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HOLLYWOOD SOLO VIOLIN. The EastWest/Quantum Leap Hollywood Solo Violin virtual instrument is a library designed to work together seamlessly with the Hollywood Orchestra series. While it includes the same number of microphone positions, and many of the same features, there are a few key differences that are outlined below. Native Instruments – Stradivari Violin v1.1.0 – Kontakt Library. Publisher: Native Instruments Website: Native Instruments Format: KONTAKT Quality: 24 bit 48 kHz stereo. Description: Touch the authentic sound of a cherished instrument from the world’s most famous violin manufacturer. Created in 1727 by Antonio Stradivari, the. Our most detailed and advanced solo violin to date has been performed by world-famous virtuoso violinist Jack Liebeck at The Hall at AIR Studios. It contains all the tricks necessary to create an ultra-realistic solo performance, including five different types of real legato – legato with fingers, legato with bow and portamento, rhythms.
It’s been almost three years since we published this article detailing our favorite violin plugins back in 2015. Well, it’s 2018, and it is time to improve this article with our updated recommendations.
VIrtual instruments have advanced dramatically over the years. People used to laugh at the idea of a computer producing sound the resembled that of a real instrument. Now, there are plugins that will blow you away with how realistic they sound.
For that reason, having an arsenal of VST plugins is very powerful for the electronic musician.
Plus, it’s like having an entire orchestra with you all the time! Pretty amazing, isn’t it?
Today I am going to focus on the best virtual violin plugins.
We’ll cover both paid and free options and there will even be a bonus section at the end of this article!
Let’s begin, shall we?
For Most People: Orchestral Companion – Strings
Here’s why we recommend this plugin: It only costs $60 and it sounds great! You don’t have to give up a months rent to pay for this plugin and it gives you a lot of configuration with its stringed instruments.
Many of us like that rich strings sound – Soft and gentle, and in the next moment hard and brutal.
Of course, we all have different tastes, but, whatever you like, I can assure you that Orchestral Companion Strings can satisfy your taste.
The SONiVOX design team made over 90 outstanding string programs, which can give you best and the most accurate experience as possible.
Orchestral Companion Strings is compatible for Windows and Mac. You can download either a 32-bit or 64-bit version of it. It takes around 15GB of hard drive space.
If you have all of that or more this plugin will run very smoothly!
For the Professional: NOVO Modern Strings by Heavyocity
The kind of sound you can get out of NOVO Modern Strings is insane! The violin samples used to create this plugin were meticulously recorded at Warner Brothers Studios.
This plugin has a very justifiable price tag ($550) based on the quality of it and the amount of work they put into it. In total, this plugin is 40GB. That’s larger than most big-budget PC games!
What really seals the deal with the plugin is the immense control you have over your sound. For example, there is this one section of the plugin called CYCLE. Its interface looks almost like a sequencer and you can very easily tweak it to create rhythmic little pulses and glitch style sounds.
Whether you’re looking for a solo vieolin or a powerful string ensemble for use in an intense movie trailer, NOVO is a wonderful choice.
For Those Who Want an Entire Orchestra: Personal Orchestra 5
This awesome product from Garritan can give you not only a nice sounding violin but also an entire orchestra at your fingertips.
Personal Orchestra costs $150 which is a steal for all of the instruments (Including multiple violin variations) you get.
With so many different stringed instruments, you can be that one-man orchestra, creating a sound nobody can listen to without getting goosebumps!
Personal Orchestra is 64-bit compatible, with not very high system requirements (surprisingly).
It’s pretty easy to use yet very powerful. A new user can get really creative right out of the box.
Some of the included violins are:
- Solo Stradivari Violin
- Solo Gagliano Violin
- Solo Guarneri Violin
And besides violins, there are lots of other instruments such as trumpets, trombones, French horns, keyboards, harps, violas, flutes, and clarinets!
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With the current price of Personal Orchestra, it’s worth it alone for the violins. With all the added instruments, you can’t go wrong with this plugin!
And in case you’re worried about buying software that won’t get updated, keep in mind Personal Orchestra has been going since 2010 and are still chugging forward. Personal Orchestra has even been awarded by MusicRadar and MusicTech in 2010.
Other Noteworthy Choices
Orchestral Suite
Next on the list, Orchestral Suite, which with over 60 classical instruments and 15,000 samples in its library, is a pleasure to work with.
With additional instruments like the clarinet, flute, harp, guitar, and even different types of choirs, you can be a music virtuoso with only a small effort.
It features instrument-specific controls, as well as key switching and a pretty easy to use interface.
And it all comes in a small package, 4.6GB of an entire orchestra. Instaback free vst.
Most importantly, you get plenty of great violins!
It’s always great to have multiple choices. Different types of violins are ideal for different situations and different genres of music.
This high quality and sophisticated plugin is a joy to work with, which is exactly why a lot of today’s top producers use it.
Orchestral Suite is compatible with both Windows and Mac. It will work in every major DAW.
Session Strings by Native Instruments
Sessions Strings is another popular choice among producers. It’s especially a good choice if you are already invested heavily into the Native Instruments ecosystem.
It weighs in at 2.5GB and costs $100. It’s a great plugin, but personally I would go with Personal Orchestra instead (mentioned earlier in this article).
Give it a listen and let your ears be the judge.
Best Free Solo Violin Vst Download
Free Violin Plugins
DSK Strings
I am super appreciative of the free instruments DSK Instruments has been able to provide the music production community.
DSK Strings is an awesome little instrument!
It sounds pretty good for a freebie and will be a newbie producer’s best friend.
Sonatina Violin
Sonatina is a solo-violin that can be a great help to you. It’s a little rough around the edges so might have to help it along with some effect plugin processing.
Bonus: The Non-VST Option
Before we conclude this article, I just wanted to open your mind to one more technique that could help you out with your string productions.
Good ol’ sampling!
Sampling has been shaping music since the 80s. We can use this technique to get realistic sounding violin pieces by…well…using violin samples!
There are many different ways we could go about this. It could be as simple as throwing a sustained violin note into a pitched sampler (Although it wouldn’t sound that realistic). We could even take little licks created by others and implement those.
I should also mention that as a musician who participates in sampling, it’s worth your time to educate yourself on the legal stuff. In our How to Get Permission to Remix Songs article, we talked about fair use and derivative work.
Getting royalty-free samples
There are many different places to get royalty-free samples. You could go on Audioblocks and be able to get really high quality samples, but it isn’t cheap – especially if you’re only a hobbyist.
A site I like is freesound.org. As the name suggests, everything they provide is free.
Here are some cool violin samples I found after a bit of searching:
Soundcloud Sampling
Another idea you could try out is to find some violin playing sessions on Soundcloud and use those to sample. Of course, if you decide to publish the work it would be advised to get permission from the original musician.
You’ll find a lot of small artists who just love playing the violin and uploading different compositions they make. Its a great opportunity for sampling.
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In conclusion, each and every one of these plugins has something that makes them a unique and amazing product. They all have their own purposes and different producers can find different ones the most useful.
No matter what plugin you purchase, you can expect to have a great time spending hours enjoying some of the best quality violin sounds that exist.
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Violin Vst Fl Studio
The most Living, Breathing Solo Violin Virtual Instrument..
Virtuosic Violin Sample Library for Kontakt 4 and Above (Retail Version Only, not Free Kontakt Player)
With an instrument as diverse, capable, and exposed as the violin, there is no cutting corners, so we strived to capture as much of the possible sounds a violin can make as possible, resulting in the huge list of articulations you can see below, as well as four sampled legato styles, also shown below. We even specially sampled slurred and bowed legato so you can correctly and realistically phrase passages, and a specially sampled 'fast legato' set of intervals, which will allow you to play virtuosic runs and scale passages.
On top of this, we want our instruments to be as close in sonic-flexibility to a real situation as they can be, so in addition to providing close and stage mic positions, we have also made sure to have both a ribbon and condenser mic, which you can choose to switch between. Both sounds offer so much in their own right, the ribbon having a beautiful smooth tone, and the condenser being ruthless in exposing every little detail in the sound.
The stereo mic position can be widened and narrowed by dragging the mics in the interface.
Full list of articulations:
Normal Sustain
Stutter (a quick stuttered grace note before the main sustain)
Crescendo
FP (loud then suddenly quiet with a crescendo back up)
Marcato (A more accented pronounced attack and note)
Harmonics
Tremolo
Trill Semitone
Trill Tone
Eight sets/combinations of grace note shorts
Octave up shorts
Pizzicato
Spiccato
Staccato on-string (detached playing without lifting the bow)
Major chords
Minor chords
Four True-sampled Legato Styles
We spent a while tackling how to approach allowing the user to play both slow more drawn out passages, and then also being able to create realistic renditions of more virtuosic, fast passages, and eventually came up with a very intricate technique which allows both.
We sampled these intervals completely differently, and set it up so you can switch between these depending on whether you are playing fast or not. So for the faster legato, you can switch to 'fast' with the legato keyswitching, and play intervals up to and including a minor third in your scales and runs, maintaining a very realistic sound. The sound of the note transitions on a violin when playing fast is completely different from the sound when playing slower, and both are captured and skilfully programmed into this instrument.
Types of Legato
Slurred Legato - switching note with the finger only, without changing bow direction.. the smoothest legato sound.
Bowed Legato - changing the bow at the note change. A more noticeable interval. (slurred and bowed legato are both essential in obtaining a realistic and well phrased performance)
Portamento Legato - a subtle slide between notes.
Fast Legato - Specially sampled intervals which allow you to play fast runs/scales with intervals up to a minor third between each note - something seriously lacking and rarely possible with most sample libraries.
Click here to view user manual.
A Little More About How it Works
We wanted to make this instrument even more musical, so we have once again used our idea of the 'phrase builder', which allows you to select the attack, or beginning sound of a phrase, and then switch around the type of legato throughout a musical phrase.
One huge give-away that an instrument is a sampled one and not a real instrument is how the beginning of every musical phrase sounds the same. A great performer will not sound like this. They will vary the phrase beginnings, and perhaps start some quietly, some with an FP, some with a stutter, and so we have included five options for this, to ensure that your compositions sound evolving, musical, and extremely convincing.
The width of the stereo mic perspective can be changed by dragging the bottom pair of microphones in the interface, and dynamics can be brought up and down by either the mod wheel or expression Midi CC - depending on whether you have MOD or EXP selected in the bottom right hand corner of the instrument GUI, and the shorts' dynamics are controlled by velocity.
Requirements & Specs
Violin Free Vst
This instrument requires the FULL VERSION of Kontakt 4, or above (so it will also run in Kontakt 5 perfectly). The full version of Kontakt 4, is not the free 'Kontakt Player', which can be downloaded, it is the full retail version which can be purchased from Native-Instruments' website.
You will need just over 4GB for the instrument, and almost double this for the extraction process.
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