Chris Hein's upcoming Solo Violin library -- most flexible?

[mhschmieder]

http://www.chrishein.net/web/CH-Violin_Overview.html

Blown away by the third demo (gypsy style) and it's exactly what I need, so I may delay completion of my jazz album until this library becomes available in March as I have a feeling Chris Hein's new Solo Violin library will take over from Vienna Symphonic Library on my gypsy stuff (QL Gypsy remains the one EWQL product that I have yet to get musical results from).

I am optimistic about this product, because usually Chris's demos scare me away from his products. I hemmed and hawed for weeks, during the recent sale, regarding either his jazz flute or his orchestral flute, and decided not to take the risk due to the demos at the website.

I'm too tired after a long weekend of gigging, to compare GUI's to see whether this Solo Violin is a departure in style and approach vs. the recent orchestral winds/brass offerings. But at first glance, it looks like it won't be a difficult library to use, like some of the older ones (I have the Guitars and never use them). I don't have time for key-switching; would always prefer CC's as they're easy to map from wind controller or other keyboard input as well as quick to edit and add in DP.

I did buy the unique Harmonicas library from Chris Hein last year, as it is so comprehensive and even covers Bass Harmonica. It is a lovely library, well recorded and full of important playing nuances, so is capable of great expression. Perhaps that library was the template for this upcoming Solo Violin.

[mhschmieder]

I managed to push my concentration long enough to stay awake and listen to more Chris Hein audio demos at his site as well as comparing GUI's.

The orchestral winds sound truly awful to me, but I now think it's because a couple of generic MIDI files were created and then rendered through each of the instruments in the library. What a disservice that does to the library!

Through some exploring, I did find two good jazz flute demos for the expensive Horns library (close to $700 as I recall). They were clearly done specifically for the flute, which was added late in the game (maybe just a month or two ago) and MIGHT end up being more flexible than the one from Orange Tree (Passion Flute).

At any rate, the GUI's (including that of the Harmonica) are considerably different from this upcoming Solo Violin library -- though the "trend" towards this new style is somewhat evident in the more recent libraries.

So, I think maybe we are seeing a new approach here with this upcoming Solo Violin library, focused on better usability and more flexibility with different people's workflows and preferences for input devices and control.

If the jazz flute was offered separately, I'd give it a try, but I hesitate to even get the Horns Compact as I would probably immediately need the full edition and can't afford it now due to other priorities. I already learned that lesson with VSL Standard Editions and Special Editions -- you need the full package to really be able to do musical mockups.

[mhschmieder]

Although the audio demos exhibit some flaws on closer listen, I decided to take a chance on this library yesterday for roughly $150 (it just got released late this past week).

Audio Deluxe has not received the registration codes from best Service yet, so I do not yet have it on my computer -- hopefully by tomorrow at the latest, as I'm taking the day off to work on my jazz album some more and am curious to see if I get better results on the two pieces that feature solo violin than what I've gotten so far with VSL (pretty good, but a bit less expressive than I'd like).

It looks like UniqHorn (which I do not own as I am happy with Sample Modeling for that instrument), and Harmonica (which I do own, and which I recommend even aside from it being the "only" library in its category), as the other two Chris Hein libraries that share a similar interface to the new Solo Violin.

I've been hesitant to spend money on his others (and never use the expensive-at-the-time Guitars that was one of my first purchases), even though timbre is nice and recordings are dry (which I prefer), due to complexity of articulation-switching and synth-like demos. Maybe I'll be more willing to take that chance after playing with the Solo Violin.

I went back to Fluffy Audio's site again last night and listened to all of their string demos, but the violin/viola/cello all sound horribly artificial and synth-like to me, with unrealistic phrasing and articulation. Many swear by them, so maybe they're worth the risk, but I have yet to get any use out of the others I bought (flute, clarinet, maybe one other). No regrets though; developer is nice and does up updates, and timbre is promising so they may just take more work or be ideal just for certain projects.

So far, Chris Hein's Solo Violin seems to be getting fairly universal phrase for those who have spent time with it, and it does appear to be well suited for more genres and styles than most (gypsy, jazz, folk, classical, etc.).

[mhschmieder]

Finally got it downloaded a little bit ago; registration key didn't arrive until this morning. Am about to start using it on my jazz album and seeing whether it lets me get braver with more expressive and idiomatic playing than VSL.

Last night, I bought VirHarmonic Bohemian Violin, and it was completely unusable on this project; worse than a synth. But I am not condemning the product at all. I think it simply doesn't work well for rendering existing MIDI; it is designed for real-time playing.

I had already entered my parts using VSL as the source sound, and have enough intricate "only in jazz" quirks that I'm not likely to capture on a second go-around. So I'll reserve Bohemian Violin (and their upcoming Cello) for a later project.

[dbender]

Looking forward to your thoughts/review about CH Solo Violin after you've used it a bit. I've been interested in it and awaiting its release. BTW what is the minimum version of Kontakt does it need?

[mhschmieder]

Hmm, I just opened the PDF and it doesn't say what version of Kontakt. Probably best to check Chris Hein's website, or maybe Best Service. Audio Deluxe is third-party and cheapest (for people in USA at least) but doesn't always have as much info posted.

This is a Kontakt Player Library. The only Chris Hein library I own that isn't, is the Chromatic Harmonica (for some reason -- maybe because it's fairly cheap, and adding the license for Kontakt Player probably would have made it impossible to reach its price point).

[dbender]

Thanks for looking and responding. It's not in CH's site, have been checking periodically including today. What version of Kontakt are you running it in?

I've been watching and waiting for this to be released. I have Kirk Hunter Spotlight strings and like it. But this looks great, and I do like the newer versions of CH interface and the new no phase samples (I have CHH Solo Horns, and liked the update, the mod wheel changes are smoother).

So very much looking forward to your thoughts/review of CH Solo Strings once you've used it a bit.

Thanks!

[mhschmieder]

I'm fully up-to-date with Kontakt, which I think is now at v5.5.1 if the Mac Finder is being truthful with me. Actually, I thought there might be a v5.6, but Service Center doesn't ask me to update.

My recollection is that the Solo Violin shares the basic infrastructure of the latest updates to the orchestral winds, and maybe the UniqHorn from last year, so probably if you can find specs on minimum requirements for those libraries, the same would pertain to this one.

Most library developers try to make their stuff compatible with Kontakt versions that aren't the most current, knowing that a lot of people don't do the annual Komplete updates.

As this is a Kontakt Player library though, it's possible that you could get the latest compatible player for free even if you have an older Kontakt installed? I can't remember whether this is still an option.

[mhschmieder]

Didn't get around to using Solo Violin yet. Spent hours tweaking manouche guitar parts that had originally been played in a more straightforward jazz way. Next step is to see if I can make the violin soar like Grappelli.

[towerproductions]

I've been using virharmonic bohemian violin and it works pretty well adapting articulations to what you input in once you get used to it . It has a lot of nice character to it . i have also found it doesn't work quite as well on existing MIDI parts that were played in previously.

[David Polich]

I got Chris Hein's Solo Violin last week. I think
it flat out rocks. Its the closest thing to a
replacement for the old (and long discontinued)
Garritan Strad violin. I've wasted a lot of
money on virtual violins over the last three
years, hadnt found anything close to the
Garritan Strad until now.

First, like the Garritan Strad, the CH Solo
Violin intelligently shifts from mono legato
to polyphonic depending on how many notes
you hold down at once. If you're playing
a solo, it's in mono legato mode. Hold down
two or more notes, it becomes polyphonic
and you can play chords. If there is another
violin VI out there that does this, I'd sure
like to know about it.

The tone is very balanced, just the right
amount of edge and rosin, and you can
switch off the reverb to make the violin
somewhat dry. You can then make it BONE
dry by dialing back the body resonance
parameter. The articulations are available
from keyswitches, or from a drop-down menu.
There is a sustain vibrato articulation, and
sustain with no vibrato, to which you can
add LFO modulation via the mod wheel.
Some players prefer to add their own vibrato
like they are playing a minimoog..CH Solo
Violin offers this.

I give CH Solo Violin 10 out of 10. And I'm
a sound designer who does synth programming
for a living so I am really picky. Maybe there
is something else available that is better, but
for me I can finally say I dont need to spend
anymore money on virtual violins.

[Shooshie]

That's a pretty viable recommendation, David. You've got ME convinced, anyway.
I'll have to pick up a copy of this before I do another violin work. Thanks for the
review.

Shooshie

[mhschmieder]

After a five hour jazz gig today — best of my life — I finally got around to trying different violin libraries on my jazz album late tonight.

VSL still wins, hands-down. Mostly because it has the most control over articulations, vibrato, etc. But only if willing to spend the time! And as it's difficult to guarantee proper syncing and timing of key switches, it is best to split each articulation to its own track and render separately, with a key switch at the beginning of the track, vs. combining (even when using a single Matrix or Preset in Vienna Instruments Pro for multiple tracks) and prefacing each articulation change with the designated key switch.

VirHarmonic's Bohemian Violin was a good buy, as its timbre is near-identical to VSL, but without vibrato control or really any articulation control. The “smart” engine is similar to Sample Modeling, and possibly as effective (or more so — certainly the sampled instruments are better).

Considering how different VSL sounds from anything else, I'm really surprised how close VirHarmonic got in timbre. This probably says a lot about the common shared history of Vienna and Prague through so many centuries.

Chris Hein Solo Violin was a smart buy as well, but has a “sweeter” overall timbre (almost Italian?) and isn’t as appropriate for my Gypsy Jazz tunes -- although the Gypsy Jazz example at his own site is quite convincing. I need a darker timbre for my specific songs on this particular album though.

Interestingly, I only like Chris Hein Solo Violin with both Body and Room turned off — it sounds a bit honky with Body turned on. I'm not sure why that is, but haven't read in depth yet whether Body refers to the violin's internal resonance (as with the Sample Modeling libraries) or simply a mic that is placed close vs. a mic that is distant in the room.

Back to Bohemian Violin, it will get used at the moment on the one song on the album that I haven't finished tweaking the violin part for, as I will be able to go a lot faster with the initial polishing than with VSL, where I would be forced "too early" to start splitting to different articulations and tracks in order to be able to disambiguate articulation switching glitches vs. general problems in note length, note timing (attack start time mostly), dynamics, etc.

I'm actually quite happy about this unexpected turn of events. It's a similar situation to using SWAM Flute or Alto Flute until I am happy with the basic phrasing and dynamics, and then switch to VSL for more precise control of articulation switching, legato, etc., without getting such a shock in change of timbre as with most other libraries.

[mhschmieder]

This library is reviewed in the SEP 2016 issue of SOS, for all to read (no web subscription required for this one):

http://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/bes ... olo-violin

For my current jazz album, I did end up sticking with VSL's Solo Violin and Solo Viola, but mostly because I've already learned how to harness them for gypsy swing and klezmer.