Steinberg Media Technologies has announced that leading sample content and instrument manufacturers have committed to support for its new VST Expression technology. Already integrated into the new Cubase 5, VST Expression is a new system that dramatically simplifies composing with large sample libraries within Cubase, streamlining the way today's massive virtual orchestras and highly detailed instrument libraries are used in the context of creative composition for scores and songs.

"With virtual and hardware instruments becoming more and more expressive it has been time to provide a more flexible and more elegant solution for recording and editing sounds with multiple articulations," comments Arnd Kaiser, Steinberg's Product Planning Manager for Music Technology. "This is what VST Expression is all about. But it's not only a great way to record, edit and score orchestral instrument sounds. It's a powerful tool for any sound generator and a new creative platform for more expressive instruments we might see in the future," Kaiser adds.

VST Expression drastically simplifies handling of articulations and expressions for advanced virtual instruments, large sample libraries and hardware sound generators. The new technology makes recording and editing articulation commands much easier, with all articulation data displayed separately in both track inspector and editor windows. VST Expression is part of the new Cubase 5, the latest version of Steinberg's Advanced Music Production System and is compatible with any VST or MIDI instrument. Steinberg's premium orchestral sample instrument HALion Symphonic Orchestra also supports VST Expression.