# What is a good alternative to Metropolis Ark 1 for staccato/spiccato samples that are not limited to just a couple octaves?



## metropolisman (Dec 13, 2020)

I am a huge fan of Metropolis Ark 1 and I compose with it often, but I have run into my first issue with it. I am trying to compose an orchestral piece where there are ascending and descending spiccato arpeggios but I am unable to do this since both the Wolfenstein strings low and the Finkenstein strings high are limited to a couple octaves each. The composition also sounds terrible if I combine both the Wolfenstein and Finkenstein samples to create the arpeggios because they don't have the same sound. I love the clear and powerful sound of the Wolfenstein strings low spiccato 8va but when I use those for the low notes and try to use any of the spiccato samples from the Finkenstein samples folder and it just doesn't flow right.

I apologize for such a noob question as I am new to using Metropolis Ark 1. I still need to save up money for Metropolis Ark 2, 3 and 4 but I just spent a lot of money on various sound libraries for sale on Black Friday. I am hoping someone on here can give me some good recommendations for this situation.

I might settle on Cinematic Studio Strings or Cinematic Studio Strings 2 because they sound incredible. Spitfire Studio Strings and Symphonic Strings sound really great too. I am just hoping that these sound libraries offer a wider range when playing spiccato or staccato notes on a MIDI controller.


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## Paul Jelfs (Dec 13, 2020)

How about Performance samples Fluid Shorts 1 or 2. They are a one trick pony for Shorts, but they sound lovely when you add your own verb. 

Or how about Spitfire Epic Strings - They are cheap but get very good reviews ? Only £29s. Just an Ensemble patch, but the shorts will work right across the keyboard. 

Finally, look at the individual sections in the BERLIN Inspire 1 and or 2 collections - I bet there is a String Ensemble patch (with shorts) in there you can buy individually for around £40 or so


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## metropolisman (Dec 13, 2020)

Paul Jelfs said:


> How about Performance samples Fluid Shorts 1 or 2. They are a one trick pony for Shorts, but they sound lovely when you add your own verb.
> 
> Or how about Spitfire Epic Strings - They are cheap but get very good reviews ? Only £29s. Just an Ensemble patch, but the shorts will work right across the keyboard.
> 
> Finally, look at the individual sections in the BERLIN Inspire 1 and or 2 collections - I bet there is a String Ensemble patch (with shorts) in there you can buy individually for around £40 or so



Do you own some of these sound libraries?

I assume you do. If I had the money to afford one...which would be the best in terms of not only being able to play across the keyboard, but has a great quality sound that would go well with Metropolis Ark 1 and Cinestrings?

So far I have been composing more loud and epic type tracks with MA1 and slower, softer pieces with Cinestrings, which has been working out nicely, but I have been running into limits such as this situation now.


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## Paul Jelfs (Dec 13, 2020)

So just to be clear , you want Short Strings - An Ensemble patch (CINE Strings has one) or V1, v2 individual ? 

Also what is your budget- as there some really expensive libraries to around £30, depending on exactly what you are after. 

Those libraries are all very good string libraries, and the Cinematic Studio Strings has 4 different Shorts, Mapped to its mod wheel on both Ensemble and individual patches. 

Spitfire Chamber or Symphonic strings also offer around 2-4 shorts - I think off the top of my head Staccato, Spicatto, and 0.5 shorts as well as CS shorts. They also have individual Performance legatos which have shorts built in to them. 

I am not so keen on the studio series by spitfire- but if you like working in a dry space, they might be worth a look, but read reviews first. The other ones above are all highly praised.


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## mybadmemory (Dec 13, 2020)

And you already own CineStrings besides MA1? CineStrings has some *really* nice shorts, don't they work out for you either?


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## metropolisman (Dec 14, 2020)

Paul Jelfs said:


> So just to be clear , you want Short Strings - An Ensemble patch (CINE Strings has one) or V1, v2 individual ?
> 
> Also what is your budget- as there some really expensive libraries to around £30, depending on exactly what you are after.
> 
> ...



I was listening to various demo songs and I agree that Spitfire Symphonic strings and Chamber strings sound a lot better than Spitfire Studio Strings. 

I don't have the money to buy a beast like Spitfire Symphonic strings now but maybe when it goes on a big sale in the future. 

For now I will probably look into an ensemble patch by CINE strings.


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## metropolisman (Dec 14, 2020)

mybadmemory said:


> And you already own CineStrings besides MA1? CineStrings has some *really* nice shorts, don't they work out for you either?



They do but just not all the time. I also compose with Cinestrings often. Is Cinestrings 2 worth buying in the future as well? 

By the way, nice arrangement. I really like Uematsu's work too.


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## mybadmemory (Dec 14, 2020)

metropolisman said:


> They do but just not all the time. I also compose with Cinestrings often. Is Cinestrings 2 worth buying in the future as well?
> 
> By the way, nice arrangement. I really like Uematsu's work too.



I didn’t know there was a CineStrings 2. :D

And thanks!


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## metropolisman (Dec 14, 2020)

mybadmemory said:


> I didn’t know there was a CineStrings 2. :D
> 
> And thanks!



You are welcome! 

I actually compose a lot of Final Fantasy/Final Fantasy Tactics style music as well as RPG style music in general. Nobuo Uematsu is one of my all time favorite composers.


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## metropolisman (Dec 15, 2020)

I noticed a laughing stamp on my post above. Perhaps that person thinks videogame music is lame just because it is videogame music? lol

If you listened to Uematsu's music outside of the videogames, you can easily hear that he is a musical genius.


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## MartinH. (Dec 15, 2020)

metropolisman said:


> I noticed a laughing stamp on my post above. Perhaps that person thinks videogame music is lame just because it is videogame music? lol



Doubt it. Afaik there is no "cinestrings 2", there is however a "cinematic strings 2". I think that may have prompted that emoji. 




metropolisman said:


> I actually compose a lot of Final Fantasy/Final Fantasy Tactics style music as well as RPG style music in general. Nobuo Uematsu is one of my all time favorite composers.



Might be worth checking out Amadeus for an even more lofi/oldschool vibe. @Cory Pelizzari has a good review video on it on youtube. 



metropolisman said:


> I might settle on Cinematic Studio Strings or Cinematic Studio Strings 2



There is no "cinematic *studio *strings 2" either. I know... these names are all pretty confusing.


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## Brian99 (Dec 15, 2020)

MartinH. said:


> Might be worth checking out Amadeus for an even more lofi/oldschool vibe. @Cory Pelizzari has a good review video on it on youtube.



Are you talking about Afflatus?


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## ProfoundSilence (Dec 15, 2020)

Brian99 said:


> Are you talking about Afflatus?


no, I don't think he is - I think he's talking about Amadeus.


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## MartinH. (Dec 15, 2020)

Brian99 said:


> Are you talking about Afflatus?



No. This is what I'm talking about:


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## metropolisman (Dec 15, 2020)

MartinH. said:


> Doubt it. Afaik there is no "cinestrings 2", there is however a "cinematic strings 2". I think that may have prompted that emoji.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Yes, they are really damn confusing lol. I try to keep track of a wishlist of sound libraries I want and most of them have nearly the same product names!


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## jcrosby (Dec 15, 2020)

metropolisman said:


> I still need to save up money for Metropolis Ark 2, 3 and 4 but I just spent a lot of money on various sound libraries for sale on Black Friday.


All of the arks have have 8va low shorts, and most long articulations as well. Really wish @OrchestralTools would consider updating 1 and 4 to include low unisons as well


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## metropolisman (Dec 15, 2020)

jcrosby said:


> All of the arks have have 8va low shorts, and most long articulations as well. Really wish @OrchestralTools would consider updating 1 and 4 to include low unisons as well



I have looked into MA2,3 and 4 a little. Do you recommend owning them all? 

They are expensive so I can always only afford one every like 6 months or so.

Which of those would you say you compose the most often with?


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## jcrosby (Dec 15, 2020)

metropolisman said:


> I have looked into MA2,3 and 4 a little. Do you recommend owning them all?
> 
> They are expensive so I can always only afford one every like 6 months or so.
> 
> Which of those would you say you compose the most often with?


I use 1 and 4 most frequently. 4 complements 1 nicely in that it's more intimate. It's useful for blending with Ark 1 for a more direct sound but also a great sounding library overall.. The ensembles are nice as well for quick sketches, and they have the strings split up into 3 sections instead of 2 - high, mid and low in addition to additional instruments.

Even though there are plenty here who have and use 2 frequently I don't use it as much as I'd l'd hoped, Ironically I've seen many here who have 1 and 2 but not 4, and 3's the most niche of all of them.. Basically owning all 4 isn't essential in any way. I suppose it depends on if you can justify the cost more than anything else... Even then it is a pricy collection! If you compose full time perhaps, however I'd imagine there are plenty of full timers here who don't own all 4...

Overall I don't regret buying the whole lot at all but it was quite a pricy endeavor! It'd be nice if they find a way to have all of them feel less separate from one another. Who knows... With a little luck maybe we'll hear something about this on the 17th!


And don't forget that you'll still have the same issue with the other 3... Overall it might be smarter to find another library that compliments Ark 1 nicely. That's a hard recommendation to make. Ultimately people tend to find their own preferences when they need to blend libraries... I like AI's stuff as another compliment however I'm sure there are plenty that have vastly different preferences, like say CSS...

Regarding Ark 4 - given the price, and that it does have somewhat of a _niche_ audience of its own, I'd highly recommend watching as many walkthroughs and listening to as many demos as you can stand. Ultimately it's a combination I've found that I like quite a bit, but there are plenty of people here who love mixing CSS, and/or various other libraries to complement Ark 1 instead.


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## metropolisman (Dec 15, 2020)

jcrosby said:


> I use 1 and 4 most frequently. 4 complements 1 nicely in that it's more intimate. It's useful for blending with Ark 1 for a more direct sound but also a great sounding library overall.. The ensembles are nice as well for quick sketches, and they have the strings split up into 3 sections instead of 2 - high, mid and low in addition to additional instruments.
> 
> Even though there are plenty here who have and use 2 frequently I don't use it as much as I'd l'd hoped, Ironically I've seen many here who have 1 and 2 but not 4, and 3's the most niche of all of them.. Basically owning all 4 isn't essential in any way. I suppose it depends on if you can justify the cost more than anything else... Even then it is a pricy collection! If you compose full time perhaps, however I'd imagine there are plenty of full timers here who don't own all 4...
> 
> ...



Yes, I will check more videos out and compare Ark 2 and 4. I also often watch those sound library shootout videos on Youtube for quick no bs comparison. 

I really want Spitfire Symphonic Strings but that is also really expensive. Maybe sometime next year haha. 

I also use CSS along with various other sound libraries. Sonuscore Strings of Winter has some really amazing sounds and you can do a lot with it. It sometimes goes really well with Ark 1, but I'm sure Sonuscore's flagship product The Orchestra or The Orchestra Complete 2 would be much better. Cinesamples Cineharps has great realistic harp sounds. I plan to get a hold of Cinewinds Core or Pro along with CinePerc. They offer great quality products too.


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