Building a string grouP from solo strings

[AndreasvanHaren]

I am building my own string orchestra from single solo string instrument, to avoid having the same sound doubled too much and because I have to use the same solo strings more then once to get a complete string group, should I use delay and detune on some of them? And how much?

Andre

[fabiolcati]

Hi Andre. And welcome back.
I'm working on the same approach these days detuning some single players +1 / -1 with a bunch of them stone grounded at *0*
I don't use any delay (mmh... a delay... why not indeed?)
Hope it helps

[AndreasvanHaren]

Hi Andre. And welcome back.
I'm working on the same approach these days detuning some single players +1 / -1 with a bunch of them stone grounded at *0*
I don't use any delay (mmh... a delay... why not indeed?)
Hope it helps

Hi!
Yes, I was away for a while because I bought Kontakt 4, happy with the great orchestra inside until I discovered that I don't like the strings at all. Missing many things and they appear to sound very fake in my (and my wife's) ears. it's a relieve to hear the GPO strings again.

I just build the 1st and 2nd strings sections, each in their own Aria instance. 1st has 16 violins, the 2nd has 14 violins. I use different on every slot, there ARE enough sol instruments to do this, that's a nice thing. I did a detuning on every 3rd violin, ranging between -12 till -20 and took care to balance this again in others by giving them the detuning in + direction.

I looked for delay on single instruments, but there doesn't seem to be a way to do this in the Aria player.

I attached a picture. (https://www.box.net/shared/scrrqlqtz7)

Andre

[fabiolcati]

-12 till -20 and +17 -- as I see from the picture -- is a lot of departure from the root...
My approach to detuning seems to be more conservative compared to yours!
I'll test tonight and I'll give you my feedback. Stay tuned (joke is unintentional).
Tjah.

[AndreasvanHaren]

-12 till -20 and +17 -- as I see from the picture -- is a lot of departure from the root...
My approach to detuning seems to be more conservative compared to yours!
I'll test tonight and I'll give you my feedback. Stay tuned (joke is unintentional).
Tjah.

Yes, but I went as far as my ears guided me. Lower then 15, there isn't a great difference in sound. Higher then 20, the detuning is too much. I noticed just now that in the violas group (12 soli) they sounded very much as a large solo instrument till I did the detuning; much better!

[ssilverm]

I know that I should know this, but how, once you have done this, do you save the results so that you don't have to keep repeating the task?

Steve S.

[fabiolcati]

I know that I should know this, but how, once you have done this, do you save the results so that you don't have to keep repeating the task?

Steve S.
Hi Steve.
Simply save your work as an ensemble and recall it as you need.
Even in notation programs: create staff (eg. Violins I) then load your ensemble instead of default instrument.

[AndreasvanHaren]

I took out my original detuning of the strings, I thought it was a good idea but after playing an octave: Phasing!!!

I don't believe it's necessary to detune anyway, because all the solo strings are different enough in timbre.

I just finished building my GPO template which contains every instrument from GPO 4. Making it a total of 238 tracks. Nice to see everything laid out like this. The harp 2 harmonics doesn't sound so well, lots of disturbing noises.