String Test

I don't know where to put this, so I'll just post it in here where I spend most of my time. Testing out my divisi set up.. nothing special, just want some feedback on the mastering and quality. I made somewhat of a personal breakthrough with this. I finally figured out how to "record" parameter adjustments in real time in FL Studio with out the use of an external sound board. It was actually real easy to figure out.. I can't believe I never stumbled on it before. Anyway, it certainly allows me to breath so much more life and expression into the music now. Huray!These are EWQL strings, and one of the Viola tracks are from Kontakt 3.P.S. it gets a little muddy at around :35. Haven't had the chance to fix it yet, cause I had to go to school that day.

String Test

Hey Amana,

Nice work. I don't think it's fully there yet. The strings sound pretty good, but still pretty artificial. Writing-wise, I would have preferred to hear a little more bass. It's really top-heavy.

So what is your divisi set-up? Is it just Violins 1 and 2, Violas 1 and 2, Cellos, and Basses sorta?

-John

Weird, cause on my end the lower end is really strong. I checked it on two computers just to make sure, with and without headphones. :hmmm:

Can someone confirm this? It would be much appreciated.

The set up is: Violin I (Part A & B), Violin II (Part A & B), Viola (A & B), Cello, Bass.

Hi Amana!

Not bad, but you really can't do divisi with EWQLSO without getting the typical "stacking" effect. You may have two separate Violin parts for each section, but each one is using the same 11 or 18 person section patches, so when you play divisi (and unison) portions you're effectively getting a section of 22 or 36 players — obviously huge considering that's just the Violin Is. That being said, you can at least write with divisi sections in mind and wait until you have samples that can more effectively approximate the effect that divisi has on section sounds, so that's good.

As for the writing and sound, it's generally good. Some weak legato and expression but that's partly the samples' fault (I was struggling with this recently in that Unstrung Moods piece I tossed up so I feel your pain). Regarding John's comment, I'm hearing bass content but not really any of the veeeery low frequency stuff that is barely audible and is usually very quiet but adds extra gravity to the sound. It's entirely possible that your DAW automatically applied a high-pass filter to kill the sub-bass region. I know Logic tries to do this by default too, for example, and I have to always remember to tell it to piss off and let me handle my own mixing. :P

Anyhow, good stuff overall. Keep tweaking your template and see if you can get a more discernible spread of instruments in the horizontal field in the soundscape (panning).