactly the issue here?
> 
> ...



Hi Sascha,

Thanks for your comments.

Offering three legato patches, each with a single mic, alongside the existing 'mixed' one, is quadrupling the hardest part of the programming, and way beyond the scope of what we are doing, which is providing a 'ready to rock' fantastic sounding set of simple patches.

The issue is simply that due to the time difference between the close and ambient mics, the transitions are impossible to program for a solo instrument unless you cheat the samples and chop the beginning off the Tree and Amb samples to reduce the time difference - and that is definitely NOT how we do things at Spitfire!! (I should add that this is only a problem in a large hall. In a smaller scoring stage you wouldn't suffer this.)

For ensembles its ok, as the smear covers the transitions. But with solo instruments you hear this doubling sound at every transition terribly exposed. 

Believe me, we have done a LOT of work on this type of programming in this ambient environment.

I hope that explains our thinking!

Cheers,

Paul


----------



## noiseboyuk (Nov 6, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- preorder now!*



askmusic @ Sun Nov 06 said:


> After listening a couple of times to the currently available demos, I have a little problem with the overall sound. The instruments seem to lack a bit of body. They sound airy and quite sweet, but the sound doesn't really reach my heart. Its a bit difficult to explain - hopefully you understand, what I mean. Is that only a problem caused by the mixed microphone position for the legato? I would be really grateful, if we can hear more of the different positions, especially the close recordings. The vibrato issue has been discussed already - I hope, we will get more subtle vibrato options for the legato patches, too.
> 
> In addition I cannot really understand the problem of the legato mic mixing. As I take it, you think, the legato would not sound good in every mix configuration, a user would choose, so you decided to make an ideal mix with additional room control. But other libraries offer different mics for legato solo instruments and it works well, at least for me. Whats exactly the issue here?
> 
> ...



Like Diffusor, I too am quite happy with the body and soul - I love the tone (as you say, the vibrato issue has already been discussed). But thus far I haven't had a smooth experience with multiple mics on legato patches when recorded in ambient halls. I think it's possible, but it's clearly a delicate art and needs a lot of scripting. Personally 1 single mic position is a compromise I'm extremely happy to make if the legato is smooth, allows for fast playing but doesn't have a huge ambience build up. I think that last demo is extremely impressive in that regard.

My feeling is that legato in ambient halls is still an emerging technology. In general the most successful results so far have been with single mic positions.

EDIT - whoops, cross posted with Paul, excellent reply.


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## Synesthesia (Nov 6, 2011)

Guy - while I'm online (!) - just to clarify that our leg patches are a *mix* of mic positions rather than a single one. Its just that you need to 'bake' the mix *before* you start programming.

Thanks for the positive comments chaps!

Cheers!

Paul


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## Diffusor (Nov 6, 2011)

Synesthesia @ Sun Nov 06 said:


> Guy - while I'm online (!) - just to clarify that our leg patches are a *mix* of mic positions rather than a single one. Its just that you need to 'bake' the mix *before* you start programming.
> 
> Thanks for the positive comments chaps!
> 
> ...



Will you be able to match the mic levels of the other non-legato patches with the legato patches mixed mic? It would be nice to know the levels you used.


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## Synesthesia (Nov 6, 2011)

Absolutely. We'll probably just set the default load state of the multimic patches to match the leg patches.


----------



## Diffusor (Nov 6, 2011)

Synesthesia @ Sun Nov 06 said:


> Absolutely. We'll probably just set the default load state of the multimic patches to match the leg patches.



Excellent. I am sure I will be happy with the mic selection. Pretty much with Albion every combination I have tried sounds great when you ad some nice reverb to it.


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## noiseboyuk (Nov 6, 2011)

Synesthesia @ Sun Nov 06 said:


> Guy - while I'm online (!) - just to clarify that our leg patches are a *mix* of mic positions rather than a single one. Its just that you need to 'bake' the mix *before* you start programming.



Yes, got that thanks - my layman's interpretation is that fixing ambient legato is really hard - especially with multiple velocity samples - and getting even 1 right is a nightmare, let alone 3!


----------



## Ed (Nov 6, 2011)

quick question: How many dynamic layers?


----------



## TheUnfinished (Nov 7, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- preorder now!*

Another quick question: microtuning?* The tone of that cello, with some processing and tweaking, makes me think that this library could be used in an ethnic context (mimicking instruments like matouqin and hardingfele for instance).

*I confess there could be a simple Kontakt script I don't know about that can be applied to create microtuning easily.


----------



## playz123 (Nov 7, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- preorder now!*

Hi Paul,
As of today, are you still on track for a Nov. 14th release date? I plan to pre-order, but it's also to my advantage to wait until a day or two before the release.  Budgets and all...you understand.  Cheers..........frank


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## Diffusor (Nov 10, 2011)

Getting close to release! Excited here.


----------



## Synesthesia (Nov 10, 2011)

Chaps - 

We are working furiously towards the 14th. 

As long as nothing unforeseen crops up we should hit the mark.

We are going through the multimic patches doing final tuning and checks before doing the final compile.

Its always my ambition to release a library with no flaws but as we all know thats impossible! 

I will update everyone again tomorrow.

Cheers!
Paul


----------



## Mahlon (Nov 11, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- preorder now!*

I'm interested in ordering this at the pre-order price, but I need to hear more demos. Are there more coming prior to pre-order expiration?

Thanks,
Mahlon


----------



## tripit (Nov 11, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- preorder now!*



Mahlon @ Fri Nov 11 said:


> I'm interested in ordering this at the pre-order price, but I need to hear more demos. Are there more coming prior to pre-order expiration?
> 
> Thanks,
> Mahlon




+1


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## Synesthesia (Nov 11, 2011)

Its going to be tight. We are focusing all our resources at this stage on to making it as perfect as possible.

Its an iterative process, so its not that simple to just knock off a few quick demos. Hopefully I'll be ready to do that on Monday morning (GMT) -- I'm aiming to push the button at 6pm GMT, or 10am PST.. at which point the links will start being sent out and the preorder offer will end.

Have a listen again to Andy's latest demo (a few posts up) of the unfinished 'Cello. I think it shows pretty well what the lib will be like!

But - if I can, I'll try and get something else up during the day Monday GMT so that both Europe and early risers in the USA have a chance to here something else before the offer ends. No promises though!

Cheers,

Paul


----------



## Udo (Nov 11, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- LAST CHANCE TO PREORDER!!*



Synesthesia @ Sat Nov 12 said:


> .... But - if I can, I'll try and get something else up during the day Monday GMT so that both Europe and early risers in the USA have a chance to here something else before the offer ends. No promises though!
> 
> Cheers,
> Paul


Why not delay the release by 1 or 2 days, to make sure there's time to put some more demos up first?


----------



## Synesthesia (Nov 11, 2011)

Hi Udo - 

I'm not sure thats very fair on those who have already preordered and are patiently waiting for their download emails!!

I will do my best to get something up even if its 3-4 hours before I 'push the button'.

Thanks,

Paul


----------



## Diffusor (Nov 11, 2011)

Synesthesia @ Fri Nov 11 said:


> Hi Udo -
> 
> I'm not sure thats very fair on those who have already preordered and are patiently waiting for their download emails!!
> 
> ...



I say push the button asap. If people can't decide on the clips posted then a rendition of Mozart's Requiem won't make much a difference either.


----------



## FrankT (Nov 12, 2011)

Diffusor @ Sat Nov 12 said:


> Synesthesia @ Fri Nov 11 said:
> 
> 
> > Hi Udo -
> ...



Are there several demos? So far on the demo page it appears there is only the legato patch test...?


----------



## EwigWanderer (Nov 12, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- preorder now!*



Synesthesia @ 11.2.2011 said:


> Hi everyone,
> 
> Work is progressing at a fast pace! Andy B did a quick piece to show off the detached legato transitions with the Solo 'Cello.
> 
> ...


----------



## EwigWanderer (Nov 12, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- preorder now!*

This one..better one!



Andy B @ 11.4.2011 said:


> Hi All,
> 
> Just thought I'd try to clear up a bit of the possible confusion with 'legato' sampling here. :D
> 
> ...


----------



## Justus (Nov 12, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- LAST CHANCE TO PREORDER!!*

Hi Spitfire-Team,
I want to buy Solo Strings and the Harp but I am not able to put them into the cart together. Is there a reason why there are two separate carts?

Thanks,
Justus


----------



## Diffusor (Nov 12, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- LAST CHANCE TO PREORDER!!*



Justus @ Sat Nov 12 said:


> Hi Spitfire-Team,
> I want to buy Solo Strings and the Harp but I am not able to put them into the cart together. Is there a reason why there are two separate carts?
> 
> Thanks,
> Justus



Weird. I was able to buy Albion and Small Strings in the same cart.


----------



## playz123 (Nov 12, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- LAST CHANCE TO PREORDER!!*

I expect it's because Solo Strings have not yet been released and are therefore not yet officially part of the Spitfire product line and ready to download. Once they are, (after Monday) I expect you will be able to place them in the same "cart" as the other currently available products. Makes sense to me anyway.


----------



## mpalenik (Nov 12, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- LAST CHANCE TO PREORDER!!*

Everything on track for a Monday release? I'm so excited, I can hardly wait!


----------



## Udo (Nov 12, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- LAST CHANCE TO PREORDER!!*



Udo @ Sat Nov 12 said:


> Why not delay the release by 1 or 2 days, to make sure there's time to put some more demos up first?





Synesthesia @ Sat Nov 12 said:


> Hi Udo -
> I'm not sure thats very fair on those who have already preordered and are patiently waiting for their download emails!!
> 
> I will do my best to get something up even if its 3-4 hours before I 'push the button'.
> ...


In my remark I also meant to imply that, if you don't have a variety of meaningfull demos ready in time, why not allow the pre-order price untill a few days after they become available.


----------



## FrankT (Nov 13, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- preorder now!*

Thanks, the embedded mp3-player isn't visible on my Ipad, that's why I was puzzled. Very nice demos!



EwigWanderer @ Sat Nov 12 said:


> This one..better one!
> 
> 
> 
> ...


----------



## ricother (Nov 13, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- LAST CHANCE TO PREORDER!!*

Purchased 8) 
Couldn't resist :roll:


----------



## Justus (Nov 13, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- LAST CHANCE TO PREORDER!!*



Justus @ Sat Nov 12 said:


> Hi Spitfire-Team,
> I want to buy Solo Strings and the Harp but I am not able to put them into the cart together. Is there a reason why there are two separate carts?
> 
> Thanks,
> Justus




OK, solved (used the "store" page)!


----------



## MA-Simon (Nov 13, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- LAST CHANCE TO PREORDER!!*

Had a long and work filled weekend,
so i just bought this as a present to myselfe. o/~


----------



## FrankT (Nov 13, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- LAST CHANCE TO PREORDER!!*

PreOrdered! 
What a nice blind date


----------



## james7275 (Nov 13, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- LAST CHANCE TO PREORDER!!*

I agree with Udo... If you don't want to delay the release of the library, then at the very least can you extend the pre-order discount until more demos are available. Can you play something with the violin and viola by themselves like you did with the cello.?And then maybe another demo with all three instuments playing together if possible?

Thanks.


----------



## tripit (Nov 13, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- LAST CHANCE TO PREORDER!!*



james7275 @ Sun Nov 13 said:


> I agree with Udo... If you don't want to delay the release of the library then at the very least extend the pre-order discount until more demos are available. Can you play something with the violin and viola by themselves like you did with the cello.?And then maybe another demo with all three instuments playing together?



+1 
I was under the impression there were going to be more demos prior to the pre sale cut off.


----------



## JT (Nov 13, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- LAST CHANCE TO PREORDER!!*

I have no problem with the amount of demos posted so far. My impression of the pre-sale pricing, you're being offered a discount because there aren't extensive demos available. There still are some unknowns. You're being asked to have some faith based on the reputation of Spitfire and their previous libraries.

Just Ordered.


----------



## Ryan Scully (Nov 13, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- LAST CHANCE TO PREORDER!!*

Just pulled the trigger before I forgot!! Impossible to turn away at that generous pre order sale.


Cant wait!!


Ryan


----------



## Mahlon (Nov 13, 2011)

Synesthesia @ Fri Nov 11 said:


> Its going to be tight. We are focusing all our resources at this stage on to making it as perfect as possible.
> 
> Its an iterative process, so its not that simple to just knock off a few quick demos. Hopefully I'll be ready to do that on Monday morning (GMT) -- I'm aiming to push the button at 6pm GMT, or 10am PST.. at which point the links will start being sent out and the preorder offer will end.
> 
> ...



Ok, thanks. If the rest of the library sounds as good as Andy's latest demo, then I have no problem pre-ordering. None at all because that sounded pretty fantastic. I know the library has a very good price point (even without the pre-order); it's just that I'm having to watch everything I spend these days.

But I have faith in the sound you guys have gotten on the other libraries you've produced (that I've heard). So.... good luck with the release and don't kill yourself to get demos out on Monday. I'm sure there are many with me who will be pre-ordering tonight.

Mahlon



JT @ Sun Nov 13 said:


> I have no problem with the amount of demos posted so far. My impression of the pre-sale pricing, you're being offered a discount because there aren't extensive demos available. There still are some unknowns. You're being asked to have some faith based on the reputation of Spitfire and their previous libraries.
> 
> Just Ordered.



Very good point.

Mahlon


----------



## Ryan Scully (Nov 13, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- LAST CHANCE TO PREORDER!!*

Hi Spitfire Team,


Some quick technical questions:


1. Do you guys have the final library size confirmed?

2. Will the samples be uncompressed or compressed(NCW) when delivered?


Sorry guys - I patrolled this thread and the product page but didn't see it specifically addressed..Can't wait to receive my download links!!


Ryan :D


----------



## Synesthesia (Nov 14, 2011)

Hi chaps - 

Quick one as I'm ncw-ing the content at the moment..

Sample pool is 5.3 GB as NCW.

Cheers!

Paul


----------



## shakuman (Nov 14, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- LAST CHANCE TO PREORDER!!*

Wow Paul that's mean no sleep tonight o-[][]-o 

Shakuman.


----------



## synthnut (Nov 14, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- LAST CHANCE TO PREORDER!!*

When ordering , why doesn't the price come up in American $$$ when you bring the drop down menu to " United States " ? ......THanks, Jim


----------



## Synesthesia (Nov 14, 2011)

Hi synthnut,

The conversion is out of our hands as PayPal sets the rates..

Thanks,

Paul


----------



## synthnut (Nov 14, 2011)

Paul, 
Thank you !!...Jim


----------



## synthnut (Nov 14, 2011)

Preorder is done !!.......Jim


----------



## lamandolina (Nov 14, 2011)

Hi Paul, when is the dead line for the pre order?

gracias


----------



## FriFlo (Nov 14, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- LAST CHANCE TO PREORDER!!*

Upon release. So, it should be today ... I just ordered, but didn't get any download links yet, so maybe there is a delay. Hence, if you get lucky, you might still get the pre-order price tomorrow. If you wanna be sure not to miss it, I'd got for it today ...


----------



## Synesthesia (Nov 14, 2011)

6pm GMT - so in about 2 hours..!

We are ready - - we are prepping the server....


----------



## MA-Simon (Nov 14, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- LAST CHANCE TO PREORDER!!*



> so in about 2 hours..!


I´m ready for the downloading


----------



## Synesthesia (Nov 14, 2011)

Guys - 

We are just waiting for uploads to complete - Virgin Broadband have created a few unforeseen problems for us today.

I will leave the discount open until 7:15pm GMT to give me time to test the download properly.

Links will then start to go out.

Please bear with us!

Thanks,

Paul


----------



## lamandolina (Nov 14, 2011)

WOW! just in time, I'm In!!!!


----------



## Stevie (Nov 14, 2011)

awesome guys


----------



## Mahlon (Nov 14, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- LAST CHANCE TO PREORDER!!*

Me too. Pulled the trigger. 

Mahlon


----------



## Jerome Vonhogen (Nov 14, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- LAST CHANCE TO PREORDER!!*

I just preordered 'Solo Strings' (at least, that's what I meant to purchase, although the invoice says 'Small Strings').

If you're in the Euro-zone, you may be interested in the exchange rate PayPal currently uses for GBP transactions. Today, Nov.14, the PayPal Euro/GBP exchange-rate is 0,827520 GBP for 1 Euro, which means the library will cost you only 167,97 Euro (201,57 Euro with 20% tax included). Without the discount, I guess it's around 260 Euro (tax included), but you should do the math yourself before making any decision. :!: 

I'm really excited about the product, and I can't wait to start working with it. I just hope that one day tremolo and thrill patches will be added to the library, as well as separate close mic interval samples. o/~ 

By the way, what exactly is meant by 'watermarking'? Is it some form of user identification to secure the download link, or is this about adding watermarks to the samples to prevent software piracy?

- Jerome Vonhögen


----------



## MA-Simon (Nov 14, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- LAST CHANCE TO PREORDER!!*

Hm, my purchase was a little cheaper than yours:

£125,10 GBP
€151,61 EUR


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## playz123 (Nov 14, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- LAST CHANCE TO PREORDER!!*



Jerome Vonhogen @ Mon Nov 14 said:


> By the way, what exactly is meant by 'watermarking'? Is it some form of user identification to secure the download link, or is this about adding watermarks to the samples to prevent software piracy?
> 
> - Jerome Vonhögen



Hi Jerome,
In brief, watermarking is a protection antipiracy process where user info is embedded in the files. If someone was to share those files, that could be detected if the files were found on someone else's computer. There are other music companies who also do this, and of course photos processed in programs like Photoshop can also be "watermarked". Nothing really to do with the download links. HTH.............frank


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## Stevie (Nov 14, 2011)

Friggin lightning download speed!


----------



## uCtaudio (Nov 14, 2011)

d\l at 6366kB/s


----------



## Stephen Baysted (Nov 14, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- LAST CHANCE TO PREORDER!!*

Nice one Paul. Dloading now. 

Where's the case of beer though? :mrgreen:


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## Stevie (Nov 14, 2011)

done, installing!


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## germancomponist (Nov 14, 2011)

Stevie @ Mon Nov 14 said:


> done, installing!



So be the first one, posting an audio snippet, done by a first buyer.... .


----------



## Stevie (Nov 14, 2011)

Sorry, no time, in the middle of a project.


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## Synesthesia (Nov 14, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- LAST CHANCE TO PREORDER!!*



Stephen Baysted @ Mon Nov 14 said:


> Nice one Paul. Dloading now.
> 
> Where's the case of beer though? :mrgreen:



:mrgreen:


----------



## Stephen Baysted (Nov 14, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- LAST CHANCE TO PREORDER!!*



Synesthesia @ Mon Nov 14 said:


> Stephen Baysted @ Mon Nov 14 said:
> 
> 
> > Nice one Paul. Dloading now.
> ...



Holy shit Paul! This is one absolutely stellar library mate. =o 


_-)


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## playz123 (Nov 14, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- LAST CHANCE TO PREORDER!!*

I REALLY like the new 'installer' downloader that several companies are now using. It makes things so much simpler and easier for customers, and hopefully is beneficial to sellers as well. It certainly cuts down on many of errors of previous downloads, and one can simply start it, walk away, and not have to keep running back to the computer every so often. Definitely a big improvement, and it's nice to see that Spitfire recognizes all that. Cheers..................frank


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## michael c (Nov 14, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- LAST CHANCE TO PREORDER!!*

Downloaded all the files with no problem but Kontakt 4.2.3 can't find the library. Is there supposed to be a solo strings "_info.nkx" file or something like that? Nothing like that downloaded for me.


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## noiseboyuk (Nov 14, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- LAST CHANCE TO PREORDER!!*



michael c @ Mon Nov 14 said:


> Downloaded all the files with no problem but Kontakt 4.2.3 can't find the library. Is there supposed to be a solo strings "_info.nkx" file or something like that? Nothing like that downloaded for me.



It's not a Kontakt library - you just navigate using the file browser or setup a quick load link.

Nearly finished downloading...


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## devastat (Nov 14, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- LAST CHANCE TO PREORDER!!*

Solo strings sounds absolutely great, but I am also experiencing the same viola stac+spicc bug.


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## KMuzzey (Nov 14, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- LAST CHANCE TO PREORDER!!*

I'm playing with it right now, and y'know what I love? If you hold down a single note for a while, at the point where the player would reach the end of their bow, you hear the re-bowing as they switch directions. It's one of those little tiny details that adds such realism to a string sample. This is one of those libraries that just _sounds_ good.

Kerry


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## Stevie (Nov 14, 2011)

Yes, bug confirmed.

Kerry, as far as I remember LASS was the first library to do that.


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## Stevie (Nov 14, 2011)

Btw, is it only me or is the Violin Longs V articulation missing? The vibrato slider seems to switch only from NV to MV.


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## Synesthesia (Nov 14, 2011)

Ah - we found the error - we will have a fixed viola mm patch out to everyone in about 12 hours. 

There's always something that creeps in!


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## playz123 (Nov 14, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- LAST CHANCE TO PREORDER!!*

Being able to control vibrato so easily using CC21 (or MIDI learn) in this product makes performances so much more realistic. Wonderful. And just starting to test blending with other instruments. A Steinway Grand and the solo violin sound amazing together, and adding a bit of the close mics helps as well. Well done! ....frank


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## noiseboyuk (Nov 14, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- LAST CHANCE TO PREORDER!!*

OK, here's the results of the noiseboy jury...

I was desperate to try it on a little noodle piece I did a few weeks ago. Pretty simple, but challenging for a VI, led by solo viola and some support from solo violin. And here are the results:

http://www.box.net/s/kysqxzot82i1o5zycp7f

Previous version was with LASS FC.

First of all, thus far I've not even opened the cello (I told you I was desperate to try it on this piece, right?). Second - and this is more crucial - I wasn't really able to satisfactorily make the viola articulations patch work much at all. Nothing other than the longs would work for me. I programmed cc2 to switch between v and nv, but didn't really have much in the way of satisfactory results - it's essentially a switch on / off. It's smooth enough, but feels too musically abrupt to sound right. So I'll worry about that another day.

Now, on the more positive side, the legato is working really well I think. All you hear on this piece are the two legato patches, using mostly slur transitions, with the occasional detache and gliss. Occasionally if feels a bit lumpy with the modwheel, but I think that's just getting used to it.

Best of all - I LOVE the tone. Really love. The net effect, I have to say, of SSS on this piece is far superior to LASS FC, and the majority of that is the tone, which I think is gorgeous, and a hint of more expressive possibility with the occasional detache.

Just for full disclosure - this piece is a short sketch I did a few weeks ago, with just dynamics changed to suit SSS. There's a bit of LASS sordino, emotional piano and 2 omnisphere patches and the two SSS patches - that's it. There's some reverb of mine on the viola, didn't need it on the violin I didn't think. It's not meant to be a definitive demo for SSS, it's purely the first piece I wanted to try with it, warts and all, getting to know the new library. I'll probably regret posting it tomorrow from my side wanting to take more time and care!

I fear I'll have lots more to type on SSS, but I'll save it for now... a very promising start though - congrats to all at Spitfire.


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## DocMidi657 (Nov 14, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- LAST CHANCE TO PREORDER!!*

Hi Guys,

Should I have more patches than this? Wondering If the solo strings download is correct?

1.Solo Cello legato.nki
2. Solo Cello multimic.nki
3. Solo Viola legato.nki
4. Solo Violin legato.nki
5. Solo Violin multimic.nki
6. Solo Vla multimic.nki


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## BachN4th (Nov 14, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- LAST CHANCE TO PREORDER!!*

I debated whether or not to put this up, but I suppose it's good to see what a non-professional can do with nice samples like these.

This is an Elegy for String Orchestra that I wrote, rearranged for Spitfire solo strings. To cover all the parts I've used 2 each of Violin, Viola, and Cello legatos. Uses only the legato patches, and default settings for Spitfire's built in reverb.

http://www.box.net/s/qkbmnp2hi8l2ny1bvf9i


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## Diffusor (Nov 14, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- LAST CHANCE TO PREORDER!!*



BachN4th @ Mon Nov 14 said:


> I debated whether or not to put this up, but I suppose it's good to see what a non-professional can do with nice samples like these.
> 
> This is an Elegy for String Orchestra that I wrote, rearranged for Spitfire solo strings. To cover all the parts I've used 2 each of Violin, Viola, and Cello legatos. Uses only the legato patches, and default settings for Spitfire's built in reverb.
> 
> http://www.box.net/s/qkbmnp2hi8l2ny1bvf9i




Cool. Very Barber's Adagioesque.


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## noiseboyuk (Nov 14, 2011)

Doc - those patches are right, all the articulations are on keyswitches in the multimic patches (except the viola one which has a bug and getting fixed tomorrow).

Bach - sounds terrific! Lovely piece.

Bach's track demos both the strength and - currently - the main weakness. The vibrato is an issue. It's lovely, but it's always there in the legato patches and it starts to drive me a bit nuts. On my piece I was I think instinctively trying to hide it sometimes, and my initial attempts to combine with the multimic patch were just frustrating.

My first take on a solution is to try a LASS paradigm for velocity mapping, where at the very least the pp is all nv. I know this doesn't suit every part, but I think it's more natural more of the time. Maybe I'm just used to LASS, but I do find myself rocking back to cc1=0 and not getting the effect I want.

I did try combining with the multimic patch, but I think that's too fiddly for most parts. I realise this is all 1.1 stuff for the future, but perhaps a keyswitch on the legato patch to switch between v. nv and a graduated response between the two might be the ultimate end game. And everything in context - adore, adore the tone, and the transitions and variety in attack is wonderful.


----------



## DocMidi657 (Nov 14, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- LAST CHANCE TO PREORDER!!*

Thanks NoiseBoy! Got it!
Doc


----------



## DocMidi657 (Nov 14, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- LAST CHANCE TO PREORDER!!*

Here's a first try with Spitfire Solo Strings. Used Legato Violin and the Cello Multi Mic patch.

http://soundcloud.com/dzeltner/first-tr ... lo/s-4tGnw


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## bsound76 (Nov 14, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- LAST CHANCE TO PREORDER!!*

all these user demos sound killer.

looking forward to getting home so I can download.


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## tripit (Nov 14, 2011)

noiseboyuk @ Mon Nov 14 said:


> The vibrato is an issue. It's lovely, but it's always there in the legato patches and it starts to drive me a bit nuts.



This is one of my fears as well, that I would go nuts with constant vibrato. I hope they can find a way to get around it, otherwise it might limit what you can do with what is otherwise, a great sounding library.


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## Rob Elliott (Nov 14, 2011)

tripit @ Mon Nov 14 said:


> noiseboyuk @ Mon Nov 14 said:
> 
> 
> > The vibrato is an issue. It's lovely, but it's always there in the legato patches and it starts to drive me a bit nuts.
> ...




It was one of my initial concerns and after playing the library - it still is - BUT - the legato patches are simply a must have. If they can figure and a way to have this tone and playability with NV to V control - they would be perfect.


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## michael c (Nov 14, 2011)

Rob Elliott @ Mon Nov 14 said:


> tripit @ Mon Nov 14 said:
> 
> 
> > noiseboyuk @ Mon Nov 14 said:
> ...



Hopefully Spitfire can write some kind of script that makes the vibrato feel natural going between the V to NV control instead of just on or off.


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## zacnelson (Nov 14, 2011)

I've had a brief play with it and was very impressed with the portamento, what do you others think of it in comparison to say LASS? I could easily end up using gliss on heaps of notes!


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## bsound76 (Nov 14, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- LAST CHANCE TO PREORDER!!*

Yet another great library from Spitfire.

Try not to make anything for at least a few months, guys, I'm not sure my bank account can take the hit.


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## roblord (Nov 15, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- LAST CHANCE TO PREORDER!!*

Curses! Forgot to buy before the cutoff. Well it sounds great and even at the current price it's a bit of a bargain so I don't feel too bad. well done chaps, nice job.


Rob


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## noiseboyuk (Nov 15, 2011)

zacnelson @ Tue Nov 15 said:


> I've had a brief play with it and was very impressed with the portamento, what do you others think of it in comparison to say LASS? I could easily end up using gliss on heaps of notes!



Ha - like I do with LASS and get stick for! I think portamento / gliss is more used in solo passages though, isn't it. Actually I think it's very similar to LASS's portamento on default settings. LASS also has gliss, but it's much slower. That is one limitation currently with SSS, you can't tweek the gliss speed, you can with LASS FC's portamento (though to be honest cos if the faff with my current hardware / DAW setup I tend to not bother!)

I'm entirely with Rob really. Once the viola patch glitch is fixed, personally I think getting a way to integrate nv into the legato patch is number 1 priority. As per my post above, I think a keyswitch nv / v / graduated depending on velocity 3 way option seems appealing. I don't know how slower transition will sound... it may or may not work, but perhaps its worth a try, I don't think the current solution works very well in the multi-mic patches. Also personally I'd like the shorts on keyswitches on the legato patch too. It would also be really nice to tweak the velocity ranges for the different transitions - 80 seems awfully low to me for detache on my keyboard.

Two more areas of praise that haven't been much commented on - the shorts are excellent (as you can hear in doc's very good demo). Second, I really like the upper registers of the violin, it's that far more emotive sound you often associate with lead violin passages. This is a terrific weapon in the arsenal, certainly way way better than anything I have currently.


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## zacnelson (Nov 15, 2011)

Yeah those high violin notes are a huge highlight and that is an area so many samples struggle with


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## dedersen (Nov 15, 2011)

Ugh, I can just feel the regret of not pre-ordering this creeping in already. As with Albion, I am sure I'll end up getting it a week after pre-order has ended.


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## TheUnfinished (Nov 15, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- LAST CHANCE TO PREORDER!!*

It finished downloading just before I went to bed last night, so haven't installed yet. But am very excited at the potential from just listening to the first demos. I think this is going to be perfect for a little game soundtrack I'm doing.

Glad I pulled the trigger on the pre-order price!


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## noiseboyuk (Nov 15, 2011)

Dupe post


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## Hanu_H (Nov 15, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- LAST CHANCE TO PREORDER!!*

Really nice sound and awesome playability. Legatos kick ass.

There is something wrong with the violin pizzicatos. Sometimes the "room" is coming too late and it sound like a delay. It only appears on some of the notes. I can hear it in A3, D4 and C5 if I compare it to the other notes. Sometimes its fine but sometimes it sounds like that the hall is coming too late and also louder. Cello pizzicatos are fine. Anyone else having this or is it just me???

I am already seeing this in my template for solo strings and also doubling LASS. I love the way LASS sounds and I think the glissando and legato of these libraries will compliment each other well.

Excellent job Spitfire. Now I just need to find some money for your Percussion and Albion libraries. :D

-Hannes


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## Justus (Nov 15, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- LAST CHANCE TO PREORDER!!*



Hanu_H @ Tue Nov 15 said:


> There is something wrong with the violin pizzicatos. Sometimes the "room" is coming too late and it sound like a delay. It only appears on some of the notes. I can hear it in A3, D4 and C5 if I compare it to the other notes. Sometimes its fine but sometimes it sounds like that the hall is coming too late and also louder. Cello pizzicatos are fine. Anyone else having this or is it just me???



+1


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## Pedro Camacho (Nov 15, 2011)

Just played it.... Wonderful! Really wonderful!

I would just REALLY wish something: 
Non-vib legato!!!


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## jamwerks (Nov 15, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- LAST CHANCE TO PREORDER!!*

How high do these violin samples go?


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## noiseboyuk (Nov 15, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- LAST CHANCE TO PREORDER!!*



jamwerks @ Tue Nov 15 said:


> How high do these violin samples go?



C#6


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## Winslow (Nov 15, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- LAST CHANCE TO PREORDER!!*

The viola fix has just been sent out! 
Great support!


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## jamwerks (Nov 15, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- LAST CHANCE TO PREORDER!!*



noiseboyuk @ Tue Nov 15 said:


> C#6


 >8o 

I imagine (hope) you mean C#7 (middle C being C4) ?! :shock: 

I was hoping for a minor third higher. 
Do the harmonics go up a bit?


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## Synesthesia (Nov 15, 2011)

Hi chaps - 

Jam - yes its C#7 with C4 as middle C. 

We are looking at the pizz issue - please chaps can you email us at the [email protected] address with any issues, its much easier to keep track of what we need to look at rather than trying to keep up with the forum!

And the legato non vib thing. Believe me, we would love this. Its all recorded, but we need to find a way to implement that works for us. Of course its also another few weeks of programming for everyone, so we have to balance that up into the equation. 

Let us recover from getting this out the door first!

Our next priority on this lib is the recording of the 'missing' viola arts. 

Who woulda thought there were so many Viola fans out there? :D

Meanwhile, the first Triangle update on the perc lib is being uploaded to NI as we speak, better late than never I hope! Albion fixes in the pipeline too.

Glad you are all enjoying the lib - its been a labour or love I can tell you!

Cheers,

Paul


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## Synesthesia (Nov 15, 2011)

askmusic @ Tue Nov 15 said:


> Viola shorts are working now. Thanks for the fast Hot Fix!
> 
> One Question: Can you please state the mix balances of the legato patches, so we can easily adjust the multimics to fit their sound?
> 
> And my request for Close Mic legato patches still remains. ATM they have a bit to much room, to be usable in every situation. Also, because the room control seems only to cut of the release. The sound while playing a note is not affected, as far a I hear..



Hi Ask,

Yes we'll post that up shortly. 

Close mic legs - I have to say for the record.. not gonna happen. Way too much work to replicate this all three times.. when we already know (from our tests on other solo instruments) that playing the three positions together - or even just close & one of Tree or Amb - won't work.

Sorry!

Paul :|


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## Synesthesia (Nov 15, 2011)

BTW - 

the middle C conundrum:

C3 Yamaha
C4 Roland

At Spitfire we go with C4....

:D


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## Justus (Nov 15, 2011)

Synesthesia @ Tue Nov 15 said:


> askmusic @ Tue Nov 15 said:
> 
> 
> > Viola shorts are working now. Thanks for the fast Hot Fix!
> ...




Understood! I too was hoping for a future close mic legato update to be more flexible, thought it was just a batch processing thing for you.

Never mind! This lib rocks!!!


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## noiseboyuk (Nov 15, 2011)

Is there a link for the new viola nki? Don't seem to have that email yet.

Thanks Paul - personally if it were one or the other for time money and resources, I'd vote for prioritising non-vib legato over the missing viola arts. For me the legato patches will be the meat of the library, would love to get that issue resolved, it feels a little less expressive than FC at the moment in that regard as I can't dial back enough. All the best, really does sound terrific otherwise.


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## Synesthesia (Nov 15, 2011)

Thanks chaps!

Guy - went to your yahoo ac about an hour ago. Everyone should have the hotfix by now.

We are just in the process of changing it on the back end so that future downloads are all correct.

Cheers,

Paul


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## devastat (Nov 15, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- LAST CHANCE TO PREORDER!!*

Viola patches working fine now, thanks for an amazing product!

P.S Also dreaming of a non-vib legato in the future


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## noiseboyuk (Nov 15, 2011)

Synesthesia @ Tue Nov 15 said:


> Thanks chaps!
> 
> Guy - went to your yahoo ac about an hour ago. Everyone should have the hotfix by now.
> 
> ...



Ah, it had slipped into the spam folder - got it, thanks.


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## Stevie (Nov 15, 2011)

Synesthesia @ 15th November 2011 said:


> Meanwhile, the first Triangle update on the perc lib is being uploaded to NI as we speak, better late than never I hope! Albion fixes in the pipeline too.
> 
> Paul




/\~O =o _-) o-[][]-o


----------



## cacophonix (Nov 15, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- LAST CHANCE TO PREORDER!!*

Great product, as usual, and stellar support fixing the viola patch so fast!
I did not have too much time to play with this library (installed it very late this night), but I definitely love the cello and viola legato.

I'm just surprised that the violin lacks the G4 natural harmonic (first natural harmonic of the G string), as its use in solo pieces is very common (and easy to play, even for young people). Maybe in a future update?

Regards,


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## FriFlo (Nov 15, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- LAST CHANCE TO PREORDER!!*

Wow! I just played these patches and the sound really rules! My compliments.
However, as much as i understand, that you wanted to keep the price low, I have some wishes. I would immediately pay for a Solo Strings II package, wherever you feel it is necessary to charge for extra editing work or recording more samples. So, in the following wish list I won't distinguish between upgrade and update:
1) As many said before: I really love to have a close mic only for the legato patches! It is so sad that yo are not able to mix these wonderful mic positions for legato. If you ask me, I would have gone for close mic only for the legato patches, if only one can be done, since you can add reverb to that, whereas taking it away just doesn't work.
The gui slider room size has the problem, that you hear the room size change during prases. It is only useful for fast lines IMO.
2) Also asked by others: Non Vib slider for the legato patches.
3) While you already said you would record pizz for Viola, please add staccato for Cello, too. i just hate these inconsistencies in libs.
4) Some of the low short notes lack the ability to play them short. I guess it is a difficult thing with halls release to make them shorter by earlier note off, but it would be helpful.
5) Generally speaking, for a second installment I have a lot of patch suggestions:
- I would love to hear that sound (especially of the cello) sul ponticello (legato) - think of all of the vampire stuff on recent movies and TV-shows
- flautando
- col legno
- Contra Bass!
- multiple legato transitions and sus samples instead of trills (if this is off the charts on the sample counter consider something like a AMG feature of LASS)
- tremolando
...
All that being said, I really think the price is more then fair, for what it already is!


----------



## MA-Simon (Nov 15, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- LAST CHANCE TO PREORDER!!*

Finally finished downloading and already loving it!

But here are some questions:
First thing i noticed, no no-vib legato...
Maybe this was stated arround here somewhere, or i just misread the patchlist on your website. I was under the impresson the different legatos would be avaiable for all different vibs. Hope you will be working on them at some point. 

Does the Violin have all 3 longs in the multimic patch? I think i get only 2 here?

While i understand the thing with the natural room verb, it would be cool to have the time machine feature avaiable for all short patches too.



> - I would love to hear that sound (especially of the cello) sul ponticello (legato) - think of all of the vampire stuff on recent movies and TV-shows


+1 to this! Would love some bartók pizz on the cello too.

As a non string player i dont know if this is even playable, but i just needed to ask, is something like legato-harmonic possible?


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## Ned Bouhalassa (Nov 15, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- LAST CHANCE TO PREORDER!!*

I 

LOVE

IT!!!

Congratulations! Permanent fixture in my toolkit now. So expressive...

I would kill for mutes. o/~ 

o-[][]-o o-[][]-o o-[][]-o o-[][]-o o-[][]-o


----------



## Pedro Camacho (Nov 15, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- LAST CHANCE TO PREORDER!!*



MA-Simon @ Tue Nov 15 said:


> no no-vib legato...



yes :(


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## noiseboyuk (Nov 15, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- LAST CHANCE TO PREORDER!!*



MA-Simon @ Tue Nov 15 said:


> First thing i noticed, no no-vib legato...
> Maybe this was stated arround here somewhere, or i just misread the patchlist on your website. I was under the impresson the different legatos would be avaiable for all different vibs. Hope you will be working on them at some point.



Yeah, lots about that on this thread! I guess the Spiftire guys might feel a bit slammed with the thousands of instant requests. It is a terrific sounding library, but of course there's room for more. Perhaps we should run a poll for the most requested updated feature? nv legato by a mile for me, if nothing else just on the quietest velocity layer, would make it much easier to play and sound natural I think. I'd personally live with everything else as-is!


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## Rob Elliott (Nov 15, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- LAST CHANCE TO PREORDER!!*



noiseboyuk @ Tue Nov 15 said:


> MA-Simon @ Tue Nov 15 said:
> 
> 
> > First thing i noticed, no no-vib legato...
> ...




I'd also be good with NV on the quietest level of the legato patch. The close mic only for legato is also a must have for me. The room reducer thingy takes the organic nature of the tone away - IMHO.


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## Diffusor (Nov 15, 2011)

I think the first thing they need to do is make the multimic patches sound the same as the legato patches. I thought they were going to setup that up as default?


Anyways, sounds awesome overall!


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## MA-Simon (Nov 15, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- LAST CHANCE TO PREORDER!!*

I made a little cello non-vib-ish legato patch for myselfe, don´t know if this is any good? (My playing in this demo is horrible tough)

http://soundcloud.com/ma-simon/ce-legato-edit-test


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## bsound76 (Nov 15, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- LAST CHANCE TO PREORDER!!*

Hey Simon- that sounds quite good to me.


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## Rob Elliott (Nov 15, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- LAST CHANCE TO PREORDER!!*

Yea Simon - that does sound good. How can we get our grubby little hands on it? :D


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## noiseboyuk (Nov 15, 2011)

Well done, Simon! I can still clearly hear the mid-note transitions, but still useful.


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## MA-Simon (Nov 15, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- LAST CHANCE TO PREORDER!!*

Thanks, this is actually quickly done by replacing the longs with the novib samples of the multimic patch and shortening the transitions.



> Yea Simon - that does sound good. How can we get our grubby little hands on it?


 Well... i don´t really know if this is allowed since everything is watermarked? So i would rather not share anything before someone tells me if this is permited ore not.


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## noiseboyuk (Nov 15, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- LAST CHANCE TO PREORDER!!*



MA-Simon @ Tue Nov 15 said:


> Well... i don´t really know if this is allowed since everything is watermarked? So i would rather not share anything before someone tells me if this is permited ore not.



It's only the samples that are watermarked, and the nki is useless without them. Even so, definitely check with the Spitfire guys to make sure they're ok with it.


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## scientist (Nov 15, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- LAST CHANCE TO PREORDER!!*

another +1 for non-vibrato. crossfade-able within the current legato patch would be optimal, but even an entirely separate patch would be useful. not just for entire non-vib notes/passages, but i've noticed - particularly with the cello - that the quick and aggressive start to the vibrato really hurts the believability of faster passages. 

other than that gripe everything else is outstanding; the legato transitions and resulting playability are pretty amazing (on par with garritan's long-discontinued gofriller cello), and the recordings sound great. congratulations, spitfire.


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## Diffusor (Nov 15, 2011)

I definitely would be down with the idea of doing extended libraries much like VSL handle it and would gladly pay for it.


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## jgarciaserra (Nov 15, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- LAST CHANCE TO PREORDER!!*

Bravo Spitfire!  
Here's a little demo I've made to know a little the patches and the overall sound.
It's a midi from Sibelius 7 of an arrangement I did for my wedding day.
Expression worked (1 hour) in Logic Pro.
Please be gentle! 0oD 

http://soundcloud.com/user2697101/cinema-solo-strings

Yes, soundcloud, sorry.... :cry:


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## playz123 (Nov 15, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- LAST CHANCE TO PREORDER!!*

Two questions for those in the know. Based on the current discussion, the first is a bit tangential, but is the library the same for both PCs and Macs, or are the files different? I know the installers must be downloaded for the appropriate system, but once the library is unRAR'd, what about the files themselves? The reason I ask is because I am currently on a Mac Pro, but based on whether or not Apple continues to sell them, I may be forced to move back to a PC again someday. Could I just copy over the "Mac' SSS library to a PC and be good to go, or do I need to download a 'PC version of SSS' and store it for the future?

Question 2: Why is Albion a "library" in Kontakt, but for SSS and Harp etc. one must browse to files? Is it because Albion has both Instruments and multis?? I do know that NI treats the two formats differently as well when approached by a manufacturer, and I assume an NI "library" may cost more to release. Just curious.....................frank


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## jamwerks (Nov 15, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- LAST CHANCE TO PREORDER!!*



Ned Bouhalassa @ Tue Nov 15 said:


> I would kill for mutes.



For mutes, tremolo & trills, I would buy in.
I love the sound of this library, but I would need more articulations (and Double-bass) :!: Am I going to have to continue using VSL for long? :shock:


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## Synesthesia (Nov 15, 2011)

Hi chaps,

First up, please do *not* share nkis. Our libraries are watermarked in a variety of ways.

I haven't had a chance to listen yet but we spend days and days tuning every single transition (everyinterval from every note), so I'd be amazed if its possible to just drop in the non vib samples !! 

Playz123 - the library is platform agnostic - so its not a problem if you move over to PC, just copy it over.

We are considering all requests - it has to be viable financially as well obviously!

Thanks,

Paul


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## jamwerks (Nov 15, 2011)

Synesthesia @ Tue Nov 15 said:


> We are considering all requests - it has to be viable financially as well obviously!



I'm very happy to read this! I'll let you dogs continue the opening festivities (without me :oops: ) and will be back with requests (credit card in hand!). o-[][]-o


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## Synesthesia (Nov 15, 2011)

OK chaps!

We are going to put together a patch for each that has nv at the lowest layer, using the existing transitions, and see what it sounds like. 

We weren't satisfied with this approach before, but it sounds like it might be a workable compromise at this stage - we'll see how it works. We have done a considerable amount of work on the patch and the way it functions since we last tested this.

Leave it with us. :D


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## noiseboyuk (Nov 15, 2011)

Paul - you beauty!

Thanks a million, you guys rock.


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## synthnut (Nov 15, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- RELEASED!!*

Hi Paul , 
I wanted to thank you on the forum for how you handled my order ....You ROCK !!!

Just so you guys know, I ordered this program on my Mac , but wanted to download it on my PC ......Stupid me , I should have ordered it on my PC ......Last minute as Paul was in the last minutes of sending this program out to everyone , he answered my emails promptly , and was able to make the quick switch to my PC so that I would not have any issues downloading there ...especially after I ordered the program on my Mac !!..... As chaotic as things where for Paul , he made this happen in the final minutes of getting this program out !!...... I just wanted you guys to know what kind of customer service I recieved when Paul could have just as easily not even bothered as he had bigger fish to fry .....THIS my friends is TOP NOTCH CUSTOMER SERVICE !!......Thanks again Paul .....Sincerely, Jim


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## Ryan Scully (Nov 15, 2011)

Synesthesia @ Tue Nov 15 said:


> OK chaps!
> 
> We are going to put together a patch for each that has nv at the lowest layer, using the existing transitions, and see what it sounds like.
> 
> ...




Awesome!

Just gotta say that this is an absolutely gorgeous sounding library and is very intuitive and easy to play. I also just noticed that the ostinatum is included in the multi mic patches - You guys totally rock!



Ryan =o


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## zacnelson (Nov 15, 2011)

I'm so excited to be getting the extra patch with nv legato in the lowest layer! That will make a massive difference!!!!!


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## FriFlo (Nov 15, 2011)

I am grateful for that announcement, too. BUT!!!
To be honest, right now I am a little dissapointed after the first excitement:
Similar to the Albion Library I have found quite a lot of little things here and there that really give me the creeps! I kept my mouth shut when I bought Albion, because there where updates promised. But now I only want to believe in the sold product.
I won't put a list with all things down right now, as there are quite a lot of them. I will only give some examples. These have nothing to do with my wishlist before, but are REAL problems.
I found:
- missing legato transitions and sustains in the upper register of the legato violin
- some really bad "sqeeky noises" on bowchange legatos, that sound like something just broke (e.g. Cello Bb4 > G4)
- some harsh attacks after the transition
- generally a lot of inconsistencies in the way the transitions sound

This is not to be supposed a bashing of this release. I understand that this is an amazingly unexpensive library. But IMO this is not an acceptable excuse for putting it out in this state of programming and editing. I know, a lot of fan boys are about to wear me down for making such a statement. But I am the kind of guy to say what I think. It still sounds amazing. But I can already see myself changing my composition, because a certain transition sounds strange. So, please fix those things! Otherwise I will be compelled that you are just using your good name to release some sloppy work and always say the budget kept you from doing it right! Same goes for parts of Albion.
So, come on, fan boys! It's out! .. give it to me!


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## Diffusor (Nov 15, 2011)

Well they did say it was a work in progress and plan to fix things. They already quickly fixed one issue.


And it's "fanbois".


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## MA-Simon (Nov 15, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- RELEASED!!*



> We are going to put together a patch for each that has nv at the lowest layer, using the existing transitions, and see what it sounds like.



Awesome! 

Btw. Albion Ostinatum layered with the solo strings shorts sounds fantastic! Just puts in the "missing" agressive vibe. 
So don´t forget to let some other guy/s - girl/s work on that Albion Expansion too!


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## SvK (Nov 15, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- RELEASED!!*

Spitfire:

Absolutely great!
Playing the Violin now...

Question:

I need to reassign your CC numbers to match those of Hollywood Strings. How do I do that?

best,
SvK


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## Stevie (Nov 15, 2011)

Steven!!!!


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## SvK (Nov 15, 2011)

Römer...

wie geht's?

best,
SvK


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## SvK (Nov 15, 2011)

wow, wow, wow

i'll tell you what. If you guys did this SAME library 3 more times and each time with different players...I'll fork over the cash...

this is great sounding!

best,
SvK


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## Stevie (Nov 15, 2011)

Alles super, Herr von Kampen 

Enjoying Solo Strings


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## SvK (Nov 15, 2011)

danke Herr Römer.

Es war nett dich kennen zu lernen.


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## playz123 (Nov 15, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- RELEASED!!*



SvK @ Tue Nov 15 said:


> Spitfire:
> 
> Question:
> 
> ...



Perhaps I haven't grasped your question correctly, but if you right click on a control in SSS, you'll see that some of them already have a CC assigned to them, AND you will also see "MIDI learn". Just select that, then move a control on your controller that is assigned to the CC you want, and the SSS control will then react to that same CC. Does that help?


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## SvK (Nov 15, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- RELEASED!!*



playz123 @ Tue Nov 15 said:


> SvK @ Tue Nov 15 said:
> 
> 
> > Spitfire:
> ...



that's it thanx!

best,
SvK


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## Synesthesia (Nov 16, 2011)

FriFlo @ Tue Nov 15 said:


> I am grateful for that announcement, too. BUT!!!
> To be honest, right now I am a little dissapointed after the first excitement:
> Similar to the Albion Library I have found quite a lot of little things here and there that really give me the creeps! I kept my mouth shut when I bought Albion, because there where updates promised. But now I only want to believe in the sold product.
> I won't put a list with all things down right now, as there are quite a lot of them. I will only give some examples. These have nothing to do with my wishlist before, but are REAL problems.
> ...



I'm going to break my golden rule and get a little bit annoyed.

Firstly, I have listened to Bb4 > G4 and there is nothing wrong with it. I presume you mean a bow/string noise between Bb3 > G3.

I'm not going to apologise for the occasional squeak, instrument/player noise, etc in our libraries. If you read our website before purchasing you will find that these are deliberately left in. We like the added noises, humanity, etc. I don't want our libraries to sound like synths.

I don't want a discussion on the merits or demerits of this policy, its been done to death. If you don't like these, and you prefer polished sounding samples, then our libraries are not for you. There are plenty of highly polished libs out there.

'Sloppy work'? 'budget prevented you from doing it right'?

Do you have any idea how many 12-14 hour days went into this product? for how many months?

Did you know for example that we junked an entire day of sessions at a quite frankly terrifying cost because we decided the ambient noise outside the studio was too great that day?

Do you know how Kontakt introduces little 'gotchas' when you are compiling large sample sets with complicated programming? Groups randomly switching voice count limits back to 1, zones going missing etc.

We do, and we check and recheck. 

Are there missing transitions in the Violin? I haven't found any.

Its far more useful to email us with any problems you find. If they are genuine technical errors, we will fix them, as we have done with the Viola patch, immediately.

If they are 'noises/humanity' we reserve the right to leave as is, in line with our taste and philosophy.

These exceptional players are not machines, and we don't want to build patches that sound perfect. We offer this library at a great price because we want to enable people to make great sounding tracks whether they are pros or hobbyists. We want people to write great music and enjoy writing it, and when they are able, to experience the thrill of working with live players. Thats our philosophy in a nutshell.

The problem with just posting without considering whether you are being unkind, or even insulting, is that you give off an impression of our work, and our company, that I feel is unjustified and untrue. And if enough people read this and pass on by, then the end result eventually is that we'll simply stop making products because it becomes commercially unviable.

I'm obviously taking this to the logical endpoint, and I am really grateful for all the kind comments that have also been posted, but I reserve the right to be a human being and get annoyed when I see myself misrepresented.

Anyway, polemic over, normal easy going service is now being resumed. I'm not going to comment further on this issue as its easy for these to and fros to get out of hand, as we've seen on the forum recently. I just wanted the opportunity to defend myself, and the enormously hard work that Andy, Blake, Christian and I have put into our products.

Thanks for listening. 

Paul


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## johnnyt (Nov 16, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- RELEASED!!*

I think this library is exceptionally good value. Once again Spitfire have produced samples with real warmth and soul. I have been waiting so long for a truly expressive cello. And now I have Caroline Dale! Well almost. 
These guys really get it! I would be happy to blindly pre-order whatever they come up with next.


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## jlb (Nov 16, 2011)

Synesthesia @ Wed Nov 16 said:


> FriFlo @ Tue Nov 15 said:
> 
> 
> > I am grateful for that announcement, too. BUT!!!
> ...



Paul, I just want you to know the rest of us on here ignore stuff like this. This library is superb and we VERY MUCH appreciate the reasonable prices. Your products make me proud to be British, and don't worry about the great music, some is coming 

jlb


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## zacnelson (Nov 16, 2011)

Great post Paul


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## Ryan Scully (Nov 16, 2011)

zacnelson @ Wed Nov 16 said:


> Great post Paul




Big +1


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## jgarciaserra (Nov 16, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- RELEASED!!*

Incredible new approach to Sampling.
All my respect and greetings to Spitfire team.
Plase, keep giving us new libraries and new modules.
(updates too)
Jaume G.am.


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## noiseboyuk (Nov 16, 2011)

prscully20 @ Wed Nov 16 said:


> zacnelson @ Wed Nov 16 said:
> 
> 
> > Great post Paul
> ...



....and +2.


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## ChrisAxia (Nov 16, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- RELEASED!!*

Really nice work guys. I actually updated a cue with your solo violin, which previously used the LASS first chair, just in time for today's dub! Another excellent value library from Spitfire. Really enjoying Albion also. Thanks.

~C


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## EastWest Lurker (Nov 16, 2011)

noiseboyuk @ Wed Nov 16 said:


> prscully20 @ Wed Nov 16 said:
> 
> 
> > zacnelson @ Wed Nov 16 said:
> ...



and +3.


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## Stephan Lindsjo (Nov 16, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- RELEASED!!*

And, I love these libraries. Both Albion and solo strings are absolutely fantastic.


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## EwigWanderer (Nov 16, 2011)

Synesthesia @ 11.16.2011 said:


> FriFlo @ Tue Nov 15 said:
> 
> 
> > I'm not going to apologise for the occasional squeak, instrument/player noise, etc in our libraries. If you read our website before purchasing you will find that these are deliberately left in. We like the added noises, humanity, etc. I don't want our libraries to sound like synths.
> ...



This is why I like your sound so much!!!!! :D


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## Mike Connelly (Nov 16, 2011)

Blown away by the library so far and glad to hear that more articulations are coming to match the three up - the short articulations aren't nearly as big a job as legatos so hopefully we'll see a full matched set eventually.

The cello range is just crazy, almost five octaves for legato and beyond that for shorts. I wonder if it would be possible to stretch the cello range from B up to that top C (even by pitching samples).



Synesthesia @ Tue Nov 15 said:


> Meanwhile, the first Triangle update on the perc lib is being uploaded to NI as we speak, better late than never I hope!



Good news, any word on the velocity fixes for the percussion library? I love the library but that issue is killing me, and it has been a long time with no fix.


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## marcotronic (Nov 16, 2011)

Just installed your Small Strings: Awesome, guys!!! The legatos are a dream! I love the programming - hats off - great job!

Marco


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## playz123 (Nov 16, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- RELEASED!!*

Ostinatum in SSS too.....of course. I never even noticed that because I was too busy enjoying the main patches. Good thing I eventually read the manuals.  The thing is, it's there in the interface, but there are no Ostinatum instruments that I can see, and it doesn't work with the multimic patches. So is it in the interface and in the manual 'for use in the future'??

Nice to see too that Spitfire is employing the talents of Blake Robinson. I don't know him personally, but have corresponded with him previously on the NS forum, and benefited from his patches and art work he posted, enjoyed his demo compositions, and can admire the fact that not only is he a musician, he can also program and do things about which I have no clue. I don't recognize his touch on the SSS user interface, but perhaps he was involved in that as well? Speaking of the interface, I'd like to see a few of the controls made slightly larger, but that's just me.

Finally the manual, does what it needs to do, but I'm not enamoured by the pale grey text in the printer friendly version. 'Artsy crafty' for sure, but perhaps sticking with black text might make reading easier? Cheers..........frank


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## Hannesdm (Nov 16, 2011)

Another BIG praise for spitfire!!

The sound and playability is just amazing!

I wish there was an ensemble string library with those features! (LASS is very good, but you cannot compare that with the playability and sound of SSS. Fair enough, it's much more difficult to do this with ensemble strings of course)
Imagine a complete string library like Albion and SSS, combining best of both worlds. I'd buy it immediately! (If the price isn't as high as the bespoke library  )

Just want to add that this library is also excellent to breath more live into your string parts by layering this with LASS or Albion! I'm using it on a project as we speak!

Hats off!


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## TheUnfinished (Nov 16, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- RELEASED!!*

Fired it up for the first time just now. Legato violin, little bit of reverb, played the violin solo from Da Vinci Code.

Lovely.

Great work guys.


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## TheUnfinished (Nov 16, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- RELEASED!!*

Double post due to temperamental internet connection.


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## FriFlo (Nov 17, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- RELEASED!!*



> I'm going to break my golden rule and get a little bit annoyed.



I knew, this would come and I hate the fact, you cannot state your opinion without being offended for that. Worse, you imply I am ignorant on the quality of your product, which am not. I did make it clear and said often enough how great the sound is in general.



> Firstly, I have listened to Bb4 > G4 and there is nothing wrong with it. I presume you mean a bow/string noise between Bb3 > G3.
> 
> I'm not going to apologise for the occasional squeak, instrument/player noise, etc in our libraries. If you read our website before purchasing you will find that these are deliberately left in. We like the added noises, humanity, etc. I don't want our libraries to sound like synths.



Yeah! It is Bb3 to G3, right. But the fact that you can tell what I mean tells me something. I have nothing against slight imperfection, that make it feel alive. But this particular squeak makes playing a lot of chords with the bowchange legato sound UNNATURAL! It would be ok one time, but the second time you hit that squeak within a few seconds it just becomes ridiculous. I think that is obvious, when you try it. I feel silly that I even have to discuss it.
If any other owner of this library wants to try out: just play a typical Cello Chord line in 8th notes with bow change legato activated:
g2 d3 g3 Bb3 g3 d3 .... repeat that some times
Play the same thing an a2 and compare ...
There are many other transitions, that stick out in a certain way. I just picked an obvious one. 

My post was not polemic at all, it is simply based on facts! I find it really irritating that you guys from spitfire react in that way ... makes me think ...


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## jlb (Nov 17, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- RELEASED!!*



FriFlo @ Thu Nov 17 said:


> > I'm going to break my golden rule and get a little bit annoyed.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



It's ridiculous to criticise this library at the price they have released, 3 world class players for £139, who cares if it is not perfect. If they had charged $1000 then fair enough. Totally ridiculous.


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## noiseboyuk (Nov 17, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- RELEASED!!*

FriFlo - you're not going to win any kudos with posts like that I'm afraid. You might have some valid points, but all you'll do is antagonise people if you go in guns blazing, then follow it up with still more guns blazing.

That note transition - yup I hear a squeak, honestly I think it's highly unlikely that I'd repeatedly play that transition on the bow change. Personally I think the bow change transitions are best used sparingly anyway. In that context, I don't think it's an important problem - indeed I can see why its left in. Those bowed legatos are for a hard front edge of a phrase perhaps, that's just the kind of squeak that might sound wonderful in context. If you want to repeat that phrase, just play the G at medium velocity - slurred legato, no squeak. Is that REALLY changing your composition so badly? Maybe I'm wrong on this - I can't be accused of being a fanboy (btw, raising the F word is a sure-fire way of a weak argument), I disliked the bow-change demo and said so here, I don't think it sold what the bow-change was about well at all. But put it in context, use it sparingly in the right places it can make stuff come alive. You may disagree with me - fine, but to make frankly dumb accusations about "sloppy work" based on this seems, frankly, ridiculous - especially after being told they junked an entire day's recording cos the conditions weren't right, never mind the months of laborious editing.

Page one on the manuals of everything they do is that there might be less than "perfect" transitions. Indeed, talk to people who have bespoke libraries (which I don't) and its these very things that some people clamour for. If that's not something you appreciate, then you really have bought from the wrong company I'm afraid. They are responsive to constructive suggestions - they released a viola fix in hours and have already promised to try a new legato patch with nv at the lower level, so you can't accuse them of not responding to reasonable customer requests. And yes, the suggestion is that your particular post wasn't reasonable.

Now, this is a commercial announcement thread - I suggest if you want to rant further on this, start a new thread in sample talk cos it's pretty bloody disrespectful here. Of course, if you want to be a little more constructive or even - God forbid - apologetic in what you have to say, then I'm sure here would be fine.


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## FriFlo (Nov 17, 2011)

I really don't get why it would be disrespectful to post some criticism based on facts. For a change, I wanted to say what I found weak between all these posts full of praise. I did however say what I really like about it. Somehow, I anticipated this kind of response from some people.
I don't want to win any kudos with anybody. I just want to say what I think. As this is a forum that should be possible ...


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## jamwerks (Nov 17, 2011)

FriFlo @ Fri Nov 18 said:


> I really don't get why it would be disrespectful to post some criticism based on facts..



Don't forget that this is a 1.0 version of the SSS. I don't have it, but from what people are reporting it seems to have very few things to touch up. The are some very popular 2 year old libraries that many of us use here, that still have hundreds of articulations to touch up. Just sayin'


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## Ed (Nov 17, 2011)

FriFlo @ Thu Nov 17 said:


> I really don't get why it would be disrespectful to post some criticism based on facts. For a change, I wanted to say what I found weak between all these posts full of praise. I did however say what I really like about it. Somehow, I anticipated this kind of response from some people.
> I don't want to win any kudos with anybody. I just want to say what I think. As this is a forum that should be possible ...



Its probably because you implied they intentionally released "sloppy work" saying:

_"I will be compelled that you are just using your good name to release some sloppy work and always say the budget kept you from doing it right!"_

I think its one thing to point out things that bug you about the library but don't expect to say the above and expect people to take it positively


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## NYC Composer (Nov 17, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- RELEASED!!*

I often wonder why people don't realize that the way they present things often dictates how well their statements are received. It seems so obvious.


----------



## jtenney (Nov 17, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- RELEASED!!*

Time for me to chime in here.

I have to admit that, during the pre-release and early post-release period of Albion, I complained about some articulations and other glitches too. I was (gently) told about ways of increasing round-robin possibilities, and was also (gently) told to RTFM about Spitfire's philosophy on sampling and constructing libraries. It was apparent right away that I had been on a wrong track. One thing I didn't understand at first, but which is a real DUHHHH, is that there is a balance between producing a "perfect" product and getting a product out the door at an affordable price. And here is where things get sensitive for me.

I was extremely heartened to learn that all the Spitfire sessions have been union, with the standard residuals for the players. I have been a member of the American musicians' union for 40 years. In the early 80s, I took part in one of the first set of sessions for sampled strings, for the Denny Jaeger library if anyone remembers. It was a buyout, with no residuals at all. I thought better of it later, but at the time, as a young hustling player, it was more like "well, if I don't grab the work, somebody else will," so I did it. Fast forward to the past couple of years. My wife and I have sometimes been doing game music recording at Skywalker Ranch. Our union sold us out on this whole part of the industry, reverting to buyout conditions, so that we got roughly $60 an hour, plus nothing, recording for games like The Gears of War and its sequels, which gross hundreds of millions of dollars. (It's true that the union did this partly to bring lost work back to the US that had been outsourced to places like Prague and Bratislava, but still...) So I am VERY receptive to developers who promise to treat their players fairly.

I think that some people need to step back and take a more comprehensive look at the big picture. We do not act up to the standards of humanity if we are not fair to each other. I apologize if that sounds "high falutin'," but in the US right now, the astonishing lack of fairness in many domains of life slaps us in the face, and those of us who are conscious of it must fight to do our part to correct it.

later,
John


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## jlb (Nov 18, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- RELEASED!!*

Paul and Christian, please ignore this criticism, carry on doing exactly what you are doing, record the Spitfire way, be fair to musicians, and keep the prices reasonable, your stuff is the very best.

jlb


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## jlb (Nov 18, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- RELEASED!!*

Also please release an expansion for Albion soon, because it is bloody great

jlb


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## marcotronic (Nov 19, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- RELEASED!!*

Hi folks,

just did my first test with that new lovely baby. I used cello, viola and violin legato patches in combination with Ilya Efimov´s awesome nylon guitar lib.

[flash width=400 height=100 loop=false]https://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http://soundcloud.com/soundrepository/spitfire-solo-strings-with[/flash]

Enjoy 

Marco


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## ysnyvz (Nov 19, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- RELEASED!!*



marcotronic @ Sat Nov 19 said:


> BTW: How do I embed soundcloud files directly in my posts?



[flash width=300 height=100 loop=false]http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http://soundcloud.com/soundrepository/spitfire-solo-strings-with[/flash]

when you quote my post you will see the code,you can also change its size.
i liked your composition,that's why i help :wink:


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## jamwerks (Nov 19, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- RELEASED!!*



marcotronic @ Sat Nov 19 said:


> just did my first test with that new lovely baby.



Nice piece!

I now see what some have been saying about the need for some non-vib legato also.


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## playz123 (Nov 19, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- RELEASED!!*



marcotronic @ Sat Nov 19 said:


> Hi folks,
> 
> just did my first test with that new lovely baby. I used cello, viola and violin legato patches in combination with Ilya Efimov´s awesome nylon guitar lib.
> Enjoy
> ...



Very nice, Marco, and that's an excellent combination of instruments that you selected. I too have been very impressed by the Efimov guitars, and their tonal qualities are amazing. Strum is also very useful for certain types of music. Re. SSS, yes, I'm really hoping we will eventually have better control of vibrato in the legato patches because sometimes a little goes a long way, and too much detracts.  Thank you for sharing your composition with us...........frank


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## marcotronic (Nov 20, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- RELEASED!!*

@ysnyvz: Thanks a lot for yor help! At first it didn´t work because I set the height something else then 100 (81 as the original soundcloud example snippets you get), but finally it worked with setting the height to 100  And thanks for your comment on my music! 

@jamwerks & @playz123: Thanks! Glad you like my piece. Yeah - a controllable non-vibrato to vibrato is my number one wish, too. The permanent vibrato is getting a bit annyoing quite quickly. But nevertheless I totally love this lib!  (@playz123: Yes, the strum libs are also great: I have both of them, too (Acoustic & Nylon guitar) )

Marco


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## british_bpm (Nov 20, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- RELEASED!!*



jlb @ Fri Nov 18 said:


> Paul and Christian, please ignore this criticism, carry on doing exactly what you are doing, record the Spitfire way, be fair to musicians, and keep the prices reasonable, your stuff is the very best.
> 
> jlb



These kind of comments mean so much to us they really do. Paul and I started out just doing this for ourselves I'd done a charango sample that had bought me a lot about variation in playing when making a sample patch, Paul had done a violin, and we both came together with the same idea.... Then we realised there were lots of other people out there who liked our approach, we're not arrogant enough to take you guys for granted so it's nice to hear from you from time-to-time.

Thanks again.

Christian.


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## jlb (Nov 20, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- RELEASED!!*

No problem Christian, I am really enjoying Solo Strings. The violin the the first passable solo violin sample I have heard, and I am a violinist!

Best Wishes

Jlb


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## Diffusor (Nov 20, 2011)

Still waiting on hearing what the multimic mix should be to match the legato mics. I have gotten somewhat close by ear but it would be nice to know exactly.


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## Andy B (Nov 20, 2011)

Diffusor @ Sun Nov 20 said:


> Still waiting on hearing what the multimic mix should be to match the legato mics. I have gotten somewhat close by ear but it would be nice to know exactly.



Sorry about the wait on this:


Tree -12dB
Ambient 0dB

Thanks,


Andy.


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## Andy B (Nov 20, 2011)

askmusic @ Sun Nov 20 said:


> Andy B @ Sun Nov 20 said:
> 
> 
> > Diffusor @ Sun Nov 20 said:
> ...



Yes, no Close mics.

Andy


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## Diffusor (Nov 20, 2011)

Andy B @ Sun Nov 20 said:


> Diffusor @ Sun Nov 20 said:
> 
> 
> > Still waiting on hearing what the multimic mix should be to match the legato mics. I have gotten somewhat close by ear but it would be nice to know exactly.
> ...



thanks Andy!


Might be nice to eventually get Close mic legatos. I thought usually its easier to have legato on Close miced recordings (a la LASS or VSL). I only say this because it might be harder to integrate other sample recordings when there is such a room imprint on the samples (with no impulses made of Air sadly, man I would love a MIR Pro capture of Air!). In fact, I would say if you just make close mic legatos the existing decca/ambient patches could be mixed underneath to taste (especially since the mixed legatos don't have any close mic in them), which would be really flexible I think. Anyways, just an idea. I just don't really get the idea of providing multiple mics for the non-legato patches when people are going to use both just as frequently. You mine as well made the multimic patches a single mixed mic as well.

Great job otherwise! I love the library. Just had to post my one criticism,


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## michael c (Nov 20, 2011)

Diffusor @ Sun Nov 20 said:


> Andy B @ Sun Nov 20 said:
> 
> 
> > Diffusor @ Sun Nov 20 said:
> ...



Really like the library but I wish the legato arts had the close mics. If your piece isn't in a big room, the ambient sound of the legato is unusable. I think it would have been a better idea to just supply just the close mic sound to help defray costs.

The other big thing would be better control of the vibrato. 

I realize price is an issue but those two changes would make a HUGE difference in the library.

Thanks!


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## noiseboyuk (Nov 20, 2011)

michael c @ Mon Nov 21 said:


> the ambient sound of the legato is unusable.



Sorry, but that is total rubbish, and it's hyperbole like that that negates any sensible suggestions you might have. It it were unusable, people wouldn't have been able to USE it to make outstandingly good demos with it. It was - of course - the mixed used in every official or unofficial demo with the legato that you presumably based your purchasing decision on.

Guys, the Spitfire folks have said more than once that there are no plans for any more mic versions for the legato - it isn't an automated process, and thus the resources required would be too great. Personally I think the mix they've done sounds excellent.

The non-vibrato issue they're already addressing.


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## Ed (Nov 20, 2011)

michael c @ Sun Nov 20 said:


> [ the ambient sound of the legato is unusable.



One of the main points about Spitfire is the AIR room sound, why do you want to butcher it by only wanting close mics? Or why do you think it makes sense to only offer close mics when their selling point is the sound of the studio? One of the reasons people like Spitfire is because of how nice the room sounds. I dont have Solo Strings but I have Albion and the close mics are great to help mix but only close mics feels like you drain all the life out of the sample only them alone. I suggest VSL if super dry is what you want.

It would be nice to have an addon in the future though, even if you pay for it. Im more interested in a Non-vib legato patch and being able to crossfade between non-vib and vib. I can do that with Cinematic Strings and its really expressive. Get that right and Im on board, I will be anyway of course, but I'll love it way more.. someone had a nice demo of one they made a few pages back?


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## michael c (Nov 20, 2011)

noiseboyuk @ Sun Nov 20 said:


> michael c @ Mon Nov 21 said:
> 
> 
> > the ambient sound of the legato is unusable.
> ...



WOW! If you are going to quote me, please include the whole line. I said if the piece you are using the legato violin in isn't in a large room setting the ambient sound of the legato is useless. And I stand by that. If you have a track that doesn't have a lot of ambient sound in it, to have the violin in the AIR studio is not natural to my ears. So I wish if Spitfire could have only included one mic in the legato sound, I wish they would have chosen the close mic. You could then at least hope to better match your existing track by putting the close mic sound in your own ambient program. Sorry you disagree with that....

I also said I understood because of the cost of the library, they couldn't include everything. I also purchased Albion which I have already used on 2 commercial projects. So I don't feel I am slamming Spitfire. I wouldn't have purchased 2 of their libraries in the last few months if that was the case. I did listen to the demos before I purchased so there is no surprise on my part. Just a wish list coming from someone who is actually using the library.

I also think the library stands on its own terrific merits and doesn't need you to stand up for them. I didn't realize you were their spokesman....


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## noiseboyuk (Nov 20, 2011)

Fair enough about not quoting fully - sorry about that. But it doesn't change very much - the Spitfire folks have said more than once that the legato mix is the legato mix and that's it, and that the AIR sound is the THE sound of the library. And I totally agree with Ed - if you can only have 1 mic in this library, then it should be one that best reflects the design of the library. Personally I don't think close-only should ever be used, the design of the multi-mic patches is to mix in a bit of close when needed for more definition. SSS isn't designed for a dry sound. Even the close mics are pretty wet.


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## devastat (Nov 20, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- RELEASED!!*

Michael c, you can also get a closer sound in the solo strings legato patches by decreasing the hall size and EQing the top-end.


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## british_bpm (Nov 21, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- RELEASED!!*

Hey there, I thought I'd join in as I find the subject very interesting. I'm delighted that so many of you understand our approach.

I am however heartbroken when it's often quoted that a lot of our decisions are based on cost issues. Which I can assure you in the case of the multi mic issue on the Legato patches isn't the case. Indeed, the solo strings at all..... this one has bled us dry! Mainly, because they're so darn't difficult to do!

I think that two key considerations were made when making this decision, re multi mic legatos.

Firstly conceptual...

Our motto is to record film scores one note at a time not to record pristine sample libraries and based on this simple idea, apply our experience of film score making to our modules. Our experience of recording solo strings in the hall leads us to think you could use this library to emulate the following:

1. As a solo line within a section, or as part of a piece whether recorded to be recorded with band or overdubbed.
2. To enable the leader/ principals to speak out as you would with a slightly more traditional approach to orchestration, or a more "chamber" sound.
3. To demo up smaller ensembles, trios quartets, etc.

With this in mind we observed that the room is always very much embraced in these recordings, but if the room is too large sounding, I would usually book a different studio, put a player in one of the booths, or lower the Hall's canopy dramatically. By providing you with close mic signals you would not be able to emulate any of these scenarios in our humble opinion.

For more produced intimate sounding, overdubbed strings (like you would approach say a bright softly played acoustic guitar that you would cheat up on top of an orchestral piece) not only in our experience would you record it in a much dryer environment but would also mic it completely differently. My choice for violin would be to very close mics with a KM184, a Coles, then back a bit with a vintage C12 then a broader image with a pair of Schoeps if you have the channels/ mics and tracks free!

Again, by providing you with a spot mic signal in the hall, you, in our very humble opinion, wouldn't be able to cheat such an approach. We feel you'd get very much the worse of both worlds. So we decided instead to continue playing to the strength of the hall, a room we now know so well, and to provide users with tools based on what applications are recorded in that room.

Curiously I recently demoed a score with our Harp, and on the day of the records with a 54 piece band, we decided the harp was unlikely to cut through enough, so we put our live player in a booth. On mixing we have had to revert back to the samples as no amount of clever reverbs could make the live harp sound like it's in that room. It wasn't sitting so we dialled back in the Spitfire Harp across the entire score and cut the live harp. Much to my bleeding harp, I mean heart.

So therein lies our approach to the Solo Strings, solo strings recorded in the hall, to do the things that you would do with solo strings recorded at Lyndhurst hall!

That's the conceptual side.... But lest us forget technical issues. Our second consideration:

The fact of the matter is the minute you get more than one player you can hide a multitude of sins. The legato patches are massively complicated and break every rule in the book to convince us all that they're actually doing what they're doing, so it's handy to have several players playing, so you don't quite know where the bows are etc etc. But the minute you have one player, all is laid bare and you can really hear what's going on under the bonnet. So the best way of smudging things is to rely on a nice "live" image, with the natural long decay of the room and the beautiful early reflections, you can mask better what is going on in the wings. Vibrato also helps this as it varies the sonic image enough for us to cheekily slip in those "in-between" bits, a pure direct still note.... "is that a crossfade I can hear?"

We've spent over a year getting this right and believe you me, feature rich is always our aim, but in this instance it simply doesn't work to include direct signal, and we are not happy including features that could be then perceived as "sloppy" to use someone else's ahem, term.... having said that, you already know we're looking at the NV possibility.

I write at length because I love talking about this stuff and am fascinated by everyone's take on it here. We get lots of brilliant ideas from you guys so long may the discussion continue.

Best.

Christian.


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## jamwerks (Nov 21, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- RELEASED!!*

Nice read. I'd never thought that legato on a solo would be more difficult, but I can now understand why. o-[][]-o


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## MA-Simon (Nov 21, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- RELEASED!!*

You can really nicely "fake" the non octave legato for the Albion low Strings while layerin the solo cello on top of them. Which is awesome.



> Here are some more details about the articulations. We have enough material to construct separate Violin 2 patches as well, which we will be working on prior to release.


Will you still be working on those?


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## jtenney (Nov 21, 2011)

Thanks for the long and complete explanation, Christian!

later,
John


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## michael c (Nov 21, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- RELEASED!!*

Christian-

Thanks for the reply. Please know my comments weren't complaints on the library. I knew exactly what I was getting. After owning the library and hoping to use it on a commercial I am currently working on, I realized the solo violin was just too ambient for the spot. I was disappointed because the tone of the violin would have been perfect. I ended up using EW Gypsy violin which worked fine for this piece, but would have loved to use my new violin!

I apologize for mentioning that budget was an issue in your decision, but I thought I had read that on this forum? My mistake. I know you did say that your solo strings were meant as a sketching tool, but IMO the 2 suggestions I made would make a huge difference in this library as far as flexibility.

In the 'old' days, the ambient vs dry was a big discussion and complaint of the EW Platinum Orch. I thought the ambience made EW sound much livelier than VSL (others disagreed) but again, on certain scores I wasn't able to use even just the close mics in EW for the work and needed to use the drier sounding VSL. It just depended on the vibe/feel of the piece I was working on. 

I've bought Albion and Solo Strings this year and love them both. More importantly, I have used Albion on two productions already and plan on using Solo Strings before the end of the year if possible. 95% of the time, I use a real player for solo violin or viola, but in today's world because of budget, deadlines and unfortunately buy out vs union, that luxury is somewhat disappearing.

Thanks for all your hard work.


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## givemenoughrope (Nov 21, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- RELEASED!!*

Are there any demos focusing on the short arts.? Any chance of a quick YouTube run thru? Not that I'm on the fence...I'd just climb down from it a bit sooner.


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## tripit (Nov 21, 2011)

Ed @ Sun Nov 20 said:


> michael c @ Sun Nov 20 said:
> 
> 
> > [ the ambient sound of the legato is unusable.
> ...



+1 The AIR room sound is what makes these libraries stand out, among other things.


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## FrankT (Nov 21, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- RELEASED!!*

SSS is an amazingly expressive library! Very musical and inspirational! 
Also checking Albion now.

Thanks
Frank


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## Jerome Vonhogen (Nov 21, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- RELEASED!!*

Hi Christian,

Thanks a lot for your extensive post!



british_bpm @ Mon Nov 21 said:


> (...) by providing you with a spot mic signal in the hall, you, in our very humble opinion, wouldn't be able to cheat such an approach. We feel you'd get very much the worse of both worlds.


I understand your point, and I respect the choices you and your team have made. However, given the extremely high sound- and programming quality of your library, I would be perfectly happy to have the 'worse of both worlds', rather than nothing from one of those worlds (i.e. the world of close mic legatos). :wink: 

Don't get me wrong, I think this is an outstanding library, and I'm glad I ordered it. But I would have loved to have more control over the sound by being able to add subtile amounts of dry signal (in the mixing stage), whenever the mix requires a bit more 'presence', since I'm so used to this kind of workflow.

Maybe decreasing the hall size could do the trick, but at the moment, that option doesn't seem to work for the portamento transitions themselves (I believe this was already mentioned by another user). It would be great if you guys could look into this issue. I really hope it's just a slider malfunction, or some other minor (fixable) bug, 'cause right now I feel quite handicapped without at least a little bit of control over the dryness of the legato patches.



british_bpm @ Mon Nov 21 said:


> With this in mind we observed that the room is always very much embraced in these recordings, but if the room is too large sounding, I would usually book a different studio, put a player in one of the booths, or lower the Hall's canopy dramatically. By providing you with close mic signals you would not be able to emulate any of these scenarios in our humble opinion


I understand your point, as far as overdubbed strings are concerned. But, wouldn't this mean that close mic legatos would still sound great and 'Spitfire-esque' if used as standalone patches (I mean, without the multi mic blend)?

If so, what about the idea of releasing a separate 2nd (or 3rd) violin as a close legato-only instrument, based on the left-over recording material? By adding a close mic legato violin as an entirely different instrument, no one would be tempted to try to mix it with equivalent patches of different mic positions, so the characteristic Spitfire sound cannot be messed up by the user, and therefore, no one would perceive the result as 'sloppy' after all.

Maybe such a close mic-only legato patch wouldn't be very useful in mixes with full orchestra either, but as a sketching tool, it would still be extremely useful! I wouldn't mind if you'd add a disclaimer saying that the additional close mic is meant as a sketching tool only, not suitable for overdubbing, etcetera. I wouldn't mind paying for such an update/upgrade of the library either.

Thanks a lot for your excellent new library, and thanks for taking the time to share your views and background information with us on this forum! 

- Jerome Vonhögen


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## noiseboyuk (Nov 21, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- RELEASED!!*



Jerome Vonhogen @ Tue Nov 22 said:


> If so, what about the idea of releasing a separate 2nd (or 3rd) violin as a close legato-only instrument, based on the left-over recording material? By adding a close mic legato violin as an entirely different instrument, no one would be tempted to try to mix it with equivalent patches of different mic positions, so the characteristic Spitfire sound cannot be messed up by the user, and therefore, no one would perceive the result as 'sloppy' after all.
> 
> Maybe such a close mic-only legato patch wouldn't be very useful in mixes with full orchestra either, but as a sketching tool, it would still be extremely useful! I wouldn't mind if you'd add a disclaimer saying that the additional close mic is meant as a sketching tool only, not suitable for overdubbing, etcetera. I wouldn't mind paying for such an update/upgrade of the library either.



Personally I'd rather have a 2nd violin with the same mix as currently. I'm in the camp that says that the close mic, on it's own, isn't very useful at all - its a strangely unbalanced sound, and still too wet for dry use. Of course this is fine as part of a mix of three mics. Speaking of which - there was probably a case to be made in this library for abandoning the multimic option altogether, since the majority of uses will be with the single mic-mix legato and everything else has to match with that anyway.

I think the broad point here is to let a library be what it should be. Rather than take the closest possible mic option in an ambient room, better go with a different choice entirely for an application that really falls outside the remit of the library. CineBrass, Albion, SSS - these are ambient libraries and all sound a gazillion dollars, but I think you gotta roll with 'em, not try to squeeze their sonic square pegs into audio round holes.


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## Diffusor (Nov 22, 2011)

I can understand Spitfire is the AIR signature sample company and the ethos behind only doing a mixed mic. But that ambient level is 12 db higher than even the decca tree. That's quite an imprint. The problem is when you integrate with other libraries and recorded sound. There is no impulse library of AIR so getting a cohesive sound over all the instruments is made harder since AIR has such a distinctive sound (as any room would). I really wish VSL could talk AIR into allowing them to do a MIR pro sample of their hall. That would be sick.


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## Rob (Nov 22, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- RELEASED!!*



marcotronic @ 19th November 2011 said:


> Hi folks,
> 
> just did my first test with that new lovely baby. I used cello, viola and violin legato patches in combination with Ilya Efimov´s awesome nylon guitar lib.
> 
> ...



Sounds great!


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## marcotronic (Nov 22, 2011)

Thanks a lot, Rob!


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## british_bpm (Nov 23, 2011)

Diffusor @ Tue Nov 22 said:


> I can understand Spitfire is the AIR signature sample company and the ethos behind only doing a mixed mic. But that ambient level is 12 db higher than even the decca tree. That's quite an imprint. The problem is when you integrate with other libraries and recorded sound. There is no impulse library of AIR so getting a cohesive sound over all the instruments is made harder since AIR has such a distinctive sound (as any room would). I really wish VSL could talk AIR into allowing them to do a MIR pro sample of their hall. That would be sick.



I'm sorry to hear that you feel this. Having worked up at Air for 10 years now I understand it's curiosities and can assure this board that in our very humble opinion, the ONLY way of doing these legatos is in the manner in which we have presented them to you in SS. When playing a straight single note, the hall remains fairly dormant, the minute you move notes or even change bow it literally leaps into life. We have legato samples in our bespoke library that literally sound like they're in a different room to pizzicatos, trills, terms and shorts, and it is the many years spent making this bespoke behemoth that has informed our approach with the legato solo strings. 

We will therefore categorically not be addressing multi mics (we have tried) in legatos as they simply do not work. 

We are currently trying the VC NV version of the legato's in beta format brilliantly programmed by Andy Blaney and I have requested with Paul that we suffix the patch VC Legato NV BPD (BPD standing for By-Popular-Demand not Borderline-Personality-Disorder!) as it's not quite matching our exacting technical standards.

I hope this explains our position clearly and thank everyone again for their enthusiasm.

Christian.

PS VSL, Hands off the hall! I believe it is Air policy not to allow the recording of impulse responses in the hall.


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## noiseboyuk (Nov 23, 2011)

british_bpm @ Wed Nov 23 said:


> We are currently trying the VC NV version of the legato's in beta format brilliantly programmed by Andy Blaney and I have requested with Paul that we suffix the patch VC Legato NV BPD (BPD standing for By-Popular-Demand not Borderline-Personality-Disorder!) as it's not quite matching our exacting technical standards.



Great stuff! Can you fill us in on where your current thinking is - to hopefully include both nv legato patches and also a hybrid nv low velocity / v high? Or too early to say?


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## Erik (Nov 23, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- RELEASED!!*

Hi Askmusic and all others,

I fully agree with your point of view. 
As addition to your post two examples of Spitfire Solo Strings.

1. http://www.musesamples.com/examples/BachFull2.mp3 (Bach, Violin concerto a-min., first part). Used, as solo violin of course Spitfire, for the baroque orchestra sound: Session Strings Pro.

2. The first measures of the http://www.musesamples.com/examples/Octet.mp3 (Octet of Mendelssohn-Bartholdy), first part: allegro moderato, ma con fuoco. I had very much fun doing a fragment of this splendid piece for 8 solo strings. Maybe there will be a bigger part in due course. I don't know, it takes quite a lot of time after all.

I think these libaries suit the musical goal here.
I hope you like it as much as I do.

Best,
Erik

btw there is a thread on the VSL forum on the Bach piece. A.o. using this Session Strings Pro in this piece.


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## noiseboyuk (Nov 23, 2011)

One more open question to the floor. Across all my different libraries, there's two different schools of thought regarding one common legato scenario. Version A (which SSS adopts) is that if you play a note and keep it held, play a 2nd note you'll trigger legato. Then when you release the 2nd note, the note ends. Version B (which VSL and I think Broadway Big Band use for some artics) is slightly different... when you release the 2nd note, if the 1st note is still held, it retriggers a legato back to the first note. I have to say, I LOVE version B, really helps make some faster phrases play so much easier, you can even pull of a passable playable trill for some libs.

Now, I've no idea if it's a really easy fix to change the global behaviour, or an unbelievable time consuming chore. But I wanted to get a view from others - which implementation do you prefer?

EDIT - Erik, the violin at 30s sounds terriffc in the Bach, was unsure before then (probably because of the Session Strings). The Mendhelssohn is AMAZING! Terrific work, surprised there aren't more comments on it (well you know, SSS has been out a week now so time for new shiny things, eh?!


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## noiseboyuk (Nov 23, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- RELEASED!!*

Aargh, got my threads mixed up.

This is in response to a request from Jose to hear Spitfire Small Strings layered with LASS, especially using bowed legato. I remembered I had a 30s sketch of a sort of TV drama theme I wrote a few weeks ago and haven't touched since, thought it would be good to just really quickly add Spitifre on the top and see what happened. Result - nice things happened!

I ended up actually using the cello in a higher register to double the main line - the violin was just too emotive for this piece and it seemed to leap out. However the cello sat beautifully, once encouraged to sit stage left a little away from her cellist colleagues (wow I'm such a maverick, me). Then the response lines were mostly violin and a bit of viola for the harmonies. There's actually about 50% detache on the legato lines, Jose. The other strings are mostly LASS (lite, actually) and LASS LS for the violins.

http://www.box.com/s/t0qjziflaj35151jq17g

Well _I_ had fun, anyway.


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## noiseboyuk (Nov 24, 2011)

Wow, killed off two threads with that one piece there! Never managed that before... feelin' the love, people! But no comments on Erik's fine work either?

AND no comments AT ALL on the type of legato you prefer? Think I'll start a new thread on that at least, I still think it's a very good topic for discussion.


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## lamandolina (Nov 25, 2011)

Is possible to remove all the reverb in solo strings?
I know that in legato instruments there is no close miss, but in short articulation yes, and I wan to removed the reverb and It looks like the close mic has also a little reverberation, any possibility?


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## noiseboyuk (Nov 25, 2011)

lamandolina @ Fri Nov 25 said:


> Is possible to remove all the reverb in solo strings?
> I know that in legato instruments there is no close miss, but in short articulation yes, and I wan to removed the reverb and It looks like the close mic has also a little reverberation, any possibility?



No. That's the ambiance built in to the samples, and very lovely it is too. If you need a dry library, you'll have to look elsewhere I'm afraid.


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## lamandolina (Nov 25, 2011)

another questions...what can I do for getting the same sound between legato patches and short ones, I can't get a similar sounds...


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## noiseboyuk (Nov 25, 2011)

lamandolina @ Fri Nov 25 said:


> another questions...what can I do for getting the same sound between legato patches and short ones, I can't get a similar sounds...



I think the figures were -12db for Tree, 0db for ambient, no close mics at all.

I should have added before that there is a "room size" control on the legato patches, but I'm never really a fan of artificially curtailing ambiance - it rarely sounds natural to my ears.


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## lamandolina (Nov 25, 2011)

yes, now it sounds with the same ambient, but I must say that I miss a lot the possibility of choose my reverb and ambient...many users talked about it and it will be a very good idea for a future update of this beautiful library, thanks!


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## Rob Elliott (Nov 25, 2011)

noiseboyuk @ Wed Nov 23 said:


> british_bpm @ Wed Nov 23 said:
> 
> 
> > We are currently trying the VC NV version of the legato's in beta format brilliantly programmed by Andy Blaney and I have requested with Paul that we suffix the patch VC Legato NV BPD (BPD standing for By-Popular-Demand not Borderline-Personality-Disorder!) as it's not quite matching our exacting technical standards.
> ...




+! on this question. If you can at this point.


----------



## noiseboyuk (Nov 25, 2011)

lamandolina @ Fri Nov 25 said:


> yes, now it sounds with the same ambient, but I must say that I miss a lot the possibility of choose my reverb and ambient...many users talked about it and it will be a very good idea for a future update of this beautiful library, thanks!



I think if you read through this thread, you'll see both that this isn't going to happen, and also why.


----------



## José Herring (Nov 25, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- RELEASED!!*



noiseboyuk @ Wed Nov 23 said:


> Aargh, got my threads mixed up.
> 
> This is in response to a request from Jose to hear Spitfire Small Strings layered with LASS, especially using bowed legato. I remembered I had a 30s sketch of a sort of TV drama theme I wrote a few weeks ago and haven't touched since, thought it would be good to just really quickly add Spitifre on the top and see what happened. Result - nice things happened!
> 
> ...



It's in a good direction. I like the idea. Been watching Robin Hood on netflix and it kind of reminds of that. The only think I would do is to bring out the faster notes a little bit so that they speak more clearly.

best,

Jose


----------



## noiseboyuk (Nov 25, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- RELEASED!!*



josejherring @ Fri Nov 25 said:


> It's in a good direction. I like the idea. Been watching Robin Hood on netflix and it kind of reminds of that. The only think I would do is to bring out the faster notes a little bit so that they speak more clearly.



Thanks Jose!


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## Synesthesia (Nov 25, 2011)

Chaps,

We are close to an update which will fix a few issues, and also add the BPD patches for NV-V legato.

Be aware that this works kind of! for example, you can't just wiggle the vib control madly as you are playing transitions. We did say that we were not entirely satisfied with the possible implementation.

But - I have to say, its definitely useful - if you work within its natural limits.

Anyway - I hope we will be able to send this out Monday, but there are a few small issues to iron out before then.

Andy and Blake have put a lot of work into the update this week, and the weekend is a time for rest and family. 

More news Monday.

Happy thanksgiving to all our US friends!

Paul :D


----------



## ThomasL (Nov 25, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- RELEASED!!*

Excellent news Paul! Just bought the lib this morning and have been playing with it all day, great library!


----------



## Jason (Nov 25, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- RELEASED!!*

Thanks Paul- really looking forward to the update! I just love working with these samples, Solo Strings is a wonderful library.


----------



## Rob Elliott (Nov 25, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- RELEASED!!*

Indeed...thanks Paul for giving us 'options'. Glad I purchased this one, it does in fact cover 'new' ground. I think you have seen from interest and follow on replies that there is a market for expanding the current offering - perhaps a SSpro. I think there would be many lining up with their credit cards. :wink: For me this wouldn't necessarily need to be an additional 50 GB of new samples as much as 'next generation' *expressive playability*.

Thanks again.


----------



## marcotronic (Nov 25, 2011)

Thanks for the info, Paul. Looking forward to those new patches. Enjoy your weekend 

Marco


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## noiseboyuk (Nov 25, 2011)

Yes, thanks Paul! Perhaps an ultimate future patch would combine the two options on a keyswitch? Any which way, major kudos to you guys for responding so fast to the community and I hear your caveats loud and clear (as I hope does everyone else!)


----------



## shakuman (Nov 26, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- RELEASED!!*

Great news Paul! Have a nice weekend o-[][]-o 

Shakuman.


----------



## Rob Elliott (Nov 28, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- RELEASED!!*

Paul - we'll we get an email or should we continue to check the site for this NV update? Many thanks.


----------



## Synesthesia (Nov 28, 2011)

Hi Rob - 

Everyone will receive an email with download links. We are just prepping the back end, but I don't want to put a time on it, just yet!

Its all done though, so it will be today, sooner or later.

Cheers!

Paul


----------



## Rob Elliott (Nov 28, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- RELEASED!!*

Sounds great Paul. Thanks for the update.


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## noiseboyuk (Nov 28, 2011)

Hello chaps, just received the update, but I think something has gone awry. The manual says 1.2, the BPD patches say 1.1. What seems to be happening is that there is no nv layer - it's just regular v, but the release samples have all vanished, so either my install has gone wonky or I the wrong versions got uploaded perhaps? Soooo close!


----------



## Rob Elliott (Nov 28, 2011)

noiseboyuk @ Mon Nov 28 said:


> Hello chaps, just received the update, but I think something has gone awry. The manual says 1.2, the BPD patches say 1.1. What seems to be happening is that there is no nv layer - it's just regular v, but the release samples have all vanished, so either my install has gone wonky or I the wrong versions got uploaded perhaps? Soooo close!




Yikes - was just ready to DL. Paul?


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## Diffusor (Nov 28, 2011)

noiseboyuk @ Mon Nov 28 said:


> Hello chaps, just received the update, but I think something has gone awry. The manual says 1.2, the BPD patches say 1.1. What seems to be happening is that there is no nv layer - it's just regular v, but the release samples have all vanished, so either my install has gone wonky or I the wrong versions got uploaded perhaps? Soooo close!



No release samples and NV for you! Back of the line!


----------



## Winslow (Nov 28, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- RELEASED!!*

I think they just mixed up the terms. The 1.2 manual is the one for the 1.1 update.
The NV layer is there - you just have to ride CC21 as in the multimic patches.

Cheers,

Winslow


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## Synesthesia (Nov 28, 2011)

Chaps,

Yes - 1.2 = 1.1. Whoops!

If you don't follow the instructions in my email  and don't create a new lib folder, make sure you delete the UI.nkc file as this will cause you issues. 

It is a cache for the nkr file which we have updated. 

Cheers!

Paul


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## Rob Elliott (Nov 28, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- RELEASED!!*

Paul - first off. Nice job in 4 days. Really will help.


Second. I directed your installer to the drive of the original installation and it seemed to do everything automatically. Instruments and samples all where they should be - playing back as intended. Am I lucky or missing something?


Thanks again Paul and team.


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## Ryan Scully (Nov 28, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- RELEASED!!*

Much thanks Spitfire Team from myself as well. I just had a quick run through of the new patches and agree that these will certainly help. The fact that you guys put this together for your customers in the manner in which you did is a huge credit to your impressive company. In the end its all about the options - The added vibrato slider on the legato patches are just that - a very useful option to an already stellar patch. 



Ryan :D


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## noiseboyuk (Nov 28, 2011)

Synesthesia @ Mon Nov 28 said:


> Chaps,
> 
> Yes - 1.2 = 1.1. Whoops!
> 
> ...



Oooooh... I copied old to new, should have done the opposite I see. Whoops indeed.... deleting UI.nkc brings back the release samples, but still can't get that elusive nv. I'll fiddle some more (boom, boom).

EDIT - and all of 2 minutes later, I now see a magic VIBRATO fader has appeared! I was just expecting an nv on the lowest layer, this is very clever stuff to have separate control. All disclaimers of yours understood, think this will prove extremely useful - congrats for getting this done so quickly!


----------



## Rob Elliott (Nov 28, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- RELEASED!!*

Holy freaking moly - having this 'solo string smallness' coupled with HS (velxfade and vibrato controllable there as well) - pure honey. Thanks again Paul. It's as you say not perfect but honestly - you exceeded my expectations with the quick update.

Get this 100% somehow and you have a brand new release and SHOULD charge for it.


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## Andy B (Nov 28, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- RELEASED!!*

Yes, just to let all of you know that the new NV-V legato patches have controllable vibrato across all dynamics. :D 

Thanks,

Andy.


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## Ed (Nov 28, 2011)

DEMO NOW PLZ THNX


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## Udo (Nov 28, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- RELEASED!!*

Did it install normally for everyone?

I've run the download twice, but although it says: "installed", it's nowhere to be found (I've scanned the whole HDD).

Sent the download log to support.


----------



## Rob Elliott (Nov 28, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- RELEASED!!*

That's strange Udo - installed ok here (directed which HDD in the 'download' prompt. You might want to do that once again.


Svk - respecting SF's clarification of 'no tech service' on these new patches. I want to assigned the NV - V to the MW (1) and the expression pedal to the 'dynamics' - feels more natural and it matches HS's design (for doubling). We had to 'filter' the MW (1) as it seems 'hardwired' to 'dynamic' in all patches.


Any ideas of how to assign MW to vibrato?


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## noiseboyuk (Nov 28, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- RELEASED!!*



Rob Elliott @ Tue Nov 29 said:


> That's strange Udo - installed ok here (directed which HDD in the 'download' prompt. You might want to do that once again.
> 
> 
> Svk - respecting SF's clarification of 'no tech service' on these new patches. I want to assigned the NV - V to the MW (1) and the expression pedal to the 'dynamics' - feels more natural and it matches HS's design (for doubling). We had to 'filter' the MW (1) as it seems 'hardwired' to 'dynamic' in all patches.
> ...



Having made an edjit of myself with my backwards installation, I can now make ammends and crow that the answer to this one is easy peasy lemon squeezy - just right click the on-screen faders for dymanics (default cc1) or vibrato (default cc21) or indeed Hall size, remove the current assignment, then do it again to learn the new cc assignment... waggle your correct fader and job done! 

One quick and dirty trick is to assign both to cc1 - it works but you don't get great results this way. Essentially the vibrato control is a switch at velocity 64 - nv below, v above, I find it tends to be smoothest to cross around the note transitions or best of all of course between notes, so you need independent control for this.

It's a bit trial and error really - sometimes you play mid-note and go "wow that really worked" but usually it doesn't, which I think is what Spiftire are getting at with the "unsupported" bit - to make this work bang on reliably would probably take another year of programming! Like I say though, even at the most basic level of switching between notes its very useful.

Ed, I'll try and put up a very quick noodling demo shortly.


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## noiseboyuk (Nov 29, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- RELEASED!!*

For Ed - quick noodling demo, just 20s of violin and piano. It takes quite a bit longer to get it right than using the standard patch, which I guess is as you'd expect. I assigned cc1 and cc21 (vibrato) to my Euphonix controller, which meant I had automated faders - this REALLY helped to smooth some of the transitions. As you'll hear I didn't get every one perfect, but more sound good than don't I think, and it's great to have in the arsenal alongside the officially sanctioned patches! I have so much to do today I just wanted to get on though, so all due apologies to Mr and Mrs Spitfire for any bumps committed in haste here.

http://www.box.com/s/u65ftammyo47sdoflm2y


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## Udo (Nov 29, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- RELEASED!!*



Udo @ Tue Nov 29 said:


> Did it install normally for everyone?
> 
> I've run the download twice, but although it says: "installed", it's nowhere to be found (I've scanned the whole HDD).


I think I know what caused the problem. The folder contained remnants of previous download runs (several other companies use the Continuata program) and that's what apparently confused it. I had ran it twice unsuccessfully, but when I ran it again, after clearing out the old stuff (like the status file), it worked fine.


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## Udo (Nov 29, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- RELEASED!!*



noiseboyuk @ Tue Nov 29 said:


> For Ed - quick noodling demo, just 20s of violin and piano. It takes quite a bit longer to get it right than using the standard patch, which I guess is as you'd expect. I assigned cc1 and cc21 (vibrato) to my Euphonix controller, which meant I had automated faders - this REALLY helped to smooth some of the transitions. As you'll hear I didn't get every one perfect, but more sound good than don't I think, and it's great to have in the arsenal alongside the officially sanctioned patches! I have so much to do today I just wanted to get on though, so all due apologies to Mr and Mrs Spitfire for any bumps committed in haste here.
> 
> http://www.box.com/s/u65ftammyo47sdoflm2y


That sounds badly out of tune.


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## noiseboyuk (Nov 29, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- RELEASED!!*



Udo @ Tue Nov 29 said:


> That sounds badly out of tune.



Obviously this is an out-of-the-box demo of a non-supported patch, don't forget!


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## zacnelson (Nov 29, 2011)

Guy, do you find that with the new patch set to NV the legato transitions are less slurred? I was fiddling with the new patches today and I really thought there was no legato at all sometimes, or is this how it is supposed to sound? As soon as I moved the vibrato slider back into vibrato territory the phrases were more connected. Of course I had the notes overlapping (I was using a midi file, not just playing the keyboard)


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## noiseboyuk (Nov 29, 2011)

zacnelson @ Tue Nov 29 said:


> Guy, do you find that with the new patch set to NV the legato transitions are less slurred? I was fiddling with the new patches today and I really thought there was no legato at all sometimes, or is this how it is supposed to sound? As soon as I moved the vibrato slider back into vibrato territory the phrases were more connected. Of course I had the notes overlapping (I was using a midi file, not just playing the keyboard)



Yes Zac, connectivity isn't as good, I agree - again, I think the Spitfire guys are aware of this. For example, I originally had a gliss on the third to last note, but the space changed so much on the transition it sounded too incongruous - this is pretty common. The other nv transitions sound a little more like sample restarts rather then connected notes too - not awful by any means, but not as good as the v patch, clearly. Also I was usually finding the nv sounded quieter than the v, so having to simultaneously pull back on the cc1 if you went from nv to v. For all that, I think some of the transitions in that little 20s demo work very nicely.

It would be lovely if Spitfire do have the time to finesse this a little more, but I kinda get the impression that might not be the case. I guess I look on it as a bonus to get you out of a few holes rather than a replacement for the main patch, and to that end it's well worth having.


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## zacnelson (Nov 29, 2011)

Ah well it's good to know I'm not the only one, I thought for a moment I was doing something wrong. I can still see a use for the new patch, if anything it saves having to switch patches to go to NV sustain even if the legato is less versatile


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## Rob Elliott (Nov 29, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- RELEASED!!*

Yea - you really need to seperate the dynamics from the vibrato as they will be contrary to each other to 'sell' this. I found dipping the dynamics at the CC64 point (either way is useful).


Guy - I totally understand how to clear the CC assignment and re-assign but what I found was when I cleared the CC1 from dynamics - CC 1 STILL controlled the dynamics - even though it didn't move the slider. Is this not what you experienced? (thus the need to 'filter out' CC1 completely.)

Again my motivation is to match HS design (CC1 = vibrato CC11 = velxfade)


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## noiseboyuk (Nov 29, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- RELEASED!!*



Rob Elliott @ Tue Nov 29 said:


> Yea - you really need to seperate the dynamics from the vibrato as they will be contrary to each other to 'sell' this. I found dipping the dynamics at the CC64 point (either way is useful).
> 
> 
> Guy - I totally understand how to clear the CC assignment and re-assign but what I found was when I cleared the CC1 from dynamics - CC 1 STILL controlled the dynamics - even though it didn't move the slider. Is this not what you experienced? (thus the need to 'filter out' CC1 completely.)
> ...



I'll check later Rob - I did an experiment where I put the dynamics on cc83 and that worked, however I didn't use cc1 then, so it might well be the same as your experience.


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## Rob Elliott (Nov 29, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- RELEASED!!*

Thanks guy. MW and dynamics maybe connected at the hip. Most cases dynamics and vibrato will be in line BUT sometimes I want an 'aggressive' NV. :wink:


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## marcotronic (Nov 29, 2011)

Thanks a lot, Spitfire, for providing the new patches as a bonus  Great to get them so quickly after the main release!



noiseboyuk @ Tue Nov 29 said:


> Also I was usually finding the nv sounded quieter than the v, so having to simultaneously pull back on the cc1 if you went from nv to v.



That´s what I experienced, too - unfortunately...

Also, I haven´t managed to get any kind of real "transition" between the NV and V articulations. They are more or less like a hard switch between NV and V but - hey - this is at least something. Better than not having that switch at all  



noiseboyuk @ Tue Nov 29 said:


> It would be lovely if Spitfire do have the time to finesse this a little more, but I kinda get the impression that might not be the case. I guess I look on it as a bonus to get you out of a few holes rather than a replacement for the main patch, and to that end it's well worth having.



I´d love to see them at least address that velocity difference in an update.

Thanks again for those bonus patches!
Marco


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## Andy B (Nov 29, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- RELEASED!!*

Hi Guys,

I can see that you're not getting very satisfying results from the new NV-V Leg BPD patches, so I thought I'd try and help. 

The patches aren't designed so that you'll be able to play totally seamless non-vibrato intervals - that would really need us to go back into Air and record NV intervals - but so that you can x-fade between NV & V at certain points to create a more expressive line. If you hand a performer a part, he or she will almost certainly include moments of NV as well as V in their performance, even if there's no mention of vibrato on the page. So, it's knowing when to change between them, to try and create something closer to a real performance. You'll often hear string players playing into a note with NV which will then blossom into vib, or suddenly cutting the vib just before moving to a different pitch. 

I'm not much of a string player and there are many here much more qualified than I to talk about the use of vibrato in string playing, but with a bit of careful thought about when to use the NV you should be able to get much better results. I suppose it's quite similar to knowing how much of the portamento to use, and when.

Anyway, these are empty words without also providing something which backs up what I'm saying, so I've put together a quick demo as a screen cast so you can see at which points I'm moving the vibrato slider. We're not saying the BPD patches are perfect but I truly believe there's more potential in them that some of you may have missed. Don't forget, keep your eye on the vibrato slider.

Thanks, 

Andy.

http://spitfire-webassets.s3.amazonaws. ... atoREV.mov


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## noiseboyuk (Nov 29, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- RELEASED!!*



Rob Elliott @ Tue Nov 29 said:


> Thanks guy. MW and dynamics maybe connected at the hip. Most cases dynamics and vibrato will be in line BUT sometimes I want an 'aggressive' NV. :wink:



Yes, you're quite right. Even deselecting the cc1 assignment from the dynamics on-screen fader, cc1 still controls the velocity. I've just checked, and actually that's true of the main legato patches too, so it's a global issue. It doesn't move the on-screen fader, but it still controls it.

And Marco - agreed. I think Paul & Co won't have much time for handling requests on the minutiae of transitions etc on the BPR patches, but if it's possible to even out the overall velocity it would be helpful. Actually, listening again it's not just velocity, it's the whole soundstage is wider on v - thinking about it, what must be happening is that we have the lovely mix of tree and ambient mics for the v, but have to use just one mic for the nv, so it doesn't quite match. I think this is what is often noticeable on the transitions too. I don't really know what the answer is there... which mike position is used on the nv, Paul & Co?

EDIT - cross post, that video sounds much better than anything I've got out of the patch, even though I'm trying to use the same techniques! Practice, practice I guess...


----------



## Synesthesia (Nov 29, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- RELEASED!!*



noiseboyuk @ Tue Nov 29 said:


> Actually, listening again it's not just velocity, it's the whole soundstage is wider on v - thinking about it, what must be happening is that we have the lovely mix of tree and ambient mics for the v, but have to use just one mic for the nv, so it doesn't quite match.
> EDIT - cross post, that video sounds much better than anything I've got out of the patch, even though I'm trying to use the same techniques! Practice, practice I guess...



Hi Guy - 

just to confirm - same mix on the NV. What you are hearing is that the room springs to life when you change something dynamically in it, whether that is by playing vibrato, changing note, starting/stopping etc.

Cheers,

Paul


----------



## Rob Elliott (Nov 29, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- RELEASED!!*



noiseboyuk @ Tue Nov 29 said:


> Rob Elliott @ Tue Nov 29 said:
> 
> 
> > Thanks guy. MW and dynamics maybe connected at the hip. Most cases dynamics and vibrato will be in line BUT sometimes I want an 'aggressive' NV. :wink:
> ...




Andy, Paul - anyway you can instruct us of how to de-select CC1 from dynamics (not just the GUI slider)? I would love to assign CC1 to vibrato intensity and CC11 to dynamics. (of course a midi input transformer in a DAW won't do this if it's under the hood in SS.)


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## marcotronic (Nov 29, 2011)

Thank you very much, Andy. Your video proves that I have to learn to master that beast quite a bit!  Just as Guy says - A lot of practice...

Marco


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## Andy B (Nov 29, 2011)

marcotronic @ Tue Nov 29 said:


> Thank you very much, Andy. Your video proves that I have to learn to master that beast quite a bit!  Just as Guy says - A lot of practice...
> 
> Marco



Well, hopefully not as much as you might think. A bit of tinkering around after the recording pass should sort things quite quickly. :D 

You've touched on a really important issue though, which is facing anyone who's using VIs today. As the level of control increases, the possibilities for expression and musicality also increase, however, as does the potential to really mess things up... :? 

Thanks,

Andy.


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## noiseboyuk (Nov 29, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- RELEASED!!*



Synesthesia @ Tue Nov 29 said:


> Hi Guy -
> 
> just to confirm - same mix on the NV. What you are hearing is that the room springs to life when you change something dynamically in it, whether that is by playing vibrato, changing note, starting/stopping etc.
> 
> ...



Oh great - you had those nv's premixed, huh?


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## noiseboyuk (Nov 29, 2011)

I've been having another play. I think the violin is actually the hardest to tame (cutting myself a small amount of slack...) - the transitions between nv and v on cello and viola seem smoother, sometimes they sound absolutely fantastic . I'm developing a theory that the vibrato excites the room more in the higher registers, which has a perception of more ambience. Probably rubbish, but the violin is the one I have most problem with the nv samples. You can see on the Kontakt meters a significant level difference between the v and nv.


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## Rob Elliott (Nov 29, 2011)

noiseboyuk @ Tue Nov 29 said:


> I've been having another play. I think the violin is actually the hardest to tame (cutting myself a small amount of slack...) - the transitions between nv and v on cello and viola seem smoother, sometimes they sound absolutely fantastic . I'm developing a theory that the vibrato excites the room more in the higher registers, which has a perception of more ambience. Probably rubbish, but the violin is the one I have most problem with the nv samples. You can see on the Kontakt meters a significant level difference between the v and nv.




Me as well. I have found some radical volume riding is needed. Its take some sculpting but is possible (another reason why having vibrato on CC1 and dynamics on CC11. :wink:


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## jlb (Nov 29, 2011)

I think the Cello sounds really quite convincing, but the violin sounds as fake as hell to me

Jlb


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## scientist (Nov 29, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- RELEASED!!*



Rob Elliott @ Tue Nov 29 said:


> noiseboyuk @ Tue Nov 29 said:
> 
> 
> > Rob Elliott @ Tue Nov 29 said:
> ...



+1 on this. i'm no kontakt expert so don't know if there's some universal way to reassign cc's or if it is different/lockable from library to library. i'd love to have mod wheel control nv-v and put dynamics on expression pedal.

thanks nonetheless to spitfire for at least taking a swing at the new patches...it's very much appreciated and the attention to customer feedback is duly noted.


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## Rob Elliott (Nov 29, 2011)

Thanks again Andy for the tutorial. Working on a cue right now and watching your vibrato slider was all the education that I needed. Part is WAY more convincing.

-now if you can help us with the MW/expression assignment I'll name my next goldfish 'spitfire' - I am serious. :wink:


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## Synesthesia (Nov 29, 2011)

Chaps - 

we are looking into it. 

Cheers!

Paul


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## Rob Elliott (Nov 29, 2011)

Synesthesia @ Tue Nov 29 said:


> Chaps -
> 
> we are looking into it.
> 
> ...




Wonderful Paul. Truly a GREAT update - even though it takes some work on programming - IT IS POSSIBLE to get a more expressive performance with the NV's. Can't thank you enough.


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## Patrick de Caumette (Nov 29, 2011)

Thank you so much for being so responsive!


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## DynamicK (Nov 30, 2011)

*Andy B*..link to your video isn't working :!: Would like to view it if still possible.


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## Synesthesia (Nov 30, 2011)

DynamicK @ Wed Nov 30 said:


> *Andy B*..link to your video isn't working :!: Would like to view it if still possible.



Whoops! My fault. Working again now.

Cheers!
P


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## Justus (Dec 1, 2011)

Thank you, great update!
I am glad that you added the NV-V patch.


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## Ed (Dec 2, 2011)

Just checked Andy's demo, REALLY surprised me how great it was ! I expected it to be really bad considering the complaints, sounds FANTASTIC to me and doesnt seem that difficult to program!

I guess the trick is to make sure you arent transitioning from note to note on a non vib layer if you can make it, and then vary vibrato when you're in a sustain? Is that right?

Would love a proper non-vib legato version if you ever do one though, I know I'd pay for an update. But that said this is really cool anyway.


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## Ed (Dec 3, 2011)

Seriously, would like to know  Andy?



Ed @ Fri Dec 02 said:


> *I guess the trick is to make sure you arent transitioning from note to note on a non vib layer if you can make it, and then vary vibrato when you're in a sustain? Is that right?*


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## british_bpm (Dec 4, 2011)

I would say you're right.

Best.

Christian.


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## Resoded (Dec 17, 2011)

So those of you who have this library, are you happy with it?

I can't decide whether I should buy this library or not. Some of the demos sounds fantastic, and I'm primarily interested in the solo cello and that seems to be the best sounding. But then I listen to other demos and it just feels like something is missing. I think someone mentioned this way back in this thread. I can't put my finger on it because it sounds so real, and yet so fake?

Anyone else having the same thoughts?

I'd love to have a solo cello and expensive VSL libraries just isn't an option, so that leaves me with spitfire.


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## antoniopandrade (Dec 17, 2011)

IMHO, this is a no-brainer. For the price at least. I've been using it layered on top of my ensemble strings and it adds a lot of life to your phrases in that scenario. I think that the only place where you'd really be able to nitpick it's faults is in a completely naked solo scenario with a lot of exposure on each line, and even then, you could probably get away with a lot of stuff, if you massage each line enough. 

Then again, the guys at Spitfire have said time and time again, this is a quick mock-up tool, so it's not really meant to be an extensively sampled instrument. 

For the purpose of what it was meant to do and for the price, again IMHO, it's a no-brainer.


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## Pedro Camacho (Dec 18, 2011)

I can't see the vibrato slider in the BPD patches from 1.1 update! wierd!

http://spitfire-webassets.s3.amazonaws. ... atoREV.mov

This video has a vibrato slider in the bottom right corner.

Please help


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## noiseboyuk (Dec 18, 2011)

Pedro Camacho @ Sun Dec 18 said:


> I can't see the vibrato slider in the BPD patches from 1.1 update! wierd!
> 
> http://spitfire-webassets.s3.amazonaws. ... atoREV.mov
> 
> ...



This happened to me because I didn't follow their instructions properly! If I remember, you need to make sure the new nkc and nkr files are copied to your root Spitfire Solo Strings folder, otherwise the new patches don't work correctly.


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## synthnut (Dec 18, 2011)

I had problems myself loading everything properly ....After a few days of trying this and that , I FINALLY got things to work .....Make sure that after all is said and done that when you load your instruments into Kontakt , that they read v1_1 at the end ....If they don't, you will NOT have the small vibrato indication at the bottom right hand side of the Kontakt load .....Your instruments in the file directory should also indicate 1_1 ..... If you have the older instruments loaded ( no v1_1 indication ) , you will not have the vibrato inserted into the instruments ......Jim


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## Pedro Camacho (Dec 18, 2011)

Hmm I did all as they said still no slider...
Thanks people for the help!

I can control the vibrato with CC21 so it is working fine for me.

I will check the nkc and nkrs.


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## SPOTS (Mar 28, 2012)

Phew... have just read the entire thread... man, my brain is now on (spit)fire!! :D
What I retain from those 2 hours of reading is that Spitfire is working on adding close mics legato. Awesome!! ETA for the update?














Sorry I couldn't help! :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:


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## Graham Keitch (Apr 5, 2012)

Must admit, I've not had time to go through the entire thread. This is a superb library. Could definitely do with a second violin though to make up a true quartet. I gather the material exists and is expected to appear in a future update. This together with close up legato mics would be the icing on an already superb cake!

Graham

www.soundclick.com/grahamkeitch


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## Per Lichtman (Dec 30, 2012)

*Re: Spitfire announce.. SOLO STRINGS! -- LAST CHANCE TO PREORDER!!*



BachN4th @ Mon Nov 14 said:


> I debated whether or not to put this up, but I suppose it's good to see what a non-professional can do with nice samples like these.
> 
> This is an Elegy for String Orchestra that I wrote, rearranged for Spitfire solo strings. To cover all the parts I've used 2 each of Violin, Viola, and Cello legatos. Uses only the legato patches, and default settings for Spitfire's built in reverb.
> 
> http://www.box.net/s/qkbmnp2hi8l2ny1bvf9i



Link does not seem to work anymore. It's an LASS piz. composition now.


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## Echoes in the Attic (Dec 30, 2012)

Graham Keitch @ Thu Apr 05 said:


> Must admit, I've not had time to go through the entire thread. This is a superb library. Could definitely do with a second violin though to make up a true quartet. I gather the material exists and is expected to appear in a future update. This together with close up legato mics would be the icing on an already superb cake!
> 
> Graham
> 
> www.soundclick.com/grahamkeitch



Is this true still? This was posted quite a while ago, April 2012. Are spitfire still saying that they are adding close mic legato? And a second violin?

I'd probably buy itif those two things happened.


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## michael c (Dec 31, 2012)

I certainly wish they would add close legato samples! The legato violin is nice but way too wet to use except in a large orchestral setting IMO.


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## playz123 (Dec 31, 2012)

There was a small hot fix for Solo Strings around the end of October, but a.f.a.i.k. that's the only addition since the original release. So I guess only Paul or Christian can comment re. future plans for SS.


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## Graham Keitch (Dec 31, 2012)

Echoes in the Attic @ Sun Dec 30 said:


> Graham Keitch @ Thu Apr 05 said:
> 
> 
> > Must admit, I've not had time to go through the entire thread. This is a superb library. Could definitely do with a second violin though to make up a true quartet. I gather the material exists and is expected to appear in a future update. This together with close up legato mics would be the icing on an already superb cake!
> ...



I have no 'inside knowledge' but it's clear Spitfire's priorities have been focussed on their much respected and probably more profitable ensemble libraries. That said, the percussion library recently received an update and I'm still hoping Solo Strings will too. SS has a tone and body that to my ears stands above the competition and it will be a great shame if this important asset isn't fully developed. I have every faith that Spitfire is the right outfit to move this forward and I really hope this is moving up their priority list. o/~ 

Here's to 2013 o-[][]-o 

Graham


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## Creston (Nov 30, 2014)

Just bumping this. How are people finding this library now?


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## The Darris (Nov 30, 2014)

Still very usable. It fits nicely with all of their other libraries, especially the Cello. I love the cello in this library. Also, word has it that they are going to be updating it at some point in the near future which means it will get updated to the BML code base.


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## Creston (Dec 1, 2014)

Pretty sure I read about some issue with stops in samples and some samples looping badly when held for a while.

Tempted to make the purchase but I use a lot of held notes.


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## maclaine (Dec 1, 2014)

I have it and like it. I think the biggest issue is that the transitions from non-vibrato to vibrato are not very smooth. It makes it tough for me to use when completely exposed, but when used along with other instruments or sections, I think it's very good.


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## Guy Rowland (Dec 1, 2014)

My views haven't really changed. Like many others, I find the v/nv legato transitions difficult. The vibrato is very pronounced too, which makes you need that ability to crossfade all the more. So although I love the tone, I tend to reach for it only when there's an exposed emotive part called for.

Looking forward to the redux though.


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## The Darris (Dec 1, 2014)

In addition to Guy's comments,

From what I remember about the vibrato scripting, it was a newly introduced feature in the second to last update (if I recall correctly). In a way, it is the pre-cursor to their current legato/vibrato scripting which was developed by Andy Blaney. With that said, it is rough around the edges. You write super detailed solo lines with ease, it will take some detailed programming, especially with emotive writing. This is an demo I did to show it off in a fast virtuoso context, music is by Danny Elfman from the Edward Scissorhands OST: https://soundcloud.com/christopher-harris/le-boutique-violin-solo-sf-solo-violin-demo/s-uMmIa


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## zacnelson (Dec 1, 2014)

I actually pulled out the solo strings library for the first time in ages a few weeks ago, I used the violin for a very passionate celtic line and I was amazed how much I just loved it. The whole part just came together in one take and I didn't have to do any tweaking or manipulation, it just had an emotiveness which inspired me and so I just kept the part and moved on to the rest of the composition!


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## Graham Keitch (Dec 1, 2014)

First off - Solo Strings is a great library. The tone sets it apart from most of the competition for my purposes. I think it was primarily intended as a sort of 'first chair' instrument and I know it's regularly layered with ensemble strings to improve realism. However, contrary to some of the comments above, to my ears the violin especially needs more passion (ie vibrato) for serious solo work - which will make it a pig to script and work with. 

By solo, I mean violin concerto style - not totally on it's own. I'd love to see an additional 'use at your own peril' patch that allows you to really ramp up the vibrato! Glitches and phasing aren't a serious issue when you're playing against the rest of the orchestra but a lifeless violin ends up sounding like a harmonica after a few bars. Spitfire DOESN'T fall into this category but I'd love a bit more grit and wobble if that were possible please! o/~


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## The Darris (Dec 1, 2014)

The fact that they haven't updated this since 2012 makes me think that they might be in the works on a BML Solo Strings library. I personally would love to have more articulations and extended techniques of a soloist in Air. Personally, I think this type of library will be highly appreciated by a lot of the community and loyal Spitfire users.


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## quantum7 (Dec 2, 2014)

I could swear that last year Spitfire mentioned that they were planning on updating solo strings....but I could be mistaken.


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## Chriss Ons (Dec 2, 2014)

quantum7 @ Wed 03 Dec said:


> I could swear that last year Spitfire mentioned that they were planning on updating solo strings....but I could be mistaken.


You're right, they did mention that on here.


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## Parsifal666 (Feb 23, 2017)

Are folks still using this library? Curious, as now there's more competition.


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## Seycara (Feb 23, 2017)

Parsifal666 said:


> Are folks still using this library? Curious, as now there's more competition.


IMO they can't hold up against some of the legato/scripting of current gen libraries like Virharmonic or Cinesamples. But if you have them they can still be useful for the occasional cue that doesn't demand too much.


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## Parsifal666 (Feb 23, 2017)

Seycara said:


> IMO they can't hold up against some of the legato/scripting of current gen libraries like Virharmonic or Cinesamples. But if you have them they can still be useful for the occasional cue that doesn't demand too much.



Thank you!


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## zacnelson (Feb 23, 2017)

Parsifal666 said:


> Are folks still using this library? Curious, as now there's more competition.


Definitely not. I even deleted them from my hard drive


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## and- (Feb 23, 2017)

Oh! For a moment I thought that Spitfire Audio just announced a new library.  I got really excited... oh well...

I still use their solo strings. I use it for composition sometimes because I find the sound to be quite inspiring and the limited possibilities don't distract me from writing. On the other hand, I'm not as skillful at creating realistic mockups as several other forum members here - so, I may not know what I'm missing.


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## Wunderhorn (Feb 23, 2017)

Spitfire had promised an update for a long time. I guess it fell through the cracks.
I now took advantage of the Embertone 60% off deal and I can't wait to replace the previous Spitfire Solo Strings in my template.
I have not had a chance to play around with them much but I have the feeling I am taking a big leap forward.


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## alexmshore (Feb 23, 2017)

Wow for a minute there I thought there was a new version of this after the bump!

In regards to the question asked - I still use them. The workflow feels old compared to working with their new libraries but I still like them. Although I don't own any of the newer solo string packages, I can imagine they are probably a better option due to more modern scripting and usability.


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## synthpunk (Feb 23, 2017)

I'm hoping Cinematic Solo Strings is going to be the ticket. @Alex W


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## LamaRose (Feb 23, 2017)

I realize this thread concerns the older solo strings, but does anyone know if Spitfire is selling the individual Sacconi string instruments? All I can find on their site is the complete quartet. I know they were selling individual instruments last year.


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## kurtvanzo (Feb 24, 2017)

LamaRose said:


> I realize this thread concerns the older solo strings, but does anyone know if Spitfire is selling the individual Sacconi string instruments? All I can find on their site is the complete quartet. I know they were selling individual instruments last year.


They announce a while ago that it was the last chance to buy the strings separately, perhaps around the time they were combining Sable volumes into SCS. They mentioned it would only be available as a bundle after that. For solo strings I still like Cinestrings Solo better than any of the other options, but CH is close. CS just has a better tone.


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## EwigWanderer (Feb 24, 2017)

I'm have them still on my template. They give lot of character when layering with other strings for example Berlin Strings or HS. Also great for use with Albion series. But for solo work I wouldn't use them. I hope they would update them and that the update would be easy on my wallet


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## LamaRose (Feb 25, 2017)

Thanks, Kurt... I wasn't tracking their releases around that time. Don't get their reasoning, especially since they originally released as solo instruments, but it's more money in my pocket as I was only interested in the cello. The CS solos do sound good.


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## noises on (Feb 25, 2017)

LamaRose said:


> Thanks, Kurt... I wasn't tracking their releases around that time. Don't get their reasoning, especially since they originally released as solo instruments, but it's more money in my pocket as I was only interested in the cello. The CS solos do sound good.


Have you given any attention to the Emotional Cello walk throughs? Great to layer as suggested by Ewig above.


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