Kirk Hunter Studios Customer Demo Contest. WIN a Sample Library Worth $799 USD!!! WINNERS ANNOUNCED!

[J van E]

http://www.andrevanharen.com/stringquartetmoments.htm

Ok! NOW WE ARE TALKING! This made me go 'Ok... I want to have this library too!!!' And it's even Strings I and not Strings II...! (You don't own Strings II btw...? I wonder if they sound even better than Strings I...!) This sounded very conving and realistic! Thank you VERY much for posting these compositions! I've been looking for Kirk Hunter 'demo's for quite some time and I didn't really like the ones on the Kirk Hunter site... (where specially the basses sounded odd too often, as if they were recorded in a box). I did hear some demo's on another forum which already sounded better, but your mp3's sound AWESOME!!! Obviously, also due to the great compositions, but the sounds were very convincing to my (amateur) ears!

Well, I will have to check out what exactly is the difference between Strings I and II, but this might mean the end of my search...!

EDIT
Did you do a lot of EQ'ing or editing in Kontakt etc. to get this sound? The demo's I've heard on another forum were made by someone who edited the patches a LOT in Kontakt... I have no clue on how to do that, so I am curious if your sound is rather straight out of the box or not (not talking about modulation etc. but the sound itself, if you know what I mean). Man, I am really happy to hear some good Kirk Hunter demo's!

[Andre van Haren]

http://www.andrevanharen.com/stringquartetmoments.htm

Ok! NOW WE ARE TALKING! This made me go 'Ok... I want to have this library too!!!' And it's even Strings I and not Strings II...! (You don't own Strings II btw...? I wonder if they sound even better than Strings I...!) This sounded very conving and realistic! Thank you VERY much for posting these compositions! I've been looking for Kirk Hunter 'demo's for quite some time and I didn't really like the ones on the Kirk Hunter site... (where specially the basses sounded odd too often, as if they were recorded in a box). I did hear some demo's on another forum which already sounded better, but your mp3's sound AWESOME!!! Obviously, also due to the great compositions, but the sounds were very convincing to my (amateur) ears!

Well, I will have to check out what exactly is the difference between Strings I and II, but this might mean the end of my search...!

EDIT
Did you do a lot of EQ'ing or editing in Kontakt etc. to get this sound? The demo's I've heard on another forum were made by someone who edited the patches a LOT in Kontakt... I have no clue on how to do that, so I am curious if your sound is rather straight out of the box or not (not talking about modulation etc. but the sound itself, if you know what I mean). Man, I am really happy to hear some good Kirk Hunter demo's!

Hi,
no actually, I didn't do any kind of editing on the sound. I only inserted a DirMix plugin in Logic for every instrument to get a good Stage Position in the stereo field. This library is good as it is, straight out of the box.

During the recording of this and two of my other compositions for string quartet, I started to put together a tutorial on how to use this library, or actually, how I use it. Because everybody uses Logic in their own way. But I am getting very good results, so I assume I am doing it correctly. I made a special template for me to work in with a lot pf presets in the Transform menu to speed up the work process.

Since today I also own Solo Strings 2, I still have to study it but I am sure the sounds are going to be good!

Glad you like the music!

André
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[kongwee]

http://soundcloud.com/pehwee/lost-autumn

http://soundcloud.com/pehwee/ethinc-rumble

I did them some time ago. Only PRS is used, other instrument come from various library.

Below one is remix, so not qualify:
http://soundcloud.com/pehwee/old-sckhool-remix-1-tara

[J van E]

no actually, I didn't do any kind of editing on the sound. I only inserted a DirMix plugin in Logic for every instrument to get a good Stage Position in the stereo field. This library is good as it is, straight out of the box.

During the recording of this and two of my other compositions for string quartet, I started to put together a tutorial on how to use this library, or actually, how I use it. Because everybody uses Logic in their own way. But I am getting very good results, so I assume I am doing it correctly. I made a special template for me to work in with a lot pf presets in the Transform menu to speed up the work process.

Since today I also own Solo Strings 2, I still have to study it but I am sure the sounds are going to be good!

Glad you like the music!

André

Thanks for the reply! Good to know you didn't edit the sounds! I use Sonar 8.5 and not Logic (so DirMix and Transform don't say anything to me) but if you ever going to post that tutorial somewhere, I hope I can learn something from it to. (Specialy since I am downloading Strings II as I type! )

[Andre van Haren]

no actually, I didn't do any kind of editing on the sound. I only inserted a DirMix plugin in Logic for every instrument to get a good Stage Position in the stereo field. This library is good as it is, straight out of the box.

During the recording of this and two of my other compositions for string quartet, I started to put together a tutorial on how to use this library, or actually, how I use it. Because everybody uses Logic in their own way. But I am getting very good results, so I assume I am doing it correctly. I made a special template for me to work in with a lot pf presets in the Transform menu to speed up the work process.

Since today I also own Solo Strings 2, I still have to study it but I am sure the sounds are going to be good!

Glad you like the music!

André

Thanks for the reply! Good to know you didn't edit the sounds! I use Sonar 8.5 and not Logic (so DirMix and Transform don't say anything to me) but if you ever going to post that tutorial somewhere, I hope I can learn something from it to. (Specialy since I am downloading Strings II as I type! )

The tutorial is only for Logic, I have no idea how to work with Sonar, sorry. Btw, are you from Holland? Because I am. I live in Sweden now since 2003.

[J van E]

The tutorial is only for Logic, I have no idea how to work with Sonar, sorry. Btw, are you from Holland? Because I am. I live in Sweden now since 2003.

The fact that it might only be for Logic doesn't have to mean I can't learn anything from it, so I'd still like to know if you are going to publish it somehow somehere, haha!

Yes, I'm from Holland! I already presumed you had some links with the Netherlands, even though I noticed on your site you were living in Sweden. But I see the links with Holland are still pretty fresh! (I've been to Sweden a couple of times, mainly passing through it on my way to Norway, where I've been on holiday for about 15 times... I love Scandinavia! Although the last time I was there was in 1996...)

[Andre van Haren]

The tutorial is only for Logic, I have no idea how to work with Sonar, sorry. Btw, are you from Holland? Because I am. I live in Sweden now since 2003.

The fact that it might only be for Logic doesn't have to mean I can't learn anything from it, so I'd still like to know if you are going to publish it somehow somehere, haha!

Yes, I'm from Holland! I already presumed you had some links with the Netherlands, even though I noticed on your site you were living in Sweden. But I see the links with Holland are still pretty fresh! (I've been to Sweden a couple of times, mainly passing through it on my way to Norway, where I've been on holiday for about 15 times... I love Scandinavia! Although the last time I was there was in 1996...)

You can find the tutorial here:
http://www.andrevanharen.com/tutorials.htm

I hope it will help you in Sonar.

[J van E]

You can find the tutorial here:
http://www.andrevanharen.com/tutorials.htm

I hope it will help you in Sonar.

Thank you! That SURE will help, even with Sonar! Obviously specific Logic options aren't available in Sonar, but I really can use the extra information you give! The chapter about articulations alone is very helpful for someone who is rather new to all this. But so is all information that's not directly related to Logic! You might as well call the pdf 'Working with the Kirk Hunter Solo String I' and make that 'in Logic 9' a small subtitle. And btw the pdf looks great too: very professional!

Two small things:

1. for those who want to read the pdf and are interested in the mixer settings on page 8 and 9: download it because the online reader won't show the settings (at least not on my computer).

2. the link to Beth's Legato video on page 15 isn't a link.

BTW Reading the pdf (from A to Z) made me feel VERY sorry that Logic isn't available for Windows... Man, it sure has some awesome MIDI options which I never knew ever existed or thought about! The Note event and Transform options are awesome...!!! If I had more money to spend, I'd almost would buy a Mac just for this, really!

Wow, you really made my day with your contributions here, André!

[Andre van Haren]

You can find the tutorial here:
http://www.andrevanharen.com/tutorials.htm

I hope it will help you in Sonar.

Thank you! That SURE will help, even with Sonar! Obviously specific Logic options aren't available in Sonar, but I really can use the extra information you give! The chapter about articulations alone is very helpful for someone who is rather new to all this. But so is all information that's not directly related to Logic! You might as well call the pdf 'Working with the Kirk Hunter Solo String I' and make that 'in Logic 9' a small subtitle. And btw the pdf looks great too: very professional!

Two small things:

1. for those who want to read the pdf and are interested in the mixer settings on page 8 and 9: download it because the online reader won't show the settings (at least not on my computer).

2. the link to Beth's Legato video on page 15 isn't a link.

BTW Reading the pdf (from A to Z) made me feel VERY sorry that Logic isn't available for Windows... Man, it sure has some awesome MIDI options which I never knew ever existed or thought about! The Note event and Transform options are awesome...!!! If I had more money to spend, I'd almost would buy a Mac just for this, really!

Wow, you really made my day with your contributions here, André!

You are very welcome. And thanks for letting me know about those little errors. I will fix them right now. Even with Solo Strings 2 now on my computer, I will keep on adjusting this tutorial as well and upload a new version whenever I made the changes.

André

[eDrummist]

http://soundcloud.com/pehwee/lost-autumn

http://soundcloud.com/pehwee/ethinc-rumble

I did them some time ago. Only PRS is used, other instrument come from various library.

Below one is remix, so not qualify:
http://soundcloud.com/pehwee/old-sckhool-remix-1-tara

Wow. Those are some really beautiful pieces of music.

What are the other instruments were used in your performances? It appears to me to be KHS Pop / Rock Strings and numerous Chinese instruments. Everything sounds great. Lost Autumn is my favorite!

[Camillo Jr]

Wow. Some of these solo string demos here are making me consider entering the group buy. Particularly Andre van Haren's "Cat's Play" and the astoundingly lush and realistic track "My Wistful Hope" that xoxos posted for eric m.

I've listened to some of the solo string demos on Kirk's site and I have to say, I was unimpressed. I think he / they do a disservice to their own product with those demos. It's good to know that Andre was getting that sound "out of the box".

Time to check the limit on the card!

[eDrummist]

Wow. Some of these solo string demos here are making me consider entering the group buy. Particularly Andre van Haren's "Cat's Play" and the astoundingly lush and realistic track "My Wistful Hope" that xoxos posted for eric m.

I've listened to some of the solo string demos on Kirk's site and I have to say, I was unimpressed. I think he / they do a disservice to their own product with those demos. It's good to know that Andre was getting that sound "out of the box".

Time to check the limit on the card!

Candidly, and I've stated this before, I think the issue with the KHS site demos are largely related to the audio files NOT being super high quality (they're 256Kbps MP3s) and the mixes not being very bright.

I've found (based on forum posts and PMs) A LOT of people looking at string samples (me included) prefer brighter mixes of strings. Ironically, using KHS Pop / Rock Strings on my PC, they sound incredibly brighter than in any of the demos at the site. These customer demos are a lot closer to what I hear when I fire up KONTAKT and load Pop / Rock Strings. I've posted that before and other users have agreed.

Hence, back to your point, it's great for everyone be able to hear what different users do with the strings in terms of mixing, so musicians/producers considering the libraries can get a sense of what you can do with them.

- Peter

[Hivernal]

Here's another one. This one is more in line of my usual style.

http://soundcloud.com/hivernal/piece-pour-zx

The Cello is from Solo strings 1 and the other instruments are kinda... "non symphonic orchestra instruments"...

[Hivernal]

http://soundcloud.com/pehwee/lost-autumn

http://soundcloud.com/pehwee/ethinc-rumble

I did them some time ago. Only PRS is used, other instrument come from various library.

Below one is remix, so not qualify:
http://soundcloud.com/pehwee/old-sckhool-remix-1-tara

I really like The Lost Autumn. The melodic lines are Guzheng and Pipa, right? There is a nice intensity to this musical piece.

[Andre van Haren]

Hi! Here is the same piece as I posted before, but this time I bounced it with the Solo Strings 2 library.


"After Work, Late at Night" for string quartet. Bounced with Kirk Hunter Solo Strings 2:

http://www.andrevanharen.com/KH%20Bounc ... 20-ss2.mp3

André