But if you play with them first, understand their limitations and then decide to compose, they can be brilliant tools. Don’t expect you can explore too many techniques though, and for this reason, many contemporary composers will not be able to fully express themselves through these instruments. They can be used with Kontakt and run straight from Finale (and probably Sibelius too), so you can listen to what you are composing. Both present samples and control of the 4 string instruments (violin I, violin II, viola and cello), with a variety of techniques (like tremolo, staccato, harmonics, etc.). Luckily I had the chance to try out the sample libraries of Berlin String’s Fir st Chairs and Cinematic Studio’s Solo Strings. I have no financial means for paying musicians to record, so could technology help me? I was dead curious to know how it really sounded and to get as close to the experience of listening to a quartet as possible. Currently, I have no opportunities for having my music performed, but still, I wanted to be able to listen to this quartet. The revision fixed many mistakes and added a bit more depth to it. It’s simple, nothing innovative, but I like some of its harmonic ideas and it has a nice coherence/flow. In the scheme of virtual instruments, quartets are hard, but I think virtual quartets are less limited at this point than choirs or solo voices.I recently revised a string quartet I wrote at the very beginning of my career, 18 years ago! It is a 3 movements quartet that was inspired by impressionism, when I was studying Debussy, Ravel, etc. Choir and solo voices are even more limited. Orchestral string libraries likewise only give a very limited account of what orchestral strings can do, and the same is true for brass, especially woodwinds, and even piano and percussion, which are the instruments probably furthest developed as VIs. None of those combinations comes close to what a real quartet could do, of course, but that‘s broadly true of virtual instruments. I’ve also acquired the Berlin FCs, but haven’t yet tried them as a quartet. And I have a few other quartets I can configure (Amber, the solo setting from 8Dio’s Intimate Strings) plus things like the BDT, the Arnold Evolutions, and the Westwood instruments for quartet textures. I also use XCSS along with the SF First Desk violin for a second quartet when I need extended techniques. It has a limited set of things it does well, but within those constraints I find it works well. This combination has worked well for me in writing. And I have quite enjoyed writing quartet music with the first desk violin as first violin, the violin from AltSS and progressive violin from Solo Strings sharing duties as second violin, and the viola and cello from the Solo Strings filling out the quartet. But it’s broadly true of the SF set, and one reason I like to work with the SF Solo Strings when writing chamber music (and one reason I have been tempted by the Sacconi). I find this especially with the first desk violin, which has been my favored violin for several years now. One thing I very much appreciate about the SF Solo Strings is how well they take to shaping of lines. It’s just that that’s what i find I have to do, and it makes it hard to incorporate the instruments into chamber music, because the instruments act like they expect other instruments to follow them rather than listening and adjusting to other players. I should add with all these instruments that there is nothing wrong with the instruments seemingly having wills of their own and writing music to the sweet spots of the instruments. Lovely tone, but I have to follow it where it wants to go. It's recorded as a virtuosic solo instrument performed as a virtuosic solo instrument, and the samples largely bake in exactly the same progressive vibrato into every single not played, meaning you can't coordinate expressively with other members of the quartet (the "watching each other's elbows" string quartet effect).Ĭlick to expand.Yes, I have the Bohemian cello as well, and I find it similar. ![]() in it's sweet spots), but the SsS sweet spots generally require some performance in dynamics and vibrato so they don't give you that kind of instant gratification of the JB.Īlso, the JB’s design isn't is necessarily good for quartets. Spitfire solo strings by contrast, sounds terrible if you try to plonk in a JB-sweet-spot-eque line, but it's a *lot* better that the JB for certain things (ie. And yet, this is also very limited sweet spot, expressively, in particularly that it gives you very virtually no ability to craft the dynamics arc of a note. But part of it's popularity is that it's particular sweet spot happed to be a highly plonkably sweet spot - you plonk in a line almost like you're playing a piano, and it's amazing how good it sounds. I love the JB, and it's certainly best in class.
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