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Cinematic Studio Strings

Pulled the trigger. The quality of the samples stand out to me. I'll be using CSS along with Albion I + Solo Series, Metropolis Ark, and NI's Symphonic Series String Ensemble for my string needs. I wasn't actually planning on this library but the samples, a/b comparisons, and interface sold me.

As for the dark tone comments I'd say that some of the other brighter libraries have had a little hardware magic introduced into the signal at least to my ear. Obviously nice harmonic signal but to me CSS sounds very organic... I can easily add those harmonics back in if I want via stuff like Waves NSL / Ozone's Exciter / State Digital Virtual Consoles. I feel like I'll have plenty of control over tone in the mix.
 
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Regarding the tone -
I think there was a demo some pages earlier, where someone tweaked the EQ a little bit in the Highs, and it definitely got nicely brighter, so it seems "it´s in there"…
Unfortunately I do not have the time to lurk back - hey, it´s 26 pages until now!?!
 
HardyP said:
Regarding the tone -
I think there was a demo some pages earlier, where someone tweaked the EQ a little bit in the Highs, and it definitely got nicely brighter, so it seems "it´s in there"…
Unfortunately I do not have the time to lurk back - hey, it´s 26 pages until now!?!
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At 12 KHz you can add a bit highs. I remember I posted that.
 
That 12k boost worked very well in Alexander's example. I'm not sure it would work equally well in the soft dynamic layers found in Anthony's lovely piece. I could be wrong, though.
 
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In my experience, the cc control approach is about as easy as it gets. It took me a number of hours to sort out the interaction of velocity and expression with the articulations, but very soon I was zooming along. I keep the cc58-to-articulations map pinned up alongside my monitor. Developing a decent mechanic with your DAW controls is part of the curve (in my case, I dispensed with cc envelopes and went back to piano roll view cc entry). Chase back is wonderful but there is one catch: the toggles do not get any relief from chase-back (sordino on/off, and legato on/off), so you still need to keep track of that.
 
Malo said:
That 12k boost worked very well in Alexander's example. I'm not sure it would work equally well in the soft dynamic layers found in Anthony's lovely piece. I could be wrong, though.
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Yes, I mean..it is not mandatory, I love the strings anyways. I used that boost for the strings in that practise track as well. Also I tested how the strings behave in different speeds and situations. While the first part is more uplifiting legato lyrical, the second section is fast aggressive, and the third one is more melodic but quite, later loud.

 
AlexanderSchiborr said:
Yes, I mean..it is not mandatory, I love the strings anyways. I used that boost for the strings in that practise track as well. Also I tested how the strings behave in different speeds and situations. While the first part is more uplifiting legato lyrical, the second section is fast aggressive, and the third one is more melodic but quite, later loud.

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This one is great! Curious maybe it has been discussed but what winds and brass did you go with?
 
passsacaglia said:
This one is great! Curious maybe it has been discussed but what winds and brass did you go with?
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No, it wasn´t discussed though, maybe I post later a version in members compositions. I used for brass a mix of Hollywood Brass (French Horns, Trumpets, Trombones, Tuba), MA 1(Tubas), Strezov Sampling (French Horns), Winds are a mix of VSL Special Edition (Flute 1, Piccolo), HOW (Oboe, Clarinet, Bassoon), Strezov Sampling (Flutes). Strings are CSS only though
 
NoamL said:
Not to derail the thread but I find that LASS is extremely usable after the Day 1 setup hassle.
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It seems that CSS (along with some others) are representing a new generation of libraries, and as a person who almost chose LASS at some point, I must admit that I still don't understand that whatever all LASS users need to do before they can get started using it isn't a process that the company behind LASS did for them before shipping the product. As you say, there are aspects of the lib that are a pain to work with (is this true even after the first day?), and user-friendliness has come a long way since LASS was released more than five years ago.

In the future, all good libs will probably have polyphonic legato, auto-arranger/auto-divisi, rebowing, true con sordinos and adaptive legato. Meanwhile, we need to combine the best from the best libraries, and at least in terms of what I've heard so far, CSS is up there with the really good ones, even if it may not have an as rich set of articulations as eg. the best Spitfire products.
 
Anyone here owning both LASS and CSS?

IMHO, LASS with its smooth legato transitions (handling very well slowest glissando to fastest runs) is by far closer to the real thing than any kontakt library till date.

So I'm really tempted to buy CSS if it's similar to LASS in this aspect.

So any advice here?

Note:from the demos, CSS' fast runs didn't sound convincing to me or at least as good as LASS'. But maybe I'm wrong
 
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NoamL said:
The expressiveness of the legato is easily on a par with LASS. I remember seeing @Blakus's string comparison video years ago and thinking "Yep LASS wins" (especially when HWS and BST struggled quite a bit with the fast First Vlns turn towards the end); CSS is as good as LASS here..
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I'm really about to buy CSS just for this.

But does it really match to LASS's leg/port/gliss?

I've listened carefully to almost every CSS demo so far to compare its legato with LASS and my conclusion is:
-standard legato: draw
-portamento: draw (CSS sounds a bit more authentic/natural to my ears though)
-glissando: LASS wins (not even available in CSS i think)
-fast legato: LASS wins (CSS unfortunately didn't sound convincing to me from the demos and the notes didn't even sound connected... but maybe the demo wasn't fair)

You are probably in better position to validate my above conclusion since you've actually played with both libraries.
 
Batrawi said:
I'm really about to buy CSS just for this.

But does it really match to LASS's leg/port/gliss?

I've listened carefully to almost every CSS demo so far to compare its legato with LASS and my conclusion is:
-standard legato: draw
-portamento: draw (CSS sounds a bit more authentic/natural to my ears though)
-glissando: LASS wins (not even available in CSS i think)
-fast legato: LASS wins (CSS unfortunately didn't sound convincing to me from the demos and the notes didn't even sound connected... but maybe the demo wasn't fair)

You are probably in better position to validate my above conclusion since you've actually played with both libraries.
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So if we have LASS, should we still buy CSS or not?
 
Been following this thread for the past couple of days. Some really good examples and demos so far!
Speaking of LASS vs CSS. Which library can better handle such melodies (check example clip)?
Can someone do such a melody with CSS and post results here? Doesn't have to be this specific line. Anything William-esque or going back and forth around a note at a similar tempo will do.
In the example V1 + V2 are playing in octaves.
 
I don't know exactly how they did it, but LASS legato is hands down more agile than any other, and I say this as an owner of CS2, HWS, Soaring Strings, LASS full and a few others. Berlin sounds very good to me, but the legato, although one of the best, doesn't sound as agile to me in the demos.
 
Some solid writing around here.... bravo!....overall, best VIC thread.... ever!

CSS: Today, it is increasingly difficult to come out with a new strings-lib. that offers something in a compelling manner, unique, and on top plays well with the others, CSS does!
 
zeng said:
So if we have LASS, should we still buy CSS or not?
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Zeng..I think if you're purely looking for legato performance, then look no further if you have LASS already.

The only things -I presume- that you will get out of CSS better than LASS are:

-Ease of use
-More unique dark/Hollywood-ish tone (Unless you can EQ LASS to sound similar..which is possible)
-more articulations
-smaller section (LASS divisi/small sections cannot be used/exposed individually cause they really sound out of tune IMO)
 
Another first work with Cinematic Studio Strings, which uses the legato rebow quite a lot:

https://app.box.com/s/mrqig9nelfv8hlh0q2d2q180arufjmmz

For comments about the track/mockup/mix:
https://vi-control.net/community/threads/la-sera-sper-il-lag-cinematic-studio-strings.54504/

CSS is very fast and easy to work with, and the sections blend very naturally out of the box. I am very happy with the purchase and definitely will use these strings regularly. One slight niggle is with the dynamic range that is rather small. Is there a way to increase the dynamic range without negatively affecting sound quality?
 
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