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The Robber SSS (Spitfire Symphonic Strings)

Ha!So many robbers out there, we should call the police.
VSL dimension string version sounds much better that VSL special edition (funny enough that I play in both of them because I was part of the cello section sampling sessions).
Spitfire Chamber Strings sounds very very good to me.Like a real chamber orchestra, very good!
 
Scamper said:
Thanks, I tried to put some effort into it. So, here's the version with Spitfire Chamber Strings.



Comparing all the versions, I probably like SCS the most in terms of sound, but after working with the piece, I would imagine to appreciate the flexibility and ease of use of CSS a great deal.

In terms of mics, I made a version with custom CTA (-6dB/-0dB/-12dB) and another with alt mics (CR, St) for fun. I would offer different mic mixes, if anybody is interested. Had to cheat a bit with the measured tremolos, they seem much more versatile in CSS. Also, I used multiple stretch values in the Time Machine patches throughout the piece and used Bartok Pizz instead of col legno to match the sound a bit more.
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Your effort shows. Lovely rendering of a very entertaining piece.

I've just been noodling with Chamber strings (SCS) layered with Albion strings. So rich and buttery smooth. Its delicious. Do I really need SSS?



...No. But I want it. :grin:
 
Christof said:
Ha!So many robbers out there, we should call the police.
VSL dimension string version sounds much better that VSL special edition (funny enough that I play in both of them because I was part of the cello section sampling sessions).
Spitfire Chamber Strings sounds very very good to me.Like a real chamber orchestra, very good!
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About Special Edition sounding worse, I think I made a mistake with release times on spiccatos, so keep that in mind.
 
ctsai89 said:
That's not the only thing. The lower end strings seems lacking in certain frequency
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Well, he was comparing it to another one of VSL's string libraries, so unless you're saying that VSL has a string library that isn't sounding artificial to you, then that's obviously not the problem.
 
Lotias said:
Well, he was comparing it to another one of VSL's string libraries, so unless you're saying that VSL has a string library that isn't sounding artificial to you, then that's obviously not the problem.
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No but I know for a fact any spitfire string library will easily beat Vienna even with the bugs and inconsistency. Vienna is far too overrated
 
ctsai89 said:
No but I know for a fact any spitfire string library will easily beat Vienna even with the bugs and inconsistency. Vienna is far too overrated
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Okay, but we were both talking purely about VSL in that comparison... I think you've made your point, and I already said I disagree.
 
Lotias said:
Okay, but we were both talking purely about VSL in that comparison... I think you've made your point, and I already said I disagree.
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i already know it sounds better but will it ever sound close to as good as SCS/SSS? doubt it
 
@Scamper SCS sounds very very good, only problem is the runs don't sound like runs due to separate bows (no different from CSS in that regard though). 0:43 still doesn't work but it's better than either Mural version. Overall I love the dynamics and energy. It definitely has the most con brio of any of the new Robbers! well done!!


@just2high SSS mockup of Elgar is conclusive proof... that CSS programming does not transfer at all to SSS :P
 


^SSS mockup of elgar op 20. mvmt II

SO I editted the midi from noamL a bit (really just a lil bit) in order to mockup an SSS version of Elgar op. 20 movement.

please excuse the first chord being too accented as i've just noticed it

100% SSS performance legato patches. Only CC#1 involved and expression. NOthing else were involved.

I had to do the following to mix them
Violin 1 +6dbs
Violin 2 +6dbs
Viola +10dbs
cello 0
Bass +6dbs

I hope spitfire fixes this mixing problem as I am really bothered by it.

Other than the mixing problem thing.. I give this library a 9.5/10

Tell me what ya'll think :)
 
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ctsai89 said:
Ok well to me SSS sounded more herman-esque. I think tha'ts what i mean by "real" as it sounded more traditional. CSS sounded more like a midi mockup, but a very nice and beautiful one, unlike all of VSL's string libraries that sounded synthy/straight out of sibelius/finale. Both are great and I love the sounds of both so therefore one is orange and one is apple. A lot of it for SSS I think, has to do with air studio hall reverb and nice beautiful (sometimes imperfect) transitions/vibratoes/attacks. SSS will even sound realistic even if you had everything quantized at 100% to the beats. CSS is super modern beautiful and perfect to the point that I can tell it's a Midi-mockup but hey i'm a string player so no one needs to feel like they have the same kind of ears I have right?
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This was my first impressions also and why I wanted to hear more of an explanation, so thank you for explaining further! There are a lot of very different opinions here, so its good hear an actual player contribute.

Personally I really like both libraries, and I think its more personal taste than any ability of either SSS or CSS to perform well with this piece that is driving people's opinions. That said, despite the various Vienna attempts, I'm not persuaded by them.
 
And here they are, side by side:

SSS:


CSS:

IMHO CSS sounds better/more expressive and alive in this example, but that could (partially) be because the mockup originally was made with CCS.

So - @Spitfire Team :) Please give SSS to Christoph, NoamL, Muk and Daniel Beijbom and have them make some demos for SSS. They all make terrific mockups.
 
Vik said:
And here they are, side by side:

SSS:


CSS:

IMHO CSS sounds better/more expressive and alive in this example, but that could (partially) be because the mockup originally was made with CCS.

So - @Spitfire Team :) Please give SSS to Christoph, NoamL, Muk and Daniel Beijbom and have them make some demos for SSS. They all make terrific mockups.
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Yea you have to know that I barely did much editting. The cc#1 is basically based off the original. But i've done quite a bit to make the rebows sound a bit better than it otherwise would if it were unedited. And i've quantized the notes so it's not based off the CSS legato delays.
 
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ctsai89 said:
Yea you have to know that I barely did much editting. The cc#1 is basically based off the original. But i've done a lot to make the rebows sound a bit better than it otherwise would if it were unedited. And i've quantized the notes so it's not based off the CSS legato delays.
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Sure. There are so many details to pay attention to, they react different to CCs etc, so if one should try to replicate another mockup properly, the best way is IMO to have audio bounces of each of the tracks in the mockup (in addition to MIDI with CCs of course). Otherwise it would require a lot of time, and of course still not sound the same. So if one should compare libraries with mockups, they should ideally be done by the same person, or alternatively/additionally, one could try to not make them similar at all but to make them sound the best they can with each library, which probably is what makes most sense anyway.
 
desert said:
Keep practising!
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You mean sound-wise or orchestration wise (I'm mostly concerned with the orchestration aspect, tbh)?

ctsai89 said:
is that done by all VSL? vsl strings always sounds synthy to me and this was no exception :( Great work though!
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Christof said:
Sounds very very synthy and unrealistic
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Hehe, oops, sorry guys. Didn't mean to say I did it with VSL (should've made it clearer). I said it because it was mentioned before with the implication that it always sounds synthy, so I hinted that it would be interesting to see some takes with VSL. Lotias' version is quite good. (What I found interesting though is the "synthy" comment which overlapped, as I used KH Diamond for this, which isn't very "HD" sounding or super deeply sampled and gets similar critisisms, but is super easy and useful for orchestrating and quite musical performance-wise imo, which was my main focus really; also, maybe I EQed/processed too much) Interesting to see the responses though!

Christof said:
I was surprised to hear a full orchestration which doesn't work either for this piece, but it is a good exercise as you say.
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Do you have a full version of it? I'd like to see the difference in perspective. Maybe I should have another go at it, hm... But yeah, it was great exercise. Trying to improve. Good to get a check every now and then.

Btw, if you have a handful of minutes, I'm curious what you think about the sound of these tracks:
https://clyp.it/z0bw0pw5?token=7b5d31c58b7d2e88c3e48b26a1fa92fc
https://clyp.it/yhthsyem?token=115bc8cc1f582e8f9dcafe8c1093e19d
https://clyp.it/t4tz11ux?token=15c2e4622342c8e706e24112b188da1c

And sorry for kinda derailing... :whistling::grin:

Edit: 1st Dimension Strings was a bit meh, 2nd was better (some weird ringing though), 1st SCS was pretty great, 2nd sounding ok but some weird frequencies and some chorusing or something, maybe due to transposition.

@ctsai89 Sounds a bit incoherent/unconnected and uneven performance and dynamics-wise, but pretty good sound.
 
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