Even if the list price is 136.56 €, during these days it’s possible to buy on Plugin Boutique “Sonivox Orchestral Companion Strings” for only 1.20 €!!!
I purchased it a couple of days ago and I had fun in recording one of my old pieces, “Jingle vs Bells”.
The purchase and the activation are very easy and they are well explained in THIS VIDEO.
*A free Ilok account is required for authorisation – no Ilok usb is required*
The Library includes more than 9 GB of samples, divided in String Ensamble, Violins, Violas, Cellos, and Contrabasses.
The first patch of each category works with key switches, in my demo I did not use these patches because sometimes they make some crackling/popping sounds, I still don’t understand if it is a problem that stems from me or if it’s a library’s bug…
The sound quality is really good and warm! The only problem I found is that it is not possible to modify the dynamics using the modulation wheel, in fact in all patches the dynamics work with key velocity. But what if we wanted to do a crescendo? How could we do it? I found this solution: Using the “auto-learn” (down to the right) I match the modulation wheel to the volume, so in this way I can do crescendo or diminuendo. Obviously it’s not a great thing, but it’s the only solution I found.
The Staccato, Spiccato and Pizzicato patches are the best, they work fine with key velocity. The same can not be said about the Sustain, the sample’s attack sounds fake, but adding 0.05 to the Attack in the ADSR the timbre gets better. Each patch has got a native reverb that sounds not bad, especially on sustain sounds. Instead pizzicato sounds are fine without reverb.
To let you listen to the “Sonivox Orchestral Companion Strings” I realized a short video using the following patches:
Violins staccato down-up
Violins spiccato down-up
Violins sustain down bow
Violins pizzicato
Violas staccato down-up
Violas pizzicato
Cello spiccato up
Cello pizzicato
Contra Bass staccato down-up
Contra Bass pizzicato
No eq or compression have been used in this video, what you hear comes exclusively from Sonivox’s Library! Included the reverb.
If you think that Companion Strings costs only 1 € the result is awesome!
Offer is time sensitive and it expires on January 31st, 2017.
I recommend it particularly for pop arrangement and live performance.
If you feel like doing plugins today and want to check a few more inexpensive and powerful all-around gems out there, I would also recommend reading the following article by BeginnerGuitarHQ, that will get you through some more addictive stuff.
Let me know on my Youtube if you like it! Looking forward to reading your comments.