Trailer Strings

Trailer Strings shares the same mantra its portly, brassy cousin follows: LOUD, huge, AGGRESSIVE.

60-string ensemble: 18 violins, 16 violas, 14 cellos and 12 double basses recorded separately in the same concert hall as Trailer Brass. We've also incorporated our wide/centered seating arrangement to help achieve the same modern, oversized aesthetic we were going for.

What you get is a useful array of short and long articulations, but with a size and clarity that's specifically geared towards hugantic (hugh-jan-tik), over-the-top productions. As with the brass, we really pushed the players to give us everything they had with the triple-forte dynamic. After a series of unrelenting requests demanding "MORE!" volume, the players really sailed through with inspired, bow hair-snapping performances.

What you may not expect with this release is that the dynamic range is quite wide. In addition to the fortississimo dynamic, we went all the way down to piano. Feathery spiccatos, pillowy staccatos and smooth marcatos performed a la dolce. Tasty.

And the sustains? Six dynamics deep. The softest two performed sul tasto (over the fingerboard) to get that whispered, feathery tone.

We've also included our "Adventure" patch programming for all four sections, a cool asset for on-the-fly, pompous string lines. Seriously, load up the basses/cellos Adventure patches, set the basses an octave down, arm both tracks and get your pomposity on. See? You're smiling.

Also included in the basses and cellos are three cluster effects patches. "Snap and Grunt" provides an arsenal of atonal snap pizzicatos, spiccatos/staccato chugs and behind-the-bridge scrapes. "The Brooding" includes subtle, low-range aleatoric meanderings (good for: "alligator sneaking up on prey"). "Behind the Bridge!" is exactly that, tremelo'd (good for: "alligator eats prey").

Our favorite part? The "All Strings" patch, which includes all the respective articulations, spread out over the keyboard. Be prepared to waste a lot of time playing with this patch.

{See video at top of page}