# Instantly Inspiring, Impactful and Emotional Strings - Oscillation Strings by Ben Osterhouse



## ThomCSounds (Jan 10, 2022)

Hey everyone! How are you guys doing today?

In the video, you'll hear me sing on one of my tracks played with the library, you'll see me use the library in context with other instruments and on its own. 

➡️ Buy Oscillation Strings by Ben Osterhouse (65% Off at VST Buzz for a Limited Time) - (Affiliate) https://vstbuzz.com/deals/65-off-oscillation-strings-by-ben-osterhouse/?ref=81




If you'd like to support what I do and help me create new content for you, feel free to check out my links :
Buy me a coffee : https://ko-fi.com/thomc
Bandcamp : https://thomcofficial.bandcamp.com/
Website : www.thomcmusic.com


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## Ben Osterhouse (Jan 11, 2022)

Thanks for doing this Thom! I really like the demo where you sing.


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## ThomCSounds (Jan 11, 2022)

Ben Osterhouse said:


> Thanks for doing this Thom! I really like the demo where you sing.


Thanks so much Ben! Absolutely love the tone of your libraries, may I ask what microphones / pre's you generally use when recording strings? They're never too rich in upper-mids or harsh in the highs, love that!


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## Ben Osterhouse (Jan 11, 2022)

For this library I used a pair of Shure bg 4.1's
Nothing fancy really. I played around a lot with mic placement, and figuring out a tone quality that would work well going into reverb, and that would also layer nicely.


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## wunderflo (Jan 11, 2022)

love the library and also the demo, great job to both of you


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## ThomCSounds (Jan 11, 2022)

Ben Osterhouse said:


> For this library I used a pair of Shure bg 4.1's
> Nothing fancy really. I played around a lot with mic placement, and figuring out a tone quality that would work well going into reverb, and that would also layer nicely.


I don't think I've ever used those, but yes, the mic placement and the playing is very important. I've noticed that I tend to like 'dark' sounding string libraries over bright ones if that makes any sense. I'll experiment with Oscillation Strings and external reverbs


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## ThomCSounds (Jan 11, 2022)

wunderflo said:


> love the library and also the demo, great job to both of you


Thanks a lot! Love the library too, gonna have some experimental fun with it now


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## ThomCSounds (Jan 11, 2022)

@Ben Osterhouse I think I'm going nuts with your library :D
[Turn the volume down, it's a pretty aggressive tone]

I'm trying out some experimental stuff by slowing down the tempo. I duplicated the Bass here and tweaked a few things here and there to get this monster bass! :D 

View attachment Oscillating Monster.mp4


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## Alchemedia (Jan 11, 2022)

ThomCSounds said:


> @Ben Osterhouse I think I'm going nuts with your library :D
> [Turn the volume down, it's a pretty aggressive tone]
> 
> I'm trying out some experimental stuff by slowing down the tempo. I duplicated the Bass here and tweaked a few things here and there to get this monster bass! :D
> ...


I could be mistaken, but I don't think Ben was thinking Black Sabbath when he created this library.


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## ThomCSounds (Jan 11, 2022)

Alchemedia said:


> I could be mistaken, but I don't think Ben was thinking Black Sabbath when he created this library.


I don't think so either, there's a softer demo above. I'm thinking outside of the box to take his library and see what can be done with it. I'll do a very soft experimental demo too, working on it.

The purpose of this, is to take an instrument and let your imagination take it to the unexpected. This type of sound could work well in a horror soundtrack to be honest 

And... what do we know... maybe Ben is a hardcore Sabbath fan! 🤟


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## Mannix (Jan 13, 2022)

having technical difficulties here: runs ok on K6.60 on intel MBP but clicking sound at beginning of each note with K6.6.1 on Monterey 12.01, M1 max - anyone else getting this? really sucks because this library is instant inspiration would love to use it on speedy new system thanks


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## ThomCSounds (Jan 13, 2022)

Mannix said:


> having technical difficulties here: runs ok on K6.60 on intel MBP but clicking sound at beginning of each note with K6.6.1 on Monterey 12.01, M1 max - anyone else getting this? really sucks because this library is instant inspiration would love to use it on speedy new system thanks


Maybe @Ben Osterhouse can help?


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## Ben Osterhouse (Jan 14, 2022)

Hi @Mannix, sadly it looks like Kontakt does not support Monterey 12 yet 😢


https://support.native-instruments.com/hc/en-us/articles/360000421737-macOS-12-Monterey-Compatibility-Statement


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## Vik (Jan 14, 2022)

I see there are settings for 90 and 120 bmp, but what if the tempo eg. is 82.345? And, btw, does this library with Kontakt 5 (5.8.1)?

IMO the world needs more portato samples like this, I really like the 'expression' of it, and/but it would even more useful for me if one could trigger only one note at a time, with the various variations being split into multiple dynamic layers instead of being repeated. I guess this possibly can be done simply by lifting up your finger before the next repetition is played (I'll need to look at the demo again to figure that out), but since it's relatively easy tp play intervals or chords repeatedly, I think it's a good idea if there is or will be a way to use this as a regular portato library with, say, 5 dynamic layers.


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## Ben Osterhouse (Jan 14, 2022)

Vik said:


> I see there are settings for 90 and 120 bmp, but what if the tempo eg. is 82.345? And, btw, does this library with Kontakt 5 (5.8.1)?
> 
> IMO the world needs more portato samples like this, I really like the 'expression' of it, and/but it would even more useful for me if one could trigger only one note at a time, with the various variations being split into multiple dynamic layers instead of being repeated. I guess this possibly can be done simply by lifting up your finger before the next repetition is played (I'll need to look at the demo again to figure that out), but since it's relatively easy tp play intervals or chords repeatedly, I think it's a good idea if there is or will be a way to use this as a regular portato library with, say, 5 dynamic layers.


It uses tmpro, which means the samples will get time-stretched to whatever your project tempo is.
Unfortunately this library is only for Kontakt 6 right now.
Yes, there are definitely a lot of different ways this library could be laid out and scripted!


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## Dr.Quest (Jan 14, 2022)

These are stunning! Exactly what I have been looking for. More of this kind of stuff, please! Just brilliant, Ben.


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## Ben Osterhouse (Jan 14, 2022)

Vik said:


> I see there are settings for 90 and 120 bmp, but what if the tempo eg. is 82.345? And, btw, does this library with Kontakt 5 (5.8.1)?
> 
> IMO the world needs more portato samples like this, I really like the 'expression' of it, and/but it would even more useful for me if one could trigger only one note at a time, with the various variations being split into multiple dynamic layers instead of being repeated. I guess this possibly can be done simply by lifting up your finger before the next repetition is played (I'll need to look at the demo again to figure that out), but since it's relatively easy tp play intervals or chords repeatedly, I think it's a good idea if there is or will be a way to use this as a regular portato library with, say, 5 dynamic layers.


I keep seeing that a Kontakt 5 version is wanted. So, I have converted it to K5 and updated it on Pulse. Oscillation Strings is now available for Kontakt 5!


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## Adam Takacs (Jan 14, 2022)

Ben Osterhouse said:


> I keep seeing that a Kontakt 5 version is wanted. So, I have converted it to K5 and updated it on Pulse. Oscillation Strings is now available for Kontakt 5!


Great news, thank you very much Ben!


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## re-peat (Jan 15, 2022)

Nice library. (And an excellent demonstration, Thom.)

Unfortunately, when I load it — in Kontakt 6.6.1 (R139), standalone or as AudioUnit in Logic 10.4.8 running under OSX High Sierra — I don't see the GUI, I get Kontakt's generic patch UI instead with some ensemble loaded. Tried both patches ('Oscillation Strings.nki' and 'Oscillation Strings k5.nki') and they're both giving me exactly the same thing.


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## ThomCSounds (Jan 15, 2022)

Vik said:


> I see there are settings for 90 and 120 bmp, but what if the tempo eg. is 82.345? And, btw, does this library with Kontakt 5 (5.8.1)?
> 
> IMO the world needs more portato samples like this, I really like the 'expression' of it, and/but it would even more useful for me if one could trigger only one note at a time, with the various variations being split into multiple dynamic layers instead of being repeated. I guess this possibly can be done simply by lifting up your finger before the next repetition is played (I'll need to look at the demo again to figure that out), but since it's relatively easy tp play intervals or chords repeatedly, I think it's a good idea if there is or will be a way to use this as a regular portato library with, say, 5 dynamic layers.


Hey @Vik If the tempo is 82.345 or lower, the library will automatically stretch the samples to fit the tempo of the song.

Ben has just made the library available for Kontakt 5 as well, thank you Ben!  You can play one note at a time with the library without any issue. The library only has two dynamic layers per instrument, and it doesn't really need more for what it was intended to do. The recorded portatos were recorded as arcs, there's an inherent evolving quality to them. You could limit that effect with the compressor setting of the library I suppose but the library's sound and playing is on the softer side.

Check out Ben's video of the library to see how it was made and whether it'd be something you're looking for :


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## PerryD (Jan 15, 2022)

These are indeed inspiring for pianissimo passages. I purchased about an hour ago and just did a quick demo clip. They require the current full version of Kontakt but are _not_ activated via Native Access. I wasted some time trying to "add serial number" in Native Access. I used Samplemodeling S&ES for the melodic violins & violas and SWAM v3 English horn in this short clip.


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## Vik (Jan 15, 2022)

Thanks, Ben and Thom! Since I posted my first post in this thread, I've come across the Sospiro Strings – which may be even more interesting for me. Both libraries cover areas which haven't been taken care of in a proper way by many other libraries. I just saw someone demonstrate 24 different articulations in a YouTube clip, and this (again) reminded me that portato, especially expressive portatos in various lengths and level of intensity are clearly underrepresented in most libraries.

I have found a way in which I could use each of the (up tp 16?) separate notes in each arc useful for what I mainly need portatos for, and that would be to record some full arcs in Logic and bounce that into audio files, and then cut/paste them to where I need them. 16 separate notes pr arc could somehow serve as an arc library with 8 dynamic layers and two round robins (with a lot oof copy-pasting), and this way I could probably achieve something more useful than eg. when using the Berlin Strings portatos.

Oscillation Strings are still interesting as they are, both due to the tone and to the way you have demonstrated that newly entered notes don't start from the beginning of the arc but end up being dynamically aligned with the existing notes. Options like this is also something I've missed from other libraries.

Even if the perfect UI for this IMHO would be an additional set of presets that would let me play single notes (as many as I want, in whatever tempo I want) and select level of intensity with velocity or some CC automation, I'll probably by both Oscillation Strings and Sospiro Strings when there's a campaign (I actually have enough libraries already).

Re. the Berlin Strings portato again: they have the opposite problem – they sound good but are very limited because they don't offer all the dynamic variations of each of the notes as Oscillation Strings do. I actually asked for tips about good portato samples in another thread here some years ago, and ended up with Berlin Strings (see below) which I already had bought – but a selection of portato samples with different dyn. levels – which Oscillation Strings offer – would probably have given me a better result.

This is an excerpt from a Beethoven symphony, played by memory:


And this is one of the recordings of the same piece


Both are keeping well inside the lower dynamic range, but the sample based version can't emulate the orchestral recording properly, and would have had even more problems if there was more dynamic variation in the original piece*. I'm not into scripting/programming, but believe the collection of portatos inside the Oscillation Strings arcs are the closest I've heard to a perfect 'Expressive String Portatos of Various Lengths' library! And again, I still want them the way the are! 

* In most cases where such portatos would be used in mockups, I guess (maybe except how Beethoven wanted this Allegretto) being able to increase the dynamic levels would be highly relevant)


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## ThomCSounds (Jan 15, 2022)

PerryD said:


> These are indeed inspiring for pianissimo passages. I purchased about an hour ago and just did a quick demo clip. They require the current full version of Kontakt but are _not_ activated via Native Access. I wasted some time trying to "add serial number" in Native Access. I used Samplemodeling S&ES for the melodic violins & violas and SWAM v3 English horn in this short clip.


Lovely clip Perry! You've made me want to try out SWAM at some point. I feel like because of its versatility / modeling options, it may not be as user-friendly as some of the sampled options out there. What do you think?


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## Ben Osterhouse (Jan 15, 2022)

re-peat said:


> Nice library. (And an excellent demonstration, Thom.)
> 
> Unfortunately, when I load it — in Kontakt 6.6.1 (R139), standalone or as AudioUnit in Logic 10.4.8 running under OSX High Sierra — I don't see the GUI, I get Kontakt's generic patch UI instead with some ensemble loaded. Tried both patches ('Oscillation Strings.nki' and 'Oscillation Strings k5.nki') and they're both giving me exactly the same thing.


Thanks for buying Oscillation Strings! Let's figure out why the library isn't opening correctly for you.
I'm not able to reproduce the issue on my end --is anyone else having this problem? @ThomCSounds @PerryD

If you could click the wrench and send a screenshot that might be helpful for me to see.

You could also try these nki's and nkr: https://we.tl/t-G7dVCpNbwF

Thanks,
Ben


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## PerryD (Jan 15, 2022)

ThomCSounds said:


> Lovely clip Perry! You've made me want to try out SWAM at some point. I feel like because of its versatility / modeling options, it may not be as user-friendly as some of the sampled options out there. What do you think?


Thank you. I have SO many woodwind libraries, including the new VSL Synchron WW's. For solo woodwinds I find the SWAM WW's to be the best...expressive / playable. I use a breath controller with almost all of my libraries. SWAM WW's respond great to BC.


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## Ben Osterhouse (Jan 15, 2022)

@PerryD I like your demo! The different string libraries fit together very nicely. I got a breath controller a bit ago --I've been meaning to find more uses for it.


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## PerryD (Jan 15, 2022)

Ben Osterhouse said:


> @PerryD I like your demo! The different string libraries fit together very nicely. I got a breath controller a bit ago --I've been meaning to find more uses for it.


Thanks! There are plenty of "epic" sounding string libraries. I appreciate gentle ones that are nicely done. S&ES does respond well to breath control and I agree it blends very well with Oscillation Strings.


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## Trevor Meier (Jan 15, 2022)

Ben Osterhouse said:


> Thanks for buying Oscillation Strings! Let's figure out why the library isn't opening correctly for you.
> I'm not able to reproduce the issue on my end --is anyone else having this problem? @ThomCSounds @PerryD
> 
> If you could click the wrench and send a screenshot that might be helpful for me to see.
> ...


I just did a fresh install of all of my Oster Soundhouse libraries (hadn't updated to the Pulse versions yet!) I'm seeing the same result with Oscillation Strings in both the regular and K5 NKI. Did a quick check of my other Oster Soundhouse plugins, and all appear to load normally.

macOS 12.1
Kontakt 6.6.1


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## Trevor Meier (Jan 15, 2022)

Ben Osterhouse said:


> @PerryD I like your demo! The different string libraries fit together very nicely. I got a breath controller a bit ago --I've been meaning to find more uses for it.


Ah man, I've been wanting a breath controller for ages. Once you add the shipping & conversion it's just so deadly expensive to get it here to Brazil!


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## Ben Osterhouse (Jan 15, 2022)

Trevor Meier said:


> Ah man, I've been wanting a breath controller for ages. Once you add the shipping & conversion it's just so deadly expensive to get it here to Brazil!


That's a bummer!


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## Ben Osterhouse (Jan 15, 2022)

Trevor Meier said:


> I just did a fresh install of all of my Oster Soundhouse libraries (hadn't updated to the Pulse versions yet!) I'm seeing the same result with Oscillation Strings in both the regular and K5 NKI. Did a quick check of my other Oster Soundhouse plugins, and all appear to load normally.
> 
> macOS 12.1
> Kontakt 6.6.1


When you say you're seeing the same result with Oscillation Strings, do you mean it's working for you, or are you getting the same problem as re-peat?


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## Ben Osterhouse (Jan 15, 2022)

re-peat said:


> Nice library. (And an excellent demonstration, Thom.)
> 
> Unfortunately, when I load it — in Kontakt 6.6.1 (R139), standalone or as AudioUnit in Logic 10.4.8 running under OSX High Sierra — I don't see the GUI, I get Kontakt's generic patch UI instead with some ensemble loaded. Tried both patches ('Oscillation Strings.nki' and 'Oscillation Strings k5.nki') and they're both giving me exactly the same thing.


In the Pulse Downloader, go to the Preferences tab, and at the bottom there is an option, "open log file location". 
Then, send the main.log file to [email protected] so they can take a look and help out.


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## ThomCSounds (Jan 15, 2022)

Ben Osterhouse said:


> Thanks for buying Oscillation Strings! Let's figure out why the library isn't opening correctly for you.
> I'm not able to reproduce the issue on my end --is anyone else having this problem? @ThomCSounds @PerryD
> 
> If you could click the wrench and send a screenshot that might be helpful for me to see.
> ...


Unfortunately, I'm on Windows and Cubase. Won't be able to try things out with a similar OS / DAW here. Everything has been fine on my end.


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## ThomCSounds (Jan 15, 2022)

PerryD said:


> Thank you. I have SO many woodwind libraries, including the new VSL Synchron WW's. For solo woodwinds I find the SWAM WW's to be the best...expressive / playable. I use a breath controller with almost all of my libraries. SWAM WW's respond great to BC.


Great  Never used a breath controller but that could really be handy in some situations for sure. 
How do you like the SWAM Strings? I mainly play folk-pop stuff, maybe they could be useful in that context...


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## Ben Osterhouse (Jan 15, 2022)

ThomCSounds said:


> Unfortunately, I'm on Windows and Cubase. Won't be able to try things out with a similar OS / DAW here. Everything has been fine on my end.


Great. In the Pulse Downloader, have you downloaded the Oscillation Strings update?


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## ThomCSounds (Jan 15, 2022)

Ben Osterhouse said:


> Great. In the Pulse Downloader, have you downloaded the Oscillation Strings update?


Downloading now, I'll let you know how it goes.


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## Trevor Meier (Jan 15, 2022)

Ben Osterhouse said:


> When you say you're seeing the same result with Oscillation Strings, do you mean it's working for you, or are you getting the same problem as re-peat?


I'm getting the same error, just the default Kontakt interface


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## ThomCSounds (Jan 15, 2022)

Ben Osterhouse said:


> Great. In the Pulse Downloader, have you downloaded the Oscillation Strings update?


Same issue here with the update, no UI with both patches (K5 & K6)


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## PerryD (Jan 15, 2022)

ThomCSounds said:


> Great  Never used a breath controller but that could really be handy in some situations for sure.
> How do you like the SWAM Strings? I mainly play folk-pop stuff, maybe they could be useful in that context...


I'm using Samplemodeling Solo & Ensemble Strings in that clip.


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## pulsedownloader (Jan 15, 2022)

Yes it looks like there might be an issue with Ben's script or how he's trying to do the update by overwriting files etc.

You can downgrade to the previous version in Pulse by clicking on Oscillation Strings and click on "Downgrade to this version" beside Version 1 while he figures this out


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## jbuhler (Jan 15, 2022)

Trevor Meier said:


> I'm getting the same error, just the default Kontakt interface


I just purchased, and I'm also getting the same error.


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## Land of Missing Parts (Jan 15, 2022)

Vik said:


> Thanks, Ben and Thom! Since I posted my first post in this thread, I've come across the Sospiro Strings – which may be even more interesting for me. Both libraries cover areas which haven't been taken care of in a proper way by many other libraries. I just saw someone demonstrate 24 different articulations in a YouTube clip, and this (again) reminded me that portato, especially expressive portatos in various lengths and level of intensity are clearly underrepresented in most libraries.
> 
> I have found a way in which I could use each of the (up tp 16?) separate notes in each arc useful for what I mainly need portatos for, and that would be to record some full arcs in Logic and bounce that into audio files, and then cut/paste them to where I need them. 16 separate notes pr arc could somehow serve as an arc library with 8 dynamic layers and two round robins (with a lot oof copy-pasting), and this way I could probably achieve something more useful than eg. when using the Berlin Strings portatos.
> 
> ...



Those repeated soft attacks are really hard to pull off with sampled strings!


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## Murat Engin (Jan 15, 2022)

I purchased, great library.


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## pulsedownloader (Jan 15, 2022)

jbuhler said:


> I just purchased, and I'm also getting the same error.


The update has been removed from Pulse. You can reinstall it from scratch and it will work fine until Ben investigates further and releases an update again.


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## Vik (Jan 15, 2022)

pulsedownloader said:


> The update has been removed from Pulse. You can reinstall it from scratch and it will work fine until Ben investigates further and releases an update again.


What will happen if someone buys it and only have Kontakt 5.8.1 then – not working at all.... anyone?


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## Ben Osterhouse (Jan 15, 2022)

Correct, it won't work for Kontakt 5 users until the problem is fixed.
I believe the problem has been fixed now, though!
I am testing with a few people to make certain the update will work.


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## Ben Osterhouse (Jan 15, 2022)

Ok, the v1.1 is up and working. Kontakt 5 people can use it!


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## re-peat (Jan 16, 2022)

All is well now. 
Thanks, Ben!

_


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## doctoremmet (Jan 16, 2022)

Enjoy these samples Piet. I have found them to be pretty inspirational.


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## ThomCSounds (Jan 16, 2022)

re-peat said:


> All is well now.
> Thanks, Ben!
> 
> _


Really glad you're able to use library now, let us know how you get on with it 

Feel free to share your creations with the library in this thread if you'd like, always curious to hear how other people use it.


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## Wunderhorn (Jan 18, 2022)

Just got Oscillation Strings.

Beautiful library - wonderful concept and sounds great.

Unfortunately it seems to be riddled with hanging notes. After playing just a few phrases something hangs which makes it almost unusable.
I also seems to be immensely CPU hungry. On my 16core Mac Pro 2019 with 224GB I can't play a smooth line without dropouts.
This might be better if I host it in VEP which does better core distribution, but I never had a library that was this intense...
Is there a chance we'll see some optimizations?
Maybe to avoid hanging notes I could imagine an option to turn of arc looping. Like 8Dio did in their ostinato libraries. You have to re-trigger manually but it avoids hanging notes.

It's really a lovely instrument.
I also could imagine for future development the inclusion of single notes as well as a feature for playing triplets?


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## Ben Osterhouse (Jan 18, 2022)

Wunderhorn said:


> Just got Oscillation Strings.
> 
> Beautiful library - wonderful concept and sounds great.
> 
> ...


Thanks! 
A couple questions:
What is your latency set to?
When it hangs, is legato on or off?


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## Wunderhorn (Jan 18, 2022)

Ben Osterhouse said:


> Thanks!
> A couple questions:
> What is your latency set to?
> When it hangs, is legato on or off?


Latency: 512 (On a Scarlett 18i20 3rd gen)
I have reset my prefs (Studio One) this took care of the brunt of the CPU issues but I still have frequent hanging notes.


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## Ben Osterhouse (Jan 18, 2022)

Wunderhorn said:


> Latency: 512 (On a Scarlett 18i20 3rd gen)
> I have reset my prefs (Studio One) this took care of the brunt of the CPU issues but I still have frequent hanging notes.


Ok, that samplerate should not be a problem.

It might be helpful to see an example of something that causes the hanging notes. Perhaps you could send a screenshot in Studio One which shows the midi, as well as the interface?


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## Wunderhorn (Jan 21, 2022)

Ben Osterhouse said:


> Ok, that samplerate should not be a problem.
> 
> It might be helpful to see an example of something that causes the hanging notes. Perhaps you could send a screenshot in Studio One which shows the midi, as well as the interface?


Thanks Ben, I will have to PM you with that at a later time as I simply don't have enough time right now trying to sort it out, but I will eventually.


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