Soaring Strings

With so many great legato string libraries out there, why another one?

We wanted performances that catered to... (yes, we have to say it) soaring string lines and dramatic passages by having the players really dig in with the vibrato and giving us all they had with the triple forte dynamic. This also meant approaching the sessions in a unique, musical way to capture the kind of singular legato we were looking for.

Another focus was to dial things back with what we felt was necessary to produce credible string arrangements in a shorter amount of time. This involved creating a single, natural mix and omitting seldom-used legato articulations. We also developed a "Sustain Sync" feature that synchronizes the starting sustain with the following intervals/repetitions, which saves you from having to make adjustments to start-notes to closely match the intervals timing upon quantization. Lastly, we included a "To Silence" button that can enable the modwheel to completely diminish the softest dynamic to silence. This not only provides unique possibilities with expression, but also saves the need to use another controller to simulate a decrescendo to "niente".

We also agreed that recording medium-sized ensembles in their traditional seating arrangement would not only provide enough "solo-istic" detail in the recordings, but would have a more natural transparency when writing harmonies.

After various tests throughout the year, months of recording, editing, programming and bringing the polish as far as we could -- we're thrilled to finally share our debut offering, Soaring Strings.

Happy composing!

FEATURES

•  Companion library to Adventure Strings.
•  Innovative musical approach to sessions.
•  Medium-sized ensembles: Violins, Violas, Cellos, Basses.
•  Sections recorded in traditional seating arrangement.
•  Molto expressivo vibrato across the upper dynamic range.
•  Four dynamics of legato (p < fff), including true FFF sampling.
•  Fives dynamics of sustains (pp < fff).
•  True Bow-Change Repetition sampling.
•  Sustain Sync feature.
•  To Silence feature.
•  Detailed Sustain patches for each section.
•  Includes All Strings Sustains patches.
•  Recorded on a scoring stage.
•  Recorded in 48khz / 24bit.
•  6.4 GB uncompressed (4 GB compressed NCW format).
•  Compatible with Kontakt 5.5.1 or higher (requires full version of Kontakt).
•  Receive watermarked product by Continuata Connect downloader.

INSTRUMENTATION

QUICK GUIDE

To Silence button: Allows the assigned Dynamic CC (default is 1, the modwheel) to bring the softest dynamic all the way down to silence. With it off, the softest dynamic will play at its full volume with the modwheel all the way down.

Repetitions button: With this on, when you repeat a note in quick succession in the middle of a phrase, the legato instrument will trigger a bow-change repetition sample automatically. This helps maintain the momentum of the performance and aids in connecting notes in a natural way.

Sustain Sync: This feature closely synchronizes the starting sustain attack with the timing of the following intervals/repetitions with the legato patches, which saves you from having to make adjustments to start-notes to closely match the intervals timing upon quantization.