With these two virtual string instruments, Garritan is out to pare that list of requirements down to one: musicianship. And thanks to some groovy behind-the-scenes software technology, they’re upping the ante where realism is concerned. Judging from the way previous technological advances have been implemented in the virtual orchestra world at large, you’d expect this added realism to come at a cost, whether in hard disk size, CPU requirements, or just cold, hard cash. Both of these libraries pleasantly dash all three expectations. Though each library is sampled, not physically modeled, their installation footprints are remarkably small. Their CPU needs are modern, but not high-octane. And at under $200 retail each, they’re almost impulse buys.
So how about that realism? Let’s rosin up our virtual bows and see.
Overview
The idea behind the Stradivari Solo Violin and the Gofriller Solo Cello is to give you two fantastic-sounding virtual instruments that are bonehead simple to install and use — and this is in fact what Garritan has achieved. Since neither of the libraries requires more than 1GB of hard disk space, installation is rapid by modern standards. Since these are Kontakt Player 2 instruments, activation is handled through the Native Instruments online authorization system, which on the whole does a pretty good job of keeping track of all the NI software you’ve installed and keeping you informed of what updates are available. The only frustration I experienced during the installation or authorization process was with the NI Service Center software itself, which had to download its own update several times before it would authorize the Garritan software. It didn’t help that I had misplaced my login information for the NI site; hopefully you’re better at record-keeping than I am.
The instruments are self-contained Kontakt Player 2 libraries, which you can play via the included standalone Kontakt Player or as plug-in instruments in your host sequencer. Either way, the interface is as you see it above; no secrets, no hidden menus, almost nothing to configure. What the instruments are expecting is that you’ll perform upon them from a five-octave MIDI keyboard with mod wheel and aftertouch, to which you’ve connected sustain and expression pedals. This gives you plenty of keyboard real estate with which to play the entire range of the instruments, plus access a lower octave of keys that are programmed to switch bow articulations and to change from regular tone to con sordino muted tone, sull’altra corda tones (played higher on the fingerboard but on a lower string), pizzicato, harmonics, trills (you play them, they’re not sampled), and polyphonic modes. You control vibrato depth with the mod wheel and vibrato rate with aftertouch; specify offsets and minimum and maximum rates in the minimal controls in the software interface. Your expression pedal handles volume, and with the sustain pedal depressed, the instrument enters yet another mode: bow direction changes for sustained notes.
I know what you’re thinking, and yes, that is a whole lotta stuff to have to juggle in real time. Bound to be train wrecks, eh? Not so. Turns out that Garritan is employing some serious behind-the-scenes technology that not only facilitates the immediate switching of sampled attacks and sustained tones, but also makes the switching seamless by aligning the waveforms. You can read all about it on the Garritan web site, but for our purposes, know that whatever it is, it really does make the experience of playing these instruments incredibly seamless.
It also brings up a point for hardcore sample tweakers. Even if you have Native Instruments Kontakt 2 installed, you can’t access the individual samples in either library. And for good reason: The sample alignment system — developed by Giorgio Tommasini — that makes the instruments play so expressively and realistically as you shape phrases could easily be rendered useless with the addition of user-edited samples into the mix.
The Instruments
There aren’t bunches of different sounds to discuss here. It’s all about the experience. And once you sit down and start to play, it’s hard to sort out what the most impressive aspects are. First, there’s the sound: These are clearly beautiful instruments, recorded impeccably. You really feel the violin and cello bodies, the strings, and the horsehair. But the joy is in how you bring the instruments to life as you play: Weave a slow legato passage, and the notes connect as if you were really drawing a bow across the strings. Move into sixteenth-notes and the changes between the notes match perfectly. Make a sharp attack and the bow responds. Change articulations with a key switch and the character follows. Grab a double stop and hear the instrument ring. Reach gently for a higher octave and your virtual finger slides along the string for a textbook-perfect portamento; portamento speed follows key velocity. Make a single sustained note spring to life by changing bow directions with the sustain pedal down; the pitch and tone change ever so slightly as you re-articulate the bow, just the right amount. Make a phrase rise to a fever pitch and stop the sound, and what do you hear? The sound of a bow lifting from the strings and the body resonating, as a string player would expect. Dig into an emotional passage by deepening the vibrato with the mod wheel while speeding it up with aftertouch and increasing the intensity with the expression pedal: Does schmaltz mean anything to you, in a good sense? If so, you know just what I mean: You can lay it on as thick as you want. All without reaching for your computer mouse. Other sample libraries have provided the same sorts of sonic results with similar controller implementation, it’s true. But no one has ever made it sound and feel as real and as musical as this.
It may seem awkward at first to handle all these different controllers simultaneously, but you get the hang of it as you realize the musical potential. The differences between the marcato, staccato, and martelè articulations are subtle, the differences between the normal tone, con sordino, and sull’altra corda are striking; getting the key switching down is worth it in all cases, even if only to facilitate getting the right sound quickly as you sequence. It may take practice working with the mod wheel, aftertouch, and a volume pedal; hopefully the aftertouch response on your keyboard allows a wide range so you don’t have to push too hard. The results will be worth it.
In Use
With the Strad, I could easily pretend I was Stephane Grappelli (the jazz virtuoso), Isaac Stern (the classical icon), or Alicia Svigals (red-hot klezmer artist). The tone was appropriate to all styles, and the flexibility of articulations let me create idiomatic phrases easily. It was more difficult to sound like Darol Anger, who uses a much wider range of tone and vibrato; even with the vibrato rate offsets adjusted, I couldn’t quite go as far as he does. On the cello, I felt as though I could give Yo-Yo Ma a run for his money. I dug into J.S. Bach’s solo suites for cello and solo partitas for violin; the polyphonic mode let me dial in the quadruple-stops and then switch right back to legato. The Brahms double concerto for violin and cello was similarly fun. Any single-note passages I tried sounded simply amazing.
There are a few limitations. On the Strad, the portamento must be retriggered by a new note-on, in the case of a slide up and subsequent slide down, for example. The cello lets you slide up and down while holding the first key down, just like an analog synth’s mono mode. On both, the tremolo is too percussive, almost like a hammer dulcimer. It’s difficult to achieve a double stop tremolo, since you can inadvertently get portamentos if your timing isn’t rock solid as you strike the two keys simultaneously. On the pizzicato articulations, you don’t have aftertouch control of the vibrato rate, which is unfortunate. You have only whatever rate is brought in with the mod wheel, which limits your ability to phrase with pizzicato passages. It’s a subtle distinction, as pizzicato notes die away quickly, but it’s a musical limitation nonetheless. Harmonics are presented only for the open strings, which limits you as far as that extended technique goes.
But if you dig into the rest of the instruments the way I have, you won’t notice these at all.
Conclusions
Neither of these instruments will get you far if you’re hoping for a vehicle for composing with extended or avante-garde techniques. But everything a violin or cello can do as outlined in most good orchestration books or as heard on the vast majority of good string recordings is right at your fingertips. I doubt that Garritan could have done anything to make the Strad and the Gofriller easier to use or more musical; it’s just incredible how good they can sound without any sampling technology familiarity required; coupled with the affordable price, this earns each title a Key Buy. To put it simply, they take human input, and they put out human sound.