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Audiomodeling String Sections

Phryq said:
But I think for a really fair comparison, you should play by hand each violin section, for the natural human humanization.
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You are right about that. But since I work mostly in Dorico I’m interested how it sounds out of the box.

Phryq said:
I'd also be curios how these libraries sound layered together (going bone dry into the same reverb), as they should in theory blend very well.
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They sound great together. The different tone (especially on the attacks), vibrato and how runs and trills are played works great. Even when copy-pasted.
 
Is someone using SWAM Sections with VE Pro 7?
I disabled the included room simulation, as I’m about to switch my whole VEP template to Berlin Studio.

As soon as I set a bus as an output for the SWAM channel, I get dropouts and CPU spikes like crazy. There’s not even any plug-in on the bus channel.

EDIT: That does not happen, when routing it directly to an output.

Can anybody test that? I’m already on the latest version.
 
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youngpokie said:
One thing that I feel is not there yet is the amount and control of vibrato, especially in the smallest section sizes - it's too faint. But even 6 string players (equal to the largest size in SWAM) can easily synchronize the vibrato so that it sounds deep and prominent.
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+1 on this.

I also would like to hear a more prominent vibrato, maybe you could add a slider for setting the vibrato sync between the player (a different slider from pitch and timing accuracy).
 
So based on what it can currently do, are we safe to assume that each violin divisi section of 4 is in fact 4 solo violins under the hood?
 
I'm certain that someone playing divisi sections by hand, without copy pasting, could get an amazing sound. Especially if layered with SM strings in something like MIR.

Like, maybe the 4 violins are too tight, but between the 4 humanized sections, you could make them much looser. Then SM strings adds even more looseness.
 
Phryq said:
I'm certain that someone playing divisi sections by hand, without copy pasting, could get an amazing sound.
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Although not exactly related to what you are saying, here's another thing I'm noticing. I'm playing in by hand, but using an external reverb, because of everything else in my template. And it's been a lot harder for me to dial in the tone for these string sections.

First, the EQ controls have been reduced to 2 here compared to other SWAM instruments, and the second point is that I can perceive that the sections have different proximity information baked in. Normally, section strings are supposed to be closer to the listener (and drier) than other instruments in panorama, but here they actually sound more distant and much darker than the rest of SWAM line up. So far, the violins tend to sound a little thin for me and I haven't yet figured out a way to handle that (I don't want to layer or use SM, etc). I am not finding that layering divisi helps with this - even when I'm playing like a high school orchestra with massive timing differences. It does sound very real but not richer in tone.

I can totally understand how it might make perfect sense to make section strings in this way for Audio Modeling, but it's probably going to take me a little longer to figure out how to deal with this in my own setup.

If the good people at Audio Modeling can comment on this, I'd be very interested.
 
youngpokie said:
So far, the violins tend to sound a little thin for me and I haven't yet figured out a way to handle that (I don't want to layer or use SM, etc).
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In the default setting the SM sound much thinner. In my example above I turned the low eq of the SWAM violins way up and the low eq all the way down to get a bit closer to the tone of SM. But still SM sounds thinner
 
THIS is what I meant somewhere in this thread above what I would expect Audio Modeling to realise for solo and ensemble strings.

 
Major1981 said:
THIS is what I meant somewhere in this thread above what I would expect Audio Modeling to realise for solo and ensemble strings.

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Eventually they will get there. If you explore the parameter space a bit more on the AM product line, i think you can find ways to bring out more of the artifacts of bowing and expression. I use some custom IRs to blend in so I can achieve a woody timbre in key passages, depending on the channel pressure, for example. Rohan de Livera has some videos on the parameter space argument.
 
Major1981 said:
THIS is what I meant somewhere in this thread above what I would expect Audio Modeling to realise for solo and ensemble strings.

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Trying to figure out what they meant here by sympathetic resonance, I got an idea.

What if you created reverb IRs by projecting the sine sweep into the violin's body?
 
I'm just in utter shock that no one has made a demo of this keba library actually sounding *good*. I'm so certain that it could sound amazing and all the examples suck
 
Bruhelius said:
Eventually they will get there. If you explore the parameter space a bit more on the AM product line, i think you can find ways to bring out more of the artifacts of bowing and expression. I use some custom IRs to blend in so I can achieve a woody timbre in key passages, depending on the channel pressure, for example. Rohan de Livera has some videos on the parameter space argument.
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I think what PS does here (and mean by sympathetic resonance) is to introduce the sound of the neighbouring strings as they resonate along the string that is actually played. Like when you hold the sustain pedal on a piano and play a note and the other strings resonate. From my experience as a former string player (cello), these artefacts are most prominent when changing from one string to another.

I think it should be possible to introduce that kind of behaviour in the SWAM strings, since the whole instrument is modelled already… especially ricochet would sound really realistic

 
Major1981 said:
I think it should be possible to introduce that kind of behaviour in the SWAM strings, since the whole instrument is modelled already… especially ricochet would sound really realistic
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yeah, I would think one can do a ricochet with the "off string bow lift" in SWAM together with the "down-bow" and keeping very short notes.
Both Audio Modeling and Samplemodeling strings can do pretty convincing ricochet rendering.
 
Bruhelius said:
I would think one can do a ricochet with the "off string bow lift" in SWAM together with the "down-bow" and keeping very short notes.
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I agree, plus the bow pressure CC curve can be adjusted to start before the actual Note-On and to drop very sharply, which I think would add realism.

But I've never heard of ricochet used in the context of string sections, only in solo playing; I suppose that's because it's impossible to sync and make it perceivable in a group.
 
Does anyone who use SWAM Sections notice frequent "Network Permission Required" popup windows? They are extremely annoying, frequently in error and there is no way to disable them. Ugghhhhh!
 
Bruhelius said:
yeah, I would think one can do a ricochet with the "off string bow lift" in SWAM together with the "down-bow" and keeping very short notes.
Both Audio Modeling and Samplemodeling strings can do pretty convincing ricochet rendering.
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You are right to a certain extent. In SM you can dial in harmonics and turn cc38 (?) up. But in the example I posted you can hear the neighbouring strings resonate a lot, which is a part of the sound. I have found no way to simulate that behaviour. I think Audio Modeling could do that in the future. It’s beyond sampling.
 
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I would like to ask AM (@StefanoLucato @lelepar) if it were possible to add a midi CC for ensemble size. I'd like to be able to change it during the playback of a track as it is in SM Strings.

The way it is now force me to create a track for every size and it is a waste of resources in my opinion.
 
DANIELE said:
I would like to ask AM (@StefanoLucato @lelepar) if it were possible to add a midi CC for ensemble size. I'd like to be able to change it during the playback of a track as it is in SM Strings.

The way it is now force me to create a track for every size and it is a waste of resources in my opinion.
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I’m changing it in Cubase in an automation lane of an instrument track. It’s also assignable as a track QC. Works perfectly here
 
youngpokie said:
I’m changing it in Cubase in an automation lane of an instrument track. It’s also assignable as a track QC. Works perfectly here
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There's no option in the GUI to assign that to a midi CC afaik, but I didn't think to use the Reaper FX Chain feature to do it I'm very dumb.

Thank you for the tip, I'll try once I will be back in my studio.
 
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