# How important is divisi?



## ein fisch (Jun 5, 2018)

hello everyone.

im right now limited to cinematic strings 2 (which i really really love), and wanted to pick up something more complex for a long time. and now i saw LASS is on a sale.

but first, how important is it to have divisi in a virtual orchestra? is it a must-have for realism or overkill?

i kind of put "realism with virtual orchestras" aside, since i dont think any sample library will ever come even close to experienced and emotionally playing live players. what im aiming for, is a good sound to work with. yes, i want to get the most out of it as possible, but im not sure if divisi isnt abit overkill. i mean, if my calculation is right, its around 3 times the effort i have now. and that is alot.

what do you think. am i good with CS2 when not writing classical music that needs to sound 100% like a real orchestra?


cheers
Fisch


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## Saxer (Jun 5, 2018)

It depends how you write. If you want four voice high violin legato you need more than two violin legato tracks. It's also possible with CS2 to just open two violin1 and 2 tracks or use sustains instead of legatos.

For me special divisi patches that divides the section in two half when playing two notes (auto divisi) doesn't make a main difference in sample world. Nobody actually counts voices when listening to a mockup. And if I need more than one voice per section I like to have separate tracks and CC curves for each voice. So I never used LASS's auto divisi. Using auto divisi often misleads to play keyboard-like chords in one section (i.e. four voice pads in violas). But I like the flexibility of the A/B/C/FirstChair per section in LASS. When writing divisi it's easy to make separate tracks for each line (without the risk of phasing when playing parts in unison). That's what LASS is really good for.
And CS2 and LASS sound very different. So it might be interesting to have other textures and flexible section sizes.


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## Piano Pete (Jun 5, 2018)

If you are going to be writing divisi, even just for harmonic support, they really should be on separate lines/tracks. You do not necessarily need to have a, "Divisi patch" specifically for this. Often, I'll use a legato patch for the main voice and a regular sustain for the inner voice. From there, it is just balancing the volumes so that it doesn't sound like you just doubled the number of players when in reality, you "split" the same amount across your divisi. 

An example would be if I am only using vln1 in unison, my legato patch would be at... let's say [email protected] (an arbitrary number). If I decide to "split" my first violins across two notes, the cc7 in my legato patch would go down to 62 while my sustain would be at around 54. (If it is only for a beat or two, I'll get lazy and just use a single sustain patch with the added note). This amount would need to be adjusted based on the library and its musical context, but you get the idea. The main thing is that you do not want it to sound like you doubled the number of players-- although this is technically what you are doing with samples. In a real situation, musicians would balance with each other, and they can still get pretty loud while playing divisi, but I digress. 

There are plenty of ways to fake this in the DAW without using specifically tailored divisi patches. In this example, I only used out of the box sustain and legato patches. You could even use the same patch loaded twice, if you utilize the "transposition trick." (This is where you load two instances of the same patch and transpose one up or down a half-step. Adjust for this in your DAW when you are writing, but this enables you to have two dynamically independent tracks with the same base sample). 

If you are asking if you need to purchase LASS to write divisi etc. My answer is no. I would not purchase LASS purely for that reason. You should be able to do whatever you need with any library. However, if you are looking to stretch your legs and palette, go for it. If the LASS sounds good to you and you like its workflow, then it may be a worthwhile investment.


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## Wunderhorn (Jun 10, 2018)

I look at divisi as an essential part of writing for strings. Now, whether you find ways to fake it and not look at the voice counts or you use "proper" divisi patches like in LASS that is up to you to make it work for your needs, either approach may yield satisfying results in the end.
Personally, I use LASS and I would never buy another main string library without distinct divisi sections, but that is just my own feeling about it.


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## robgb (Jun 10, 2018)

Start a new track, play the part. Chances are very good that no one will know the number of violins (or whatever) you're using on each track. If it sounds good, it sounds good.


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## sostenuto (Jun 10, 2018)

robgb said:


> Start a new track, play the part. Chances are very good that no one will know the number of violins (or whatever) you're using on each track. If it sounds good, it sounds good.



I only have KH_Diamond Symphony Orch as a personal reference, but the various divisi samples are quite apparent. I'm sure that accomplished orchestrators can produce fine results to meet almost any need, but my limited skills make me _hope_ that the KH divisi(s) are credible ???


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