# Looking for Traditional Classical Orch Sound With Solo Strings



## danevaz (Apr 8, 2020)

Hey All,

First post in this forum. Been lurking for about a week.

Not new to digital audio (Encore/Cakewalk in the 90s -> Dorico/Studio One in the 2020s). Musician, songwriter. Classical guitar main instrument, as well as electric bass for jazz be-bop and classic rock. Listen to a lot of classical music and with my recent purchase of Dorico, am doing more composing via notation software.

Tried the Note Performer demo with Dorico. Works great but wasn't enamored of the sound. Also I don't think it works with a DAW (Studio One).

Currently doing one month of the EW CC. Tried EWSO and EWHO gold versions of both. Liked EWSO because it had the solo strings but I wasn't comfortable with the "wet" sound of the library. I definitely had more control over the sound with EWHO, and many of the patches did sound better (but no solo strings? - see below).

And from back in the day I have Miroslav Phil 1.0 and Sample Tank 3 (which has a bunch of the Miroslav Phil 2 instruments). Also have the SONIVOX Orchestral Companion series - they sound OK but they're clunky to use.

Working on WIN10 - i7-3770 8 core @ 3.4Ghz- 24GB of memory. I have the Kontakt free player only, and rarely use it - so I'm not tied to Kontakt. Have a good midi keyboard controller with 9 sliders, 9 buttons, 8 rotating knobs and 8 pads - so looking for a library that would leverage all that control.

I prefer small group ensemble type works - string quartet, piano trio, guitar-flute/clarinet duos, etc. Definitely not looking to do cinematic trailers or scoring. I lean towards more traditional "classical," and acoustic jazz, folk rock.

So, a couple of questions:

It appears that the default EW Holly. Orch. gold does not have any solo string instruments? That would mean I couldn't use it for a string quartet. Am I missing something? Why is that?

I see that many of the newer orchestral libs. are tutti ensemble types - designed for playing patterns and layers, and sketching orchestral works. That's cool, but I'd rather compose, and write out the parts/lines myself for individual solo instruments.

So which of the "full orchestral" libraries would have a full complement of the standard orchestral instruments, solo, as well as smaller ensemble groupings, that would work for a more traditional "classical" sound? I suppose I'm looking for a modern, better sounding (drier), and easier to control version of EWSO.

Lots of sales going on right now.

Thanks,
Danny V.


----------



## onebitboy (Apr 9, 2020)

danevaz said:


> It appears that the default EW Holly. Orch. gold does not have any solo string instruments? That would mean I couldn't use it for a string quartet. Am I missing something? Why is that?


Hollywood Solo Violin and Hollywood Solo Cello are separate libraries.


----------



## Geomir (Apr 10, 2020)

@danevaz 

In the Composer Cloud (Gold), you have the option to try the close mic of EWQLSO Gold. It will make the sound more dry (but still not extremely dry). I think you should give it a try because it's very close to what you are searching for: the library was recorded in a concert hall by a classical recording engineer, and includes some sections of chamber strings, solo strings, even a grand piano and concert harp.

Hollywood Orchestra is drier but mainly focused for Hollywood sound (as the name suggests). It does not include any solo instrument or small chamber sections, no harp and no piano as well. The Hollywood solo violin, solo Cello, and Harp (offered as separate different libraries) will not thrill you, they are average at best (and anyway they are made to be part of this big Hollywood Orchestra sound).

If you are willing to use your Kontakt Player, there are many "chamber strings" or "solo strings" libraries that do exactly what you need.


----------



## ism (Apr 10, 2020)

My background is in classical guitar also. Though I'm far from professional, I did get far enough in composition to be able to compose for the instrument - look for lines that really captured and integrated the nuances of the feel and performance instrument of a guitar. 

Which is maybe why I've discovered such a love of solo string libraries. 

Alas, there's really nothing that's going to let you write Beethoven-esque quartets at the moment. Either you get the expressiveness via various modelling techniques (simulated vibrato, phase alignments etc) that (to my ear) severely compromise the sonority, or else you preserve the sonority, and have to accept the limits of the current technology. 

Still, there are great libraries out that give you great sonority, with enough of a dimension of performance to write, maybe not full on classical, but at lastly a relatively simply form of neo-classical. 

For really pristine chamber classical stuff, VSL, or maybe Chris Hein is probably the best - although I don't much care for the sound. Very convincing in terms of expression and "realism", but they don't produce anything I would especially want to listen to.

At the other end of the spectrum I would hold up Spitfire as emblematic of the "as much expressiveness as possible without compromising the sonority". For classical work, Sacconi is as good as anything I've heard. Though it's still very limited, and I don't have it my self to properly comment. 

Spitfire solo strings on the other hand, really aren't made for quartet writing, and yet they have a great deal of expressiveness and a superb sonority. 

I go on about these kinds of things on all kinds of threads heres, ie.

https://vi-control.net/community/th...rned-to-stop-worrying-and-love-vibrato.74981/ 


In between there are lots of other options. Emberton's Joshua bell is magnificent. But is unapologetically virtuosic, and lacks certain of the expressiveness (and recording technique) needed to really blend in a quartet. The Emotional Vl / Vc are good also, and make different compromises to get other strengths. 


As for woodwinds, this is a little easier. I love Spitfire Symphonic Winds. Although they don't always go quite lyrical enough for chamber work. I've augmented them with some of the 8dio Claire woodwind options (great for soloistic hyper-lyrical moments, but they don't necessarily play well with others. Require full Kontakt, but they are also frequently on sale for $18 /$28/$38 ). The Fluffy audio winds are great also for soloist moments. Berlin Woodwinds Exp B is also superb for such moments.


----------

