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What strings lib for mocking up this piece?

Thanks! CSSS+CSS is one of my favorite combo. And I've never heard of United Strings before :-o I thought I had them all!
 
Akarin said:
Really? To me it sounds much bigger than SCS. Maybe with the transposing trick to make it larger?
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I think SCS in unison (mostly), will produce similar results, especially if you used the ambient mics. You can also combine the ensemble patch under to add more strings.

I would also try VSl Dimension Strings...
 
It sounds lush but I would go with a chamber sized library with a nice reverb for the detailed sound. I think the first demo here sounds pretty close, maybe needs a bit more reverb though: (broken link removed)
 
Hard. CSS with possibly CSSS makes most things work, but it's not airy enough for this piece. SCS, even with RR doubling would be too thin. I'd definitely first reach for HS to try this out, with a nice lush reverb, prob som hall from Spaces. Otherwise, without owning it, I'd think this would be something for LASS.
 
Sovereign said:
It is certainly not a chamber orchestra, it's way bigger. I would probably use CSS to get this sound.
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I think there is some mixing magic involved. In the beginning the string sound is more intimate and more close miked, but when the climax comes it definitely sounds bigger. But in the sample world it's not only about the amount of players that makes the sound, I would start with a smaller, more intimate ensemble and would layer in another library with a darker tone in the climax. Combination of Light and Sound Chamber Strings and CSS would be pretty good for that. LASS would be perfect for this as well.
 
The USoE violin 1s sound nice but are possibly a bit too thin for this kind of sound. And as someone already wrote; it would have a lot to do with mixing (choice of mic positions, possibly reverb etc).

If you want exactly that sound with one library, I'd start with trying out the most flexible ones. Spitfire Symphonic Strings sound quite large, and you can also layer normal legatos with con sordinos (a well known trick)... SSS actually has a special combo articulation with these two recorded together also. Plus, for the bigness and lushness, SSS also has it's Rachmaninioff artic (would be too intense with maximum dynamics, but could serve as a layer moderately used).

Both SSS and SCS have many long note articulations that can be combined into epic sounding results, if you adjust the levels between them a little. It could easily end up sounding larger and less detailed that you'd want it to.

Even SCS alone (normale, con sord, flautando and sul tasto combined) can sound quite large, even if there are only 4 V1s in each section. Berlin Strings (normale and sul tastos combined, if you want) and the 'lush' presets in Afflatus could also be very useful. Afflatus also come with various section sizes that can be used together, but Afflatus doesn't have dedicated vibrato control - vibrato follows dynamics. Some of these libraries sound 'too soaring' at full vib levels, but that's not a problem with Afflatus.

Akarin said:
thought I had them all!
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In that case: why not start out with combining violin 1s with violin 2s, and/or add the queen of the string instruments; the violas on top of the violins... and so on. If you use the trick with combining articulations that I mentioned for SCS with layering V1s V2s, you would get 28 players, and with violas on top you would get even more.

Lots of possibilities if you have any of the flexible libraries already. Just remember that with too many layers, it can sound layer-y, and also that all these details which make string instruments sound like string instruments (and not like expensive synth) sometimes disappear if there are too many of them.

And btw, it would probably be easier to achieve a believable version of the lush, large sound in the end than an as believable version of the more intimate sounding strings earlier in the piece, so make sure you have something which handles the most difficult part well.
 
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I love Abel Korzeniowski ! His work on the Penny Dreadful series was sublime.

To me it's a larger ensemble and not dark sounding so I would consider SF SSS.
 
I think that all the Spitfire libraries that are recorded at Air are totally too wet and different sounding for this example. I agree with @Fleer that Hollywood Strings could work as well.
 
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