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It took me a while to find this out, but the reason Sampled strings sound so synthy is due to the dynamics between note A shifting to note B. This tutorial shows you how to make it sound like a solo string sample is bending. All it requires is a sampler and a keyboard: Even if you think you know what I'm talking about, please check out the video anyway. You may be surprised... YouTube - How to make your String Quartets Expressive even though they aren't real! I am using Reason 3 in this tutorial with the free soundfont named "Fluid 3", though some of the demos are Garritans GPO Lite Refill for Reason (though you do NOT necessarily need good quality string sounds of any kind AT ALL to make things expressive, have faith in your synths, samples can only get so good on their own Wink ) Hope you find something useful. Smile Chances are you could get some pretty amazing results with East West or Vienna. (I think East Wests Portamento is called "Glide" or something?) Just apply the same thing, and remember that synths sing.

Oh ok, I guess I mis-labeled it or something. :blush: Here is what I've got after a lot of tweaking of attack. It could use just a bit more work (the violas have too fast an attack and don't overlap like the rest): http://www.takutogame.com/takuto/muchbetterthanks.mp3 I think I'm finally starting to understand something. With samples it seems that the dynamics between note shifts are extremely important to nail to get it realistic. I never thought of overlapping notes to make a kind of realistic slide, though. so simple yet so engenious. x_x A little bit more of Stereo Imaging Automation and it's even better: http://www.takutogame.com/images/Lullaby%20(with%20Stereo%20Imaging).mp3

Alright, I've worked on just the very first 5 seconds: http://www.takutogame.com/images/threeshort.mp3 Is this about as good as I'll be able to get it? Actually, I've improved it just a little bit: http://www.takutogame.com/images/fourshortfF1.mp3 I'm still wondering what else I could do to improve this....

Thanks Andy, and Brian the mp3 is right up there. If you have any more resources I could check out like "getting realistic midi performances out of strings" I would be insanely grateful.

Where the heck is Gigastudio and Reason? Oh there it is...but where's Gigastudio?

Keep in mind, also, that GPO requires a very powerful computer as well. I used to be running on a Celeron 1.3Ghz with 512MB of RAM, and it could only crack out one string section. It even says on Keyboards review on the downside of Garritan "CPU/Computer Intensive". I now use Reason 3 (it's not 4) coupled with GPO lite. I can complete pretty realistic full orchestra samples, run the full orchestra, and using ASIO4ALL get a REALLY low latency and still run it all perfectly on my Celeron 1.3. I've still been frustrated with Strings...

Hello there, I'm really in need of some help with improving MIDI String Quartets to be more expressive. Here's an example of Garritans Personal Orchestra run through Reason 3: http://www.takutogame.com/images/Do%20You%20Remember%20My%20Lullaby.mp3 I'm not asking for a library change or anything (though if I was I would probably go for VSL Vienna Chamber Strings I). I'm just looking for a way to improve it MIDIcally to make it more expressive. Also I don't understand sonically why it sounds so....dry.... If I put reverbs on it it just sounds faker. If this was played by a real String Quartet I know that it wouldn't sound as it does. (really...again...dry when I compare it to realistic samples) I don't understand, for example, how I could go about getting something like this: I've copied this very song before, and the Celli and the Violins in the beginning always turn out to sound so....bland...almost as if you were to compare Mono to Stereo or 8 bit to 16 bit. I don't know. Maybe I have to be more accepting of the sound I have...? Is there ANY way I can improve on it? Maybe Modulation, Bends, Better use of Envelopes, or maybe even just EQ, or Compression? Are there Articulations that my samples just don't capture or something? (Like dramatico or whatever that one is x_x) Once I get home and get to fiddle with it more I was thinking of backing it with synth instruments, as the samples don't seem to really encompass what I want them to...I still don't know if this will work completely though. People who use Garritans tend to hide their strings behind brass and woodwinds to make it sound more full. They literally seem to avoid string quartets and such.... (same with East West Orchestra) ... So I'm not leaving out that it really could be the library. The only library that I've seen that hasn't hidden in full range orchestra would have to be Vienna...though they are eXPENSIVE and to get SE Strings Plus (which has the Chamber Strings I want so badly) you first have to buy the Vienna SE Edition ;/ ($500 / it would be better to just go with the $700 chamber strings). Maybe it's different instruments that I should back with it. Perhaps I should use some kind of MIDI Bass Guitar sample? Maybe I should back it with synth strings which tend to encompass a wider range sonically? Or maybe I should EQ some Brass and disguise it as Strings to back the Dryness and effectively encompass a wider range? However I could get this to sound fuller sonically, like all those professional producers get string quartets to sound, I'm willing to take the time to do it. (accept if it costs more than say...$200 at this point x_x)

Here's an orchestral MIDI file I composed a couple of days ago. It has stops here and there because I was mostly just doodling around. Original MIDI