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Divisi in Synchron Strings
Last post Fri, Mar 16 2018 by Tensivity, 12 replies.
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Posted on Sun, Mar 04 2018 04:07
by Tensivity
Joined on Sun, Dec 16 2012, San Francisco California USA, Posts 275

So with Synchron Strings releases now almost complete, I was wondering what techniques folks here are using to replicate divisi playing?  

Any advice appreciated!

Michael

Posted on Wed, Mar 14 2018 00:57
by stephen limbaugh
Joined on Tue, Feb 23 2016, Los Angeles, Posts 283

So far, I'm just swapping in some dimension strings and blending it with the synchron ensemble pulled down.  Not totally satisfied with that yet.

2019 MacBook Pro, 8 core i9, 32gb RAM. Heavy Digital Audio PC slave, 6 core Xeon E5-1650, 128gb RAM. Logic 10.6.3. Big Sur & Windows 10.
Posted on Wed, Mar 14 2018 01:01
by William
Joined on Sun, Nov 24 2002, USA, Posts 5738

There is no divisi and if you simply split the parts you will create twice the number of players.  

Posted on Wed, Mar 14 2018 02:22
by William
Joined on Sun, Nov 24 2002, USA, Posts 5738

Though you can do double stops since they effectively double the number of strings heard simultaneously.  

Posted on Wed, Mar 14 2018 03:23
by Tensivity
Joined on Sun, Dec 16 2012, San Francisco California USA, Posts 275

Originally Posted by: William Go to Quoted Post

There is no divisi and if you simply split the parts you will create twice the number of players.  

William, thanks, I do know that.  I was wondering if anyone had any creative techniques,  or thoughts on how to do it, volume reduction, time shifting, eq, etc...

Posted on Wed, Mar 14 2018 09:44
by stephen limbaugh
Joined on Tue, Feb 23 2016, Los Angeles, Posts 283

Have you tried a different blend of mics?  I'm wondering if some combination of dual mono mics panned a little off from each other with the tree mics pulled down would be convincing... 

2019 MacBook Pro, 8 core i9, 32gb RAM. Heavy Digital Audio PC slave, 6 core Xeon E5-1650, 128gb RAM. Logic 10.6.3. Big Sur & Windows 10.
Posted on Wed, Mar 14 2018 14:24
by William
Joined on Sun, Nov 24 2002, USA, Posts 5738

Faking it contradicts the whole principle of the library!  

But yeah,  you can probably get away with some trick. 

Posted on Thu, Mar 15 2018 03:09
by Tensivity
Joined on Sun, Dec 16 2012, San Francisco California USA, Posts 275

Originally Posted by: stephen limbaugh Go to Quoted Post

Have you tried a different blend of mics?  I'm wondering if some combination of dual mono mics panned a little off from each other with the tree mics pulled down would be convincing... 

Stephen, I'll have to play with that.

I have tried creating additional (duplicate) ensembles and panning them and adjusting volume in MirPro, and that gets close,but not quite there.

Posted on Thu, Mar 15 2018 03:20
by Tensivity
Joined on Sun, Dec 16 2012, San Francisco California USA, Posts 275

Originally Posted by: William Go to Quoted Post

Faking it contradicts the whole principle of the library!  

Indeed, and I own DImension Strings which is probably the best solution I've seen yet for divisi (although some Kirk Hunter libraries offer a very nice approach).  

But if "faking it" is out of the question, then it would seem that if I'm working on a piece with divisi (or mutes or col legno or spiccato or feathers, for that matter) then use of Synchron Strings is out of the question.  

Also, if you want to be a purist about it, then "faking it" would also include a combination of the old standbys Orchestral Strings with Chamber Strings for the divisi.  Or adding solo strings in a larger orchestral mix to create detail.  Or using EQ, for that matter, to adjust the tone of any sample library.

To me, using a sample library implies and, in fact, requires some degree of "faking it".  

Posted on Thu, Mar 15 2018 17:18
by crusoe
Joined on Sat, Dec 26 2009, Posts 141

How about this?

Increase prominence of important violin sound:
Boost +1dB to +3dB 1000Hz, Q=1.4
Boost +1dB to +3dB 3000Hz Q=1.4

Reversing dB value with the settings suggested above, you should be able to decrease prominence of the violin sound. This way you would "thin out" the section's sound, emulating a reduced number of players on each divisi section. Is this what you want to do?

P.S. Just out of curiosity, why not employ Dimension strings, which you do have?

Posted on Thu, Mar 15 2018 21:51
by William
Joined on Sun, Nov 24 2002, USA, Posts 5738

"Also, if you want to be a purist about it, then "faking it" would also include a combination of the old standbys Orchestral Strings with Chamber Strings for the divisi.  Or adding solo strings in a larger orchestral mix to create detail." - tensivity 

No, I would never say that!  Because the other recordings are done totally dry on the silent stage and one can easily add them together and place them into a single ambience using EQ if needed.  I always use those smaller ensembles for divisi and it is perfect because the smaller ensembles are more "close" sounding and the numberes of players are also very close. EVen if they don't match precisely the sound is perfect.   Also layering the solo instruments is one of the best effects available in VSL strings.  The ultimate though is layering solo with Dimension.     

However - none of this is the same with Synchron because they are reorded completely differently with the ambience in.  So you are truly faking it and distorting that basic sound.  Though as I said one can do tricks and get away with things, certainly.  You can probably fool people with a completely different reverb!  But it is not the intent of the library. 

Posted on Fri, Mar 16 2018 03:30
by Tensivity
Joined on Sun, Dec 16 2012, San Francisco California USA, Posts 275

Originally Posted by: crusoe Go to Quoted Post

How about this?

Increase prominence of important violin sound:
Boost +1dB to +3dB 1000Hz, Q=1.4
Boost +1dB to +3dB 3000Hz Q=1.4

Reversing dB value with the settings suggested above, you should be able to decrease prominence of the violin sound. This way you would "thin out" the section's sound, emulating a reduced number of players on each divisi section. Is this what you want to do?

P.S. Just out of curiosity, why not employ Dimension strings, which you do have?

I like the sound of the new Synchron Strings, and I figured a lot of folks were experimenting with them.  Just wondered if anyone had run up against the divisi issue.

Thanks for the suggestion, I'll give it a try.

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