Punning on a recent thread here... On the occasion of today's Day in commemoration of the dead (in the German protestant church), I recorded an excerpt of Adagio for Strings (Barber), played live with a complex string ensemble of the Roland Integra-7 (containing supernatural solo strings and various sections from two Roland expansions SRX 04 and 06).
(Youtube content control caught me right away with copyright, so now there is a not-so-nice advertisement in it.)

http://youtu.be/PmhJsKOaKQ8

There are very, very few string samples that might be superior to this larger Integra string section. A Tyros can only compete with its small strings (quartet of solo voices), the "live strings" etc.are much more artificial. The Kronos preset strings sound very artificial, too. IMO only some specific Kronos or Motif XF external string libraries cam beat this.

The demanding thing playing this is to play a good legato without using a sustain pedal. Sustain pedal doesn't work for string sections, too many tones loudly sustained.

What I am not yet happy about is dynamics: there should be more differentiation between piano and forte, that was not due to my playing, but the voices should react more clearly to soft playing.

That's my point of view about Roland Integra strings. (I've heard a lot of real strings when I played the trombone in the symphonic orchestra of a university, so I guess I know what real string sections sound like).

Hi Rosetree,

I really enjoy your videos, and was wondering which external sound libraries for the Motif XF you consider better than the Integra's strings.

Also, on many of your videos, you write that you use Garritan and Moxf strings. Do you think they sound better together, or is using just the Garritan strings better?

Thanks!

To get proper strings you need to use VST instruments, which leave all the hardware versions way behind.

I quite like this one though

Enjoy

Bill

Thank you, Bill.

However, I prefer to have the best strings and orchestral sounds hardware has to offer. Unfortunately, I don't have the brains or inclination to use software.

Any suggestions would be of great help.

Mike

By the way, the video you posted sounds good and lush, but perhaps the Integra-7 sounds a little more realistic to my ears.

@Bill: The strings of your example sound soft, but artificial to me. The Integra's sound much more realistic to me. However the player makes nice, long pauses, which give the piece good depth. It's clear that VST strings are best. I just don' t like playing VST live, e.g. during a funeral service I would use the Integra.

@Mike: So far, I haven't found clearly better strings in the Motif libraries. But I still haven't tried the Motif XS Symphonic strings (400MB). The Garritan section has a good depth, but has a slightly strange vibrato in the upper range and a synthetic touch in some low keys. I get best results combining them with the Motif section strings. But the Integra's are still better all in all.

I am thinking about making a second version just with the Roland SRX 06 Big Strings, which are the lushest strings I know.
Here is an example of them, compared to the Motif large strings:
https://soundcloud.com/rorosetree/roland-srx-06-big-strings.

Rosetree, thanks for your detailed answer. As always, I look forward to your demos.

P.S. Here are two videos of the same piece, one using the Integra-7, and the other using a Kurzweil PC3K. Which do you think is better? (Keep in mind that the Integra-7 version has 16 instrument sounds, whereas the Kurzweil has only 7).

YouTube SoundCloud

Mike

#2 Sound Cloud seems a bit more live to my ears...