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String library with heaviest vibrato?

I also love Agitato. It's such a simple workflow you feel like you must've got it wrong somehow. It just works. It also layers beautifully with just about anything. I'm a rock/pop musician, so I use strings as colour and accompaniment. A film composer will have different needs.

I recommend the OP have a good rummage through the entire 8 Dio string family, starting with New Century. The sixties romantic pop sound (Mancini to be exact) is specifically in Agitato, but all the legatos have something of that in them. The sordinos are a bit drier for the Bernard Herrmann style. Not to mention they're all 55% off right now.

I haven't got Vista, but I very much enjoyed hearing everyone's demos when it dropped last year. I played around with the freebie patches and really liked it. It's very similar to Agitato Grandiose Legato. The difference is Vista has more grit. It's noisier, more saturated, and thus a touch more realistic. It's more like working with actual samples from the sixties. Or that was my impression when I first demoed.
 
Just bumping this incase it got lost, curious what agitato/vista users think of this. I think it's relatively close maybe? getting ear fatigue
I think it sounds really good, among the best I've heard of MSS, but if you mean about the vibrato - I don't think you can squeeze enough vibrato out of MSS to get it at the level of Vista, Agitato, Soaring, etc.

And yes Agitato is amazing! It's ridiculous how good Anthology is for the price. Rediscovering the qualities of both every time I use them.
 
I my mind, whenever I think of Soaring Strings by Musical Sampling, I call them "the Parkinson Orchestra." Yes, there's something like too much vibrato!
No. There is not. Soaring strings are only available lib with a vibrato needed for the lush sound
 
I think it sounds really good, among the best I've heard of MSS, but if you mean about the vibrato - I don't think you can squeeze enough vibrato out of MSS to get it at the level of Vista, Agitato, Soaring, etc.

And yes Agitato is amazing! It's ridiculous how good Anthology is for the price. Rediscovering the qualities of both every time I use them.
Got you, thanks! Curious, what do you think is better for that older sweeping romantic style. Agitato or Vista?
 
I got the Tara's Theme playing on YouTube performed by The City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra and the original movie version which has much heavier slurring. I tried playing the theme with Agitato, the old 8dio Adagios and Anthology, BBCSO, Jeager, the Vista demo and Afflatus.

The Afflatus Scene D'amore patch, with both first and second violin sections played together, matched the legato, slurring and vibrato style of the Prague orchestra almost exactly, but there's more bow noise. That noise can be lessoned with EQ. I believe the intent with Afflatus is to match the old romantic movie style. It does that very well and there's many different legato options to choose from including one that has 5 round robins on the legato transitions.

Agitato has good control over legato, including controllable transitions, portamento speed and bow attack. It matches the movie version more closely than Afflatus does with its heavy slurring and portamento options.

Anthology is similar to Agitato, but lacks strong bow attack. The old Adagios actually have a patch called "Heavy Vibrato". I like the old Adagios because they have legato with natural swells and bow decay where you can switch between different types and lengths.

The Vista demo is great and can get aggressive. It has a good tone and great bow attack. Sadly I'm finding wrong notes playing on some of the transitions. I'm probably going to buy it anyway because it's on sale and it sounds super emotional!

BBCSO's baked in reverb does not sound like the space Tara's Theme was recorded in either in the movie or the Prague orchestra. The legato sounds like it has only one dynamic that you control the volume of. Perhaps with the pro version (I have core) you can setup your mics for less room sound. The portamento is too disconnected somehow and the speed is not controllable. It is a wonderful sounding string section! It's just, to my ears, it just doesn't match the YouTube performances I've seen for Tara's Theme.

Jaeger has little to no slurring in the legato and you only get one big violin section.

I see that Berlin Strings has three vibrato options: No vibrato, romantic and strong. I don't have it, but the demos sound great.
 
I also love Agitato. It's such a simple workflow you feel like you must've got it wrong somehow. It just works. It also layers beautifully with just about anything. I'm a rock/pop musician, so I use strings as colour and accompaniment. A film composer will have different needs.

I recommend the OP have a good rummage through the entire 8 Dio string family, starting with New Century. The sixties romantic pop sound (Mancini to be exact) is specifically in Agitato, but all the legatos have something of that in them. The sordinos are a bit drier for the Bernard Herrmann style. Not to mention they're all 55% off right now.

I haven't got Vista, but I very much enjoyed hearing everyone's demos when it dropped last year. I played around with the freebie patches and really liked it. It's very similar to Agitato Grandiose Legato. The difference is Vista has more grit. It's noisier, more saturated, and thus a touch more realistic. It's more like working with actual samples from the sixties. Or that was my impression when I first demoed.
Vista has a vintage crunch to it. I'll probably mostly be blending it rather than using it exposed
 
View attachment Romantic Strings.mp3
What do you guys think of this? My best attempt at mixing solo and ensemble MSS strings
The vibrato is stronger than i expected to hear! The writing itself is doing some of the heavy lifting as far as getting that old school vibe but the result is pretty good imo. If it were me I'd still probably layer in Vista or CSS but MSS is holding its own pretty well
 
The vibrato is stronger than i expected to hear! The writing itself is doing some of the heavy lifting as far as getting that old school vibe but the result is pretty good imo. If it were me I'd still probably layer in Vista or CSS but MSS is holding its own pretty well
Thanks man, yeah I opened a few instances of MSS for this. Violins ensemble/solo violins/expanded legato violins doing one line, mixed with violas and solo violas doing one, and solo Celli, Celli ensemble, and expanded legato Celli doing the low line.
3 midi tracks but 8 patches!

Here is the finished piece layered with a lot of other shit haha!

 
I'd go with a combination of Synchron Pro and Synchron Elite. Don't forget that you need to control the vibrato, too, and musically bring it in and out. The VSL VIs have a great preset/keyswitch for that. I use a Monogram three fader controller, and have the third slider dedicated to vibrato.
 
If you want Heavy Vibrato with no control. Get umm.... the Intimate Studio Strings from 8Dio.
Heavy Vibrato. Indeed in a good way......may be a little too much. Vibrato.

 
Vista and, let me slightly bend the rules here, layered solo libraries. Solos of the Sea, CSSS, etc made into ensembles of 3 or so using the transposition trick can get you some real heavy vibrato.
So I’ve got Vista and am loving it. Combing with MSS. Considering getting one of the solos of the sea too. Most likely B but perhaps A, do u have them and prefer one?

Btw what is the transposition trick?

Thanks!
 
So I’ve got Vista and am loving it. Combing with MSS. Considering getting one of the solos of the sea too. Most likely B but perhaps A, do u have them and prefer one?

Btw what is the transposition trick?

Thanks!
The transposition trick is tuning an instrument up or down in Kontakt or whatever sampler you use (I think down 2 semitones is common) and then compensating by transposing the whole track in the opposite direction with MIDI. So in Logic, for instance, changing the transposition value in the track inspector to +2.

This is a tough call, but for this application I'd say SOTS B is a bit better. Violin A is bow change legato and it probably won't blend in as nicely as the super smooth Violin B. B is very intense though!
 
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