Any advice for "violently" short celli attacks?

[Phattlippz]

I can\'t seem to find any celli or bass patches that have what I would call a \"violently\" short attack--a very percussive sound that I need for some intense battle sequences I\'m scoring. Oddly enough, for those of you who have the old Roland string section library, there is a celli patch that has this quality--but it\'s not as nice sounding as the Garritan library, nor is it sampled as thoroughly. I haven\'t been through *every* patch yet, so maybe I\'m overlooking something. I might be able to make it work if I could alter the release times on the \"short bowings\"--they are all way too long for fast tempos. Any easy way to do that?

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[Damon]

GPC 8 is the length control for the short bows. What you\'ll want to do is send a midi message of controller 83 (GPC 8) right before the first note of your phrase in your sequencer. 0 is the shortest bowing you will get, 127 the longest.
Hope that helps!

[Phattlippz]

Thanks. I\'ll have to re-load 2 programs because I figured out how to quickly change the release time and inadvertently saved the changes.

It still would be cool to have a very aggressive marcato celli patch. Is there a MIDI controller that would allow me to globally alter the \"start\" point in the samples?

[Garritan]

Phattlippz,

Try the Cellos Short Bow - Marcato/sfz patch. The sfz stands for sforzando, which has an forced and aggressive attack. The sforzando is in forte velocities so you must play aggressively. The length control will provide the desired length you want for the short bows.

Although MaestroTools enables you to automatically alternate between up-bows and down-bows, it also enables you to choose either up-bows or down-bows. Often the type of agressive sound you seek is is sharp down-bow. Hit the A#0 keyswitch in MaestroTools to switch all of the notes play down-bows.

Next, try doubling the cello line with the Bass Staccato or the Short Staccato patch. Often when scoring for film, composers will double the cello line with the double bass to get that \"gritty\" sound. Doubling can impart stength and give you that intense sound.

In sum, try the Cellos Marcato/Sforzando patch, play aggressively, set MaestroTools to downbows, and double the line with the Basses. Let us know how this works for you.

Gary


[This message has been edited by Garritan (edited 11-01-2001).]