Embertone releases Bass, and pkg deal for all 4 Solo Strings

[mhschmieder]

Embertone released their Bass library today, and from the demos, I have a feeling this will end up being the most organic sounding yet, as no one has addressed the Bass with special libraries yet as has happened for Violin, Viola, and Cello.

http://www.embertone.com/instruments/issbundle.php

There is a short-term package deal for all four solo libraries, with an email request form for current customers. I am awaiting my code, as I just bought Friedlander Violin and finally got around to using it today (I took the day off work) and feel the Embertone instruments have unique properties that set them apart (and I have a LOT of string libraries!).

Although I have been 0% successful in using Friedlander Violin on gypsy, jazz, or klezmer music -- where VSL Solo Strings absolutely blow me away in their effectiveness (and where Quantum Leap Gypsy is the most regrettable purchase I have ever made), it solved some longstanding problems I had with VSL when it came to legato passages with string sections.

Given that Vienna's Bass exhibits this problem the worst (in my hands, at least), I am especially looking forward to this new Embertone Bass as the bowing sounds so natural in the demos.

The problem I have with VSL for such stuff is that the detached patches don't sound natural to me no matter what I do, and using other patches is more fluid but sounds unnatural due to not having proper detached technique going on. Ember tone seems to solve this problem.

So, the bottom line is that I am currently only finding Friedlander Violin useful in Ensemble Mode for Legato passages, but that in itself was worth the $125, and due to how many Bass parts I have switched to other instruments as a result of not achieving fluid phrasing with VSL (or especially other libraries in my collection), this new Embertone Bass will allow me to finish and release at least one shelved/deferred album project!

[mhschmieder]

As I did the downloads after midnight last night and had an extremely long gig today, I haven't had formal time with the new Bass yet, but did play with it a bit outside the context of project work or MIDI rendering (i.e. I played it in real-time, which I don't generally believe in as a good way to work when it comes to orchestral instruments).

Already I am very convinced this will be my preferred Double Bass library for orchestral stuff and projects that use the Bass that way (vs. Jazz Pizzicato style).

The detached bowing is the first I have heard from any library that sounds convincing, and also faster bowing is handled well. With VSL I have to use non-preferred articulations and often dumb down my parts to the more standard "bass doesn't play many notes" type of arrangement (not my preference).

It's strange that Double Bass is such a challenge, when we have so many great Cello and Violin libraries (not quite so much Viola, but I also look forward to putting Embertone's Viola to use soon). Each has its strengths, but for Double Bass I had until now not found a truly usable library yet!

Maybe it's not surprising, as I have almost two dozen Upright Bass libraries for Jazz Pizzicato style (I don't know the official term as Classical Pizzicato isn't the same, but as non-orchestral contexts obviously include genres other than Jazz). Yet only one of them works for me, and that ironically is the one from VSL! Specifically their Upright Bass library from their jazz suite; not the Solo Bass from the orchestral material. The worst of the bunch is Trillian, which sounds like a piezo pickup vs. mic.