Kirk Hunter Studios

gdgross · Post by **gdgross** » Wed Nov 19, 2014 7:50 am

So I'm trying to figure out how to make my diamond strings sound more realistic.

Ive been experimenting with giving individual notes volume and mod CCs basically like this picture:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/qoipbw5w0nhc5 ... M.png?dl=0

Generally better results than doing nothing, but here's a tricky passage with some re-articulated notes. THere are volume/mod drops in between each note, and I'm thinking that that's the reason this passage sounds unnatural. Any thoughts on it?

Here's a quick mp3 of the passage in question: https://www.dropbox.com/s/2m8k4bo9a7frd ... x.mp3?dl=0

Sorry if this is a newbie question, just getting into figuring out how to use sampled strings.

Thanks!
Geoff

gdgross · Post by **gdgross** » Wed Nov 19, 2014 5:48 pm

Well, I did a little massaging of my volume and modwheel curves in logic's hyper editor to make the transition between two same-pitched notes a little more realistic sounding.

Seems like, to my ears at least, there maybe is a bow direction change between two same-pitched notes, but maybe not much actual volume difference, so perhaps I should just keep the same volume and mod settings during the transition and maybe just use an articulation that has a slight attack at the beginning for the second note?

Any thoughts on this?

Thanks!

chibear · Post by **chibear** » Wed Nov 19, 2014 8:09 pm

auto admin is blocking all your links until you've had enough posts. Try and describe what you are doing so far (and thus post some more

)

gdgross · Post by **gdgross** » Thu Nov 20, 2014 4:42 am

Oh hah!

THe audio example I posted from my track has these dropouts in between notes. To me they sound unnatural when there are two notes of the same pitch in a row, but don't sound quite as weird when the notes are moving up or down...

THe picture is a picture of the volume and vibrato evnelopes of a note a string player might play. basitcally the volume has an fast initial increase in volume and then a very slow decrease as the note progresses. I presume this envelope holds for shorter notes; for longer ones the volume level might sustain.

The mod envelope is a quick initial increase in modulation intensity, followed by a slow gradual increase as the note progresses. THen at the end of the note, there's a quick decrease in modulation (vibrato) intensity.

gdgross · Post by **gdgross** » Thu Nov 20, 2014 4:42 am

I think I may have sorted it my simply removing the volume and mod drops in between notes of the same pitch.

gdgross · Post by **gdgross** » Thu Nov 20, 2014 4:43 am

It still doesn't sound totally natural though.

gdgross · Post by **gdgross** » Thu Nov 20, 2014 4:45 am

Here's a "fixed" audio example with the modified mod and volume curves:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/rv6i08ozahljm ... 2.mp3?dl=0

gdgross · Post by **gdgross** » Thu Nov 20, 2014 4:47 am

Lemme know your thoughts and tricks!

I haven't yet experimented with the KH slides/portamentio/glissando at all. I'm using the diamond orchestra package (TVEC 3)

Thanks!
Geoff

Kirk Hunter Studios

KVR Audio

"real"izing diamond strings with volume and mod controllers