STRADIVARI SOLO VIOLIN DEMO - Orange Blossom Special

[Garritan]

Many of you have asked for a demo of the upcoming Stradivari Violin. Here is a hot rendition of Orange Blossom Special'. This well known country tune demonstrates different bowing techniques.

Here is a link

http://www.garritan.com/Strad/OrangeBlossomSpecial.mp3

As you can hear, the solo Stradivari is adept at playing fiddle tunes just as well as virtuoso classical works.

Many thanks to Robert Davis for his assitance in realizing this country classic. And to Giorgio Tommasini and Stefano Lucato for their intense work in making this instrument possible.

We will we posting more demos in the next few weeks and we're also getting ready to start taking pre-orders soon.

The library is expected to be released as a Kontakt 2 library at first and followed by a Kontakt player instrument. We'll post more details as soon as we can.

Enjoy!

Gary Garritan

[YBaCuO]

I'm impressed.

[loogoo]

Hot dang! I knew there was a reason I just got Kontakt 2. Will there be a significant advantage of one format (Kontakt 2 vs. Kontakt player) over another?

[UNIX_GURU]

I have never heard a "sampled" violin do that, wow. :eek:

[Jim Clark]

Eehah! (Did I spell that right?!)
Good work!

[brasspig]

Wow! Sounds amazing Gary! Love the smears/gliss/portamento/slides . . whatever you could call them on a Stradivarius Bluegrass Violin Fiddle! :)

What's next? GPBB (Garritan Personal Bluegrass Band) or would it be the GPHoedown?? I've been looking for a good JUG sample!

How much longer do you think it will be until the Virtual Instrument route is taken? I should probably just give in and buy Kontakt2 . . .but I'm trying to save some moolah to go back to college! :)

Brasspig

[jesshmusic]

When my father was in the band, the Buckaroos (Buck Owens) did this tune. The late Don Rich would play the fiddle and my dad played bass. I have heard it MANY times. lol

[SeanHannifin]

I love it!! :D I can't wait to get my hands on it . . . look out for Sean's Violin Concerto No 1 :D (and perhaps my own set of caprices and suites, yay!)

[Jerry W.]

Gary!

WOWSERS!!

That is so realistic - I wonder - how much was "live" playing vs. programmed.

Getting tingles listening to this.

Jerry :)

[thesoundsmith]

Great licks - I would like a bit more detache on the lines at 0:13-0:23, thought, sounds legato to my old ears. But I can't wait for this lib either - I already have several songs that absoultely require either a real jazz violinist or this lib.

[Godfrey]

Curse you, Gary! Until hearing that, I thought the Strad library was something I could resist!

I've listened to it about ten times now, and I still have a hard time believing that's a sampled instrument.

[Jerry W.]

I should probably just give in and buy Kontakt2 . . .but I'm trying to save some moolah to go back to college! :)

Brasspig

I hear you Don! But you need K2! It is SOOOOO worth it. The included samples libraries are nice - but the absolute control you have over them is cool.

:)

Jerry

[Theodor]

very nice!!

[js33]

Sweet. Sounds good except for the hum. Was that digital hum?

Cheers,
JS

[Per Lichtman]

I'm downloading the sample as I type. I'm glad to see that this project is still a high priority, I got worried after the delay announcement that it just wasn't very high on the priority list compared to the big band add-on and GPO-A. I have to say, I kept running that NAMM footage by my some of the other music majors last year and they were pretty dang impressed... but not compared to me. ;-) I really want this library in my hands and I don't have K2 yet. I guess I may upgrade, depending on the time frame you plan on releasing the Kontakt Player library in. But... such have got to be hard to predict with all the variables in play at this point. I'll just have to wait a little longer and see.

[Robert Kooijman]

This sounds like one the best plugs for Kontakt2 that NI could ever dream of... (says a long time Halion user;)

Amazing work Gary!

[Pingu]

Will the Kontakt Player instrument contain any functionality which can't be implemented in Kontakt 2? If so what will the crossgrade price be if we buy the library for Kontakt 2 first?

[Worra]

He, he Gary! You've done it again!

[Lux]

the playing and overall effect is nice.

The timbre looks nice too, but why the sound is so much masked into the cue? I find it pretty far sounding.

[artsoundz]

shoooo-weee! right purty, ahll tell yoo wut! Mah wife/sister loved it real good like. K

[leogardini]

Sounds very realistic and promising!!!

[Garritan]

Sweet. Sounds good except for the hum. Was that digital hum?

Cheers,
JS
JS,

The hum was intentional and added a la Izotope Vinyl (to make it sound like an old recording). A pristine version can be done - but it's hoedown and sounds better when it's down and dirty http://www.northernsounds.com/forum/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

Gary Garritan

[js33]

JS,

The hum was intentional and added a la Izotope Vinyl (to make it sound like an old recording). A pristine version can be done - but it's hoedown and sounds better when it's down and dirty http://www.northernsounds.com/forum/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

Gary Garritan

Oh so it was digital hum. Hehehehe. Well I think it would be better without the hum. I have heard plenty of old recordings that don't have hum. Maybe scratches from the vinyl would have been OK but no hum. I thought you just had a bad cable or something.

Cheers,
JS

[synergy543]

Quite amazing Gary. I'd love to hear what parameters or controllers were used to achieve that performance. I'm sure it was sequenced but it has a nice spontaneous live performance feel to it. Great job.

Do tell more!

[ddarwin7]

Awesome work Gary.

I am looking forward to more and more demos. I am eagrly waiting for some real slow demos. Want to know what it sound like for very slow solo pieces.

Good old faschion fiddlin. I feel like I am at the Grand Old Opry. Makes me wanna stomp my feet and get me some moonshine.

"Now y'all come back you hear"

[StrangeCat]

wow that sounded so damn real LOL...now for some reason I picture a mech-gear that comes with the program/SampleLib, yea and you manipulate all the controllers and everything with this gear and you wear it! WHAHAHAH :cool:

[synergy543]

I've been thumping my foot all day wondering where is this all leading?
What has he created?

http://www.artistidistrada.org/Img_0123%20OK%20Giorgio%20di%20fianco.jpg

Any similarity to a real sample developer is purely your imagination. :D

[Garritan]

I've been thumping my foot all day wondering where is this all leading?
What has he created?
Any similarity to a real sample developer is purely your imagination. :D
synergy543,

Please note that the Stradivari Solo Violin is a virtual instrument and a computer is required. Here is a more accurate picture of virtual instrument busking :D:


http://www.audiomastermind.us/wp-content/images/wierd_tour.jpg

[synergy543]

He he :D

The green-beanie man is great! Lap-top & speaker and your set to go.

Gary, you need to get this fiddle in the hands of that nude cowboy in New York for some real foot-stompin publicity. ;)
On second thought, this green-beanie man might do the job :D

Needless to say, you've already created quite a stir!

[Haydn]

To use the Solo Strad you'll need a 5 octave keyboard with channel aftertouch (Aftertouch is also needed for the Jazz and Big Band library), a mod wheel or a slider programmed to CC1. A controller pedal or another slider programmed to CC11. Pretty basic stuff.

[ArsNova]

Now you've gotta admitt. That 'der fiddle is pretty darn good!

[synergy543]

Do you really need after touch?

So many keyboards don't have this. Is there a way around this? Can you re-route another CC in Kontakt or is this an intergral part of the performance process?

[Damon]

Sounds awesome Gary! Wow....very impressed;)

[thesoundsmith]

Do you really need after touch?

So many keyboards don't have this. Is there a way around this? Can you re-route another CC in Kontakt or is this an intergral part of the performance process?
Aftertouch is an integral expressive control for professional synthesists. The ability to add that extra layer of spice to a sustaining sound really helps animate a static part.

General rule of thumb: the more controls, the more you CAN control, but also the more you MUST control, so your choice is either static or animated. Learn to play your keyboard with feeling, not just as a way to enter data into a composition program, and you'll understand why aftertouch is so useful.

[Garritan]

General rule of thumb: the more controls, the more you CAN control, but also the more you MUST control, so your choice is either static or animated. Learn to play your keyboard with feeling, not just as a way to enter data into a composition program, and you'll understand why aftertouch is so useful.Well put Dasher. You seem to really get what this instrument is about. http://www.northernsounds.com/forum/images/smilies/wink.gif

The Solo Stradivari certainly is an 'animated' instrument and not a 'static' one. The goal is to provide a uniquely 'playable' instrument.

What mades a real violin sound so expressive is that the player has such animated control over the instrument that is constantly changing (and never static). A subtle bounce of the bow, a flip of the wrist for a double stop, an aggressive attrack, precise vibrato control, tremolo, trills, effects, portamento, etc. - so many things being done in real-time and dynamically.

Trying to squeeze this onto a MIDI keyboards is a challenge - and the more controls the better. This is an advanced 'performance' instrument and one needs a minimum of a keyboard with a mod wheel, sustain AND expression pedal, aftertouch and assignable sliders/knobs.

Since samples are harmonically aligned, there are an infinite variety of possibilities. Not only is it possible to crossfade solo instruments and control the onset-speed-intensity of the vibrato, but there are so many other performace possibilites with this instrument. It is virtually impossible to get a so-called 'machine-gun effect' http://www.northernsounds.com/forum/images/smilies/smile.gif since we are no longer dealing with discrete static samples but rather animated or dynamic sampling. This represents a revolution in sampling.

Our team will be discussing more details soon and more demos will also follow.

Gary Garritan

[thesoundsmith]

Well put Dasher. You seem to really get what this instrument is about. http://www.northernsounds.com/forum/images/smilies/wink.gif
Well, I did a recording session a few months ago with one of the top jazz electric violinists, and the amount of different textures he could coax out of his violin was nothing short of amazing! One of his favorite techniques is turning the bow sideways, so just the edge of the bow touches the string, then rotate to full-contact (this probably has a name, but I don't know it.) The sound is conceptually like processing with a bandpass or hipass filter (but does not sound much like actually doing this.) This would be a logical aftertouch control, just to name one possibility

As many options as possible for real-time control has been my motto since the Arp 2600... :cool: