Yeah thanks for that!  I agree.  It's something that I'm still trying to work through with most of my compositions.  I believe it might be a bit off ADD, where as I get bored with the track so I end up concluding it pre maturely.  I need have more patients to fully develop the idea.  

Hi everyone,

Can you please have a listen to my newest composition title "Creation".

The full strings are entirely Appassionata, and I've used the Soprano Choir to give it richness.   

Any thoughts or suggestions would be great.  Thanks!

YouTube - Creation

I completely agree....Vienna's legato is revolutionary in samples. Maybe I'm just trying too hard to get samples to do something which they just can't do at this point in time. I thought maybe there was some programming trick to simulate or mimic the aforementioned affect. I do realize when working with samples you have to do some sound design to get more realism. There is never anything like using real musicians. However, there really isn't anything wrong with VSL's legato other than the fact that it's still SAMPLES....BUT I am so glad that a company like VSL is always looking to be on the cutting edge of sampling technology. It will only get better and better....

Yes I actually have tried that. I've tried just about everything possible. If I start reducing the attack time, the transitions seem to have a wah wah effect, which makes it even more separated sounding. Changing the release doesn't change the attack sound either, however it may somewhat mask the sound but it's still there....at least to my ear. I think maybe the issue is the fact that all of the strings at once are transitioning together almost perfectly, where as in a real live situation, during a passage, the transitions are slightly scattered among the strings creating an almost seamless transition. Maybe the answer is to layer appassionata with chamber or solo strings.....slightly off setting one of them. Here is a link to a piece that I wrote. Listen in particularly to "Reverie of Hope" when the strings come in at 00:31. Please excuse the mp3 sound quality. Anyways that is the best I've been able to get them to sound. But I spent so many hours on just the strings working with the modulations to get them to sound that way.

http://www.myspace.com/ryantaubert

Thanks for the advice, but I've actually tried all of these things. I uploaded a completely raw track so you could clearly hear the attack I am talking about. I've done may compositions using longer release times and good reverbs. But it seems like nothing is really hiding the quick transition sounds. Even some portamento transitions seem somewhat violent and not sweet sounding. Is there any programming advice for getting more realism? I find that I will spend hours and hours on manipulating and editing the modulation to duck slightly at the start of each note, and to swell on certain notes to create a more lyrical sound. But it seems that I can't fix all of the transition. I feel like I'm spending way too much time on editing the modulations and not enough time on writing. Also I find that I have to change the way I write and some melodies to accommodate the samples and the transitions. If any of you can give me programming advice that would be great. I've even tried layering sustain samples with portamento samples. I lowered the volume of the portamento samples with the hopes of creating that slight transition noise underneath the sustain samples. Not sure if that made any sense, but I know that there has got to be something I'm missing. Overall I'm extremely pleased with the sound quality of the Appassionata Strings.....couldn't get any better. Thanks

Hello,

I having some issues with Appassionata Strings sounding legato. I know I'm probably not doing something correct. So any help would be appreciated. I looking for a really smooth fluid like legato to create really nice melodies. I have uploaded a clip I made using the violas. I have them playing a scale and then an arpeggio at the same velocity level. All notes are overlapped. But I'm still getting a slight bouncing feel to the legato. It doesn't seem to flow from one note to the other. I'm not necessarily looking for portamento, but just a little more of a slide or smearing sound, just so the transitions sound a little more seamless. If I can figure this out, it would help me create more lyrical phrases. Is there a way I can control the amount of slide between notes, so I can make the legato a little slower and not so choppy? Thanks
Download Ryan Taubert - Vienna Viola Scale

Hello,
I just recieved the Appassionata Strings. The installation seemed to run smoothly. The stand alone works perfectly. The vst plug in was automatically placed in the vst folder on my Macbook under library/audio/plugins. When I open Cubase SL3, and go to my VST Instruments, the Appassionata Strings are not showing up for some reason even though the plug in is in the folder. I've tried to reinstall but nothing seems to be working. I would greatly appreciate it if someone could help me with these issue. I won't be able to actually make music until I can use the vst plug in. Thanks

Ryan Taubert