Kirk Hunter, a U.S. developer of orchestral sample libraries, has announced the release of his new Concert Strings/Brass/Winds, an orchestral library created for the GigaStudio 2.54 format, featuring musicians recorded in their onstage, seated positions with both close and far microphone placement.
On completion, Strings/Brass/Winds is projected at 180GB in size, with a list price for the entire library of $995 U.S. Hunter said that he was able to offer such value pricing because of his decision to sell direct from www.kirkhunter.com and bypassing the traditional distributor/retailer route. “If I went through an outside distributor I would easily have to double the cost, but I wanted to give Lexus quality at a Hyundai price,” explained Hunter.
After interviewing dozens of composers, Hunter found that the three chief complaints about large libraries, sectional or full orchestral, were ease-of-use, naming conventions and the lack of direction of where to start first. For ease of use, Strings/Brass/Winds is programmed so that the composer can work by choosing from easy-to-read .gig files arranged by vibrato intensity, non-sustained or combinations and effects. Generally, there are three levels of vibrato; “Heavy,” which has the most dramatic and passionate sound, “Lite,” which has a very useful warm tone and “No Vib,” for use in passages where a mysterious or austere sound is desired. The composer can easily choose instruments that either have velocity controlling volume with after touch controlling vibrato, or mod wheel controlling volume with after touch controlling vibrato. Also, single-layer Gig instruments are contained in each file, enabling the songwriter/composer to create custom templates quickly. Program names explain themselves at a glance. For even faster starting, sectional templates are included. “It’s truly load and play,” Hunter explained.
All sections of the Strings/Brass/Winds library are set up to function independently, making it unnecessary to buy separate libraries. Concert Strings comes with a full string section, chamber strings and solo strings. All sections are recorded unmuted and muted with close and far microphone placement.
Composer interviews revealed a desire for orchestral samples to carry some ambiance, but not enough to lock the composer into the sound of a specific hall. Thus, Strings/Brass/Winds has a touch of ambiance within the sample, allowing outside reverb to be used for blending and sound shaping.
Poised to ship out in late August, the 60GB-sized Concert Strings ships with full Sections, featuring 24 violins, first and second violins (10 each), 16 violas, 12 cellos and six basses; chamber strings, including first and second violins (10 each), eight violas, six cellos and three basses; solo strings: solo violin, viola, cello and bass. Suggested list price is $499, but the library can be advanced ordered for a limited time for $399 at www.kirkhunter.com/libraries/strings.html.
