My VSL Strings question list...

[Markus S]

Hello to everybody!
I am new to VSL and this forum and don't own any VSL products (yet). I am especially interested in the VSL pro strings. Before deciding I have some questions:
1. I have the demo cube and I found the strings very dry. Is this in purpose and why wasn't the natural ambience sampeled?
2. What reverb would be the best to "add a hall"?
3. I couldn't read in the articulation list how many velocity layers each articulation has.
4. Are there any release sampels that would "add" some natural reverb?
5. Are there programs like Modwheel fading between different intensities?
6. are there also looped programs?
7. WHY no sul ponticello for other instruments than violins???[:D]
Maybe all those questions were already answered, but I had 50 pages with the search of "strings"....
Thank you,
All the best,
Markus.

[herb]

1. I have the demo cube and I found the strings very dry. Is this in purpose and why wasn't the natural ambience sampeled?
The strings were sampled with the natural ambience of our sound stage = 0.7 sec reverbtime.

2. What reverb would be the best to "add a hall"?
Sorry I'm not the mixing guru.
Maybe others jump in, or you can also post this question in our "Mixing and Post Pro" forum.
The last mixes we haven done, were realised with Altiverb and Cholakis impulses.

3. I couldn't read in the articulation list how many velocity layers each articulation has.
Most single note samples do have 4 layers.

4. Are there any release sampels that would "add" some natural reverb?
Yes, there are individual release samples for normal sustains (also muted strings) tremolos and trills.

5. Are there programs like Modwheel fading between different intensities?
Yes.

6. are there also looped programs?
The Pro Edition offer loops for the sustains, tremolos, trills

7. WHY no sul ponticello for other instruments than violins???
We are working on it.


best
Herb

[KMuzzey]

Hi Markus,

Without sounding TOO much like an infomercial testimonial.... [[;)]]

I tried a few other strings libraries on my quest for the most realistic-sounding samples (Hunter, Siedlaczek) and the VSL really takes the cake. If you take the time to work with the different articulations, vs. just playing everything with one patch, the results are astounding -- especially when you use something like Altiverb or Space Designer. I was emailing with someone from the forum the other day and he said it perfectly -- the deeper you dig into this library, the better it gets.

Happy shopping!

Kerry

[nick.halliwell]

Hi all,

I'd second what Kerry's just said about how amazingly realistic this library is – far ahead of anything else I've heard. Even when you first get the library and just fiddle around with the basic instruments the results are astonishingly good. But again, as Kerry says, once you start using the articulations properly it becomes staggering.

As to reverb well, this is one of those incredibly subjective things and it also depends what sound you're looking for. Just as not everyone feels the same about the sound of every REAL hall in the world, if you play a reverb patch to different people some of them will think it sounds amazing, others that it sounds ordinary and others will hate it.

I think Herb's point would be that by using their Silent Stage they've given us all the option of adding the reverb WE want for each individual project, i.e. of having completely different reverb on the samples for each specific use we wish to make of them. If they'd recorded it in a conventional concert hall then obviously that hall's sound would've coloured the samples and it's easier to add colour than to remove it. So yes, if you listen to the sounds “dry” then you notice this compared to some other libraries. But it’s about giving users the freedom to “place” the sounds in whatever context we want to, I think (correct me if I’m wrong Herb!)

Personally I have one of the fairly recent TC Electronic Reverb 4000 units and while I'm working on a piece I usually use the "European Concert Hall" (or something like that) preset patch to get a rough idea of things - although obviously there are pieces where I want a much smaller sound. But that unit does include a whole host of other rooms and halls from the tiny to the enormous. And because of the Silent Stage I can put the VSL into any of them without any colouration in the original samples affecting things.

There are now some superb reverb plug-ins but reverb is a process which is incredibly CPU-intensive on all computers (well if it’s any good) I decided to spend some money on a good outboard reverb unit. The R4K wasn’t cheap (around £1700) but you get what you pay for. And it means that my Mac is free to handle its main job, which is as my multi-track recorder as well as doubling as a mixer and running less processor-intensive plug-ins. And if I need to use several different reverbs within a particular mix I can always add a plug-in.

As to your other questions I think Herb has dealt with them (name me another company where the boss answers your pre-sales questions! I bet he even makes the tea sometimes… [:)]) Can’t say I’ve ever needed the loops in the Pro Edition but it’s nice to know they’re there.

But the whole reverb question really is incredibly subjective. On the whole I think it’s the one “effect” still usually best handled by an external box unless you’re going to go down the bounce effect to audio track road and use something like Altiverb or you’ve got a very powerful computer and/or aren’t running a lot of tracks and other stuff on it. But then again, that is just my opinion.

Nick