What's new

Audio Modeling SWAM Flutes

porrasm

Active Member
https://audiomodeling.com/solo-woodwinds/swam-flutes/

Just got a seaboard block for a bargain and was thinking of getting this. I guess I'm looking for opinions and/or alternative VIs that are Seaboard compatible. Right now SWAM Flutes seems like the best choice for me (50% student discount + I like the sound).

So, does someone have SWAM Flutes? How much 'magic' do I have to do to make them sound like in the demos? Should I go for something else?
 
I haven't had much experience since I bought them (nothing to do with them, just very little time to write music). I always draw my stuff in, but I found them versatile. In fact, I can't imagine doing it any other way, since you can always tweak the sound.

You can get a decent sound with a little massaging, but you can also end up stuck in an infinite loop where you tweak one thing, and then another, and so on and so forth.

Overall, pretty damn good. As long as you like the tone. When I put them side by side with in-the-room libraries, they don't sound as real to me (and I'm shit with mixing etc), but if you're writing solo stuff, then the performance will more than make up for it. At 50% discount, worth a pop!
 
Definitely recommend Audio Modeling (and previously Sample Modeling) instruments - by far the most expressive I've experienced, and no need for different articulations via keyswitching or separate tracks - it just plays how you play it, like a real instrument does. I have the cello, violin, saxophones, trumpets, tuba, and all are excellent, and I'm getting the flute this week once the price reduces on the 23rd. So, I can't make a personal recommendation for the flute based on experience, but based on my experience with their other instruments, I'm buying it, which is the best recommendation I can give.

But @I like music - it's reduced by 20% for Black Friday, not 50%, no?
 
I have got them and love them - even IMO the best Winds they have to offer are the Saxophones and the Clarinets, but that may be a personal preference. The flutes work very well for all kinds of genres. I purchased them mainly for stuff like jazz and latin - things you just cant do with "normal" flute libraries. But they also work great for classical pieces.

I dont have a Seaboard but use the TEControl Breathcontroler USB. Wiiting a piece with the AudioModeling Winds or the Samplemodeling Brass works very well out of the box. I always only adjust the MW curves a little bit and the Breath Midi and Expression CC to get the details perfect. Writing a track with these instruments works very well, intuitive and ultra quick and effective. All I would do is to invest some time to find out how to get the reverb well. There is a great video from Blakus where he explained (years ago) how to treat the reverb to make the Instruments sit well in the mix. It really isnt that hard. But I also would recommend dealing with that.

Long story short: The winds and brass by audiomodeling / samplemodeling are great and I also layer them over my standard orchestral libraries to get more definition and details for my sections. IMO very valuable tools.
 
But @I like music - it's reduced by 20% for Black Friday, not 50%, no?

He was talking about my price, which is 50% because of the student discount.
I have got them and love them - even IMO the best Winds they have to offer are the Saxophones and the Clarinets, but that may be a personal preference. The flutes work very well for all kinds of genres. I purchased them mainly for stuff like jazz and latin - things you just cant do with "normal" flute libraries. But they also work great for classical pieces.

I dont have a Seaboard but use the TEControl Breathcontroler USB. Wiiting a piece with the AudioModeling Winds or the Samplemodeling Brass works very well out of the box. I always only adjust the MW curves a little bit and the Breath Midi and Expression CC to get the details perfect. Writing a track with these instruments works very well, intuitive and ultra quick and effective. All I would do is to invest some time to find out how to get the reverb well. There is a great video from Blakus where he explained (years ago) how to treat the reverb to make the Instruments sit well in the mix. It really isnt that hard. But I also would recommend dealing with that.

Long story short: The winds and brass by audiomodeling / samplemodeling are great and I also layer them over my standard orchestral libraries to get more definition and details for my sections. IMO very valuable tools.
Thanks! I think I will get the flutes.
 
A lot of people seem to like them, but to me they still sound like a half-flute half-clarinet hybrid. Modeling seems great for brass instruments, but I don't think the technology is there for the rest of the orchestra.
 
Very much interested in these products too and possibly getting a leap motion controller to go with them. Anyone have experience with them both? And what are your thoughts on the LMC?
 
I have all of Audio Modeling's products. The upside is the fluidity of the performance, which simply can't be matched with sample libraries, but their instruments are not at the very top of my list as far as tone is concerned due to a close-miked-sounding "heaviness". The instruments work best for exposed solos (where you'd probably want to use a modeled instrument anyway) but for placement in ensembles, you may find yourself using more than one instance of EQ to shape a more natural sound. On my last album, I used the SWAM clarinet and tenor sax extensively, as well as some solo strings, but I used my Chris Hein pro libraries for solo flute and woodwind ensembles.

If you've never used a SWAM instrument before, you're in for a treat. Their saxophones have left all my sax sample libraries in the dust. When Audio Modeling comes out with their SWAM brass next year, it's a guaranteed purchase for me because I need the SWAM engine for my productions.

I might change my mind bebecau the Black Friday sale stasta with the student discount so the Solo Strings bundle is like 20€ more than the flutes for me. Which do you think would be more value for money?
 
Definitely recommend Audio Modeling (and previously Sample Modeling) instruments - by far the most expressive I've experienced, and no need for different articulations via keyswitching or separate tracks - it just plays how you play it, like a real instrument does. I have the cello, violin, saxophones, trumpets, tuba, and all are excellent, and I'm getting the flute this week once the price reduces on the 23rd. So, I can't make a personal recommendation for the flute based on experience, but based on my experience with their other instruments, I'm buying it, which is the best recommendation I can give.

But @I like music - it's reduced by 20% for Black Friday, not 50%, no?

Goto patchmanmusic dot com and receive an additional 10% on top of audiomodelings discount 11/23 - 11/26
 
Just spent a great morning having bought the AudioModelling Flute. This thing is amazing! Not only the usual expressiveness that SWAM instruments are known for, but comes with 4 different flutes (bass, flute, alto, piccolo), as well as blends between 4 different styles (classical, jazz, funk, ethnic). Using this in conjunction with the TEC breath controller and a nanokontrol2, I have real-time access to expression, vibrato depth, vibrato rate, portamento time, flutter tongue, growl, overblow and falls; in addition, there are multiple other parameters I could add or change to affect the performance. Incredibly fun to play, and can achieve any sound I would want out of a flute. Amazing - can't recommend it highly enough (zero affiliation with the company by the way - chance would be a fine thing!!). Now, I'm off to learn these:


 
Just bought all the woodwinds after falling in love with the SWAM strings. I'm happy with everything, especially the reeds! - except for the flute =/. It sounds a bit too much like a sine wave at times, especially playing legato in the mid register.

Anyone here have any tips for this? Playing around with the settings has helped a bit, but makes other bits sound weird instead!
 
Just bought all the woodwinds after falling in love with the SWAM strings. I'm happy with everything, especially the reeds! - except for the flute =/. It sounds a bit too much like a sine wave at times, especially playing legato in the mid register.

Anyone here have any tips for this? Playing around with the settings has helped a bit, but makes other bits sound weird instead!

I had exactly the same thing happen. In fact, my main library right now, Infinite Woodwinds, which is excellent, has the flute as its main 'weakness' and it is to some extent, the same effect.

I'm assuming you threw in some vibrato (both depth and frequency) and varied this up quite a bit? That tends to help, but the base sound for me, is exactly as you described.
 
I had exactly the same thing happen. In fact, my main library right now, Infinite Woodwinds, which is excellent, has the flute as its main 'weakness' and it is to some extent, the same effect.

I'm assuming you threw in some vibrato (both depth and frequency) and varied this up quite a bit? That tends to help, but the base sound for me, is exactly as you described.
Yeah vibrato helps a bit, as is avoiding legato in that register, but that kind of working around the limitations of the instrument isn't something that's needed in the other SWAM instruments.

Listening to Infinite Woodwinds (didn't know that yet!) and in the Dance Of The Reed Flutes demo I hear exactly the same thing in the lower register. The flutes only really start to sound like flutes in the upper register.

Would be interesting to know what's difficult about modeling that specific territory...
 
Yeah vibrato helps a bit, as is avoiding legato in that register, but that kind of working around the limitations of the instrument isn't something that's needed in the other SWAM instruments.

Listening to Infinite Woodwinds (didn't know that yet!) and in the Dance Of The Reed Flutes demo I hear exactly the same thing in the lower register. The flutes only really start to sound like flutes in the upper register.

Would be interesting to know what's difficult about modeling that specific territory...

I don't know anything about acoustics, or the instruments in question (in the real world) nor their modeling, but I suspect with flutes it may have to do with the breath aspect? I wonder if this gets stripped somehow in the process? Perhaps flutes have something very specific in their overtones which is hard to capture?
 
There is a noticeable difference between lower and higher range which will be affected by your settings on the main page for instrument, style (Classical, Jazz, Funk, Ethnic) and obviously breath setting as well as start time. I have a Tec MIDI Breath Controller but I hate the way it feels so I just assign cc's on the mapping page to my Nektar P1 controller, play the parts in and do a 2nd pass for articulations and all cc's. I still prefer the Audio Modeling Woodwinds for solo woodwinds over any sample library. Just picked up the Double Reeds and Flutes yesterday. Audio Modeling needs to do a thorough walkthrough of all 4 woodwind libraries so people can really get a sense of what the end product sounds like naked and what control settings achieve that. The entire Woodwinds bundle is pretty awesome though.
 
Just spent a great morning having bought the AudioModelling Flute. This thing is amazing! Not only the usual expressiveness that SWAM instruments are known for, but comes with 4 different flutes (bass, flute, alto, piccolo), as well as blends between 4 different styles (classical, jazz, funk, ethnic). Using this in conjunction with the TEC breath controller and a nanokontrol2, I have real-time access to expression, vibrato depth, vibrato rate, portamento time, flutter tongue, growl, overblow and falls; in addition, there are multiple other parameters I could add or change to affect the performance. Incredibly fun to play, and can achieve any sound I would want out of a flute. Amazing - can't recommend it highly enough (zero affiliation with the company by the way - chance would be a fine thing!!). Now, I'm off to learn these:



Do you know the name of the breath midi controller or good brands?
 
A lot of people seem to like them, but to me they still sound like a half-flute half-clarinet hybrid.

I agree. That's exactly what kept me away from buying the SWAM Flute. It's just missing the timbre, of a modern orchestral flute. Actually I was watching a video of the SWAM Flute being played by a Wind Controller, and I was thinking ... Did they miss label the video, because it sounds more like a clarinet :laugh:
 
I agree. That's exactly what kept me away from buying the SWAM Flute. It's just missing the timbre, of a modern orchestral flute. Actually I was watching a video of the SWAM Flute being played by a Wind Controller, and I was thinking ... Did they miss label the video, because it sounds more like a clarinet :laugh:

I was considering Berlin WW because of the sale, but I don't know if my cpu can handle it. 2016 MacBook Pro i7 quad core 2.7GHz 16gb ram. I read somewhere that someone with 8gb ram was able to run Berlin WW, but probably a lot of freezing or bounces everywhere. VSL would also be pretty cpu heavy I imagine.

Other option is to combine solo Embertone with fluffy audio. When you combine total of 4 to 5 instruments from the two it adds up close to what infinite ww would cost which I am also considering. I also looked at Sofia's, but they sound synth like to me; there's also Auddict for around the same price as infinite WW but they haven't established a track record. SWAM stuff is not cheap, but it looked kind of fun to play? The SWAM strings sound a bit fake.
 
Top Bottom