muk
Senior Member
Eh? What’s this all about?
The deep sampling of VSL’s flagship strings library, the Dimension Strings, presents you with a great flexibility. You can use them in a multitude of ways, and maybe except for the larger than life sound it can be a real workhorse of a strings library. But the sheer wealth of articulations, patches, players – combined with the features of the sample player – can be a little overwhelming when first trying to wrap your head around. And then there are some little nifty tricks, which may not be obvious but which can help in achieving a more streamlined workflow or a nicer sound. For that reasons I thought I’d share what experience I have on the topic. Saxer was kind enough to help me out with tips and tricks when I started to build the template. Many of the ideas presented here are either his, or inspired by his setup. A hearty ‘thank you’ for that.
Preparations
Here’s what you need to start:
Let’s start then, shall we?
The first decision you have to take is the number of players per section that you want. For my purposes 10-8-6-6-4 is best, so I’ll go with that. It is a well-balanced, midsized classical setup. The section sizes of Berlin Strings are comparable (8-6-5-5-4). You can choose a different setup if you want. Just be careful to avoid phasing if you make it larger. If you need late romantic section sizes you may want to use the transposition trick on top of the technique shown below.
18 violins, you may wonder. Where do they come from? Dang, DS includes only 8 players, doesn’t it? Absolutely right. But because we have so many articulations sampled, and each one on each string, we can multiply that number without triggering the same samples. More on that later.
Next decision: how many groups per sections do you want? I’ll go with two. I find that’s a perfect balance between workflow and sonic quality of the results. And for divisi I rarely use more than two groups per section. You could set up each player individually. For me that’s not practical. I won’t play in and then tweak the part for violins 1 10 times anyway. It’s just too time consuming. With two groups I still have the benefit of two takes per section, and it keeps the amount of work manageable.
Enter the matrix
Set up a channel with VI Pro. Name it ‘Vl 1 A (5)’ (the bracketed number is the number of players in that group) or anything you like. Add 12 matrices. In the first matrix we are going to create our legato instrument. I tend to use this articulation when playing in something quickly, so it makes sense to use it as ‘default’ articulation when loading up the template.
1. Make it a 2x2 matrix.
2. Fill in the five slots of cell 1 with the articulations shown. Do the same for the two cells named ‘Run’.
3. Choose speed and velocity to switch between the cells of the matrix. Set the thresholds to your liking.
4. Tick Velocity crossfade and set the ‘VelX’-slider to the cc you like (I use cc1).
Link to bigger image: https://i61.tinypic.com/35je103.png
Picture 1
In the ‘Port’ cell we are going to load these patches:
Picture 2
Don’t just fill in the regular legato and portamento patches. Really use the ones presented here. Player 1’s legato, for example, will also be used for our second violins section (we have to do that to boost up the number of players. Remember, there’s ‘only’ 8 violin players sampled in DS, but we need 18 ). I spent some time to check that wherever possible no sample is used more than once. So, even if Player 1 is used in Vl 1 subgroup A, and as well in Vl 2 subgroup B, it won’t trigger the same samples even when Vl 1 and Vl 2 play in unison. Because in Vl 1 A he’ll play ‘A_perf-leg_Vib’, but in Vl 2 B ‘G_pef-trill_leg’. Even if a sample is played twice at the same time it will at least be panned differently and with different reverb settings. That and the fact that 16 other samples will be played at the same time make it highly unlikely that you’ll ever have a phasing issue. At least I haven’t so far.
One last trick for this matrix: for the two cells named ‘Run’ we are going to set a more extreme tuning curve. I used a ‘finding tune’ curve as starting point, and then manually pulled the points to more extreme cent-values.
Picture 3
Now, for the cells called ‘Run’ set these newly created humanization curve with the more extreme values.
Congratulations, your first articulation is ready for prime time. Here you have five violins (Vl 1 subgroup A) playing legato. You can use your modwheel or breath controller for the dynamics, which will trigger and fade trough the appropriate velocity layers. When you hit the keys on your keyboard softly it will automatically trigger a portamento (remember how we chose velocity to switch between the y-axis of the matrix? That’s why). Best of all, if you play quickly, the ‘Run’-cells with the more extreme tuning settings will be triggered. That means that when playing fast passages your strings will automatically play less in tune with each other – just like in a real string section!
Just a short note
Before filling the next matrix assign keyswitches to each matrix. I used octave 1 for all sections except the basses. There I used octave 6 so that they don’t overlap the playable range.
In matrix 2 I filled staccato and spiccato. Make a 1x2 matrix. In the upper cell I filled staccato, in the lower cell spiccato. I set again speed to switch between the cells of the matrix. You’ll get staccato when playing slower, spiccato when faster.
It is of little use to have velocity crossfade on short articulations. Instead it is more convenient to control the short articulations with velocity. Hit the keys of your keyboard harder and it triggers louder staccatos. That’s what we want. To achieve this we have to deactivate the velocity crossfade slider. This can’t be done by unticking the ‘Vel.XF’ box because that’s the master XF switch. It would affect all matrices, not just the short notes. Instead look at the slot editor (it’s the middle section on the right side). There’s a tab ‘Edit’. Go there. In the drop down menu ‘Velocity XF’ choose ‘off’ (for the long articulations like legato, sustain etc. it should be set to ‘global’).
It would take too many pictures were I to show which patches I filled in in each cell. So instead I made a video showing just that. As we are not going to boost the numbers of violas, celli, and double basses you can simply use the regular patches there.
https://youtu.be/TgOEtEpBxbU
Wow, in terms of boring videos this one will be hard to beat.
So many matrices
With this tutorial already being long as it is there’s no need to go through each and every matrix individually. You can see which articulations I used with which keyswitch in the video. Of course you don’t have to follow this strictly. Customize to your liking. The next matrix worth mentioning is the one with the sustains. Here we have three options: non vibrato, vibrato, progressive vibrato. So I set up a 3x1 matrix. To switch between the cells I used cc3, for the simple reason that it doesn’t get used otherwise in my workflow and was the first cc-number that was free. If you want to trigger a sustain with progressive vibrato, for example, you have to hit the keyswitch F1, and set cc3 to a value above 84. If you are using Cubase you can create an Expression Map to make it even easier for you. Because all the sections of the strings will be set up the same way (except the double basses where the keyswitches will be in octave 6) this won’t be too tedious a task.
The pizzicato-matrix is also worth mentioning. This one is configured to give you a Bartok-pizz. (a pizz with a slapping sound) at the highest velocities.
In the last two matrices there are dynamic patches. Here we don’t only use a keyswitch and cc3 to choose the articulation, but another keyswitch. See that A/B switch below the matrix? With this keyswitch you can choose whether the articulation will be a crescendo or a decrescendo. (Actually this A/B keyswitch can be seen in previous matrices too, but that’s simply laziness on my part. It doesn’t do anything there, but I didn’t bother to deactivate it since it doesn’t interfere with the functionality either. Of actual use it’s only in the last two matrices).
Sections and groups
Okay, that’s it for subgroup A of the violin 1 section. Take a moment to gather some strength, you’ll need it. Because now is the moment I’m going to tell you that – and you probably see this one coming – you need to duplicate this setup for subgroup B, and then all the other sections. Sheesh. No matter how you tackle it, it’s going to take some time. You can either duplicate the channel and manually replace every single patch. At least all the matrices will already be setup correctly that way. Or there’s a possible shortcut. It works only in the standalone mode of VI Pro. First save the vl1 subgroup A that we just created as a preset. Open VI Pro in standalone mode. Load the preset, then press Ctrl+Alt+W (on a Mac it’s probably something with that apple key). That should bring up a list with all patches currently loaded. You can choose patches and substitute them as well…
It will go faster as you progress because there are less players per section. The double basses (don’t forget to adjust their keyswitches) I didn’t divide into subgroups. I’m not likely to write divisi for them often (or ever). And I didn’t hear a big difference between one pass and two passes for them, so I went with just one group there. Check that each subgroup responds to one midi channel. Vl 1 A (5) to midi channel 1, Vl 1 B (5) to midi channel 2, Vl 2 A (4) to midi channel 3…
Whew, congratulations for having made it thus far! You have now a pretty sophisticated template for your dimension strings, both in terms of workflow and sound. Now you need to pan each group, add reverb and any other effects you wish. As an aside: DS used close mics for every single player. The raw samples sound very detailed, but also contain a lot of high frequency because of that. You want to push them back into the room with your reverb. Play around until you found the right balance between richness of detail and lushness of the sound for you. If they sound harsh you didn’t push them back enough. If they start to loose detail and begin to sound muddy it’s too far back.
After that, your template is ready for usage!
Here is how it sounds:
[flash width=450 height=110 loop=false]https://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F199490093&secret_url=false[/flash]
https://soundcloud.com/linos-music/vsl-dimension-strings-vl-1-one-pass
Vl 1 together, one pass
[flash width=450 height=110 loop=false]https://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F199490264&secret_url=false[/flash]
https://soundcloud.com/linos-music/vsl-dimension-strings-vl-1-two-passes
Vl 1 two passes
[flash width=450 height=110 loop=false]https://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F199490374&secret_url=false[/flash]
https://soundcloud.com/linos-music/vsl-dimension-strings-celli
Celli
Just gorgeous, isn’t it?
Sisyphus, oh Sisyphus
You can stop right here if you want. But there’s one last trick up my sleeve! We are going to make a second template for this. Ouch.
But it’s totally worth it, if you have the stamina and the right reverb, that is. You probably will need a reverb that features visual placement. You can do it with traditional reverb, eq, and panning, but it will be tedious.
In this template we are going to split up all the players to individual channels. This doesn’t take too long if you work from the first template you created. Duplicate Vl 1 A (5) four times. In the first channel delete all patches but those of player 1. In the second channel leave only the patches of player 2 etc. You get the picture. Like in template 1, each subgroup (not each player!) responds to one midi channel. That means that you have to set Vl 1 players 1 o 5 to midi channel 1, Vl 1 players 6 to 10 to midi channel 2…
Make doubly sure to save this template under a new name so you don’t accidentally overwrite the first one you just created!
Then we are grouping the channels together again just like in the former template: each section divided in two subgroups. Create 9 busses. Name them Vl 1 A (5), Vl 1 B (5), Vl 2 A (4) etc. Route each of these busses to the Master Bus. Then route the individual channels into the according bus (Vl 1 player 1 to 5 into Vl 1 A (5), players 6 to 10 into Vl 1 B (5) and so on). In the end it should look like this:
Link to bigger image: https://de.tinypic.com/r/2l9io21/8
Picture 4
There are two advantages to this approach: 1. You can quickly and easily access each individual player should it need be. 2. and more importantly, you can place each single player on the stage individually. Like this:
Picture 5
This needs a lot of processing power, because you need an instance of reverb for every single player (34 in total, or more if you chose bigger section sizes). I use Independence Origami as my reverb, which let me define an individual spot on the stage for each player. I would save myself and my computer the hassle, but to my ears it sounds even better. Listen for yourself:
[flash width=450 height=110 loop=false]https://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F199490645&secret_url=false[/flash]
https://soundcloud.com/linos-music/vsl-dimension-strings-vl-1-individual-reverb
Vl 1, individual reverb on each player
[flash width=450 height=110 loop=false]https://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F199490771&secret_url=false[/flash]
https://soundcloud.com/linos-music/dimension-strings-celli-individual-reverb
Celli, individual reverb on each player
Hear how it sounds more spacious, has more depth to it compared to template 1? It has a convincing, three dimensional spatiality that really lets the beautiful strings sounds shine.
If you set up the routing like you seen it in picture 4 both templates will be compatible. You can load up template 1 for sketching or use it if you have to work quickly. It will save a lot of resources. Before bouncing to audio simply switch to template 2 – nothing else will have to be changed because all the routing stays the same.
At long last
That’s it! You should now have two compatible templates for the Dimension Strings. One resource-conserving, yet fully playable and great sounding as a working tool, and another one that’s heavier on your computer but makes no compromises in terms of sound. Best of all, both work exactly the same way and you can switch between them in a matter of seconds.
Of course the templates described here are but one way to configure the Dimension Strings. You can customize it to your own taste. The VI Pro Player and the library itself give you uncountable possibilities. Maybe you want larger section sizes? Try using the transposition trick. Not happy with the set of articulations I chose? Define your own matrices with different articulations. Be creative! If you found other neat tricks that you worked into your own template I’d be glad to hear about them.
I hope this longwinded tutorial was of some use to you. If something is unclear or you have any questions just let me know.
The deep sampling of VSL’s flagship strings library, the Dimension Strings, presents you with a great flexibility. You can use them in a multitude of ways, and maybe except for the larger than life sound it can be a real workhorse of a strings library. But the sheer wealth of articulations, patches, players – combined with the features of the sample player – can be a little overwhelming when first trying to wrap your head around. And then there are some little nifty tricks, which may not be obvious but which can help in achieving a more streamlined workflow or a nicer sound. For that reasons I thought I’d share what experience I have on the topic. Saxer was kind enough to help me out with tips and tricks when I started to build the template. Many of the ideas presented here are either his, or inspired by his setup. A hearty ‘thank you’ for that.
Preparations
Here’s what you need to start:
- a cd – no, make that two – with relaxing background music. Don’t ask, just do it.
VSL Dimension Strings, obviously.
Vienna Instruments Pro Player. If you don’t have the pro version I’d recommend that you buy it straight away. Don’t want to? Ok, go ahead with the standard version. You’ll have to skip some of the more refined features of the template, but basically it’ll still work fine.
A reverb of choice.
Time. Time. Loads of time.
Optional: Vienna Ensemble Pro. I’m working with it for the template, but it’s not essential. You’ll just have to figure out the routing on your own if you don’t have it.
Let’s start then, shall we?
The first decision you have to take is the number of players per section that you want. For my purposes 10-8-6-6-4 is best, so I’ll go with that. It is a well-balanced, midsized classical setup. The section sizes of Berlin Strings are comparable (8-6-5-5-4). You can choose a different setup if you want. Just be careful to avoid phasing if you make it larger. If you need late romantic section sizes you may want to use the transposition trick on top of the technique shown below.
18 violins, you may wonder. Where do they come from? Dang, DS includes only 8 players, doesn’t it? Absolutely right. But because we have so many articulations sampled, and each one on each string, we can multiply that number without triggering the same samples. More on that later.
Next decision: how many groups per sections do you want? I’ll go with two. I find that’s a perfect balance between workflow and sonic quality of the results. And for divisi I rarely use more than two groups per section. You could set up each player individually. For me that’s not practical. I won’t play in and then tweak the part for violins 1 10 times anyway. It’s just too time consuming. With two groups I still have the benefit of two takes per section, and it keeps the amount of work manageable.
Enter the matrix
Set up a channel with VI Pro. Name it ‘Vl 1 A (5)’ (the bracketed number is the number of players in that group) or anything you like. Add 12 matrices. In the first matrix we are going to create our legato instrument. I tend to use this articulation when playing in something quickly, so it makes sense to use it as ‘default’ articulation when loading up the template.
1. Make it a 2x2 matrix.
2. Fill in the five slots of cell 1 with the articulations shown. Do the same for the two cells named ‘Run’.
3. Choose speed and velocity to switch between the cells of the matrix. Set the thresholds to your liking.
4. Tick Velocity crossfade and set the ‘VelX’-slider to the cc you like (I use cc1).
Link to bigger image: https://i61.tinypic.com/35je103.png
Picture 1
In the ‘Port’ cell we are going to load these patches:
Picture 2
Don’t just fill in the regular legato and portamento patches. Really use the ones presented here. Player 1’s legato, for example, will also be used for our second violins section (we have to do that to boost up the number of players. Remember, there’s ‘only’ 8 violin players sampled in DS, but we need 18 ). I spent some time to check that wherever possible no sample is used more than once. So, even if Player 1 is used in Vl 1 subgroup A, and as well in Vl 2 subgroup B, it won’t trigger the same samples even when Vl 1 and Vl 2 play in unison. Because in Vl 1 A he’ll play ‘A_perf-leg_Vib’, but in Vl 2 B ‘G_pef-trill_leg’. Even if a sample is played twice at the same time it will at least be panned differently and with different reverb settings. That and the fact that 16 other samples will be played at the same time make it highly unlikely that you’ll ever have a phasing issue. At least I haven’t so far.
One last trick for this matrix: for the two cells named ‘Run’ we are going to set a more extreme tuning curve. I used a ‘finding tune’ curve as starting point, and then manually pulled the points to more extreme cent-values.
Picture 3
Now, for the cells called ‘Run’ set these newly created humanization curve with the more extreme values.
Congratulations, your first articulation is ready for prime time. Here you have five violins (Vl 1 subgroup A) playing legato. You can use your modwheel or breath controller for the dynamics, which will trigger and fade trough the appropriate velocity layers. When you hit the keys on your keyboard softly it will automatically trigger a portamento (remember how we chose velocity to switch between the y-axis of the matrix? That’s why). Best of all, if you play quickly, the ‘Run’-cells with the more extreme tuning settings will be triggered. That means that when playing fast passages your strings will automatically play less in tune with each other – just like in a real string section!
Just a short note
Before filling the next matrix assign keyswitches to each matrix. I used octave 1 for all sections except the basses. There I used octave 6 so that they don’t overlap the playable range.
In matrix 2 I filled staccato and spiccato. Make a 1x2 matrix. In the upper cell I filled staccato, in the lower cell spiccato. I set again speed to switch between the cells of the matrix. You’ll get staccato when playing slower, spiccato when faster.
It is of little use to have velocity crossfade on short articulations. Instead it is more convenient to control the short articulations with velocity. Hit the keys of your keyboard harder and it triggers louder staccatos. That’s what we want. To achieve this we have to deactivate the velocity crossfade slider. This can’t be done by unticking the ‘Vel.XF’ box because that’s the master XF switch. It would affect all matrices, not just the short notes. Instead look at the slot editor (it’s the middle section on the right side). There’s a tab ‘Edit’. Go there. In the drop down menu ‘Velocity XF’ choose ‘off’ (for the long articulations like legato, sustain etc. it should be set to ‘global’).
It would take too many pictures were I to show which patches I filled in in each cell. So instead I made a video showing just that. As we are not going to boost the numbers of violas, celli, and double basses you can simply use the regular patches there.
https://youtu.be/TgOEtEpBxbU
Wow, in terms of boring videos this one will be hard to beat.
So many matrices
With this tutorial already being long as it is there’s no need to go through each and every matrix individually. You can see which articulations I used with which keyswitch in the video. Of course you don’t have to follow this strictly. Customize to your liking. The next matrix worth mentioning is the one with the sustains. Here we have three options: non vibrato, vibrato, progressive vibrato. So I set up a 3x1 matrix. To switch between the cells I used cc3, for the simple reason that it doesn’t get used otherwise in my workflow and was the first cc-number that was free. If you want to trigger a sustain with progressive vibrato, for example, you have to hit the keyswitch F1, and set cc3 to a value above 84. If you are using Cubase you can create an Expression Map to make it even easier for you. Because all the sections of the strings will be set up the same way (except the double basses where the keyswitches will be in octave 6) this won’t be too tedious a task.
The pizzicato-matrix is also worth mentioning. This one is configured to give you a Bartok-pizz. (a pizz with a slapping sound) at the highest velocities.
In the last two matrices there are dynamic patches. Here we don’t only use a keyswitch and cc3 to choose the articulation, but another keyswitch. See that A/B switch below the matrix? With this keyswitch you can choose whether the articulation will be a crescendo or a decrescendo. (Actually this A/B keyswitch can be seen in previous matrices too, but that’s simply laziness on my part. It doesn’t do anything there, but I didn’t bother to deactivate it since it doesn’t interfere with the functionality either. Of actual use it’s only in the last two matrices).
Sections and groups
Okay, that’s it for subgroup A of the violin 1 section. Take a moment to gather some strength, you’ll need it. Because now is the moment I’m going to tell you that – and you probably see this one coming – you need to duplicate this setup for subgroup B, and then all the other sections. Sheesh. No matter how you tackle it, it’s going to take some time. You can either duplicate the channel and manually replace every single patch. At least all the matrices will already be setup correctly that way. Or there’s a possible shortcut. It works only in the standalone mode of VI Pro. First save the vl1 subgroup A that we just created as a preset. Open VI Pro in standalone mode. Load the preset, then press Ctrl+Alt+W (on a Mac it’s probably something with that apple key). That should bring up a list with all patches currently loaded. You can choose patches and substitute them as well…
It will go faster as you progress because there are less players per section. The double basses (don’t forget to adjust their keyswitches) I didn’t divide into subgroups. I’m not likely to write divisi for them often (or ever). And I didn’t hear a big difference between one pass and two passes for them, so I went with just one group there. Check that each subgroup responds to one midi channel. Vl 1 A (5) to midi channel 1, Vl 1 B (5) to midi channel 2, Vl 2 A (4) to midi channel 3…
Whew, congratulations for having made it thus far! You have now a pretty sophisticated template for your dimension strings, both in terms of workflow and sound. Now you need to pan each group, add reverb and any other effects you wish. As an aside: DS used close mics for every single player. The raw samples sound very detailed, but also contain a lot of high frequency because of that. You want to push them back into the room with your reverb. Play around until you found the right balance between richness of detail and lushness of the sound for you. If they sound harsh you didn’t push them back enough. If they start to loose detail and begin to sound muddy it’s too far back.
After that, your template is ready for usage!
Here is how it sounds:
[flash width=450 height=110 loop=false]https://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F199490093&secret_url=false[/flash]
https://soundcloud.com/linos-music/vsl-dimension-strings-vl-1-one-pass
Vl 1 together, one pass
[flash width=450 height=110 loop=false]https://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F199490264&secret_url=false[/flash]
https://soundcloud.com/linos-music/vsl-dimension-strings-vl-1-two-passes
Vl 1 two passes
[flash width=450 height=110 loop=false]https://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F199490374&secret_url=false[/flash]
https://soundcloud.com/linos-music/vsl-dimension-strings-celli
Celli
Just gorgeous, isn’t it?
Sisyphus, oh Sisyphus
You can stop right here if you want. But there’s one last trick up my sleeve! We are going to make a second template for this. Ouch.
But it’s totally worth it, if you have the stamina and the right reverb, that is. You probably will need a reverb that features visual placement. You can do it with traditional reverb, eq, and panning, but it will be tedious.
In this template we are going to split up all the players to individual channels. This doesn’t take too long if you work from the first template you created. Duplicate Vl 1 A (5) four times. In the first channel delete all patches but those of player 1. In the second channel leave only the patches of player 2 etc. You get the picture. Like in template 1, each subgroup (not each player!) responds to one midi channel. That means that you have to set Vl 1 players 1 o 5 to midi channel 1, Vl 1 players 6 to 10 to midi channel 2…
Make doubly sure to save this template under a new name so you don’t accidentally overwrite the first one you just created!
Then we are grouping the channels together again just like in the former template: each section divided in two subgroups. Create 9 busses. Name them Vl 1 A (5), Vl 1 B (5), Vl 2 A (4) etc. Route each of these busses to the Master Bus. Then route the individual channels into the according bus (Vl 1 player 1 to 5 into Vl 1 A (5), players 6 to 10 into Vl 1 B (5) and so on). In the end it should look like this:
Link to bigger image: https://de.tinypic.com/r/2l9io21/8
Picture 4
There are two advantages to this approach: 1. You can quickly and easily access each individual player should it need be. 2. and more importantly, you can place each single player on the stage individually. Like this:
Picture 5
This needs a lot of processing power, because you need an instance of reverb for every single player (34 in total, or more if you chose bigger section sizes). I use Independence Origami as my reverb, which let me define an individual spot on the stage for each player. I would save myself and my computer the hassle, but to my ears it sounds even better. Listen for yourself:
[flash width=450 height=110 loop=false]https://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F199490645&secret_url=false[/flash]
https://soundcloud.com/linos-music/vsl-dimension-strings-vl-1-individual-reverb
Vl 1, individual reverb on each player
[flash width=450 height=110 loop=false]https://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F199490771&secret_url=false[/flash]
https://soundcloud.com/linos-music/dimension-strings-celli-individual-reverb
Celli, individual reverb on each player
Hear how it sounds more spacious, has more depth to it compared to template 1? It has a convincing, three dimensional spatiality that really lets the beautiful strings sounds shine.
If you set up the routing like you seen it in picture 4 both templates will be compatible. You can load up template 1 for sketching or use it if you have to work quickly. It will save a lot of resources. Before bouncing to audio simply switch to template 2 – nothing else will have to be changed because all the routing stays the same.
At long last
That’s it! You should now have two compatible templates for the Dimension Strings. One resource-conserving, yet fully playable and great sounding as a working tool, and another one that’s heavier on your computer but makes no compromises in terms of sound. Best of all, both work exactly the same way and you can switch between them in a matter of seconds.
Of course the templates described here are but one way to configure the Dimension Strings. You can customize it to your own taste. The VI Pro Player and the library itself give you uncountable possibilities. Maybe you want larger section sizes? Try using the transposition trick. Not happy with the set of articulations I chose? Define your own matrices with different articulations. Be creative! If you found other neat tricks that you worked into your own template I’d be glad to hear about them.
I hope this longwinded tutorial was of some use to you. If something is unclear or you have any questions just let me know.
