Review: Big Fish Audio Vintage Strings

Hey what’s good fam, it’s Friday again so it’s time for some Big Fish!

Today I’m checking out Vintage Strings, it’s a library from the same one’s that did Vintage Horns and Vintage Vibe

Let’s dig into it!

So what is Vintage Strings?

It’s a collection of violin sections recorded in a way to sound like strings from the 60s and 70s.

You know, the type of string sections you’d hear on old soul, funk, and r&b records?

It comes in Kontakt Player format with a straight forward interface ready to play.

You can even do chords directly in the interface with the harmonize engine.

It’s got many popular articulations including pizzicato, falls, tremolo and more.

Quick Specs

• contents: 5.1GB. 3 sections, 11 articulations, 95 patches
• format: Kontakt Player 5, Kontakt
• price: $199.95
• product page: http://www.bigfishaudio.com/Vintage-Strings 

So how does it sound?

It’s got a nice usable sound to it, not big and epic, just smooth and vintage.

The inclusion of the high eq and tape saturation knobs really allow you to dial in the vintage sound you’re going for.

This isn’t meant to be a pristine, cinematic blockbuster sound, it definitely has that old soul record sound to it though.

I like that they broke it up into 2 different sections which allows you to customize the sound you wish to use.

The general sustain patches are nice, and if you need falls and runs they’re in there too.

I also really liked the pizzicato patches, specifically in the 12 and 6 violin sections.

Overall I think it captured the sound it was going for, though they were well recorded, there’s just enough noise and dirt to give it an old school feel.

So what’s the bottom line?

If you need strings in your track that don’t sound like a movie trailer or huge cinematic film score, these may be worth looking into.

I would imagine anyone into urban, r&b, maybe even electro/house, really anyone that wants a string section with a bit of a vintage feel, will find use for this in their tracks.

I give Vintage Strings 4 out of 5 subs, it’s a solid collection of string ensemble instruments that don’t sound larger than life, which allows them to easily fit into many contemporary production styles.

The harmonization options is really dope and I love the fact that they included many popular chord styles in each section, while still leaving you the ability to change the inversions or go in and customize the chords themselves.

I would have liked to see the modwheel control the dynamics just to have a little more natural control over the sound, though there is a swell patch, sometimes you’d like to control that type of dynamic yourself.

Overall I think it fits in well with the rest of the line and anyone who’s into the more classic or  vintage sound will surely find use for it. I don’t know what these guys can do next, maybe flutes? Guitar? A vintage synth library?

Whatever it is I’m looking forward to it and I hope they continue to capture that classic soul and funk sound many of us love and grew up on.

Go on over and check it out: http://www.bigfishaudio.com/Vintage-Strings 

Leave a comment below and let me know what you think