Cinematic Strings demo and video review

Hey whasup, got something new for ya today.

About a month or a month and a half ago, I got in touch with Alex Wallbank over at cinematicstrings.com

I saw a post he made on the Kontakt forum about a new string collection he was releasing, so I got in touch to see if he would like to send it over to get reviewed.

He liked what we were doing over here and sent over a review copy.

Cinematic Strings is a dedicated string library in a similar fashion as vienna, eastwest, miroslav, kirk hunter, etc.

This is the type of stuff that is geared towards film composers, soundtrack producers, video game music producers, etc.

let’s check it out

What are Cinematic Strings?

I know people have their own favorite string libraries, and if you visit the forums full of composers and soundtrack producers you’ll see how deep it goes.

They get pretty technical about this stuff, and they should, because for them it’s about a lot more than playing a simple riff, they use these libraries to compose epic masterpieces.

One of the major features of Cinematic Strings is it’s “true legato” which allows you to switch between keys a lot smoother, so it’s not so abrupt and thus, not natural sounding.

But that’s not all, check it out:

Cinematic Strings Pro Edition is a professional and advanced sample library for Kontakt 3.5+.

Sampled strings have been taken to a new level of expressive realism with this collection and, with the help of cutting edge features to help you create realistic string parts, you’ll be back to writing music rather than worrying about how it’ll sound.

Quick Specs:

• Content: 22gb of 24bit/48khz wav files
• Format: Kontakt
• Sections: 1st violin, 2nd violin, cello, bass, viola
• Articulations: legato w/vibrato, legato non vibrato, staccato, pizzicato, tremelo, minor 2nd, major 2nd
• Price: $699

Okay…that sounds all well and good, but what’s in there?

Basically you get 1st violins, 2nd violins, basses, cellos, and violas.  Each section has patches for all, long, and short, each recorded with a spot, room, and stage mic setting.

The names of the patches are very easy to understand, unlike some, which makes it quick to find what you want.

The kontakt scripting they used is superb, and allows you to get down and adjust pretty much everything from the mic type, distance, and vibrato, to how the legato reacts to your playing.

A lot of the features can be assigned to midi cc values, making it even more hands on to switch and adjust your sound on the fly.

I won’t front though, I rarely mess with the advanced controls, I just like playing the sounds, they sound good.

How do they sound?

They sound very good, I don’t have every string library to compare it to, so I put them next to the vienna strings that come with Kontakt.  Both sound good, but something about the cinematic strings is “smoother” when playing and sits in a mix a lot better.

Maybe it’s the way they were recorded, or programmed. Sometimes I think you can get strings that sound very pristine, yet very dull…these sound pretty good. There isn’t a bunch of fx and stuff on them so you can add whatever you want.

The different mic recordings really adds a natural space to the sounds.

What’s the bottom line?

I think this is a solid product, although probably geared more towards professionals than those just starting out, the quality is there no doubt.

When compared to strings that come with a “general purpose” workstation the realism definitely stands out.  One thing I wish we could see in a professional sounding string library is a way for the sounds to load a lot quicker lol.

I know realism takes tons of samples, but surely someone can come up with a new technology so it doesn’t take as long to load.

I give this collection a 4 out of 5 subs.  The quality is there no question, but it’s a very huge library so changing sounds quickly isn’t really an option for those who would use it for music production.

You can move quickly through the short style patches, but not the full long or all patches.

Compared to some of the other large string libraries, the price is pretty good, even lower than a few popular ones.

The playability of the sounds is what really stands out, and the patch organization allows non composers and orchestra majors to know which patch they are loading.

If you’re a professional producer, composer, or soundtrack creator, these strings are definitely worth a look.

If you’re a bedroom or semi pro producer, it may warrant a bit more thought, depending on what you’re trying to accomplish.

Good news is they give you a free patch called Monster Staccatos, which shows the quality/power of this collection.

you can get that at this link: Monster Staccatos download

lemme know what you think, leave me a comment below.

To the composers and pro producers, let me know how this compares to some of your other string libraries.