What's new

Orchestral Tools Completion Days -30%

Am I crazy, or did OT just skip making a Berlin Strings Expansion C?
Screen Shot 2019-06-22 at 11.25.04 AM.png


I'm looking into buying BWW Exp B (Soloists I). My thoughts, based on what I've seen and heard: Oboe and English Horn sound great. I think this was their primary focus and they got a world class player for those. Flute sounds okay. Clarinet sounds slightly sub-par, maybe this one got neglected a bit. Alto flute sounds bad enough I probably wouldn't use it (mostly because of the excess vibrato, which doesn't sound right in the legato transitions).

Given the new à la carte system that OT is planning to roll out by the end of 2019, it might be a smart move to wait and buy just the Oboe and English horn. Not sure what the prices on individual instruments will look like or if there will be some kind of mark up.

This library was released in 2013 and programming might be a bit dated and lumpy, though I admit I have a hard time assessing this. First, Orchestral Tools isn't doing a great job of demonstrating with a live playthrough, and the documentation lacks important info. Second, there has been one or more updates in which scripting/legato smoothing issues may or may not have been improved. Third, the two live play-throughs done by our fellow VIC members rely partially on playing with the multi-articulation patches. While I'm not 100% sure of this, it seems that the multis in these walkthroughs are only playing the decrescendos, while the single articulation patches will switch between the cresc/decresc according to velocity. It's important to understand the concept behind these solo winds is that there's one single dynamic layer, but to make it expressive all of the longs are either crescendos or decrescendos. Longs do not stay at one flat dynamic.

The reason that it's important is that the cresc/decresc affects the attack and could cause the lumpiness in the transitions. If I had a solo woodwind line and was trying to smooth out the lumps in a performance, I'd want to be able to tweak the cresc/decresc along with being able to make tweaks to the automatically chosen legato speeds (expressive/agile).

Still, at its best I think it is the top choice for a natural sounding solo performance. There are newer solo libraries from other companies that are more flexible and dependable, but they sound less natural to my ear. For solo oboe and english horn, I think these are the best out there.

Excellent.

Thank you.
 
https://orchestraltools.com/berlin_series/libraries/berlin_symphonic_harps.php (<script class="js-extraPhrases" type="application/json"> { "lightbox_close": "Close", "lightbox_next": "Next", "lightbox_previous": "Previous", "lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.", "lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow", "lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow", "lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen", "lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails", "lightbox_download": "Download", "lightbox_share": "Share", "lightbox_zoom": "Zoom", "lightbox_new_window": "New window", "lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar" } </script> <div class="bbImageWrapper js-lbImage" title="9ushklx7.jpg" data-src="https://s17.directupload.net/images/190624/9ushklx7.jpg" data-lb-sidebar-href="" data-lb-caption-extra-html="" data-single-image="1"> <img src="https://s17.directupload.net/images/190624/9ushklx7.jpg" data-url="https://s17.directupload.net/images/190624/9ushklx7.jpg" class="bbImage" data-zoom-target="1" style="" alt="9ushklx7.jpg" title="" width="" height="" /> </div>)
 
the absolute best harp in town - if you are on the market for a harp, this will not disappoint.

edit: boom - tree only tone flexing

[AUDIOPLUS=https://vi-control.net/community/attachments/harp-mp3.20821/][/AUDIOPLUS]
 

Attachments

  • harp.mp3
    339.4 KB · Views: 102
Last edited:
the absolute best harp in town - if you are on the market for a harp, this will not disappoint.

edit: boom - tree only tone flexing

[AUDIOPLUS=https://vi-control.net/community/attachments/harp-mp3.20821/][/AUDIOPLUS]


i don't have a full harp.

notes from the field:

Berlin First Chairs slams Cubase (i'm new to Cubase, so there may be something i'm missing).

to Presonus' credit with Studio One Pro 4.5 - they really did a great job with CPU management.

Berlin First Chairs barely registers on the meter in S1 Pro 4.5.

Gorgeous library!

so,

Harp.
 
i don't have a full harp.

notes from the field:

Berlin First Chairs slams Cubase (i'm new to Cubase, so there may be something i'm missing).

to Presonus' credit with Studio One Pro 4.5 - they really did a great job with CPU management.

Berlin First Chairs barely registers on the meter in S1 Pro 4.5.

Gorgeous library!

so,

Harp.

slams Cubase how? CPU? ram? disk?

I have no hitches here :)
 
I have the Spitfire Harp and have been satisfied with it, but someone please talk me into OT as long as it's on sale. :) Other than matching most of my other Teldex libraries, what am I missing?
 
I have the Spitfire Harp and have been satisfied with it, but someone please talk me into OT as long as it's on sale. :) Other than matching most of my other Teldex libraries, what am I missing?

its simply this - literally every string/pedal position was sampled. for instance - a G# and an Ab are two different strings. You can actually play bisbiglissando. you get 6 freakin mics as well and more sample layers.
 
slams Cubase how? CPU? ram? disk?

I have no hitches here :)

i'm not at my studio at the moment.

but with my Babyface Pro at 1024 buffer, playing the First Chairs i get the dreaded clicks and pops.

checking the "audio monitor" - i think that's what it is... it goes into the red as i play.

with the same buffer setting in S1 Pro 4.5, nary a blip.

time to break out VEP 7.

my sig has my hardware specs.

again, i am VERY new to Cubase Pro - so pardon if i am missing something obvious.

now,

Harp ...
 
i'm not at my studio at the moment.

but with my Babyface Pro at 1024 buffer, playing the First Chairs i get the dreaded clicks and pops.

checking the "audio monitor" - i think that's what it is... it goes into the red as i play.

with the same buffer setting in S1 Pro 4.5, nary a blip.

time to break out VEP 7.

my sig has my hardware specs.

again, i am VERY new to Cubase Pro - so pardon if i am missing something obvious.

now,

Harp ...

I guess make sure you're batch saving? I have no problem at a much lower buffer, windows 10 ect. I'm using Cubase 10 pro - if that helps. Maybe it's the hard drive you're trying to run it off of?
 
I guess make sure you're batch saving? I have no problem at a much lower buffer, windows 10 ect. I'm using Cubase 10 pro - if that helps. Maybe it's the hard drive you're trying to run it off of?


did the batch save.

i'm running off a Samsung 860 EVO - 2tb m.2 stick directly into my motherboard.

signature below:

Intel i7-7820x, 128gb RAM, 6tb (3x 2tb) m.2, GTX 1080ti Win 10 Pro
RME Babyface Pro - Studiologic SL88 Studio
 
the absolute best harp in town - if you are on the market for a harp, this will not disappoint.

edit: boom - tree only tone flexing

[AUDIOPLUS=https://vi-control.net/community/attachments/harp-mp3.20821/][/AUDIOPLUS]

Best is subjective. But pretty good sounding yes.
 
Top Bottom