Solo Violin

[rageangel]

When is the new Solo Violin going to be released?

[Styxx]

Although not soon enough, I heard hint of some time in April.

[rageangel]

Gary? Could we have an update on when this extremely exciting product might be available?

[Garritan]

We are planning to release the Stradivari Solo Violin this spring. Hopefully around Musicmesse or shortly thereafter.

Gary Garritan

[Joseph Burrell]

Which reminds me that I need to be the 50,000th post. That'll be the only way I get this or the Jazz library. Man, I'm one broke son of a gun. :p

[ixm]

When will we hear more demos for this product? :cool:

[Giorgio Tommasini]

When will we hear more demos for this product? :cool:

A few days ago Gary posted this little demo, highlighting some aspects of real time playing (no editing), with legato & portamento, and some timbrical characteristics of the new instrument. Perhaps it was buried in a long thread. :)

http://www.garritan.com/mp3/strad-portamento.wav

Giorgio

[Chinablu]

A few days ago Gary posted this little demo, highlighting some aspects of real time playing (no editing), with legato & portamento, and some timbrical characteristics of the new instrument. Perhaps it was buried in a long thread. :)

http://www.garritan.com/mp3/strad-portamento.wav

Giorgio

Very cool, Giorgio! (mi impressiona scrivere in inglese a un cononale) :)

:) China

PS - Sono l'autore del post nel forum del Corriere ;)

[Chinablu]

A few days ago Gary posted this little demo, highlighting some aspects of real time playing (no editing), with legato & portamento, and some timbrical characteristics of the new instrument. Perhaps it was buried in a long thread. :)

http://www.garritan.com/mp3/strad-portamento.wav

Giorgio

Very cool, Giorgio! (mi impressiona scrivere in inglese a un cononale) :)

:) China

PS - Ho preso nota del tuo indirizzo di e-mail nel forum del Corriere ;)

[Markleford]

Giorgio,

I don't think we have ever heard how difficult data collection and sample correlation might be in your process. A few questions:

1) Now that you have the base technology in place, how hard is it to create a new model? In other words, when handed a new physical instrument, how long does it take to sample all the sounds you need to analyze and align?

2) Can you apply what you've learned to any bowed string instrument? For example, how much of a jump is it to capture the physics of a double bass? And how much of a stretch will it be to start to model winds and brass? (tonguing, reed clicks, etc)

3) Eventually, could a Strad model be morphed against a model of another violin maker? Such as to capture a "genetic child" of a Strad and a Guarn?

4) How much of the process is dedicated to modelling the original player himself? I can only imagine the same Strad may sound different in two player's hands (vibrato, bowing, gliss)!

I also understand if you can't yet reveal this information due to secrecy! ;)

Incidentally, I think the Strad in this demo, when playing portamento in the low ranges, can start to approximate a Chinese erhu instrument, which is very exciting to me! :)

- m

[Giorgio Tommasini]

Markleford,

We often asked ourselves the same questions ;)

1) Phase alignment can, at least in theory, be applied to any sample of harmonic instruments. However, best results are to be expected with very dry or anechoic samples.
Moreover, our approach aims at recreating the various articulation in real time by suitable mixing or crossfading of a selected number of attacks, sustains and releases, and is therefore less dependent on extensive sampling.
The optimal sampling strategy may therefore differ from that of a conventional library.

The phase alignment process is suitable for working in batch. Processing a set of sustains normally requires 6 to 8 hours on a powerful computer. But this is just the start of the job. :)

2) Creating an expressive violin is a difficult task, since this instrument involves a virtually infinite number of articulations, continuosly variable dynamics, timbre, vibrato intensity and rate, complex between-note transitions, portamento, pitch changes, etc.
All strings instruments exhibit more or less the same behavior, so we can expect to apply many of the solutions we adopted for the violin to the entire class.
Also, the Stradivari makes extensive use of a very sophisticated midi processing, aiming at converting simple keyboard input parameters such as note velocity, timing, overlapping, intervals, into a “violinistic” playing technique. It is conceivable that a similar approach, after suitable adaptations, may prove useful with wind and brass instruments.

3) Two different violins may be effectively morphed, either in the frequency domain or by substituiting their respective modal resonance spectrum.

4) This is a very intriguing question. Recording a string instrument for this kind of application ideally requires a very different playing technique.
I cannot presently provide further details. ;)

Your observation on the approximation of a chinese string instrument by the Stradivari portamento in the low range is very exciting to me, since I also love that kind of sound. Months ago Gary uploaded during a chat session a very small excerpt of a “Chinese Stradivari” that I created with an earlier version of the violin. Perhaps you’ll be able to find it somewhere…. ;)

Thank you for your interest,

Giorgio

[Markleford]

Thank you, Giorgio! This project is just so fascinating to me both musically and scientifically. :)

- m