Can anyone advice me what the best violin software is for using in Dorico or Cubase? Not an ensemble bus solo violin.
Cees
Well I don’t think this is a matter specific to Dorico or Cubase. You could go over to VI-Control which is a forum specialising in this sort of discussion where you find views of many people who have real world experience with a wide range of string VSTs.
However, I can say that I need good violins for my string quartet work. I made a big mistake buying the Embertone Solo Strings. A disaster. They just don’t work properly with Dorico at all (contradicting my opening statement :-)) and their support is terrible, and they could not solve any issues, and I had to spend some time claiming a refund for the product. None of this was very pleasant. I am unable to recommend that product. However there are folks that like the Embertone Joshua Bell, which is a completely separate product.
While I am being negative the other VST’s to avoid are anything from 8dio. They call them deeply sampled but the solo strings set I got appears to be played by a 13 year old with no bow technique, has appalling surface and bow noise which you just can’t EQ out, and completely unusable low notes. Stranger still, the demos from the producer all use the VST as a chordal pad instrument, with no example of the solo sound at all, which is just plain weird (but does cover up the very low quality of the sampling).
I am sure there will be a chorus of support for the Vienna SL strings, but they are very pricy.
I do a lot of modernist work and I am currently looking into XSample contemporary strings which have a large set of extended violin articulations others just do not have.
https://www.xsample.de/xsample_contemporary_solo_strings.htm
Sorry this post is a bit more negative that positive. But violin is a very subtle instrument (speaking as a player myself) and it’s difficult to sample.
What sort of music is this for @Cees? What articulations do you need? Do you need to blend with other members of the violin family.
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Have you looked at the Gypsy violin from East West? It’s part of their Gypsy range of instruments, and has a very distinctive sound. Not being a violin player I can’t say how useful it would be, but for a duffer like me it can make some nice phrases.
There is the Cremona Quartet from Native Instruments – there’s been discussion on this forum developing expression maps.
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Of course! I forgot to mention that most string VST’s do not come with expression maps for Dorico, so that can be a problem. In fact, I don’t think any do. But forum users have created several I believe.
The IRCAM solo instruments for the UVI Workstation or Falcon has great strings.
Not to be negative about their value for what they may do (extended techniques), but I wouldn’t agree on the definition of “great” as a generic strings library.
Paolo
No idea about Cubase, but I find that VSL Synchronized Solo Strings are working fine with Dorico. There is also a set of expression maps supplied by VSL themselves.
These are classical strings, very malleable and with an abundance of articulations. Very coherent between them. It that’s what you need, you may like them.
Paolo
Agree with Paolo, the VSL SY’d Solo Strings are great, better than the old VI version, and behave very well in Dorico…
I personally like Spitfire Audio’s strings. You can get their BBC Symphony Orchestra Discovery set for free if you’re willing to wait a couple weeks. Then you can use that to upgrade to BBCSO Core when it goes on sale. You won’t find a better deal for strings of that quality. Plus there are Expression Maps and templates available from the SA site and other sources.
@Andro Thank you for your suggestion of the XSample library — that one is new to me. As you wrote, the list of violin articulations is impressive. As a non-violinist, may I ask which one of the XSample articulations would you select for a jete or ricochet sound, or a close substitute? I’m in need to reproduce jete in a Brahms score. (Sorry OP I hope you will allow my small side question as well intentioned.)
Thank you all for the advice. I am study on it this week. I hope to make an decision soon.
I like the sound of “X sample” , Spitfire , and Stradivari most at this time. I hear a real violin.
In many other software I hear something artificial , I don’t like that.
I hope to find the richt one that I can also use in dorico ( with expression maps ) . Vienna have that , but the sound is not so good as the mentioned software.
Have a good day.
I suggest listening to the Cinematic Studio solo strings as well. They have the best legato of any library in my view if you like a warm, lyrical sound. I alternate between this and the already mentioned VSL solo strings depending on the character of the music.
Joshua Bell violin by Embertone is really nice. I don’t know how it works with Dorico.
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I would just advise caution with the Embertone VSTs in the context of Dorico. The Joshua Bell violin is widely praised by the audio world, but I think you’d want to check with somebody who has made a working expression map in Dorico before you purchase. See my poor experience with the Embertone Solo Strings above - they are demonstrably defective in the context of Dorico. All sorts of issues. The single instrument may of course be different. In my interaction with Embertone support they stated they do not support Dorico in any formal way, and basically you are on your own.
Let’s see if other members here have had success.