Great comparison! I own all of the Spitfire solo libraries (Alternative, Sacconi, Abbey Road Two, and Solo Strings). I think I find Solo Strings most inspiring, fun to play, and versatile. I grabbed Abbey Road Two for that dry, upfront sound which it does well but as you demonstrated not so much the lyrical. If I had a do-over, I probably would have just Solo Strings and AR2. I rarely ever grab Alternative or Sacconi. One thing I'm convinced of, however, is that when it comes to solo strings, samples still don't get close to the live thing. With large sections, you can really pull off a realistic sound. But it's hard to emulate the expressiveness of a real single player.
Thanks for the comment CJ. I agree with you. I have the Alternative Strings as well. I typically find the patches with the ornaments really useful to give some random realism to a track. Thanks for watching!
Interesting comparison, Peter - thanks! BTW, the volume of portamento transitions in Cinematic Studio Solo Strings is at maximum by default, but it can be adjusted (downwards) with CC5. There are definitely moments (such as in Violin 1 at 26.17) when it's too loud, so being able to bury it a bit does help.
Just noticed this is almost a year old, but it's a timely watch for me as I'm buying libraries for 2023. I love the Spitfire Solo Strings. I wasn't impressed by the Abbey Road library, although as you noted, this prob isn't the right context. They sounded like my Roland S-220 sampler from 1988. I just picked up Cinewinds Pro from Cinesamples and liked what you played of the Cinestrings. Thank you for this comparison, and I love the song you used!
My apologies for pointing out Sample Modeling strings. It was a sincere post, not an ad and I'm sorry you felt the need to delete it. I have no affiliation with them and really think their solo strings are excellent.
The Spitfire solos are great, but I still feel the violin is slightly wet. The airy quality of the Cremona Quartet by NI Is impressive. Hope can hear the differences if have the opportunity.
Hi Pete! Wish all videos of this kind would be as informative as yours. Got my finger on the buy-button and this was what I needed to press it! :-D Many, many thanks for putting in the time and effort! Best! -O-
Such a beautiful piece, great double bass parts as well. Enjoyed it very much... I'm amazed that cinesamples solo strings is still one of the easiest libraries to fit into a mix. They have so much baked into the samples, they are really great! love your content
Great comparison, I’d go with the Spitfire solo strings. They are imo the one that have this live feeling and fits the best in context of the track. Not the most lyrical I think. Nice track btw.
Great video. Really helpful to have real live performances to compare the samples with. Sometimes I think I have the sound of live players locked in my head as a baseline comparison, but inevitably listening to samples 90% of the time, the memory reference gets blurred. It was soo useful when you jumped back to the live performances throughout the video 👍 Thank you soo much. Did part 2 ever happen? I didn't see it in your videos posted since this one.
Thank you for putting in the work on this Pete! This is probably the most informative strings library comparison I’ve seen on UA-cam so far. Being able to compare with the live quartet was fantastic. I was shocked at how rough the Abbey Road sounded compared to all the others (I suppose it is about half the cost…). What kinds of compositions do you think that library shines on?
Hi Ian. Thanks for the question and watching, AR2 is a useful library. I have a few demo videos on my channel where i go thru it. That’s a better resource than an answer here.
@@PeteCalandra Thanks Pete! I watched all your videos on AR2 as suggested and I get what you’re saying. I suppose there’s just a fantasy for some of us (especially those of us with shallow pockets!) to find libraries that are like a Swiss Army knife, that can do the full range of what live players can do. Great channel man, I’m learning a lot!
Thanks, Pete. I love your videos. This one was especially good. Have you made the part 2 video yet for the first chairs? I am very interested in that but can't find it.
Hi Marc. Thanks! I have that on the list but right now my teaching and writing schedules have me a bit swamped. Hopefully later this spring I can get to it!
wow, i was impressed with spitfire solo strings. I have it but i sometimes feel like sounds weird and synthy, maybe it just takes more experience to get them sounding good
Hi Lennox. Thanks for watching. On part 2 of this video, LASS 3 First chairs are used as part of the presentation and i am also just starting to work on material for a SA Appassionata video... hopefully at some point next week i can have both videos up.
Awesome comparison, thank you, that helped a lot to choose one!! Even though probably nobody cares, here's my conclusion: For me Spitfire Solo Strings are not too great for several reasons, even though this "edge" at the beginning you mentioned is really adding to the realism. Sacconi Strings got a wonderful sound, but quite dark and a bit too soft for my taste. easy to change with some post i guess. Abbey Roads were the "worst" of the examples (still ok). The CSSS were also quite dark. at some point the didn't sound too real, i think it was mainly the end of the long notes, probably just needs a bit of more tweaks. The slurs were fantastic and when they all play together they got the most convincing ensemble sound. CineStrings were on a similiar level than abbey roads to me, except the violin. the violin was cool.. transitions in the cello just sounded off to me.. So i guess it is CSSS or Sacconi for me -> thank you Pete :)
Very interesting video. It's amazing how much can be accomplished with samples, although still not "quite there" if compared to the real thing. One question: do you usually write with live players in mind, or do you also write to the strengths of the libraries? I see samples as instruments and try to come up with stuff they can do. I'm just trying to start out with composing, and I like that approach since having real players wouldn't be feasible.
Hi Joe. Thanks for watching. It's all project dependent. If i know in advance that i am writing for live players (like on this track) and it's for my personal project, I'm not too concerned with the midi mock up. It's just a place holder. If i am writing for a client and i know the mock up will have live elements, i write to the strengths of the samples (while keeping in mind people have to play what i am writing) so that i can get approval easier. If there are going to be no live players, i write treating the samples as unique instruments.
Chapters:
00:00 Prologue Talk
03:00 Track Preview
05:22 Live String Analysis
10:08 Spitfire Audio Solo Strings
15:30 Spitfire Audio Sacconi Quartet
19:37 Spitfire Audio Abbey Road 2 Solo Strings
22:13 Cinematic Studio Solo Strings
27:49 Cinesamples Cinestrings
32:07 Postlude Talk
Great comparison! I own all of the Spitfire solo libraries (Alternative, Sacconi, Abbey Road Two, and Solo Strings). I think I find Solo Strings most inspiring, fun to play, and versatile. I grabbed Abbey Road Two for that dry, upfront sound which it does well but as you demonstrated not so much the lyrical. If I had a do-over, I probably would have just Solo Strings and AR2. I rarely ever grab Alternative or Sacconi. One thing I'm convinced of, however, is that when it comes to solo strings, samples still don't get close to the live thing. With large sections, you can really pull off a realistic sound. But it's hard to emulate the expressiveness of a real single player.
Thanks for the comment CJ. I agree with you. I have the Alternative Strings as well. I typically find the patches with the ornaments really useful to give some random realism to a track. Thanks for watching!
Interesting comparison, Peter - thanks! BTW, the volume of portamento transitions in Cinematic Studio Solo Strings is at maximum by default, but it can be adjusted (downwards) with CC5. There are definitely moments (such as in Violin 1 at 26.17) when it's too loud, so being able to bury it a bit does help.
Good point and thanks for the info!
Just noticed this is almost a year old, but it's a timely watch for me as I'm buying libraries for 2023. I love the Spitfire Solo Strings. I wasn't impressed by the Abbey Road library, although as you noted, this prob isn't the right context. They sounded like my Roland S-220 sampler from 1988. I just picked up Cinewinds Pro from Cinesamples and liked what you played of the Cinestrings.
Thank you for this comparison, and I love the song you used!
Thanks for watching!
My apologies for pointing out Sample Modeling strings. It was a sincere post, not an ad and I'm sorry you felt the need to delete it. I have no affiliation with them and really think their solo strings are excellent.
Hi. Thanks for the comment, I did not see the post about Sample Modeling Strings, Not sure what happened there....
@@PeteCalandra Ah, yes. UA-cam does that.
The Spitfire solos are great, but I still feel the violin is slightly wet. The airy quality of the Cremona Quartet by NI Is impressive. Hope can hear the differences if have the opportunity.
Hi Pete! Wish all videos of this kind would be as informative as yours. Got my finger on the buy-button and this was what I needed to press it! :-D Many, many thanks for putting in the time and effort! Best! -O-
Thank you for watching and the comment!
Such a beautiful piece, great double bass parts as well. Enjoyed it very much...
I'm amazed that cinesamples solo strings is still one of the easiest libraries to fit into a mix. They have so much baked into the samples, they are really great! love your content
Thanks for watching. One of my violinist friends concurs with your assessment of Cinesamples. Tom Barney awesome bass player. Makes it easy to write!
Great comparison, I’d go with the Spitfire solo strings. They are imo the one that have this live feeling and fits the best in context of the track. Not the most lyrical I think. Nice track btw.
Thanks for watching Ingo!
Very nice and detailed demo Pete! Thank you very much for sharing this:) More power to you Pete!
Hi Lyndon. Thanks. Much appreciated!
Great video. Really helpful to have real live performances to compare the samples with.
Sometimes I think I have the sound of live players locked in my head as a baseline comparison, but inevitably listening to samples 90% of the time, the memory reference gets blurred.
It was soo useful when you jumped back to the live performances throughout the video 👍
Thank you soo much.
Did part 2 ever happen?
I didn't see it in your videos posted since this one.
Hi. Thanks for watching and the comment. Part 2 is on the schedule. My writing and teaching load right now has me a little swamped.
Thank you for putting in the work on this Pete! This is probably the most informative strings library comparison I’ve seen on UA-cam so far. Being able to compare with the live quartet was fantastic. I was shocked at how rough the Abbey Road sounded compared to all the others (I suppose it is about half the cost…). What kinds of compositions do you think that library shines on?
Hi Ian. Thanks for the question and watching, AR2 is a useful library. I have a few demo videos on my channel where i go thru it. That’s a better resource than an answer here.
@@PeteCalandra Thanks Pete! I watched all your videos on AR2 as suggested and I get what you’re saying. I suppose there’s just a fantasy for some of us (especially those of us with shallow pockets!) to find libraries that are like a Swiss Army knife, that can do the full range of what live players can do. Great channel man, I’m learning a lot!
8:35 Whoa, that almost sounds like an erhu. Beautiful!
Thanks for watching and the comment!
Great video, thanks!
Thanks, Pete. I love your videos. This one was especially good. Have you made the part 2 video yet for the first chairs? I am very interested in that but can't find it.
Hi Marc. Thanks! I have that on the list but right now my teaching and writing schedules have me a bit swamped. Hopefully later this spring I can get to it!
wow, i was impressed with spitfire solo strings. I have it but i sometimes feel like sounds weird and synthy, maybe it just takes more experience to get them sounding good
Great comparison!
Thanks Aaron!
Great work, would love to hear some LASS 3 or spitfire appassionata in one of your videos✨
Hi Lennox. Thanks for watching. On part 2 of this video, LASS 3 First chairs are used as part of the presentation and i am also just starting to work on material for a SA Appassionata video... hopefully at some point next week i can have both videos up.
@@PeteCalandra thanks for replying, I look forward to watching the videos 💫
Great Job! Chris Hein Solo Strings are also very good.
Thanks for watching and the heads up about the CH Strings.
Awesome comparison, thank you, that helped a lot to choose one!!
Even though probably nobody cares, here's my conclusion:
For me Spitfire Solo Strings are not too great for several reasons, even though this "edge" at the beginning you mentioned is really adding to the realism. Sacconi Strings got a wonderful sound, but quite dark and a bit too soft for my taste. easy to change with some post i guess. Abbey Roads were the "worst" of the examples (still ok).
The CSSS were also quite dark. at some point the didn't sound too real, i think it was mainly the end of the long notes, probably just needs a bit of more tweaks. The slurs were fantastic and when they all play together they got the most convincing ensemble sound.
CineStrings were on a similiar level than abbey roads to me, except the violin. the violin was cool.. transitions in the cello just sounded off to me..
So i guess it is CSSS or Sacconi for me -> thank you Pete :)
Thank you for the thoughtful response!
Very well done 👍🏻
Thank you Massive!
Didn't expect cinestrings to sound the best.
Very interesting video. It's amazing how much can be accomplished with samples, although still not "quite there" if compared to the real thing. One question: do you usually write with live players in mind, or do you also write to the strengths of the libraries? I see samples as instruments and try to come up with stuff they can do. I'm just trying to start out with composing, and I like that approach since having real players wouldn't be feasible.
Hi Joe. Thanks for watching. It's all project dependent. If i know in advance that i am writing for live players (like on this track) and it's for my personal project, I'm not too concerned with the midi mock up. It's just a place holder. If i am writing for a client and i know the mock up will have live elements, i write to the strengths of the samples (while keeping in mind people have to play what i am writing) so that i can get approval easier. If there are going to be no live players, i write treating the samples as unique instruments.
Anyone got any comparison to Audio Imperia Solo?
Hi... I do not have that library...