I'm absolutely blown away. This was already my go to string library but hearing in this way has opened up a whole new doors of possibilities. Looking forward to messing around with the techniques you've shown here.
great tips, only thing i'd say is that i'd only reccommend doing this if you only have a strings section, if you're using other instrumentation groups then you're better off having the natural orchestral panning so your mix doesnt get muddy
Great tip, man. My mix improved instantly after using this method, haha. I was also a little disappointed about the legato patch. Definitely going to sub, and looking forward for more videos. Thanks! P.S. "Mayuri's Fate" is an amazing track EDIT: Could you perhaps make some tutorials addressing mixing? Like reverb, EQ, and so on. That is, if you take suggestions.
Thank you so much man. I followed your tutorial carefully and the result was really great! It helps me a LOT to get the most out of the library. the more interesting things to me is about the Inverter effect. I tried to apply this method but didn't use L/R swap. I did increase the Output volume of the effect instead and I got more sound filled from the left speaker. It makes sound thicker and louder. I'd like to know that can I use this method instead of adding more layer track ? Thanks
If you set it this way, how to you change the articulation of both instruments with the keyswitch? When I do it, it only changes the articulation of the primary instrument that I have selected.
Awesome! The legato tip is awesome on its own! The attack and note changes always seemed too drag for this instrument - especially on the emotional passages; no matter how short the attack, or how much I tried to offset the midi notes to get the legato to "slur" together and sound authentic, never got them to flow how I needed. I've tried layering solo instruments to cover up the long attack, but couldn't seem to get them right, but I think this could be the trick I need! Can't wait to try this as soon as possible!
I'm not sure how you guys are doing your string legatos. Are you sure you are doing it correctly by overlapping midi notes? That's how you actually trigger the legato. You also have to turn on the legato button. AND MAKE SURE DIVISI is off!!! Yes it's a few steps to trigger the correct legato.
FesliyanStudios not necessarily. If you've used LASS before you'd know the key to playing the Legatos are using the sustain pedals. You hold down the sustain pedal and play notes and they will automatically trigger Legato. Also you can do That with the divisi feature.
Molto intelligente !!! I've noticed that you are using S1. Can you send me or sharing a mini template with the complete series ?? It would be great !! Thx a lot.
GREAT Tutorial!!! Indeed this library doesnt have a punchy sound! I have a question. How do you set up the instruments in your DAW? do you open an instance of Kontakt per Instrument?
I also was going to ask this, because that's not how it's supposed to be. The right way of doing is of course with proper routing of the channels, where every instrument has it's own stereo output. That depends on your DAW tho. I'm for example using Studio One 3 and I just have to tick/ enable each individual st. ch. after setting it up once. It also depends on how much control you want. But it could also be just for the purpose of this tutorial, idk 😅
For getting the wide sound of each section, I load up a patch each into one instance of Kontakt and play them like a multi - but if you do want individual control over the left and right patches you can do 2 things - set the left patch to channel 1 and the right patch to channel 2, then add an instrument track in your DAW and set the Kontakt track to receive channel 1 and the new instrument track to receive channel 2 - or you can just open up each patch in their own instance of Kontakt and record arm both of the tracks. When it comes to all of the ensembles together (vln 1, vln2, vla, cl, bs) I prefer to have them in their own instance of Kontakt, because having them all in one instance of Kontakt routed to different channels can cause Kontakt to overload and kill voices - especially with the newest Kontakt update.
Hello Cory, i don't know much about Symphohny but... when i try to play a chord , it does not play the full hord, it sounds like one note.. Is this normal?
hi. good video. my problem. I canot find these options in the library. do not have these section setup or anything else you show in the video. is it a larger or different version? i have complete 11 ultimate. And I find it is not good to have no expression by playing with the keys. it is only possible with the mod wheel . I think, other libarys works better than this
9:25 I'm a bit confused here, I understand what you're saying, but isn't the patch that is inverted pulled to the left here? You swapped the two sections, but the one that you showed us the editor for had it inverted and was pulled to the left?
Yeah just save the patches under a different name like "Custom 1st Strings A" and so on for each of the sections, or load up the sections you want to play together together and save them as a multi.
By default Kontakt will usually set extra patches you drag in to different outputs. If you look just underneath the patch name there will be a little info section with the words MIDI Ch: [A] 2, so you have to click on the arrow near that and change it to [A] 1 so both patches play at the same time.
Can you just play the smaller divisi sections by themselves using legato? Or are you forced to use the largest section when playing true legato? I would have liked to hear how your changes changed the sound, using an A/B comparison. Your "legato" section didn't have any fast moving notes so the fast portamento trick wasn't tested with it.
The library itself is more directed toward slow to medium playing styles rather than acrobatic legato, so even when you play fast with the portamento trick it can still sound a little unrealistic unless the strings are sitting in a dense mix. And yes, all of the library's sections are actually half divisi sections added together to create an ensemble sound, so every single divisi section has its own true legato, which is nice.
I'm not sure how you guys are doing your string legatos. Are you sure you are doing it correctly by overlapping midi notes? That's how you actually trigger the legato. You also have to turn on the legato button. AND MAKE SURE DIVISI is off!!! Yes it's a few steps to trigger the correct legato.
? My copy of Symphony Series Strings has hardly noticeable legato transitions, so unless you're copy has otherwise, I'm afraid this is just what you get with the library.
I'm well aware of the basic functions of legato and MIDI. The question is, are you listening to YOUR copy of the library to make sure if what I've said holds true when you play the library. Are you actually hearing realistic bowed transitions when you play? Because if you are, then there's something wrong with my copy. Send me an example of you playing the library, with a MIDI file included, through a dropbox link and I'll have a listen, then I'll send you a file of the same MIDI put through my copy of the library.
![[REVIEW] Native Instruments Symphony Essentials](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/ElUkiNWxSyk/mqdefault.jpg)
![[REVIEW] Native Instruments Symphony Essentials](/img/tr.png)
I'm absolutely blown away. This was already my go to string library but hearing in this way has opened up a whole new doors of possibilities. Looking forward to messing around with the techniques you've shown here.
NI and Audiobro should pay you for that man! That was very intelligent
great tips, only thing i'd say is that i'd only reccommend doing this if you only have a strings section, if you're using other instrumentation groups then you're better off having the natural orchestral panning so your mix doesnt get muddy
You werent joking this makes so much of a difference!
Thank you very very much Cory!! My string ensemble Mix improved like a lot by applying this technique.
This has a lot more energy than the Cory videos I’m used to…
what a nice setup man! thanks
great tips as always
great video, thanks!
You are the man .. fantastic .
Excellent
Briiliant! Thanks a lot!
I still confuse in violin patch, can you explain slower. I intend to buy komplete 12 with all this orchestra, do you think it worth
thankyou !
Subbed - interesting approach.
amazing can send the path save for kontakt plz i try but not same sound in the video thank for u
Amazing! What I have been looking for for a long time! How do you assign the dynamics knob to a volume midi pedal?
Great tip, man. My mix improved instantly after using this method, haha. I was also a little disappointed about the legato patch. Definitely going to sub, and looking forward for more videos. Thanks!
P.S. "Mayuri's Fate" is an amazing track
EDIT: Could you perhaps make some tutorials addressing mixing? Like reverb, EQ, and so on. That is, if you take suggestions.
I've been thinking of a good way to make some tutorials on mixing, so it's definitely a must.
Cory Pelizzari Sounds good.
Thank you so much man. I followed your tutorial carefully and the result was really great! It helps me a LOT to get the most out of the library. the more interesting things to me is about the Inverter effect. I tried to apply this method but didn't use L/R swap. I did increase the Output volume of the effect instead and I got more sound filled from the left speaker. It makes sound thicker and louder. I'd like to know that can I use this method instead of adding more layer track ? Thanks
Sure, you can do whatever sounds good to you.
If you set it this way, how to you change the articulation of both instruments with the keyswitch? When I do it, it only changes the articulation of the primary instrument that I have selected.
Awesome! The legato tip is awesome on its own! The attack and note changes always seemed too drag for this instrument - especially on the emotional passages; no matter how short the attack, or how much I tried to offset the midi notes to get the legato to "slur" together and sound authentic, never got them to flow how I needed. I've tried layering solo instruments to cover up the long attack, but couldn't seem to get them right, but I think this could be the trick I need! Can't wait to try this as soon as possible!
I'm not sure how you guys are doing your string legatos. Are you sure you are doing it correctly by overlapping midi notes? That's how you actually trigger the legato. You also have to turn on the legato button. AND MAKE SURE DIVISI is off!!! Yes it's a few steps to trigger the correct legato.
FesliyanStudios not necessarily. If you've used LASS before you'd know the key to playing the Legatos are using the sustain pedals. You hold down the sustain pedal and play notes and they will automatically trigger Legato. Also you can do That with the divisi feature.
Molto intelligente !!!
I've noticed that you are using S1.
Can you send me or sharing a mini template with the complete series ??
It would be great !!
Thx a lot.
Fantastic stuff.
Just picked up this library and was getting a bit nervous as to why the sound wasn't "there".
Very helpful!
Do you know if I can use that with Kontakt 5.0.1?
OK! You've made the wide, non-conventional mix version. By default all string sections are positioned according to their stage placement.
GREAT Tutorial!!! Indeed this library doesnt have a punchy sound! I have a question. How do you set up the instruments in your DAW? do you open an instance of Kontakt per Instrument?
I also was going to ask this, because that's not how it's supposed to be. The right way of doing is of course with proper routing of the channels, where every instrument has it's own stereo output. That depends on your DAW tho. I'm for example using Studio One 3 and I just have to tick/ enable each individual st. ch. after setting it up once. It also depends on how much control you want.
But it could also be just for the purpose of this tutorial, idk 😅
For getting the wide sound of each section, I load up a patch each into one instance of Kontakt and play them like a multi - but if you do want individual control over the left and right patches you can do 2 things - set the left patch to channel 1 and the right patch to channel 2, then add an instrument track in your DAW and set the Kontakt track to receive channel 1 and the new instrument track to receive channel 2 - or you can just open up each patch in their own instance of Kontakt and record arm both of the tracks.
When it comes to all of the ensembles together (vln 1, vln2, vla, cl, bs) I prefer to have them in their own instance of Kontakt, because having them all in one instance of Kontakt routed to different channels can cause Kontakt to overload and kill voices - especially with the newest Kontakt update.
Great! Thank you very much!
Hello Cory, i don't know much about Symphohny but... when i try to play a chord , it does not play the full hord, it sounds like one note.. Is this normal?
Turn legato mode off.
That's cool,I guess you could do this with the Brass library also
thomas vinelli maybe not. Because the Brass Library doesn't come with divisi sections.
hi. good video. my problem. I canot find these options in the library. do not have these section setup or anything else you show in the video. is it a larger or different version? i have complete 11 ultimate. And I find it is not good to have no expression by playing with the keys. it is only possible with the mod wheel . I think, other libarys works better than this
yes the library included in Komplete is part of Symphony Essentials which is a cut-down version of Symphony Series
You need Komplete 12 or 13 Ultimate: COLLECTOR’S EDITION for the Series version.
9:25 I'm a bit confused here, I understand what you're saying, but isn't the patch that is inverted pulled to the left here? You swapped the two sections, but the one that you showed us the editor for had it inverted and was pulled to the left?
This is amazing but is there anyway to save this as my default setting so I don't have to edit all this every time I load the instrument?
Yeah just save the patches under a different name like "Custom 1st Strings A" and so on for each of the sections, or load up the sections you want to play together together and save them as a multi.
I am having some confusions here.. I did everything as your video showed, but I am not getting any output from patch B . Any advice on that ?
By default Kontakt will usually set extra patches you drag in to different outputs. If you look just underneath the patch name there will be a little info section with the words MIDI Ch: [A] 2, so you have to click on the arrow near that and change it to [A] 1 so both patches play at the same time.
Thank you so much.. Its finally working , and awesome tutorial btw. :)
Lol, i just put re reverb on errthing
Can you just play the smaller divisi sections by themselves using legato? Or are you forced to use the largest section when playing true legato? I would have liked to hear how your changes changed the sound, using an A/B comparison. Your "legato" section didn't have any fast moving notes so the fast portamento trick wasn't tested with it.
The library itself is more directed toward slow to medium playing styles rather than acrobatic legato, so even when you play fast with the portamento trick it can still sound a little unrealistic unless the strings are sitting in a dense mix. And yes, all of the library's sections are actually half divisi sections added together to create an ensemble sound, so every single divisi section has its own true legato, which is nice.
I'm not sure how you guys are doing your string legatos. Are you sure you are doing it correctly by overlapping midi notes? That's how you actually trigger the legato. You also have to turn on the legato button. AND MAKE SURE DIVISI is off!!! Yes it's a few steps to trigger the correct legato.
? My copy of Symphony Series Strings has hardly noticeable legato transitions, so unless you're copy has otherwise, I'm afraid this is just what you get with the library.
But are you doing 1) overlapping midi notes 2) turn on legato 3) turn off divisi 4) select LEGATO instead of sustain articulation
Also, lower velocities trigger portemento legato, and higher ones are faster legato
I'm well aware of the basic functions of legato and MIDI. The question is, are you listening to YOUR copy of the library to make sure if what I've said holds true when you play the library. Are you actually hearing realistic bowed transitions when you play? Because if you are, then there's something wrong with my copy. Send me an example of you playing the library, with a MIDI file included, through a dropbox link and I'll have a listen, then I'll send you a file of the same MIDI put through my copy of the library.
and how it fucking sounds?