Throughout its nearly 20-year history, Orchestral Tools has established itself as one of the premier voices in orchestral and cinematic sample libraries. Iāve always viewed them as one of the ābasic food groupā companies for any composerās tool kit. From the large ensembles of the Berlin and Metropolis Ark collection to the intricate textures of TIME and the Fabrik series to the Chinese palette of Phoenix Orchestra, Orchestral Toolsā lineup alone could likely help a composer get any given score across the finish line. The sample library market is a crowded space, with most or all of the low-hanging fruit having long since been picked multiple times over. Sample libraries ā specificallyorchestralsample libraries ā are fighting over smaller and smaller niches and applications. Case in point:Berlin Solo Stringsis Orchestral Toolsāsecondsolo strings library, following Berlin Strings First Chairs.
Generally speaking, the purpose of a given solo strings library can be used somewhere along a four-box grid: On one axis, (1) their intended purpose is either primarily as companions to larger ensembles or (2) as true solo instruments that exist on their own; on the other axis, (3) they are generally either slow and expressive (with better tone), or (4) responsive and easy to play (with worse tone). Most solo libraries fall squarely into one of those four boxes; few are able to cross over to another box, let alone all four. As Orchestral Tools says, the older Berlin Strings First Chairs library is intended to āadd definition to your string ensembles,ā and it does so quite well ā I view it as essentially an extension of Berlin Stringsā close mics. Itās a great example of a library that fits into the ācompanion to larger ensembles/slower but good toneā category.
However, the newBerlin Solo Stringslibrary might be the first library of its kind to check multiple boxes. Where Berlin First Chairsā tone is spicey,Solo Stringsis wonderfully warm and intimate. Where First Chairsā attack is a touch soupy (and thus can sound a little synthy if played on its own),Solo Stringsā attack is extremely realistic ā provided one learns to play the library correctly. My first impression was that its attack was almosttoofast, but after digging into the libraryās comprehensive walkthrough video, I learned how to control it almost entirely via velocity.
Similarly, while I was initially put off by the extremely dramatic vibrato of the first patch, ExpressiveSustains,digging into the Cinematicand Sul Tastopatches gave me the same warm tone and easy playability, with a progressively more subtle and down-to-earth vibrato. With time, I was able to make the library sing. That said, I do have some minor complaints. I would prefer direct vibrato control via a MIDI CC, as having essentially three vibrato āpresetsā between the Expressive, Cinematic, and Sul Tasto patches isnāt quiteenough for me ā though, the Evolving Vib patches of the aforementioned categories help to mitigate that, at the expense of more time spent programming MIDI. On that note, due to the incredible control at oneās fingertips and the number of articulations, ironically, one often needs to focusbothon their performanceandMIDI editing after the fact. It can be difficult to get note transitions exactly right, but doing so is required to reach maximum expression and realism, especially if the library is being used on its own. That said, the potential realism that can be achieved is quite stunning, so the effort is worth it.
The lack of a bass instrument is an obvious oversight; if you need that, First Chairs is the only solo strings library in Orchestral Toolsā catalog that provides it. Overall, though, Orchestral Tools may have hit this out of the parktoowell, as I actually prefer the newBerlin Solo Stringslibrary to add definition to the Berlin Strings ensembles instead of Berlin Strings First Chairs. The library works incredibly well for quartet pieces and can easily achieve long, expressive sounds comparable to, say, Cinesamplesā Tina Guo Acoustic Cello Legato library while also providing the agility of a library such as Virharmonicās Bohemian Violin, all while sounding extremely nuanced and realistic.Berlin Solo Stringstruly bridges all four boxes, is an incredibly solid addition to the Orchestral Tools lineup, and is a step forward for solo strings sample libraries in general.
(ā¬399 direct;orchestraltools.com) -Alex Ruger alexruger.com