# Any beginner tutorials for string articulations



## shaman777 (Feb 27, 2020)

Hi. I'm new to VSTs, but am an experienced musician/composer.

Question: are there any beginner tutorials for working with articulations, etc in VSTs? For instance, taking the Embertone Intimate Strings, I understand, of course, how keyswitches work. But I'm less clear on articulations. When will Kontact insert small slurs between notes? When and how can I manage that?

I know that different libraries will have different programming, but I feel like there must be a "mindset" or set of core knowledge I'm missing that makes this all click together.

I'm assuming there must be a few videos or a course out there that answers this, but, surprisingly, I can't seem to find it. I appreciate any help or ideas.

Thank you!


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## Will Blackburn (Feb 27, 2020)

You may find this video (and the downloadable midi file) useful wether you have CSS or not. I wish every developer would offer demonstrstions like this with the corresponding midi files. I'd actually pay for them.



Also i recall 8dio having loads of good articualtion demos for their libraries on YT.


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## shaman777 (Feb 27, 2020)

Will Blackburn said:


> You may find this video (and the downloadable midi file) useful wether you have CSS or not. I wish every developer would offer demonstrstions like this with the corresponding midi files. I'd actually pay for them.
> 
> 
> 
> Also i recall 8dio having loads of good articualtion demos for their libraries on YT.




Thank you. That is interesting, but I guess I didn't articulate (lol sorry) my question very well.

I'm very comfortable with what different articulations sound like and the musical effect. (I played a string instrument, have a composition degree, and have conducted orchestras). My question is more how to get the VST to respond.

For instance, sometimes I hear strange legato slides between notes, and I see these can be triggered by velocity, degree of overlap or break between midi notes, speed (which i'm assuming is speed of new attacks, i.e., how fast the notes are coming to the player?), keyswitch, etc... but these things don't seem to be working reliably or correctly.

Obviously, it's a computer and it is consistent so the problem is with the user... with me! I do not understand the different ways these articulations can be triggered and can't get consistent results.

For the record, I'm using Cubase 10.5 full version, EW Symphonic Orchestra, Embertone Intimate Strings, and Embertone Joshua Bell violin.

I just feel like there must be a basic level of knowledge I'm missing with how to get VSTs to "behave" as expected.


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## jbuhler (Feb 27, 2020)

Different instruments will respond differently. Typically legato transitions will be triggered by note overlaps, if the patch supports legato. Some determine the type of legato by velocity or speed or keyswitch. You’ll need to check the manual for the instrument. For longs the dynamics are usually controlled by the modwheel, shorts by velocity. Cc11 will control volume as will cc7. CC21 is often used for vibrato but I don’t know if that holds for any of the instruments you are using. For strings especially you need to keep the modwheel and cc11 in motion and mimicking to some extent the bow arcs of a player.


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## shaman777 (Feb 27, 2020)

jbuhler said:


> Different instruments will respond differently. Typically legato transitions will be triggered by note overlaps, if the patch supports legato. Some determine the type of legato by velocity or speed or keyswitch. You’ll need to check the manual for the instrument. For longs the dynamics are usually controlled by the modwheel, shorts by velocity. Cc11 will control volume as will cc7. CC21 is often used for vibrato but I don’t know if that holds for any of the instruments you are using. For strings especially you need to keep the modwheel and cc11 in motion and mimicking to some extent the bow arcs of a player.



Ok all good tips. Thank you!


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## Dex (Feb 28, 2020)

There is no industry standard and thus no consistency from instrument to instrument. It's very frustrating but you just need to learn each of your vsts individually.


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## Virtuoso (Feb 28, 2020)

If you are using Cubase or Logic, I recommend looking into Babylon Waves Art Conductor sets. They aim to standardize articulations across different libraries from multiple developers so that keyswitches are consistent. A real time saver.









Articulation templates for Logic, Cubase, Digital Performer , Studio One and Cakewalk


We design professional template to switch orchestra articulations for all major DAWs. They all share a common key switch layout.




www.babylonwaves.com


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## SimonCharlesHanna (Feb 28, 2020)

You'll have a much better time if you simply learn how the actual instrument works - then you can understand how each developer implements articulations.


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## YaniDee (Feb 28, 2020)

IF you want to learn articulations from real players, try this..it breaks down all the various bowing techniques.


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## brenneisen (Feb 28, 2020)

shaman777 said:


> [...] but am an experienced musician/composer.





shaman777 said:


> I'm very comfortable with what different articulations sound like and the musical effect.





shaman777 said:


> (I played a string instrument, have a composition degree, and have conducted orchestras).




do you people know that you can't trade reaction scores for dollars, right? why bother replying if you haven't even read?


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## YaniDee (Feb 28, 2020)

1 Saw the post title (Any beginner tutorials for string articulations?)
2 Just trying to help out
3 We can always learn something new
4 This might help other people...
5 Enjoying a couple of beers..


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## brenneisen (Feb 28, 2020)

here are some good guidelines

(mind that many libraries need more programming and aren't super playable like Verta's usual VI choices)


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## dzilizzi (Feb 28, 2020)

The Spitfire guys have a few tutorials talking about working with string libraries. I don't remember which ones off hand, but I learned a lot from them. Mostly about how they work with midi and using dynamics and vibrato as you are playing. Although they use Spitfire libraries, the techniques apply to a lot of other libraries.


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## paulthomson (Feb 29, 2020)

Hi there - I know you specifically said strings but might be some useful info on playing the samples on here:





Hope that helps!


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## ManuManu81 (Feb 29, 2020)

Very helpful and interesting topic. Thanks!


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## shaman777 (Feb 29, 2020)

Thank you for all the info here.

I spent a bit of time working with it, and, for anyone else struggling, the issues, in my case, reduced down to not exactly understanding how the VSTs take volume information both from CC 11 and velocity. There were also some less than intuitive legato connections that had to be managed, but a day's work helped it all to make sense. Some of this is also not incredibly well documented, so RTFM only gets you so far. 

Solo strings seem to be a lot harder to work with than section strings, for probably obvious reasons. 

Seems VST programmers would be well-advised to create video tutorials for their instruments. Just sequence and render 30 seconds of a melody line with different articulations and show what works and why...


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## jbuhler (Mar 1, 2020)

shaman777 said:


> Thank you for all the info here.
> 
> I spent a bit of time working with it, and, for anyone else struggling, the issues, in my case, reduced down to not exactly understanding how the VSTs take volume information both from CC 11 and velocity. There were also some less than intuitive legato connections that had to be managed, but a day's work helped it all to make sense. Some of this is also not incredibly well documented, so RTFM only gets you so far.
> 
> ...


Yes, though I will say that once you’ve learned a few instruments most behave similarly so that you can find your way around most other instruments with only a quick look through the manual. Still, it is true that I’m continually stumbling across more or less undocumented features in watching reviews or tips and tricks videos, things not covered in the manual or official walkthroughs. (Also the walkthroughs will frequently show capabilities not entirely evident from the manual.)


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