# Mancini style smooth glissando strings?



## Tim Clarke (Dec 29, 2019)

Does anyone know of a string library that offers a robust glissando engine or set of samples capable of doing that retro "lounge" style slow romantic glissando heard in the 1950s and 1960's light orchestral mood music a la Mancini? Or Goldsmith's scores to Chinatown or Basic Instinct (if memory serves)?

You can hear a bit of it here at 12 seconds in...


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## richardt4520 (Dec 29, 2019)

8Dio's Agitato strings work really well for this. Some of the articulations are even named Mancini.


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## Pianolando (Dec 29, 2019)

I think many of the big libraries can pull off something similar with a portamento articulation...? I mostly use Berlin strings and have done a few similar phrases sometimes, but it was some time ago. 8dio sound like a good tip but haven’t used them myself. Or maybe CSS, it has a bit of that vintage sound...dark with big vibrato. Haven’t tried it’s portamento though.


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## Tim Clarke (Dec 29, 2019)

The problem with most portamento patches (at least with the libraries I have) is that the transitions move too fast - great for quicker passages but I'm looking for a particular sound that is used for popular orchestral music from the 1950's and 60's, a lo Mancini, David Rose, etc.


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## Polkasound (Dec 29, 2019)

This is a song I composed using 8Dio Adagietto layered with Audio Modeling SWAM Solo Strings. Both libraries can give you nice, sweepy legato transitions.

The strings come in about 1/3rd of the way through the song and also toward the end.


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## Tim Clarke (Dec 29, 2019)

Pianolando said:


> I think many of the big libraries can pull off something similar with a portamento articulation...? I mostly use Berlin strings and have done a few similar phrases sometimes, but it was some time ago. 8dio sound like a good tip but haven’t used them myself. Or maybe CSS, it has a bit of that vintage sound...dark with big vibrato. Haven’t tried it’s portamento though.


Thanks - those were not on my radar...


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## Tim Clarke (Dec 29, 2019)

Polkasound said:


> This is a song I composed using 8Dio Adagietto layered with Audio Modeling SWAM Solo Strings. Both libraries can give you nice, sweepy legato transitions.
> 
> The strings come in about 1/3rd of the way through the song and also toward the end.



yeah I hear the sweet legato in there! Nice job!


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## Sears Poncho (Dec 29, 2019)

Studio Strings Pro Violin 1 and 2, plus one violin from CSSS. I think it would sound pretty good with other strings etc...


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## Ashermusic (Dec 29, 2019)

I am playing around with this, and I think of the libraries I own (HS, CSS, Kirk Hunter Concert Strings, Venice Modern Strings) the HS Diamond Legato Slur and Portamento with the Vintage mic and Con Sordino script is going to be the clear winner.


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## Ashermusic (Dec 30, 2019)

Ok I decided to have some fun. Forgive the lousy MIDI CC work, needs more time obviously, just to illustrate the sound..

These are HS Diamond Legato Slur and Portamento instruments with the Vintage mic and Con Sordino script , with a little bit of UAD Ocean Way and UAD Precision EQ.


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## AndyP (Dec 30, 2019)

Tim Clarke said:


> yeah I hear the sweet legato in there! Nice job!


Not the Shmenge style, but very convincing.


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## Tim Clarke (Dec 30, 2019)

Ashermusic said:


> Ok I decided to have some fun. Forgive the lousy MIDI CC work, needs more time obviously, just to illustrate the sound..
> 
> These are HS Diamond Legato Slur and Portamento instruments with the Vintage mic and Con Sordino script , with a little bit of UAD Ocean Way and UAD Precision EQ.


This is great! Those strings are closer to what I am looking for - are those articulations in Diamond only, or does gold have them?


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## Ashermusic (Dec 30, 2019)

Tim Clarke said:


> This is great! Those strings are closer to what I am looking for - are those articulations in Diamond only, or does gold have them?



Gold has the same articulations but doesn't have the Vintage mic.


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## Mikro93 (Jan 3, 2020)

I've been experimenting with layering an all-round orchestral legato library (Soaring Strings) with something that has a wider slur legato/portamento (8Dio Intimate Studio Strings), mostly because it gives a new use to both of these libraries. I'm very pleased with the result, and will share soon.


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## LHall (Jan 4, 2020)

LASS and LASS Sordino are great at this.


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## Greg (Jan 4, 2020)

Hollywood Strings wins by far. I really hope some developer tries making it even slower though. HS is amazing but still too fast for what i have in my head most of the time.

Fingers crossed for a nicely recorded MPE programmed string library this year. The Roli mpe string patches sound like sh*t but are still really useful because of the glissando and vibrato control.


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## JEPA (Jan 4, 2020)

Ashermusic said:


> Ok I decided to have some fun. Forgive the lousy MIDI CC work, needs more time obviously, just to illustrate the sound..
> 
> These are HS Diamond Legato Slur and Portamento instruments with the Vintage mic and Con Sordino script , with a little bit of UAD Ocean Way and UAD Precision EQ.


wow!


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## Casiquire (Jan 4, 2020)

Here's another reason why Melodyne is great to have on hand and every workstation should have it. You can extend or shorten transition slides really easily.


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## Rasmus Hartvig (Jan 4, 2020)

Another vote for LASS, which has great playable glissandos.


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## Mikro93 (Jan 5, 2020)

My take, that you can compare to the original version by Polkasound in post #5 

Layering Soaring Strings + Intimate Studio Strings.

See the details here:






Layering string libraries for portamento - a case study


Recently, this thread was opened to discuss Mancini-style legato, which is a very slurred legato signature of composer Henry Mancini: https://vi-control.net/community/threads/mancini-style-smooth-glissando-strings.88683/ I, myself, love this sound, and decided to try and render some examples...




vi-control.net





Also:



Ashermusic said:


> These are HS Diamond Legato Slur and Portamento instruments


Are these available in a patch that has velocity-controlled legato types? Gold is rather cheap at the moment. I'd love the close mics but they are only in Diamond. Vintage sounds pretty good in your example


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## Ashermusic (Jan 5, 2020)

Mikro93 said:


> Are these available in a patch that has velocity-controlled legato types? Gold is rather cheap at the moment. I'd love the close mics but they are only in Diamond. Vintage sounds pretty good in your example



No. HS uses cc11 for level and cc1 for vibrato in the legato and slur patches, not velocity


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## Mikro93 (Jan 5, 2020)

Ashermusic said:


> sour patches


Sorry, but that made me giggle 






Thank you very much


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## Ashermusic (Jan 5, 2020)

Mikro93 said:


> Sorry, but that made me giggle
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Oops.


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## wst3 (Jan 5, 2020)

Ashermusic said:


> Ok I decided to have some fun. Forgive the lousy MIDI CC work, needs more time obviously, just to illustrate the sound..
> 
> These are HS Diamond Legato Slur and Portamento instruments with the Vintage mic and Con Sordino script , with a little bit of UAD Ocean Way and UAD Precision EQ.


That is just beautiful Jay - and exactly what I think of when I think of Mancini - you should consider a career in music<G>!

Seriously, that just nails the sound I like for that style.

I've used Agitato to get a similar effect, now I need to go back to the woodshed.


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## Nate Johnson (Jan 5, 2020)

Dang. These examples are how I always hear strings in my head, but can never seem to program! I usually give up and just use normal legato articulations. Bravo, guys!


Casiquire said:


> Here's another reason why Melodyne is great to have on hand and every workstation should have it. You can extend or shorten transition slides really easily.



Can you elaborate or point to examples of string libraries treated this way?


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## jesse j james (Jan 5, 2020)

Ashermusic said:


> Ok I decided to have some fun. Forgive the lousy MIDI CC work, needs more time obviously, just to illustrate the sound..
> 
> These are HS Diamond Legato Slur and Portamento instruments with the Vintage mic and Con Sordino script , with a little bit of UAD Ocean Way and UAD Precision EQ.



LOVE this. The legatos sound still a bit artificial, but your arrangement is spot on!


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## Ashermusic (Jan 6, 2020)

jesse j james said:


> LOVE this. The legatos sound still a bit artificial, but your arrangement is spot on!



If Idid a better job polishing it they would sound less so.

The example is from the Mancini book “Sounds and Scores “ so the arrangement is not mine but Hank’s.


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## Batrawi (Jan 6, 2020)

@Ashermusic sounds fantastic! care to share the CSS version (enabling the sordino script and using portamento)?


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## Ashermusic (Jan 6, 2020)

Batrawi said:


> @Ashermusic sounds fantastic! care to share the CSS version (enabling the sordino script and using portamento)?



Much as I love CSS, and believe me I do, I don’t think it’s as well suited to this specific musical task. So I haven’t given it a shot.


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## Ashermusic (Jan 6, 2020)

OK, so I decided to try it with CSS. Totally had to change the cc1


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## Casiquire (Jan 6, 2020)

tomorrowstops said:


> Can you elaborate or point to examples of string libraries treated this way?



I don't have any examples on hand. Melodyne shows you the notes being played and then lets you alter them, or change timing, or increase or decrease the length of a transition from a smooth glide up to an instant one. I'd do a free trial of it and see if it gets close to the right sound


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## Batrawi (Jan 6, 2020)

Ashermusic said:


> OK, so I decided to try it with CSS. Totally had to change the cc1


sounds passable. and you're right, HS is by far on another level in this style (and accordingly I assume it can also be as good for pop as well due to its gentle vibrato). aaargh  I already convinced myself long time ago that I don't need HS since I have CSS already, and now look what you did to me


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## Ashermusic (Jan 6, 2020)

Batrawi said:


> sounds passable. and you're right, HS is by far on another level in this style (and accordingly I assume it can also be as good for pop as well due to its gentle vibrato). aaargh  I already convinced myself long time ago that I don't need HS since I have CSS already, and now look what you did to me



😁

But actually, for my pop songs I prefer the strings in Kirk Hunter’s Virtuoso Ensembles to either.


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## Mikro93 (Jan 7, 2020)

Batrawi said:


> I already convinced myself long time ago that I don't need HS


Same here, and I thought about it for too long and missed the sale. Next time!


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## Patrick B. (Feb 22, 2020)

@Ashermusic that HS example sounded great! I used to do some 40s, 50s, and 60s light and lounge styles for some projects, but always had trouble getting the string sound I wanted. Since then I've always looked for libraries that could pull it off. I have the 8dio Agitato Grandiose violins with the Mancini legato, but you just made me wanna get HS Diamond while it's on sale.

I also found this guy who has a done an amazing job with Spitfire Chamber Strings and in parts 4 and 5 looks like he also incorporated LASS. I didn't realize SCS could do this legato sound so well! Makes me want that library too ha. The strings starting at 1:13 sound so nice.


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## Ashermusic (Feb 23, 2020)

Thanks Patrick B. We have so many great string library choices and that example sounds great. But I still think that HS Diamond is still the single most versatile strings library.

The good news is that there are so many articulations and mic positions to choose from that with the exception of a small string sound, there is little it cannot do.

The bad news is that there are so many articulations and mic positions to choose from


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## filipjonathan (Feb 23, 2020)

Ashermusic said:


> OK, so I decided to try it with CSS. Totally had to change the cc1


Hey Jay! Could I please have this midi file? I'm really interested in those voicings :D


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## ed buller (Feb 23, 2020)

me too !...lot's of lovely extensions but very smooth !

best

e


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## Zero&One (Feb 23, 2020)

Yeah, that HO example is great.
I thought I had given it a Like, but hadn’t. Corrected that


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## Mikro93 (Feb 23, 2020)

I can hear what kind of work I would put into the CC, but I'm now definitely picking up HO next time it goes on a -60% sale


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## Ashermusic (Feb 23, 2020)

filipjonathan said:


> Hey Jay! Could I please have this midi file? I'm really interested in those voicings :D



Sure. Anyone who wants it, just email me. [email protected]


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## Mikro93 (Feb 23, 2020)

It's Mr. Lucky by Henry Mancini! Just listened to it by accident in a random playlist right now!


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## Ashermusic (Feb 23, 2020)

Mikro93 said:


> It's Mr. Lucky by Henry Mancini! Just listened to it by accident in a random playlist right now!



Yep.


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## Nick Batzdorf (Feb 23, 2020)

Mancini was *so* great.


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## Rob (Feb 24, 2020)

I think it greatly depends on the writing, and the way strings libraries are treated... I remember tracks I did many years ago with regular patches that had that kind of sound


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## pupika (Aug 28, 2020)

Casiquire said:


> Here's another reason why Melodyne is great to have on hand and every workstation should have it. You can extend or shorten transition slides really easily.


Does it works with MIDI notes as well?


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## Casiquire (Aug 28, 2020)

pupika said:


> Does it works with MIDI notes as well?


Nope, it's an effect that works on the audio data


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## ohernie (Aug 28, 2020)

Mikro93 said:


> My take, that you can compare to the original version by Polkasound in post #5



Laughing - reminds me of my dad's record collection ...


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## Roy25 (Feb 5, 2021)

Hello, I am new at this forum, but this thread interested me. Because I like to re-create those lovely stringsounds of many orchestras in the 50s and 60s. For example what are the steps to do te re-create that Mancini-string arrangement. I have bought EW Hollywood Strings Diamond last week, and played a little bit with it, but couldn't get that special sound. Can you help me out?


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## mohsohsenshi (Feb 5, 2021)

Roy25 said:


> Hello, I am new at this forum, but this thread interested me. Because I like to re-create those lovely stringsounds of many orchestras in the 50s and 60s. For example what are the steps to do te re-create that Mancini-string arrangement. I have bought EW Hollywood Strings Diamond last week, and played a little bit with it, but couldn't get that special sound. Can you help me out?


Ah, those geek composers in this thread have made magic potion with unknown recipe and suspicious material. As a newbie you never know how that alchemic thing comes to reality. Here you are a formula , be careful and don't blow yourself:

1. Write a beautiful string arrangement, no sample library will sound great without it, even the most expensive one.
2. Load EW HS Diamond for each part, use the "Powerful legato" patch, something like "Leg+slur+Port+NI", make sure they have "port"(portamento triggered by velocity lower than 50).
3. Mainly use the Close Mic and the Vintage Mic. In my case, I use Close mic for the whole section and one 1st Violin track with Vintage mic only, put it on top to enhance the lead.
4. Put the CC1 (for vibrato control) to max value, in order to get an expressive and intense vibrato. 
5. Play your arrangement and record CC11 for dynamic. Edit some notes to trigger the portamento effect. Listen to other's arrangement and master's record, learn their phrasing and try to recreate them.
6. You can also adjust the CC1 to emulate the "non vibrato to vibrato" feel.
7. Add your reverb to the section, long/short reverb or whatever you like, to give a nice hall sound. Create a space and put your instruments in.
8. Do some EQ to your section and make them less muddy, usually a little low cut.
8. Add a saturation/tape simulation plugin on the master bus, you can download the Izotop Vinyl, it's free, in my example, I choose the 1960/1970 preset.

Violà!

I exaggerated a bit in the demo, please forgive my poor mockup of <High Heels>. I should have made a more careful CC11 curve, so there is unnatural dynamic in certain phrases.


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## Kirk1701 (Feb 5, 2021)

AndyP said:


> Not the Shmenge style, but very convincing.


We'd like to thank Mrs. Vilve Yachke for the cabbage rolls and coffee.


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## Kirk1701 (Feb 5, 2021)

No one has yet mentioned Vista, which from the demos I've heard is aimed squarely at this area of string writing.


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## Marlon Brown (Feb 5, 2021)

mohsohsenshi said:


> Ah, those geek composers in this thread have made magic potion with unknown recipe and suspicious material. As a newbie you never know how that alchemic thing comes to reality. Here you are a formula , be careful and don't blow yourself:
> 
> 1. Write a beautiful string arrangement, no sample library will sound great without it, even the most expensive one.
> 2. Load EW HS Diamond for each part, use the "Powerful legato" patch, something like "Leg+slur+Port+NI", make sure they have "port"(portamento triggered by velocity lower than 50).
> ...



Quick question. Where do you get the score for this kind of music? I believe High Heels is by Trevor Duncan.


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## mohsohsenshi (Feb 6, 2021)

Marlon Brown said:


> Quick question. Where do you get the score for this kind of music? I believe High Heels is by Trevor Duncan.


Check Alex Ball's Channel.
This series has 4 episodes, I got his mockup score from episode 3 if I don't get it wrong.




Love the Mancini sound and 50's orchestra, so sexy...


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## Roy25 (Feb 6, 2021)

mohsohsenshi said:


> Ah, those geek composers in this thread have made magic potion with unknown recipe and suspicious material. As a newbie you never know how that alchemic thing comes to reality. Here you are a formula , be careful and don't blow yourself:
> 
> 1. Write a beautiful string arrangement, no sample library will sound great without it, even the most expensive one.
> 2. Load EW HS Diamond for each part, use the "Powerful legato" patch, something like "Leg+slur+Port+NI", make sure they have "port"(portamento triggered by velocity lower than 50).
> ...



Thank you so much for you're detailed receipt for get that unique sound. I also like the example you gave very much and it is exactly what I want to achieve. Thanks again and I will try to get close to that sound as possible!


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## Wally Garten (Feb 6, 2021)

mohsohsenshi said:


> Write a beautiful string arrangement


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## ImJim (Mar 20, 2021)

mohsohsenshi said:


> Ah, those geek composers in this thread have made magic potion with unknown recipe and suspicious material. As a newbie you never know how that alchemic thing comes to reality. Here you are a formula , be careful and don't blow yourself:
> 
> 1. Write a beautiful string arrangement, no sample library will sound great without it, even the most expensive one.
> 2. Load EW HS Diamond for each part, use the "Powerful legato" patch, something like "Leg+slur+Port+NI", make sure they have "port"(portamento triggered by velocity lower than 50).
> ...



Hey, this is absolutely gorgeous. May I ask you how many voices / individual patches you used for this sketch? The harmony is so thick, it sounds like up to 7 or 8 tracks playing.

I think you totally nailed the sound here. Did you only use iZotope Vinyl for that mellow, "blurry" and saturated sound ? Could you share a bit of your post processing, if you still have the project? Thanks!


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## Wolf68 (Mar 21, 2021)

Ashermusic said:


> Sure. Anyone who wants it, just email me. [email protected]


Happily mail sent, too!


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## mohsohsenshi (Mar 21, 2021)

ImJim said:


> Hey, this is absolutely gorgeous. May I ask you how many voices / individual patches you used for this sketch? The harmony is so thick, it sounds like up to 7 or 8 tracks playing.
> 
> I think you totally nailed the sound here. Did you only use iZotope Vinyl for that mellow, "blurry" and saturated sound ? Could you share a bit of your post processing, if you still have the project? Thanks!


Thanks for liking it!
I still have the project file. There are 11 tracks in this demo song.
As I written above, I put an ensemble track on top to enhance the melody line, then 2 parts of 1st Violin, 4 parts of 2nd Violin, 2 parts of Viola, 1 Cello and 1 Double Bass: 1+2+4+2+1+1.
I used HS diamond's divisi patches, and it shows the short coming of this lib: it only has half divisi of an orchestral standard string section, it sounds too thick for complex harmony writing.
Any smaller section like SCS will be more suitable for this song.

A seventh heaven reverb was sent to all tracks with the same amount. I put a logic stock EQ on my reverb, removing everything under 180 Hz and above 3K Hz.
On the main bus, an Ozone 9 tape vintage tape was applied with the preset "Tame high end", also iZotope Vinyl "1970" with 43% dust and 2% warp.


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## Watstan (Apr 6, 2021)

Ashermusic said:


> Ok I decided to have some fun. Forgive the lousy MIDI CC work, needs more time obviously, just to illustrate the sound..
> 
> These are HS Diamond Legato Slur and Portamento instruments with the Vintage mic and Con Sordino script , with a little bit of UAD Ocean Way and UAD Precision EQ.


which legato slur option theres so many of them


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## Mikro93 (May 31, 2021)

Cross-posting from one of my threads in the Member composition forum, this could be interesting here as well:

I decided to have a go at [my Days Of Wine And Roses] arrangement again with the Chamber-sized patches of Anthology. I just used the same MIDI files, scaled the CC1 to increase the dynamic range and moved a few notes here and there. It would definitely require some more massaging.

BUT

It definitely is the sound that I'm expecting in this kind of genre, and I'm very, very pleased with Anthology for that.

Cheers


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## Kirk1701 (May 31, 2021)

I bought Agitato Violins just this weekend. It literally has articulations called "Mancini." They sound amazing.


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## Rilla (Jun 13, 2021)

Ashermusic said:


> Ok I decided to have some fun. Forgive the lousy MIDI CC work, needs more time obviously, just to illustrate the sound..
> 
> These are HS Diamond Legato Slur and Portamento instruments with the Vintage mic and Con Sordino script , with a little bit of UAD Ocean Way and UAD Precision EQ.



This inspired me. Great sound and excellent programming! 

I decided to try this with Chris Hein Ensemble Strings. The results were good, but I needed more time to tweak the portamentos on the lead violins. So I decided to replace the lead violins (octave melody) with 8dio Agitato Violins. I used the Mancini setting. Still needed tweaking. I learned sometimes you have to break the rules and shift the timing of the midi notes around to get the legato to sound right.


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## Henu (Jun 14, 2021)

Kirk1701 said:


> I bought Agitato Violins just this weekend. It literally has articulations called "Mancini." They sound amazing.


Just bought the same SOLELY for the patch. And it cost me a bit over 20 euros. I'm spoiled!!!!


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## Kirk1701 (Jun 14, 2021)

Henu said:


> Just bought the same SOLELY for the patch. And it cost me a bit over 20 euros. I'm spoiled!!!!


I didn't spend much more than that either. Totally worth it.


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## artomatic (Jun 14, 2021)

I bought it (May 27th) as well but there isn't a patch called Mancini..?


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## Sarah Mancuso (Jun 14, 2021)

The Mancini arcs are in the _ensemble _violins legato patch.


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## muziksculp (Jun 14, 2021)




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## artomatic (Jun 14, 2021)

Sarah Mancuso said:


> The Mancini arcs are in the _ensemble _violins legato patch.



Thank you!


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## cobaine (Jul 30, 2021)

Ashermusic said:


> Ok I decided to have some fun. Forgive the lousy MIDI CC work, needs more time obviously, just to illustrate the sound..
> 
> These are HS Diamond Legato Slur and Portamento instruments with the Vintage mic and Con Sordino script , with a little bit of UAD Ocean Way and UAD Precision EQ.


Wow! This is it! Would you make your midi files available? The voicing is perfect! Thank you.


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