The Vienna Symphonic Library team has announced the release of Vienna Dimension Strings, the latest addition to their family of virtual orchestral Instrument Collections. With a total of more than 300,000 violin samples alone, and an estimated one million for the full library, it is by far the most ambitious and intensive production in the history of the Austrian company.
Vienna Dimension Strings includes recordings of a 24 piece string ensemble that has been captured in four groups (8 violins, 6 violas, 6 cellos, and 4 double basses) by using individual microphones for each instrument. The Violin Section of this magnum opus is now available for download at the company's User Area.
Violin Section Out Now – Early Bird Offer
Customers who take advantage of the Early Bird Offer ($825, regularly $1,430) receive a full license of Vienna Dimension Strings and may download the Violin Section (Full Library) right away. They will receive the Viola, Cello and Double Bass Sections (Full Libraries) as they become available in 2013, free of (additional) charge.
Here's what VSL say:
Realism Through Imperfection
Over the last decade, sample libraries have became more and more "perfect", sometimes at the expense of human feel. In reality, even the best musicians never play in perfect unison; one makes a change a little slower, another faster, but maybe with more dynamics, for instance. When playing as a group, musicians continually adapt, matching timbre, intensity, vibrato, intonation, bow speed and more. All these interactions happen automatically in a good ensemble, led by a good conductor, and reveal the "magic" of a live performance. With Vienna Dimension Strings, individual changes in dynamic levels, vibrato, intonation and the timing of the players within a group can be achieved easily by assigning individual controllers such as velocity crossfades and expression. It's even possible to designate "weak" musicians to play sloppy notes, with hesitant or delayed starts.
Individual Timbre and Divisi
Users may create their personalized string sound by adjusting level and position in the mix for each player, or desk. When using Vienna MIR Pro or Vienna MIR Pro 24, different timbres can be achieved easily by changing the players' positions on the virtual stages. What's more, each string of each instrument has been captured in its full range (approximately one octave plus a fifth) in Vienna Dimension Strings. With ready-made presets, such as "force strings" or "use/avoid open strings", users may easily select a darker or brighter sound according to their needs.
Advanced features such as pre-configured divisi sections with flexible groupings, e.g., 4 desks with 2 players each or 2 groups with 4 players each for the Violin Section, are provided when using the latest version of the Vienna Instruments Pro player. Vienna Instruments Pro lets users realize the full potential of Vienna Dimension Strings with its Auto Humanization and Polyphonic Legato features. An extensive host-tempo sync'ed Phrase Archive for Vienna Instrument PRO's internal APP (Auto Playback and Pattern) Sequencer includes runs, trills, arpeggios and phrases in all scales and modes, with optimized phrasing randomizations of each player.
A Host of Articulations, Including Finger and Ambient Noises
Vienna Dimension Strings comes with a variety of articulations such as three different sustains (vibrato, non-vibrato and progressive vibrato) that are fully controllable via crossfades, Repetition Performances (legato, portato, staccato, spiccato, various crescendos and "harsh" fortissimos), Legato, Portamento and Trill Performances, various tremolos (normal, slow, and with fast attack), pizzicato, snap pizzicato, col legno and more.
Another innovation is the addition of finger noises – these sounds, obtained from shifting positions on the fingerboard, result in an even more realistic sonic impression when combined with single note samples. Various ambient noises such as breathing, positioning/de-positioning of the instrument, chair noises from leaning back and forth, as well as the browsing of sheet music (which is available in three dynamic levels) have been recorded for each individual player as well.