Beyond reviewing for you the capabilities of Power Pan, Ernest Cholakis has provided a never-before-published mini-course on how to pan each instrument in the orchestra, and how to set the stereo width so that each instrument has its own space in the mix. Sonic Control appreciates the time, effort and great gift from Ernest to the community this series has been.

MAIN PERCUSSION
This includes timpani, snare drum, bass drum and cymbals.

Timpani

Snare Drum

Bass Drum

Cymbal

MALLET PERCUSSION
This includes glockenspiel, marimba, and xylophone.

Glockenspiel

Marimba

Xylophone

Tubular Bells

OTHER NON-PITCHED PERCUSSION

This includes tam-tam (gong), triangle, etc.

Triangle

The percussionist playing triangle often has a stand or table on which can be found Latin American instruments (claves, maracas, etc.), woodblock, and other non-pitched percussion.

Tambourine

HARP/KEYBOARDS

Harp

Piano

In a concerto, the piano is usually stage front. Sometimes in a film scoring session the piano can be on the far left.

Celeste

While brass positions can be moved around, the woodwinds seating plan remains remarkably consistent. The chart below is from Alexander Publishing’s Writing For Strings Expanded 2011 Course. Used with permission.

The chart indicates that the flutes and clarinets are left of center while the double reed instruments are right of center. With that in mind, here’s how the Vienna Suite’s Power Pan enables you to pinpoint stage positioning in the virtual environment.

LEFT OF CENTER
Piccolo

Flute

Clarinet

Bass Clarinet

RIGHT OF CENTER
Oboe

English Horn

Bassoon

Contrabassoon

THOUGHTS FROM ERNEST CHOLAKIS
Reverb Impulses can dramatically shape the overall sound and tone of a particular recording. Audio demos with this technology in various music styles can be found at the following link http://www.numericalsound.com/forti-serti-audio-demos.html

Technical information on how to use Vienna Suite with FORTI SERTI can be found at http://www.numericalsound.com/documents/FORTI_SERTI_QuickStart_Guide_1.pdf also a reverb impulse comparison or shootout can be found at http://www.numericalsound.com/FORTI_SERTI_RI_Shootout.html

Note that users who do not have Vienna Suite but Logic can use Logic’s plugin “Direction Mixer”. This plugin combined with the the mixer’s pan can precisely set ER’s ambient stereo field setting precisely adjusting where each instrument section sits in the orchestra. I personally prefer the much more elegant plugin PowerPan in Vienna Suite.

I’ve just installed Hollywood Brass Diamond and in this review I’m breaking down how to write and plan your template with it. Understanding the diagram below is key to working with the library.

I’m making the following comments as the author of Professional Orchestration 2B: Orchestrating the Melody in the Woodwind and Brass Sections which was endorsed by Pulitzer Prize nominated composer Stephen Melillo, and after having compared Hollywood Brass to Vienna Orchestral Brass I and II, and Project SAM Orchestral Brass. I don’t have SONiVOX Brass. I do not have Vienna Dimension Brass.

Overall, what Hollywood Brass enables you to do is to plan your writing and music production similar to how you would write for a live orchestral brass ensemble section by section.

Trumpets
Hollywood Brass has solo trumpet, two trumpets in unison and three trumpets in unison.

1. For vertical harmony you can take Solo Trumpet and write it in two or three parts (block harmony or polyphonic writing). If you find some beading happening in 3-part vertical harmony, take a trumpet from another library and consider making it the 2nd trumpet so that Hollywood Brass Solo Trumpet is the top and bottom part.

2. For octaves, take the Trumpets 2 on the high part and put Solo Trumpet an octave lower. You can also write in “light” harmony with thirds, sixths, fourths, and fifths with this combination.

3. If you’re writing a work with only two trumpets, use Solo Trumpet for individual lines, combined for two-part harmony and then move to the unison Two Trumpets.

French Horns
The French horns work slightly differently and here if you want to write more than three (3) vertical harmony parts, you may want to consider adding a horn from a different library on one of the inner parts, and keep the Hollywood Brass Solo French Horn on the inner and outer parts.

You have a Solo French Horn, Two French Horns and Six French horns. You do not have four French Horns in unison which is the most common symphonic setup. Instead, you have a section more akin to Mahler and Strauss. Bear in mind that at f, it takes 2 French Horns to equal 1 Trumpet because the bells of the horns point to the rear of the stage.

Solo French Horn – The Solo horn can be written solo (obviously!), in up to three, possibly 4 vertical harmony parts. For each two vertical harmony parts you’re writing, when you want to move to unison, go to Two French Horns.

Two French Horns – Two French Horns at f = 1 Solo Trumpet at f, so plan your volume levels accordingly. You can use two pairs of Two French Horns to simulate a four-horn section. If you’re writing for four trumpets at f, you can emulate Mahler and use Two French Horns on separate tracks playing open harmony supporting the trumpets or interlocking with the Trombones. For a six French Horn sound, you can write in in triads or other form of three-part harmony and then dissolve into a unison with the Six French horns.

Six French Horns – I suggest keeping these to unison.

Trombones
The trombones work slightly differently. In the symphony, you often have three tenor trombones and then tuba. With Hollywood Brass you have one (1) Solo Trombone, then 3 Trombones in unison including the bass trombone. Then, of course, tuba.

Solo Trombone – Similar comments as above. You can have one to three trombones in light or triadic harmony and add the Tuba for the fourth part. Or, you can write polyphonically with three Trombone parts, then move to the Three Trombone Unison.

Three Trombones – This is a solid unison sound that sounds like a trombone section in unison (I lead a big band with five trombones, so I should know). It enables you to write in either the French school with trombones in the upper register, or in the German school with the trombones in the lower register creating that big dramatic sound.

Learning Curve
Hollywood Brass doesn’t have nearly the number of articulations as Hollywood Strings (whew!). Consequently, I’d guess 1-2 hours of experimentation with the various articulations and you’re ready to go. Use what I’ve outlined as your starting point for creating your template.

Organization and Writing Flexibility
The overall organization is very good and allows for a lot of writing flexibility. For example, in my Writing For Strings course, we analyze the overture of L’Arlesienne Suite #1 by Bizet which is written for only two French horns. Since Hollywood Brass has French horns in 2s, it works perfectly with the right amount of balance.

The opening to Mahler Symphony #3 has 8 horns in unison starting on bar 1. And the six horns in Hollywood Brass cover it beautifully.

Controlling Volume
As we know by experience, several brass libraries work out volume changes with velocity switching and others with cross fade.

The cross fade methodology used here allows you to create a much more natural line without worrying about your fingers hitting a pitch too hard and jumping up a dynamic level.

What Hollywood Brass Is Not
Hollywood Brass is an outstanding brass section for film, game, concert pieces, jazz and pop applications. And while it does have some “jazz” articulations and more coming on a future update, do not expect a trumpet section dangling up at Double High C. Having jazz articulations doesn’t mean having a sample section made up of guys like Al Porcino, Bobby Shew, Dusko Goykovich, Don Rader, Maynard, Lin Biviano, the late Bill Chase, or Stan Kenton’s trumpet section out of what we used to call North Texas State.

That said, you’ve got a flexibility in this library to cross musical styles, including up to a certain range, the group called Chase made up of four scream trumpet players.

Hollywood Brass doesn’t do these aerials, but it is organized so that you could approach them with Solo Trumpet, Two Trumpets, and the Three Trumpets. You could add to this parts of Ministry of Rock 1 and 2, and if you have Logic, there’s your Hammond.

My point here is don’t get locked into thinking that Hollywood Brass is entirely for film, game, and concert work. Though the performance of Chase was from the early 70s, still, the idea is there as to what you can produce with some musical creativity. With all the new PLAY stuff recorded in the new EastWest Studios, you can look at the entire collection and start picking and choosing to create unique ensembles.

Pricing
With Hollywood Strings, I felt confident about suggesting that Gold was probably enough. But at this point with the intro pricing going on, and given that the library is only 150GB or so, I think you’d do well considering the Hollywood Brass Diamond Edition because of the extra flexibility it gives you in mixing and matching libraries.

Conclusion
What I like about Hollywood Brass is that it’s a studio sound, not a scoring stage sound, and not a hall sound. A studio sound. A studio sound, from my perspective, allows you more options, especially if you’re producing pieces with singers.

It’s quick to learn. And you have enough articulations to get the job done, including muted brass. The only “wish” I have at this point is that it would have been nice to have had Four French Horns and Two Trombones to round out the sectional possibilities.

Overall, I think it’s a great value, so get it while it’s on Pre-Order pricing.

HOLLYWOOD BRASS GOLD
Since writing this first review, Hollywood Brass Gold on DVD begins shipping the week of August 29, 2011. Demos can be found at the link above.

But I had another reason. You can upgrade to the Diamond Edition. This means you can get your feet wet on the system you have and really learn this library, then after upgrading, your major learning focus will be on mastering the Legato Bow Change and the various mic positions.

Finally. I’m reviewing this at a time when PLAY 3.0 is about to be released. So in fairness, I’m not making any comments about the player until 3.0 is released. Besides, there’s plenty to learn before that.

INVESTMENT AND INNOVATION
Before jumping into the overview, in fairness, I’m starting in the same place I did with L.A. Scoring Strings – innovation.

When we in America think about innovation, we often think about the small entrepreneur doing ground breaking work in his or her garage or bedroom, fighting the good fight, and then making it big. We Americans love this story. By comparison, at the ground level, we don’t often match innovation with the bigger companies unless we love them, like Apple.

One of the things that can happen when a company gets bigger, and they have the nice offices, or two, is that risk becomes more risky because they fear losing what they’ve already achieved.

That could have been said about EastWest, who’s clearly not operating out of their garage!

They have offices in Los Angeles, New York and Europe. In Los Angeles, they own their own recording studio. An envious position to be in, for sure. They manage shipping centers in the U.S. and Europe. When you see a commercial for UPS talking about logistics, that’s EastWest. Except they ship with FedEx. Not only are they the OEM, they’re also sub-distributors for several companies. They have a very strong presence on Facebook and have been aggressively learning to capitalize on social media. Judging by the comments on Facebook, it looks like they’re doing pretty good, too.

The above paragraph brings a single word to mind – coast. Another phrase, play it cool. Or, be safe.

So why risk? Why innovate? Why take a chance in a crappy global economy especially when you already have one of the best selling orchestral libraries in the world that’s still selling?

All fair questions.

And then, there’s one more factor. It’s no secret that the company has been hit with a lot of forum criticism over its PLAY player. That alone was enough to delay and defer investing in any major new library. Thus, the easy way out was to wait.

So what did EastWest do?

They risked and moved forward.

No one has told me the behind the scenes story. But I’ve been there enough times in my own entrepreneurial journey to know that the vision to go forward and a knife twisting in your gut to encourage non-action are often traveling companions. One has to win. There cannot be two masters. Every sample library developer that’s still around or about to make the plunge knows this.

What has been missed by many is that EastWest’s decision to go forward was a gutsy move in a time where playing it safe would have appeared to be the wiser decision.

But who ever said that entrepreneurs are wise?

In simple words, the goal was to have, “the most detailed collection of string orchestra instruments ever assembled.” And Doug Rogers plunked down the cash to make it happen. In short, they went for it.

The money didn’t just cover the recording time. PLAY itself had to be vastly updated to handle the vision presented by Nick Phoenix and Thomas J. Bergersen. So that meant extra programming costs. And more beta testing. And then over time, discovering just what type of computing power was really needed.

Every decision was a risk. Then the programing of PLAY took longer than expected. Then the programming of the library took longer than expected. So that delayed the launch by several months, until finally they said something I’ve heard about a few Thanksgiving dinners, “It’ll be ready when it’s ready.”

And that announcement represented yet another round of risk. With more investment!

Christmas 2009 and NAMM 2010 came and went. But April came, and it was released. A “mere” one million samples and over 3000 patches for Diamond alone. There had once been a plan to have a Diamond and a Gold package. But that was changed to Diamond only, then back to Diamond and Gold. What I have read, and I don’t recall where I read it, is that within a few weeks of its release, EastWest had made back its investment.

Risk -> reward.

The general conversation about Hollywood Strings frequently uses this short phrase, game changing. But why is it game changing? I think that specific reasons come faster when you look at Hollywood Strings from an orchestration perspective. So let’s do that.

STRING ORCHESTRA SIZE
Hollywood Strings is one of the few libraries that has recorded this large a string section. All of the sections are independently recorded including Violins 2, which used a second group of players to sound different.

While many will look at this as a big film orchestra, outside filmland, this is a post-Romantic sized section, meaning that it’svery close to that used by Debussy, Holst, Mahler, Ravel, Wagner, and slightly bigger than what Berlioz asked for – 57 strings

Violins 1 – 16
Violins 2 – 14
Violas – 10
Cellos – 10
Basses – 7

Consequently, the end sonic result should be a big beautiful massive sound, depending on how you write. It has been the trend over the past few years to play Baroque works with a string ensemble maybe a third this size. In his letters to his father, Leopold, Mozart wrote with joy and excitement about hearing his symphonies played with a much larger ensemble. Hearing A Little Night Music or portions of the Requiem mocked up with HS would be a treat, and not at all “historically” inaccurate.

I mention this because Hollywood Strings should not be considered for film/TV/game work only. If you’re someone who wants to compose outside those genre, then don’t pull back from Hollywood Strings because of its name. This library has vocabulary as you’re about to see.

Additionally, a live string section this size can handle woodwinds and brass in 3s and still be in balance. Mahler proved it, and sometimes he wrote for six to eight horns! When compared to the soon to be released Hollywood Brass, you find that the size of Hollywood Brass also follows the Mahler-model.

THE LANGUAGE OF THE BOW
The beginnings. Stating the obvious. Strings are bowed instruments. This means that with rare exception, all of the sounds produced on the violin come as a direct result of the bow. How many string bowings are there? Well, the American String Teachers Association publishes an entire book of them. So there’s far more actual bowings than what are usually available in string libraries. I mention this to point out that Hollywood Strings has recorded an enviable list of bowings that once you learn how to play them from the keyboard, gives you a good portion of that envious language from live performance, the language of the bow.

More bowings = more composer expression.

In the chart below, I’ve organized the bowings as listed on the Hollywood Strings home page, in the way string players often speak about them: on the string, off the string (the spiccato family), special effects, tremolo, and pizzicato.

The Hollywood Strings PDF manual, which you can download, gives you their definitions of all the bowings.

As I wrote at the top, the phrase game changing has been applied mostly to the sound, not to the bowings. I suggest that game changing might also be applied to Hollywood Strings bow choices, too.

Legato
There are two types of legato played in a string section. The first are those pitches played under a single bow. The second is by connected detache bowings which is a back and forth or push/pull motion.

Hollywood Strings Diamond gives you both types, Gold gives you one. One is called Legato and the other Bow Change Legato. The one available in Diamond is called bow change legato, and from what I’ve heard, that sounds to me the detache definition of legato I just gave you. See Nick Phoenix’s Legato Tutorial #1 for demonstration.

Not a criticism, but I wish that EastWest had considered placing this feature with at least Violins 1 in Gold to demonstrate the musical reasons for updating to Diamond beyond getting the multiple mic positions.

If you’re not sure the difference between the two bowings and why it’s exciting to have them, watch this brief video of Herbert von Karajan conducting a portion of Brahms Symphony #4 and you’ll see many of the bowings in action found in Hollywood Strings.

Sul G, Sul D, Sul A, etc.
Hollywood Strings has a feature described on the web site as, “Up- and down-bowed sustains, all at 4 finger positions, at least one full octave on each string.”

What this description does not clearly indicate is that the composer can create his own Sul G, Sul D, etc., with all four members of the string section.

For example, let’s consider the pitch D above middle C where middle C is C3. That D is the open D string on the Violins. The G string can also play that pitch. Though it’s in the First Position, some composers specifically mark that they want that D on the G string vs the open D. The score is marked Sul G. Please see the graphic on our Strings Position Booklet page that illustrates this. The color change is also visible per string on the Spectrotone Chart, which was created by four time Academy Award nominee for best score, and one of the founders of the Santa Monica Symphony, Arthur Lange.

Again, stating the obvious, this is the same pitch whether it’s played on the Open D or the covered G string. But they don’t sound the same. And that’s the whole point! The difference is intensity. The further down the neck towards the bridge the performer plays on a single string, the more intense the sound becomes.

Point: until the release of Hollywood Strings, unless a library had recorded pitches up an individual string, this capability has simply not been available before.

Separate Upbows and Downbows
EastWest is not the first to have this feature, but they do have it. The bowing has to be heard to be appreciated. Watch the opening of Beethoven Symphony #7, Second Movement to see repeated upbows in action and how they sound. Other recorded versions of this symphony place the upbows in different locations. The benefit of the feature to the composer is again, more vocabulary, and more musical expression. This is followed by short excerpts from Beethoven’s Ninth also conducted by von Karajan.

Examples of Spiccato and Staccato Mixed
Regarding the actual performance of spiccato and staccato, as seen in the video, I spoke to violinist Hannes Frischat at Strings On Demand who explained, “While in violin school, books and slow motion explanations spiccato leaves the string and staccato does not, in reality the distinction is not really as easy. Fast spiccato often stays on the string while very short staccato can leave the string.”

Col Legno
Col Legno is found in the opening of Mars from The Planets. To protect the bow, some of which cost $2000 and up, players often turn the bow to the side as performed here.

Measured Tremolo
Hollywood Strings is the first library to offer accurate measured tremolo because it syncs to tempo. This is another innovation not talked about too much.

BOWINGS: THE FIRST GAME CHANGER
I’m really surprised that more “fuss” (in a good sense) about the bowings in Hollywood Strings hasn’t been made. Those who know their bowings and always wanted the tools to score electronically this way, now can. Those who don’t know the bowings, have a library with which to grow. These bowing choices also give you another way to consider setting up your string template.

LEARNING HOLLYWOOD STRINGS
I think there’s a genuine need to have some game changing instruction for this library. The starting videos created by Nick Phoenix are very good. But I’d like to see more videos given the bowing potential Hollywood Strings gives you.

In fairness, I can say the exact same thing about two other libraries. So I’m not “picking on” EastWest.

CONCLUSION
When you look at Hollywood Strings from an orchestration perspective, it’s evident that this library, Diamond or Gold, is genuinely game changing not just at the “sounds great” level, but also at the starting point, the compositional/orchestration level, the language of the bow.

Now to learn it.

About Brass Positioning
The arrangement found in the screen capture below is based on the typical orchestra seating arrangement for a scoring session in Los Angeles as illustrated in Professional Orchestration Volume 1. The word typical must be emphasized, because ultimately, the two factors determining the final seating arrangement, and hence, placement in the stereo spectrum, are the stage on which the orchestra sits, and the desire of the conductor.

This link takes you to a chart requiring the conductor/music director to work out:

Go one more step by selecting your favorite search engine and type in: orchestra seating chart. Go to the Images section of the search engine and you’ll immediately find a variety of seating arrangements including different positions for the brass.

Here’s one for the Baroque Period.

In the video below, Christian Thielemann conducts Wagner’s Die Meistersinger Von Nurmburg. You’ll see a different seating plan with the brass in the back, Violins 1 on the left, and Violins 2 on the right with violas and cellos in between.

Wagner (pronounced “vagner”) may not be your cup of tea musically, but within three minutes of seeing and hearing this performance, it becomes evident you’re not locked into a particular seating arrangement with the Vienna Instruments.

One of the least explained benefits of the Vienna Instruments is your ability to design your own orchestral setup and recreate seating arrangements. This is a different type of sound design.

As previously explained, Power Pan within the Vienna Suite enables you to do just that including working with the width of the stereo field. This is why I believe that Power Pan is the Vienna Suite’s secret weapon.

Therefore, let’s look at the setup below based on the setup used many times by the late Jerry Goldsmith:

Trumpets

Trombones

Tuba

French horns

Conclusion
The Vienna Suite Power Pan continues to demonstrate itself as being the secret weapon of the Vienna Suite. With Power Pan, you can position each instrument in the stereo field so that it has its own space and speaks clearly.

Grade: A+

I came to this conclusion by doing a simple test which you can do too, provided you have an iLok key. Go to Quantum Leap Spaces at the EW web site, click Purchase/Trial Version, and download a 10-day full working version.

After QL Spaces is installed, in your sequencer, set up an arco (legato) bowing for Violins 1 for each string library you have. For Symphobia, pick an arco bowing. Insert QL Spaces in a master bus so you can quickly compare the same QL Spaces selection with each string library.

In my setup, I selected:

As you test each library with the numerous IRs within Quantum Leap Spaces, you’ll quickly discover that Spaces sounds great and that everything you use it with sounds better. That said, the further discovery is finding that certain libraries and certain Spaces fit like hand-in-glove. It’s like they were made for each other. It’s hard to describe, but you know it when you hear it.

Testing each library gives you a good sense of its inherent color. For example, with Appassionata Strings, the natural sound (uneffected) was a little darker to me. To brighten it up, I’d use an impulse labeled FR (front reflections – see more definitions below). If I wanted to make it richer, then using an RR (rear reflection) really enhanced the depth.

With this approach you are, in effect, sound designing, but with the heavy lifting done for you by Quantum Leap Spaces because of both quality IRs and how it’s organized.

One thing I observed with any library recorded dead center, including the Kontakt VSL String Ensemble, my feeling is that you really need the Vienna Ensemble’s Power Pan feature to take full advantage of QL Spaces orchestra instrument specific IRs as found in Folder 3 (see below) Concert Halls: SoCal Orchestral Hall.

With Omnisphere, Adagio Transparent Strings Warm just took on a whole new dimension when used with QL Spaces.

When LASS 16 Violins 1 Legato_L is placed in Northwest Hall, the sound is really stunning as some of the edginess is toned down.

And speaking of Northwest Hall, for those who’ve wanted IRs of where QLSO was recorded, this is it.

As a writer, beyond the sound, what I really appreciate about Quantum Leap Spaces is that it’s a quick learn because of its thoughtful design and implementation. In about 47 seconds of training (which you’re about to get), you’re working with understanding and comprehension, which, to say the least, is a breath of fresh air.

So let’s see what makes Quantum Leap Spaces so easy and effective to use.

The QL Spaces GUI
Below is the main screen. In this 1.0 version, you only have four virtual knobs to “turn”. Of the four, the one you may want to just leave alone is Pre-Delay because according to Nick Phoenix’s instructional videos, these have been set meticulously.

Click the graphic above for a larger picture that opens in a separate window. In the “LCD” readout, you’ll see this description:

Northwest Hall TS RR 2.6s

Northwest Hall is the name of the hall where the impulse was recorded.

TS stands for True Stereo. Further in the description you’ll read that it’s four-channel mixed to two-channel.

RR means rear reflections and 2.6s means 2.6 seconds, the reverb time in seconds.

So here are the keys to using Quantum Leap Spaces.

There are three possible mic positions available:

1. RR – Rear Reflections
2. FR – Front Reflections
3. C – Center

My experience with the above libraries is that the richer sound is RR while the brighter sound is FR.

There are two types of stereo impulses.
True Stereo, TS, is 4-channel mixed to two while Stereo, ST, is two-channel, mono -> stereo.

Of the two, my experience is that TS is deep and rich.

The Folders
In the navigation, you’ll see folders labeled S-S and M-S. M-S means mono -> stereo. S-S means True Stereo.

Well, the good news is that this is as complicated as it gets!

Example of Simplicity: Instrument Specific Tour
Folder 1, Instrument Specific Tour, is a perfect example of what makes QL Spaces so easy to use. Here you’ll find 26 folders each labeled for a specific instrument. Inside each folder, are presets from a variety of halls selected just for that instrument. See the example below for Epic Film Final Verb.

For those doing a lot of orchestral work, I point you to this folder, So. Cal. Orchestral Hall within Folder 3. Here you find stereo impulse responses for each orchestral instrument recorded where the musician sits. In fact, this entire So. Cal. Orchestral Hall folder is all about orchestral placement. The amount of time it will save you is pretty extraordinary. Click the graphic below and see for yourself. It opens in a new window.

Re: Hall Names
In looking at the various hall names, my advice is to learn from Ernest Cholakis’ interview explaining convolution reverb, and not over identify a particular impulse or hall with a specific instrument. For example, Acme Warehouse may be just what your strings need. But if your entire focus is on the recorded source name only, you’ll miss out on some great options. So if you’re looking for the Spaces with strings in the name, by all means start with those suggestions first, but then keep going.

My Only Critique
Across the boards, I only had one critique which is that the code information I organized for you here isn’t available as a one page PDF. On the various forums, some have wished for more virtual knobs, but I for one was glad there was only the four on the front panel! That may seem to be an archaic retro view, but there’s something refreshing about the simplicity and ease of use of Quantum Leap Spaces.

The heavy lifting has already been done. All that’s required for you is to audition, pick and use.

How cool is that!

Simplicity!

Regarding price, it couldn’t get any sweeter: MSRP US $299.00.

NOTE ON FINAL CUT PRO
For those using FCP 7.0, Quantum Leap Spaces loads right up into Soundtrack Pro 3. And yes, it is very easy to use.

CONCLUSION
There aren’t too many products I get so excited about that I want to say, “thank you,” to the developer. But this time it’s called for. Thank you Nick Phoenix for making my music, and consequently me, sound better. If you download the trial version and test for yourself, I’m sure you’ll feel the same way, too.

Having spent some time with this package over the past week, my view is that the secret star of the Vienna Suite is the Power Pan.

1. If you’re doing orchestral, and you’re trying to blend multiple libraries that have been recorded in different halls, Power Pan enables you to blend the libraries very quickly.

2. If you’re doing something different, like creating a precise set of drums, Power Pan gives you the precision to make it just right. And it’s not that difficult to learn.

3. If you’re working with ambient textures as in Synergy, Evolve or Omnisphere, Power Pan is the tool to use to layer and place textures in the stereo field.

4. When used in combination with the FORTI/SERTI impulses from Numerical Sound (represented by Vienna), you can move a sound left and right across the stereo field, and with the TILT filters used with FORTI/SERTI, then move the sound front or back.

5. Power Pan loads into Soundtrack Pro 3 and so has potential sound design use with Final Cut Pro. Click on the graphic below to expand it. Look left and you’ll see the Power Pan controls listed. So you have the option of working with the controls there or with the GUI.

All in all, a very powerful tool unique to the Vienna Suite.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Since you can download a demo version of Vienna Suite, I’m working my review so that you download and try it for yourself. Click here for the details from VIenna.

SIMPLE CONTROLS
The controls on the Power Pan have, to me, rather “scientific” names that could make the less experienced feel inept when first reading about it.

Width – controls how wide the stereo field for a particular sound will be. You can set the width using either the left or right handles or by using the Width slider.

Center – Center could be retitled as “positioner” since with this slider, once the width is set, you then position it in the stereo field, left to right.

Pre-and Post Balance – The Pre- and Post Balance are used to shape the stereo field or the characteristics of the stereo field. This is done by adjusting the left and right channel’s volume at the plug-ins input and/or output.

Volume Faders (stereo) – raises and lowers the output signal of the virtual instrument. See picture below where the Logic level meter verifies the loudness of the audio signal going into the Power Pan.

Swap – can exchange the left and the right side of the stereo signal (good for making more use of pre-panned libraries, or for changing the perspective on instruments like piano, glockenspiel, marimba, and so on).

Pan Law – Determines the way the volume increase of the left and/or the right signal are handled when they are brought towards the center. This is a very obvious effect, which happens because the signal now comes from two loudspeakers instead of just one. 4.5 dB are a very common value on consoles, for example).

Phase – Very useful when combining (mostly) low-pitched instruments: If two of them are out-of-phase against each other, the volume of them will DE-crease (!) noticeably when they play together.

POWER PAN STRINGS TEMPLATE
I asked Ernest Cholakis of Numerical Sound to create a basic template for Violins (1 and 2), Violas, Cellos and Basses. When setting up a section, you can isolate each section or you can slightly overlap them. What’s “correct” for you is determined by trial and success.

Violins 1 & 2

Violas

Cellos

Basses

APPLICATIONS
If you have Kontakt or Logic – both products come with a sampling of the Vienna library. Assign Violin Ensemble to track 1, Viola Ensemble to track 2, Cello Ensemble to track 3, and Bass Ensemble to track 4. If you’ve downloaded the Vienna Suite, using the controls I showed you here, recreate the stereo width and positioning.

Here are two very, very simple examples by Ernest Cholakis. The first uses the VSL Kontakt strings as they are, dead center, just playing a basic chord. The second is each part positioned using Power Pan.

String_Section_no_PPan_Only5
String_Section_PPan_Only5

If you have LASS or any other string library – using the positions Ernest created, insert Power Pan into one track with LASS Violins 1 (or whatever Violins you have) and then insert Power Pan into a second track with the second library. Using the Center and Width sliders, position each set of violins until they sound like they’re in the same space. Now adjust levels.

LASS Legato L
This is a screen capture of the LASS Legato L Violins 1 Full Ensemble sustaining. No stereo field shaping has been done.

Kontakt Violins Set to Match LASS
Here I’ve matched the Kontakt VSL Violin Ensemble to match the on stage position of LASS Violins 1. The next step is adjusting volume levels and shaping the sound via Power Pan.

CONCLUSION
I already have an EQ, an Exciter, etc., in Logic. But I don’t have a Power Pan. I think the Power Pan helps put the Vienna Suite in the “must have” category. And not to delimit Vienna in any way, Power Pan is a killer tool whether you’re working with the Vienna Convolution Reverb, Altiverb, or the new Quantum Leap Spaces.

So download the Vienna Suite and try these two experiments.

My Grade on The Power Pan: A+
My Grade on The Manual: D.

Thanks to Ernest Cholakis for taking the time to create the Vienna Suite Power Pan String Templates and for Dietz Tinhof at Vienna for his valuable input.

The Vienna Symphonic Library’s (VSL) Vienna Suite is a powerful, 64bit native set of nine effects for both Mac and PC. The street price is $599US but you also need a separately purchased Steinberg Syncrosoft key for copy protection. The Vienna Suite can be bought as either a boxed set or download. The nine effects in the Vienna Suite are:

THE BUYING SITUATION FOR COMPOSERS
One of the chief competitors to the Vienna Suite, along with the Sonnox Plug-ins, IK Multimedia T-Racks, and other third party effects suites, are the effects suites that come standard with Cubase, Digital Performer, Logic, Samplitude, Sonar, Reaper and other sequencing/digital audio programs.

Then there’s Altiverb from Audio Ease. For film/TV/game composers, this has been the go-to product for convolution reverb because it has IRs from places we who work or have worked in L.A. know: Todd AO, Paramount, Fox, Westlake Studio, UMRK, the Cello Studio which is now owned by EastWest, and the L.A. Philharmonic Disney Hall.

Consequently, the competition is stiff. For Vienna, it’s a little stiffer since so many of the excellent Vienna demos over the years have been done with Altiverb making Altiverb the go-to library for Vienna users.

So now we have the Vienna Suite, which I fear has been eclipsed by the remarkable success of the Vienna Ensemble PRO. I say, “I fear,” because of the cost and development time that’s gone into the Vienna Suite. And even with the release of MIR Pro late in 2011, all of the effects in the Vienna Suite will still be a needed part of the composer’s sound shaping arsenal.

NOT FOR VIENNA ONLY
Of the few reviews Vienna Suite has received thus far, all have mentioned, and rightly so, the sheer number of presets for the Vienna Instruments library. This could make you think that the Vienna Suite is mostly for Vienna users.

So let’s address this.

There are still lots of composers with the original Vienna libraries and GigaStudio. There are still lots of composers who bought the Kontakt/EXS versions of various Vienna libraries. And there are, from what I’ve heard on the street, something like 250,000 installs of Logic on the Mac with a special set of Vienna Instruments tucked inside the EXS24 folder, but not labeled VSL.

Then there’s the license agreement between Native Instruments and Vienna and the clearly labeled Vienna library that comes with the full version of Kontakt. Next, is the Vienna Epic Orchestra that ships with every copy of Vienna Ensemble PRO.

Conclusion: There’s a whole lot of Vienna out there!

And all of those customers are radically supported with the Vienna Suite. Click this link and examine the presets. They’re awesome.

Then there’s the biggest part of the market – the non-Vienna crowd.

Sadly, there’s not been a lot of “buzz” on this item and you don’t find too much chatter about it on the various forums (I searched. There ain’t much.). But among those who do have it, the comments and product loyalty are exceptional. In short, I haven’t seen a single negative post about the Vienna Suite.

What I’ve read is that users consistently state that it produces a great sound and it places a very light “hit” on the CPU.

THE DOUBLE EDGED SWORD OF DEVELOPMENT AND PROMOTION
Read down the list of EQ presents for orchestra. What a collection! All I can say is, “Wowsers!” But then a question arises, “But how well will these presets work with the only libraries I own, especially strings?”

That is the question we must answer because it’s the question not addressed on the Vienna Suite web site and rarely within the Vienna forum. This question has arisen across the forumsphere. And so what’s happened is that the emphasis is on the presets, and not on the individual Vienna components themselves to see how they perform with other libraries, particularly the convolution reverb.

To this point, Daniel James wonderful piece on how he mixes L.A. Scoring Strings (LASS) with Symphobia is the kind of thing Vienna needs here – a type of before and after examination along with an understanding of the concert hall IRs that those of us outside Vienna simply don’t know sonically, thereby requiring that we learn their sound and compare it to current offerings with other convolution IRs we do have, even if that’s just Space Designer in Logic. And if Space Designer is the only convo reverb we have, then which Logic IRs are best for orchestra given the bazillion IRs that come with it?

This is not a wonky question.

Reverb, whether algorithmic or convolution, shapes the sound of your work. And let’s be honest, some sample libraries sound better with some IRs than with others. Let’s go a step further as composers and acknowledge that lots of sample libraries sound great with Lexicon PCM 90s that you can still find on eBay.

So yes, we must consider the Vienna presets for the Vienna instruments, but we must also compare their impact on other libraries because that’s what we composers need to know before we plunk down the credit card one more time.

This is the double-edged sword: you can’t just do demos with your own libraries, you have to show the possibilities with your product and other libraries because that’s how composers work in the real world.

MY REVIEW METHODOLOGY FOR THE VIENNA SUITE
With nine components, you must have multiple reviews to do the library justice, especially the FORTI/SERTI impulses created by Ernest Cholakis of Numerical Sound.

Here’s how I’m proceeding.

Logic comes with a number of samples that you can load from the EXS24 un-effected, or with effects. To start, so that you the reader have a fair comparison to work from, I’ll select a group of these pre-fab programs from the Logic Library. You’ll hear them dry (un-effected), with the Logic setups, then with the Logic setups replaced with the Vienna Suite.

From there, we’ll proceed to before and after comparisons of the presets with both Vienna and non-Vienna sampled instruments.

Next, we’ll apply Vienna to LASS, Symphobia, and a few others, singly and in combination to see what we get.

Finally, we’ll give Ernest Cholakis’ FORTI/SERTI impulses a thorough checkup.

But not all at once!

DOCUMENTATION
I would say that the manual, though brief, is a solid menu-driven information approach to learning the suite. Vienna instructional videos are posted here. i it also needs more info because if you’re not “high end” with convo reverb and editing the files (as many are not) then some of the feature descriptions will go over your head.

The Vienna vids blur the line between demo and training, but after viewing them, my response was, genuinely, “me want.”

However, as a non-engineer, I wanted more. So the videos did their sales job.

WRAP-UP
Well, this is it. I’m stopping for now. I’ve cited the sales situation and my testing approach. So now, off to research and test.

I’ll be back!

As such, VOXOS can be for film/TV and game composers and composers outside film/TV/game, choral directors needing a tool to create teaching tapes or MP3s for choir members who can’t read, and students of harmony and counterpoint since part of that study involves looking at the basis of Western Harmony, the Bach Chorales.

Consequently, a well done vocal library has the marketing potential to be the second “cash register ka-ching” following a well done string section.

So, to fairly evaluate VOXOS, and either of the other three libraries (East West, Tonehammer and Vienna) and partially with Spectrasonic’s Omnisphere (which contains portions of Symphony of Voices), we must consider the whole sales picture, not just the narrow strait of film/TV and game, no matter how large it may be.

It’s perhaps worth mentioning that every year roughly 10,000 students take harmony and counterpoint which is a good reason for every library to consider having sound sets for both Sibelius and Finale.

Then, as we know by our collective experience, finding a choir to sing your works is about as easy as getting a permit to prospect for gold in the Promenade in Santa Monica. As with the orchestra, a solid choral library is needed, particularly with separate SATB so lines can be edited as with a string section.

So my approach for myself as a writer and also this review is to test VOXOS with real choral music to see what it can really do.

VOXOS Description
VOXOS: Epic Virtual Choirs from Cinesamples is a 35GB SATB vocal library with individual soprano, alto, tenor and bass, along with a boys choir, solo boy vocalist, solo soprano, solo alto, and a phrase builder using syllables culled from Mozart’s Requiem. But that’s just the hors d’oeuvres! You also get Legato Sections and Choir Effects. Rather than list all the features (which would be half the review there are so many), click this link for sales details. The library was recorded in Seattle in the Bastyr Chapel Recording Studio, home to many film/TV soundtracks. The choir was captured using four mic positions.

The video below, produced by Cinesamples, gives you a deeper overview of the library.

Here’s a screen capture of the VOXOS mixer. With it, you have ample resources to shape your vocal sound.

Vocal Ranges
As with any orchestral library, you must know the ranges of the actual instruments compared to the ranges of the sampled instruments so you know what you have to work with. I checked vocal ranges with VOXOS by comparing the VOXOS SATB ranges to the definition as used by the Harvard Dictionary of Music. (Click to enlarge).

By comparing the ranges, we find that Cinesamples gives an extended range on all of the voices. This is especially so with the upper pitches, except for the Basses where it stops at C4 (where Middle C is C4). My experience as a choir director echoes that of the Harvard Dictionary of Music in that the Basses can go up to the E4. So on the next VOXOS update, I suggest extending the Bass range up the major third.

VOXOS and The Bach Chorales
Testing VOXOS and other vocal libraries with the Bach Chorales? Have I Gone Batty?

Hardly.

The Bach Chorales are four-voice choral arrangements written using what academically is called Species 1 Counterpoint between the Soprano and Bass, and mixed counterpoint in the Alto and Tenor voices. If you want to learn how to write superb vocal arrangements, you start here. The Bach Chorales go beyond the standard hymn book arrangement because of Bach’s sheer depth of writing.

To find out what people and vocal sample libraries can really do, the Bach Chorales are the starting point. To be sure, we will be looking at a variety of choral styles to see what’s possible. But we start here first with VOXOS.

Another reason for my testing with the Bach Chorales is that unless I’ve missed something, I haven’t seen any vocal library demos done with the Bach chorales. I think it’s time.

So, we’ll test drive the VOXOS sopranos with Johnny B in the driver’s seat.

Bach and Soprano Ranges
For this portion of the review, I analyzed the soprano ranges of every single Bach chorale, all 390 of them, as found in the Street Smart Guide to the Bach Chorales.

My objective was to find the highest pitch Bach wrote the sopranos for and then test VOXOS within that practical range usage. Let’s look at the research below:

Comparing back to the VOXOS soprano range, Bach wrote 0 chorales where the high pitch was above A. A total of 8 had a high point of A, and of them, none had a high point of Bb. The heaviest concentration of high points was between D and F#. So if you’re looking to write a realistic soprano part, VOXOS is right in the pocket.

To test VOXOS Sopranos I’ve selected one phrase from each group of high points. In looking at these phrases, be aware that the high points rarely come at the end of the song for drama as we would write them today in 21st Century songs. In many cases the high pitch is approached and left in step-wise motion.

Note: All of the examples were “moused” into Logic 9.1.3 with little editing so as to avoid any sense of favoritism. No reverb was added. You’re hearing VOXOS Individual Patch Legato Section-Sopranos right out of the box. Also, I’m making no effort to present these short phrases as “demos” of VOXOS. As a writer experienced in working with choirs, I want to see how the VOXOS Sopranos sound on these high pitches.

That’s because in older libraries, the higher the sopranos were programmed the more synthy they sounded. So, does VOXOS sound like real Sopranos or high pitched sopranos from Mars?

I also want to point out one other aspect about “mousing” in the pitches, otherwise known as step time, that has a direct sales application for any vocal library.

Worldwide, there are several hundred thousand users of Finale and Sibelius who are potential purchasers of VOXOS and other similar libraries. Of these several hundred thousand users, some will:

Others will record in real time.

Mousing in, then, tests a note entry method used by thousands of composers who don’t sequence.

One result of this testing approach is to set forth in the VOXOS training literature alternate editing possibilities if the end user isn’t sequencing, and therefore, isn’t taking advantage of CC1, the mod wheel or pedaling.

With these points in mind, here are eight short phrases testing the VOXOS Sopranos on high pitches within the Bach chorales.

A4 – Bb4: Bach Chorale #2
Here’s one of the two Bach chorales where the high pitch for the sopranos was Bb. This phrase is made up entirely of quarter notes with repeated pitches. The human voice can easily handle repeated pitches. The trick in a MIDI mock-up is to be able to effectively recreate both phrasing and breathing.

Bach-02SopBbMP3

B4: Bach Chorale #22
Here the soprano’s high pitch is only B4. Even though just moused in, VOXOS easily handles the eighth notes at phrase end. Notice the repeated notes in the melody. To break up the stiffness I used a setting of Swing 8A in quantize.

Bach-22SopBMP3

C5-C#5: Bach Chorale #59
Again, repeated notes. In performance, note length is determined by the length of the syllable.

Bach-59SopBMP3

D5-D#5: Bach Chorale #160
This is a very smooth line with no repeated notes.

Bach-160SopD

E5: Bach Chorale #96
Another smooth line with no repeated notes. The melody moves scale-wise for the sopranos to the high pitch E.

Bach-96SopE

F5-F#5: Bach Chorale #295
Again, scale-wise motion leading to the high pitch F in the key of Bb.

Bach-295SopF

G5-G#5: Bach Chorale #357

Bach-357SopG

A5-A#5: Bach Chorale #283
This final example represents the highest pitch Bach wrote for the sopranos. Observe it uses 16th notes in scale-wise motion to reach the A. While the other examples were recorded at 90BPM, I recorded this one at 80BPM.

Bach-283SopA

Conclusion – VOXOS Sopranos
If this were a classroom I’d grade VOXOS as A-. The Bach Chorales are demanding especially with the number of repeated notes used in the melodies some of which were set by Martin Luther two hundred years before Bach worked with them.

Repeated notes, even with Kontakt 4.1, are a challenge for any library, vocal or not. Effective editing should produce outstanding results for the composer. Of particular note are the high G and A which are full without being screechy or massively out of tune as some sopranos can be, especially untrained sopranos in a church choral setting.

Another pleasant delight thanks to Mr. Bach is discovering that as the Sopranos ascend, they do NOT sound synthy. They are delightfully human.

While it may seem odd on a first review to just focus on the VOXOS Sopranos, I did so because it’s common to write a soprano soli section, or just use sopranos as an independent soli line within a full score. The VOXOS Sopranos are full but airy. Puccini sometimes wrote the sopranos in his choirs in triads, but for film/TV/game scoring, using the VOXOS Sopranos in open fifths, fourths, sixths and thirds produces a lovely sound. Quartal harmony (F, Bb and Eb sounding simultaneously for example) is particularly beautiful.

So the writing opportunities with the VOXOS Sopranos are really quite exceptional giving film/TV/game and traditional choral composers a wonderful sound from which to work.

That said, the training challenge for Cinesamples (since both composer/developers are skilled in working with notation programs), is to consider these alternate note entry methods and offer guidance as to how to access the many editing features of this library.

VOXOS Manual

CINESAMPLES RESPONSE
The only trouble with mousing is there’s no velocity changing where we have different envelopes in the lower velocity for different attacks. Mike Barry, Developer.

DISCLAIMER
VOXOS was provided for this review as an NFR. Alexander Publishing is a Big Fish Audio dealer and therefore represents VOXOS on the Alexander Publishing web site.

The results I’m discussing in this review came from my own out-of-the-box orchestration approach to library testing that doesn’t make for great audio demos. Also, I tested with a number of works that were not PD including my string octaves tests with the opening to Air Force One by Jerry Goldsmith. So I have to apologize, I have no audios to share with you at this time.

VERSION
L.A. Scoring Strings is currently on version 1.5 with the new auto arranger feature. I have not touched on these features for this review, preferring to stay focused with my first level orchestration approach to evaluating the library based on which orchestral devices as a single library it’s capable of doing. More on this shortly.

When LASS was first released, it was detuned a little more than we all expected. Andrew has consistently tightened this to be close but not exactly perfect. Because of this tuning approach, as you’ll read, LASS avoids several troublesome issues that have plagued multipart vertical string harmony within a single library.

Documentation with LASS is better than I’ve seen with other libraries. It’s well laid out and easy to follow. Those who get LASS from Alexander Publishing, also get our LASS Class which speeds up an already quick learning curve.

There’s lots to LASS, more than I cover in a single review. But again, my focal point is one of orchestration: how many orchestral devices within the LASS string section do I have to work with for my electronic scoring?

EXPECTATIONS
In approaching any library with the word Hollywood (like Hollywood Studio Brass and Woodwind Collection, Hollywoodwinds), Los Angeles, or some word dealing with film in its product name (cine is another word as in Cinescore, Cinesamples), two expectations are raised.

The first raised expectation comes from the composer and the second by those who may be contracting the composer to create an entire score electronically and expecting it to sound like a live film orchestra or very close to it.

For the composer, the expectation based on demos, forum comments, et al, is that because of the name, this library can/should sound like a live recorded string ensemble, therefore, when the client asks if a real film string sound can be delivered, the composer can confidently answer, “yes,” thus satisfying both sets of expectations.

Put differently, the standard composer’s question is, “Will this finally be the one library I can go to for a majority of my work and use other libraries to fill in the gaps?”

That’s certainly my question, and one I wanted to answer. But after beta testing several libraries and co-producing one for E-MU, I’ve learned that the best way to find out is to first test the library with the standard string writing devices. Then you know what you really have to work with, and conversely, not work with.

However, there’s another, usually unverbalized, expectation from a composer and that’s the business career recognition that the composer is an artist, and that with the right libraries the composer can write, electronically produce, and potentially release new works for sale via MP3, or by providing MP3s as a prelude for score purchasing or getting commissions or having their works performed live.

However, demos are demos and they don’t always point to what a library is really capable of, or where the weaknesses are. Hence, the only way to find out is to test the library, to put it through its musical paces to find out what it can really do. The Greek word for such testing is peirasmos and it’s the picture of an individual refining gold ore to remove the dross to see how pure the gold is.

This is how I approached L.A. Scoring Strings not just to test it, but to learn it. And, it’s the way I approach any string library.

MY TWO MAIN QUESTIONS ABOUT LASS
I started out with two main orchestration questions towards LASS based on its main product features.

1. Could it, as advertised, really create an authentic divisi sound with relative time ease? Divisi is part of the writer’s vocabulary, so I wanted to know how much vocabulary I had to work with. There was also a subset to this question which I’ll cover shortly.

Time ease is a very important consideration because with a combination of libraries that were not marketed as divisi, the divisi sound has been achieved, ably demonstrated in demos for the Vienna Symphonic Library by both Jay Bacal (Fantasia On a Theme by Thomas Tallis and The Rite of Spring) and Andy Blaney (Jeux de vagues from La Mer and Jupiter from The Planets.

2. Could LASS, based on how it was recorded, enable a writer to tap electronically the live strings vocabulary of unisons, octaves, lite harmony, and basic divisi such as Vlns 1 div a 2, etc.

Again, both of these questions revolve around a single orchestration consideration: orchestration vocabulary.

Divisi
Divisi is the source of sumptuous colors in the strings, open and muted. Yes, divisi can be simply used to add an extra harmony part, which is certainly useful, but its potential rests in creating beautiful ensembles and textures within the larger string ensemble along with both solo and creative doublings with woodwinds and brass to create an even more brilliant tonal palette.

So being able to record with divisi strings is a big deal for the broad number of colors that previously were extremely difficult to achieve with sampled string libraries without hours of work. With LASS, mini-ensembles were organized in an extremely thoughtful manner.

Divisi is also used to divide the section for polyphonic writing which can be seen in works by Bach, Richard Strauss, Richard Wagner, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Claude Debussy, Maurice Ravel, Hector Berlioz, and many others.

Listen carefully, and you’ll hear that most developer divisi demos are along this latter usage of divisi, as LASS’s have been.

But the library that says it can do divisi does bring up a tactical writing/production question: how many vertical harmony parts can you have in a stack without hearing beading or the dreaded organ/accordion sound?

Testing via orchestration devices reveals that answer.

Unison/Octave Combinations
Based on how LASS was recorded, how many of the 65 string combinations I researched for Professional Orchestration 2A: Orchestrating the Melody Within the String Section could LASS do? These 65 combinations aren’t just vocabulary, they’re the core vocabulary for coloristic writing whether for film or some other genre.

So, with LASS, or any string library, how much vocabulary do I have to work with out of the box where the result is a sound like recorded strings as opposed to a big synth sound with indistinguishable string colors?

As I learned from John Williams’ orchestrator, the late Herb Spenser, to be successful in Hollywood, you need to know about a thousand devices (combinations, doubles, etc.).

So to know which string devices and how many you have available, is to know what you can produce with a specific library. The end result, hopefully, is a higher level of coloristic electronic string scoring previously unavailable.

The career end result is having a set of colors available that set you apart from everyone else.

So yes, it’s an artistic issue, but it’s also a competitive one, too.

Other LASS Features
LASS has many great features which I’ll only briefly touch on because my main thrust was in testing divisi and the unison/octave string combinations.

Again, the number of these that work and sound like recorded strings, the greater my vocabulary and the more I can produce with greater ease and speed.

LASS comes with First Chair solo instruments that are recorded in the same space, in the first chair positions. This means that you can write for a soloist, and the soloist will match the ensemble, and for MIDI mockups, you can also layer the solo strings on top of the larger section. You also have the option of writing for either string quartet or string quintet.

Not often mentioned with LASS are the recorded muted strings for sustains, to be supplemented later in 2010 (or early 2011) by a separate recorded muted strings legato library. Though they are sustains, I pushed them to do the opening of Vaughan Williams’ The Lark Ascending and they sounded fantastic.

For each mini-ensemble, LASS has a full complement of legato and staccato bowings, pizzicato, a special repeated notes feature to avoid the machine gun sound that often accompanies repeated sequenced notes, genuine spiccato, and the new Auto Arrange feature. I could easily write another 1000 words just describing those features, but I won’t because my single emphasis was in determining how many string devices (to use Herb Spensers’s term) I had to work with.

Testing Divisi – #1
Since one picture is worth several paragraphs in a review, CLICK HERE and look at the Details Tab and you’ll see two diagrams I created that explain the ensemble approach Andrew Keresztes used to record LASS.

When looking at these graphics, keep in mind that every articulation was recorded with each of these mini-ensembles. I mention this, because as you get into LASS, you see the kind of meticulous detail that Andrew as a single individual, doing this with no corporate support, put into both recording and programming it.

LASS, NELSON RIDDLE, AND NAT “KING” COLE
I only had to do one initial divisi test to get the first wave of questions answered. Thanks to my friend David O’Rourke and his contacts at the Nelson Riddle estate, I was able to get a copy of Nelson Riddle’s arrangement of Unforgettable, which at one point has nine (9) vertical harmony parts.

If LASS was going to bead or sound like an organ, it would do it right here. From this one test, I’d essentially know what LASS could or couldn’t do.

So the first thing I need to report, which shouldn’t be too much of a surprise, is that while LASS is recorded on the onstage position so you don’t have to pan it, you do have to set the volume levels for each section to have a balanced sound.

Because they’re less memory intensive, I used the Leg_L (legato) for all the large and mini-ensembles.

Thanks to how LASS was recorded, I could set up 8 Violins 1, 8 Violins 2, 6 Violas, 6 Cellos, and an acoustic pizz bass which LASS has. I could then divide these sections into 4 & 4, 4 & 4, 3 & 3, 3 & 3, and pizz bass.

Right here I need to point out, today, you can only do the above setup with LASS. Another point. This setup, while used for Nat Cole, is also a setup that some kid composer named Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart also used when budgets permitted. For a smaller, more “authentic” Baroque sound, I could even write with 4, 4, 3, 3, and 2. Again, no other single string library on the market today enables this but LASS.

Test Results – No beading, no organ/accordion sound.

Testing Divisi – #2
The one test with Nelson Riddle showed me that LASS could be used for dense vertical harmony so that 6-part or more vertical voicings used by Debussy, Ravel, and others are achievable if I wanted to write it.

But what about other four-part harmony ensembles?

To answer this question I used Ralph Vaughan Williams Norfolk Rhapsody #1 in E minor to test with. This work for full orchestra has a number of exposed lines, div a 3 with Violins 1, smaller ensembles within the larger ensemble, and in one section, what some would define as a big band brass voicing in the strings.

Testing Divisi – #3
The first combination I tested was a four-part harmony section with Violas div a 2 over Cellos div a 2. This is a very standard combination used in the repertoire, by Mancini, Goldsmith, lots! Jerry Goldsmith also used it in Air Force One.

LASS replicated the recorded version quite well without beading or the organ/accordion sound.

Testing Divisi – #4
Next in the same score was 8-part vertical harmony with divided Violins 1, 2, Violas and Cellos. Unlike Nelson Riddle where it was more appropriate to use the smaller ensembles, here it was div a 2 with 8 players for Violins 1a and 8 Players for Violins 1b, etc. The voicing was a four-part triad in the upper register (violins) doubled an octave down with the violas and cellos.

Again, no beading, no organ/accordion. The sound achieved was comparable to the recording.

Observation
So whether I used the larger ensemble div a 2 or a smaller one, neither beading nor the organ/accordion effect appeared.

UNISON/OCTAVE COMBINATIONS
So the questions are:

1. Will Violins 1 + Violins 2 (in LASS in any library) sound like 32 violins or just a bigger sound, like putting two synths together in a layer (unison combination)?

2. Do the unison combinations sound like or comparable to their live recorded counterparts?

Part of what’s behind Question #1 is that all the libraries with strings recorded in their seated positions are left to right Violins 1, Violins 2, Violas, and Cellos. However, there’s also what’s called the European seating plan which is Violins 1, Violas, Cellos, Violins 2.

This second arrangement is really ideal for electronic scoring because for a unison sound for the violin section, you’re getting the same line out of two audio monitors. And that tends to create a lift, and a bigger sound, giving the listener the sense there are more musicians playing.

So while I think LASS did a good job on this combination, I still preferred panning Violins 1 a little left and the Violins 2 a little right.

Here I need to make a scoring comment.

Regardless of the genre, Violins 1 + Violins 2 is one of the standard devices. In the low register it creates this amazingly rich sound. In the high to very high registers, it adds excitement, romance, etc.

That I’m aware of, while several libraries have recorded individual Violins 1 and 2 sections (L.A. Scoring Strings has Violins 2 derived from and programmed from Violins 1), none of them have recorded the sound of Violins 1 + 2 in unison.

So, in my view, this is a hole for all the libraries.

Violins + Violas
You can do Violins 1 + Violas or Violins 2 + Violas. In LASS, either creates a slightly different sound since Violins 1 are a little edgier and Violins 2 are a little softer.

Violas + Cellos
Very impressive, especially in the upper register. Sounded realistic not like a big synth.

The Most Used Octave Combinations
These are Violins 1 – Violins 2, Violins – Violas, and Violins 1 – Violins 2 – Violas. There are more, but these are the simplest and most frequently used, and I tested them with the full ensembles.

All of these worked. No beading, no organ sound, etc. Lower octaves can predominate at times so that requires some editing of velocity or CC11 depending on the line. I also observed that to get the realistic sound, you have to play in each line. Copying and pasting, sliding tracks, etc., still sound stiff to me. Keying in each line individually makes the difference.

THE QUESTION: DOES LASS LIVE UP TO ITS NAME?
Yes, in testing with real scores including one cue, it’s definitely L.A. Scoring Strings and you have a huge flexibility in using this library with the opportunity to recreate literally dozens of the standard scoring techniques for divisi, unison, and octave combinations.

LASS AND EDGINESS
To achieve the non-organ sound and other issues, LASS has been programmed in a detuned way that can be unsettling to some at first, but I’ve noticed that this is mostly in Violins 1. There is also a bit of edginess with Violins 1 you don’t hear with Violins 2. You can deal with this by applying EQ in the 2K to 3K range for Violins 1. I also used the Spectrotone Chart and comparing the EQ between Violins 1 and Violins 2, made additional changes in Violins 1 lower register so that both Violins 1 and 2 sounded the same.

Pads
When you make this EQ change with Violins 1, you can get a very good sustained pad sound across Violins 1 – Violins 2 – Violas – Cellos with Basses playing an alternate part or being tacit.

I confirmed this by testing the pad found in Professional Orchestration Volume 1, Flute with Dvorak’s New World Symphony (#9) which I compared to the recorded YouTube version I found with Herbert Von Karajan conducting. Once the EQ is added to Violins 1, you get close to Von Karajan.

One of Jerry Goldsmith’s favorite low string pad voicings used, in order, Root – Fifth – Third with Basses – Cellos – Violas, or Cellos B – Cellos A – Violas (non-div). Either of these are achievable with LASS and are beautiful sounding, regardless of which ensemble you select to use.

Reverb
Every sampled string library needs reverb, and some ship with the reverb on so that on first hearing out of the box, the library sounds big.

LASS is no exception. It needs reverb, but when you first hear it, it’s dry, so you have to add ‘verb. There’s reverb inside the Kontakt player and LASS also comes with convolution impulses created by Numerical Sound’s Ernest Cholakis which are worth your going through. I use Logic so I had no problem bringing them into Space Designer. But Ernest’s work can be imported into any convolution reverb.

A lot of LASS owners, though I can’t give you a statistically accurate number, use Altiverb. Still others use the Vienna Suite with the Forti/Sorti Impulse Responses Ernest Cholakis did.

A very few have a Lexicon 960 and record their tracks at 192, which is where I understand Shawn Murphy also records (I was told this by a friend who interviewed Mr. Murphy – so this is strictly anecdotal).

CAN LASS BE USED AS YOUR CORE STRING LIBRARY?
Yes, but…there are still other articulations and runs you’ll want in which case Symphobia 1 and 2, and a number of our colleagues are getting a great sound by blending LASS with QLSO and other libraries. Some also like the string runs in VSL to supplement with LASS.

SYSTEM SPECS
I’m now running LASS on an older G5 dual 2.7GHz with 4GB of RAM and Logic 8.x.

For a new system, I’d look to get (for the PC) an i7 930 with 24GB of RAM, and Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB drives with 60MB cache. With 24GB of RAM, you can load a rather complete string template into RAM and record in one pass. For this you’ll need Kontakt 4.1 which reads all the RAM in the system.

As I’ve written in other places, on the PC, look at the Vienna Ensemble PRO, particularly if you’re using the PC as a farm system. If you’re using the PC for your sequencing machine, both Sonar and Cubase are 64-bit native. This is not an endorsement, just a statement of specs.

On the Mac, if you’re going new, I’d go for a Mac Pro 8-Core, and Logic 9.1.1 since Logic is native 64bit, too. Same rec, 24GB of RAM but you can get it a LOT cheaper from an independent Apple dealer. Because of the name Apple, RAM is over priced when you buy it and they install it.

CONCLUSION
At this point, this is as far as I’ve gotten. I’ve answered my main questions. What I’m satisfied with is that I can do divisi, that the standard divisi vertical harmony combinations work, that I do NOT get the organ/accordion sound with a dense vertical harmony stack, that depending on the creative situation I have the option of writing with varying sized ensembles.

Here I offer a word of caution regarding the word “chamber” as applied to strings and in particular, LASS. A full-sized orchestra is about 80 musicians and up. A chamber orchestra is about 50 musicians and less.

LASS is organized as a Mahler-sized/large film string orchestra, but you can also create smaller large orchestras.

LASS is setup for 16 Violins 1. That’s nearly as large as the New York Philharmonic string section. You can create a beautiful sounding 12 Violins 1 which is still a pretty standard sized symphony section. 8 Violins 1 is a small symphony section, which you can also create with LASS.

Any of the LASS string ensemble setups you use, balance with a large number of woodwind/brass sections, just as they would with a live ensemble.

So again, there’s lots you can do with LASS for years.

For more information, please go to STUDY HALL where you’ll find a series of LASS class videos I produced.

NEXT
Knowing what I have to work with, my next action is going through the staccatos and seeing what’s there by type and length. After that I’m looking forward to some serious production work!

Peter Lawrence Alexander is the author of the multi-volume Professional Orchestration Series and How Ravel Orchestrated: Mother Goose Suite.