# Unstrung Moods [A Glance Back At EWQLSO's Strings]



## Marius Masalar (May 12, 2010)

Hi all!

In light of all the excitement with Hollywood Strings, I decided to perform a bit of an experiment. I have this philosophy that if I can't write something impressive with any samples at hand, then I'm not being creative enough. Keeps me sharp.

So while I'm lusting after HS, I decided to go back to my trusty EWQLSO Gold ProXP (oh yes, Kontakt is my friend) strings and see if I could throw something together that was as convincing as I could get it within the limitations of the samples. The result is not perfect, but it reminds me that so much of what we do comes down to good sequencing and mixing too, not just excellent samples.

Thus, the following short piece for string orchestra was born using nothing but EWQLSO strings all on their own: o/~ 

[mp3]http://www.mathazzar.com/Music/Unstrung%20Moods.mp3[/mp3]

You may detect a note of angst, perhaps of ridiculous humour and hysteria — I assure you they have nothing whatsoever to do with my inner struggle to suppress the urge to spend money I don't have on HS. 0oD 

Anyway, enjoy! Leave your thoughts if you had any.


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## requiem_aeternam7 (May 12, 2010)

Mathazzar @ Wed May 12 said:


> Hi all!
> 
> In light of all the excitement with Hollywood Strings, I decided to perform a bit of an experiment. I have this philosophy that if I can't write something impressive with any samples at hand, then I'm not being creative enough. Keeps me sharp.
> 
> ...



Yikes. This seriously sounded like MIDI to me after listening to HS demos and fooling around with my own LASS recently. 
No offense to your composition, it was great and fun to listen to. But the samples are just dated as hell, sounded like a mix of midi with GPO.


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## Marius Masalar (May 12, 2010)

It's true; especially the sustains, they're just a pain in the ass to get to sing. However it was still a fun exercise.

By the way, thanks a lot for helping alleviate the gear lust there... Back to the waiting arms of my loving LASS I go, I suppose.

Thank you for listening either way!


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## requiem_aeternam7 (May 12, 2010)

Mathazzar @ Wed May 12 said:


> It's true; especially the sustains, they're just a pain in the ass to get to sing. However it was still a fun exercise.
> 
> By the way, thanks a lot for helping alleviate the gear lust there...
> 
> Thank you for listening either way!



Yeah bro, don't get me wrong the song was absolutely awesome. I hope you post a revised version when you get HS with HS strings. But damn it just makes one wonder how far we've come....I used to use GPO and MIDI made me gag. Never thought I'd see the day where EWQL SO makes me gag and reminds me of midi. 

Even my poor LASS seemed sadly out of date when I heard some of the HS demos :x :shock: :| 

but only in the long articulations ...short articulations LASS actually sounds better to me so far. 
But anyway, I'm kinda broke myself and out of work...and now I'm faced with this retarded choice of Tonehammer Requiem or HS.......or going for broke and getting a new credit card and charging both those suckers on there and telling the creditor to piss off.


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## Marius Masalar (May 12, 2010)

No worries, I know exactly what you mean! I think the ultimate combo will be having both for the best of both worlds. LASS just has so much personality, I can't think badly of it even in the face of HS's glorious sound. They're just different somehow.

As for Requiem...it's actually first on my list. I feel like choirs are lagging behind all the other sections in my templates, so it's a more immediate gap to be filled.


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## requiem_aeternam7 (May 12, 2010)

Mathazzar @ Wed May 12 said:


> No worries, I know exactly what you mean! I think the ultimate combo will be having both for the best of both worlds. LASS just has so much personality, I can't think badly of it even in the face of HS's glorious sound. They're just different somehow.
> 
> As for Requiem...it's actually first on my list. I feel like choirs are lagging behind all the other sections in my templates, so it's a more immediate gap to be filled.



Same here. First on my list because it's cheaper AND like you said choirs is what I lack the most


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## Mike Connelly (May 13, 2010)

Nice composition. The short articulations still sound decent, but if you have LASS I can't imagine going back to EWQLSO for sustained strings.

I'd be curious to hear the same piece with LASS.


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## Marius Masalar (May 14, 2010)

Thanks, Mike!

I certainly wouldn't go back to these strings with LASS in my hands, but for the purposes of this exercise it was interesting to go back and see what I could do with them again.

If I get some time I'll do it with LASS as well — would make for a fun comparison!


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## lux (May 15, 2010)

I think this is nice. I liked that middle ostinato part.

I think the performance has very little to do with the lib, so LASS, HS or whatever will not change much here. It has to do with the sequencing and choice of sounds. 

In general the mix is too dry and chamberish. Expecially because it sounds llike youre using a very large violin ensemble which just doesnt fit the space you gave it. 

Also the choice of sounds could be revised a bit, like using smaller violins (the larger the synthier) and applying spiccatos on cellos instead of quick up-down (or maybe layered, with spiccs givin the edge and the quicks more body). Stuff like that. Also the sequencing at times is a bit mechanical.

Actually i know a few guys which still use in an excellent way the Ewqlso strings (JohnG being one of those). So actually pointing immediately you to the next store and spend your money doesnt make much sense to me, except reducing size of your pocket, as you still have chances to improve it with your actual samples.

Anyway, keep tweaking it as its basically cool.

Luca


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## noiseboyuk (May 15, 2010)

Yeah, lots of good there imho.. there's life in the old beast yet! Like everyone says, the shorts sound great.

The swells at the start I guess are the hardest for SO to pull off. Funnily enough the only time producers / colleagues have ever pulled up my strings as sounding fake it's been SO or Omnisphere - if I stick to Symphobia (and a smattering of VSL) I seem to get away with it. Perhaps I convince myself that SO is actually a little better than it really is!


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## Marius Masalar (May 15, 2010)

Thank you so much for your responses, guys! 

Luca, I think you make a great point about my giant violin section.  I tried to do some layering of different sustain types to get the long articulations sounding less static, but I guess I went overboard and didn't compensate accordingly. The short articulations actually ARE spiccatos almost without fail, and I layered the solos over the sections gently to give an extra bit of bite so I guess the problem there is more with the sequencing/mixing.

I actually already have better samples than these, as I said in the original post, this was just an exercise to see what I could do by NOT using them. I suspect that if I was forced to use only these regularly I would learn to pull a better sound out of them like John does — just takes practise and craft.

Noise, yeah those swells were the hardest to get sounding organic...the short articulations are still a fundamental part of my template because they have excellent bite and can lend some extra broadness to something like LASS' crisper ones.

Really useful feedback guys, thank you for taking the time!


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