I had a very poor string library in Cubase Pro 11 so invested in Vertigo Strings library.. but am somewhat disappointed that it sounds quiet "synthy" now I am having a go with it
I am looking for a string library with natural lovely orchestral string sounds for a cinematic feel.. Many of the "proper" ones I see online are prohibitively expensive for the likes of me!
Any recommendations for someone at the bottom of the pile like me?
Truly convincing strings need not only a great sample library, they also demand a huge amount of painstaking input from the user. Multiple articulations, careful arrangement and ever-changing dynamics are critical. Left-hand octaves and right-hand triads aren't going to do the job.
That said I would take a look at Spitfire Labs - the free offerings from one of the best sample library businesses out there.
I quite like Native Instruments Session Strings - they sound good and its pretty easy to use.
The website has a lot of audio examples so you can hear what's possible before you commit. I say what's possible because a lot of getting sampled strings to sound 'real' is in the articulations you use. At the very least you should be on that mod wheel a lot, so it may be worth revisiting your existing product and see what's possible to make them sound less artificial, assuming you've not already done so? If you have, here's the link...
Another one to look at from Spitfire is the BBCSO range of products. It's a whole orchestra rather than just strings, and isn't available in individual sections like some of their other offerings, but the strings are very nice (at least in my opinion!) and they do offers throughout the year that make it a very tempting choice.
As has already been mentioned, there's some serious programming involved to get any library sounding convincing though. Even hugely expensive packages from the likes of VSL won't sound like real players straight out of the box, it all takes a lot of work.
The Elf wrote: ↑Mon Oct 11, 2021 3:56 pm
That said I would take a look at Spitfire Labs - the free offerings from one of the best sample library businesses out there.
and beautiful and fantastic and so lovely. The Spitfire string collection has a space - that hall- easy to live/play with - there is a sense of expanse - its not like the others
Yep I agree, try Spitfire Labs or their BBC Symphony Orchestra Discovery.
Spitfire also pay royalties to the musicians who were involved in the recordings which was good to know.
They also do a great Black Friday set of deals and discounts on major products every month.
As others have said the library is just the start, the realism comes from knowing some basics about orchestrating and programming/playing the various articulations convincingly.
Spitfire have a useful academy of walkthroughs to help and this magazine ran some great articles from Dave Stewart on the basics of orchestration.
I’m not in any way affiliated with Spitfire by the way!
I only listened to the first one or two examples (links) but I thought they sounded absolutely awful. If I had been playing in a string orchestra that sounded like that i would have walked out. Sounds nothing like a professional string section. Total garbage!
Ariosto wrote: ↑Tue Oct 12, 2021 10:28 am
I only listened to the first one or two examples (links) but I thought they sounded absolutely awful. If I had been playing in a string orchestra that sounded like that i would have walked out. Sounds nothing like a professional string section. Total garbage!
Even the best efforts of people to create realistic strings don't work perfectly at the moment, except for simple sustained lines which can sound pretty good. I'm hopeful that will change over the next 10 years as sample libraries use machine learning to generate proper bowing, phrasing, vibrato and dynamics.
Ariosto wrote: ↑Tue Oct 12, 2021 10:28 am
I only listened to the first one or two examples (links) but I thought they sounded absolutely awful. If I had been playing in a string orchestra that sounded like that i would have walked out. Sounds nothing like a professional string section. Total garbage!
Ariosto wrote: ↑Tue Oct 12, 2021 10:28 am
I only listened to the first one or two examples (links) but I thought they sounded absolutely awful. If I had been playing in a string orchestra that sounded like that i would have walked out. Sounds nothing like a professional string section. Total garbage!
