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Cinematic Studio Strings

fgimian said:
Here's my initial review after playing with the library for a good hour:

Pros:
  • Gorgeous, full tone. Very expressive.
  • Can be very aggressive where required, the shorts really have bite and can hit hard.
  • Con sordino emulation imho is actually really good! I was expecting way worse but it is pretty convincing and gives you the advantage of having sordino legato which similarly priced libraries don't offer.
  • Some of the best legatos I have ever heard in a string library, WOW!!!
  • Excellent set of articulations, nothing is really missing here
  • Stunning harmonics, some of the nicest I've heard
Cons
  • Some knobs on the UI are missing (vibrato crossfade, portamento volume .etc), the only way to adjust these is to assign them to a CC and then use that
  • The transition from non-vibrato to vibrato isn't so subtle and there are no legato transitions on non-vibrato it seems
  • I am finding that the modulation wheel at very low volumes is hard to control and jumpy, it goes from silent to present without transition and then similarly to the next volume level after which it settles, anyone else notice this?
  • Some instruments (e.g. Lite Ensemble) load up with the mod wheel set to 0. I initially had no idea why I couldn't hear any sound. This behaviour is inconsistent throughout the instruments too.
  • I believe I'm noticing a strange problem when vibrato is turned all the way down, lost notes? I need to investigate further.
  • The default release value (when legato is turned off) is a bit too long. I think it should be around 83.
I think that with a few more tweaks to the UI and a few more bug fixes, this library could really be one of THE standards for our community, and at its price point, it makes really great quality strings affordable to more people.

More to follow :)

Cheers
Fotis
Click to expand...

I don't believe any of these have been sorted out...?
 
Little late of a question, but I've been searching throughout this topic and didn't find any mention of this problem. How do you manage to mix articulations individually (for example, set short notes a bit lower than longs)?
 
ghandizilla said:
Little late of a question, but I've been searching throughout this topic and didn't find any mention of this problem. How do you manage to mix articulations individually (for example, set short notes a bit lower than longs)?
Click to expand...
Like you do in any other library I guess. Either load each articulation separately and adjust the volume as you see fit, or use CC11 to alter the volume in a single instrument instance.
 
This is what I feared. Wanted to avoid the "load each articulation separately" thing (you can avoid it with Spitfire GUI for example). Thanks for you answer anyway :)
 
You know you can use Kontakt snapshot to save your own articulations separately?....
hope that makes sense.
rsp
 
@ghandizilla

It is possible to adjust a combination of velocity, CC1 and CC 11 on a note by note basis.
Having worked with CSS and just recently CSSS (solo) which is amazing, I've found that it is possible to get the realism and expression I'm after but it involves one hell of a lot of tweaking!

With both this libs, you can't just play. But the end result, though it takes a while, is excellent IMO.
 
I thought snapshots were intended to save a general configuration/tweaking of the library, isn't it? I might be wrong. The mic faders are the same for all articulations, I can't change one way for spics, one other way for trems. And I do have the experience of massaging CC11 to get it right, so I was wondering if I could spare some time by setting it upfront.
 
I've had a few hundred dollars sitting in my paypal account, reserved for when CSB and CSW are released. One of the rare occasions I actually can't wait to empty it out.
 
You'd of thought there'd have already been 1 or 2 expansions on the full strings with additional bowing technics.
 
NathanTiemeyer said:
Anyone else feel like this on an almost daily basis?:grin:

Click to expand...

Exactly! And every day that passes my finger reaches a little further to the right.

I haven't even bought the Strings yet! With the inclusion of solo strings they are about $1,000 Australian dollars, so perhaps not quite the bargain they appeared at first glance. I'm waiting to hear winds and brass and then I'll dive in boots and all.

Unless ... tick tock.
 
For legato runs try the Marcato patches with the spiccato overlay turned off (keyswitch F#0 pressed lightly). They can play very fast scalar runs quite well.

The sordinos are good, not real but one of the more convincing emulations out there.
 
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