String samples - Part II
Approximately 500m away from the “Musikverein” the “Wiener Konzert Haus”, home of the “Grosser Saal”, “Mozart Saal” and “Schubert Saal” is one more highly sought after location when it comes to symphonic recordings… which maybe is not what OASYANs in general are looking for. But there is a very nice virtual tour @ Konzerthaus’homepage. Click “Grosser Saal” and than use the mouse for movement within the 360° picture. Also check picture 2 which was taken from the upper part in the back of the hall.
In the first part terms used for string articulations were shortly described. But words in music are like smelling pictures or dancing about architecture. Therefore you will find some audio examples in part II. Samples used are from Peter Siedlaczek’s “Advanced Orchestra” and KARO’s “Philharmonic Strings”. Thanks to Klaus Kandler from best service and Kurt Ader, Oliver Rehn from KARO to allow the usage of their samples for this article.
For most of the demos I decided for the viola section, but there is also a single viola and the bass section in case of the spiccato demos. To demonstrate how different a playing technique can sound, other instrument samples were used, like a harp and french horn section.
All samples played by OASYS and O-verb was added to each program. The sounds were recorded via ADAT lightpipe to MOTUs dp5.1. Afterwards they were exported to Bias Peak. Sample rate was then converted from 48kHz to 44.1kHz and the file finally stored as .mp3.
Sorry, all samples removed.
This list is of course not complete. Therefore at the end of part II you can find links to Vienna Symphonic Library’s website, as this is an excellent resource to learn more about strings and other orchestral instruments. I have added the link for viola only, but there are also woodwinds, brass, strings and percussion instruments - brief description, history, notation, range, sound characteristics and combinations, etc.
Ok, now we know some playing techniques and the terms used to describe them. But what about the range of the different string instruments? Find below a picture with the range of the instruments, but keep in mind that sections normally do not play as high as soloists do.
Ranges of violin, viola, cello and bass.
Probably you were already asking yourself why are there pictures from “Musikverein” and “Wiener Konzert Haus”? No, this blog is not sponsored by Vienna Tourism…. in one of the next parts you will know.
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Links to companies mentioned in this article:
www.bestservice.de
www.karo-sounds.com
www.motu.com
www.bias-inc.com
vienna symphonic library - viola playing techniques (left hand)
vienna symphonic library - viola playing techniques (right hand)
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