When compared to instruments like the viola, cello, and bass, the violin is without a doubt the most virtuoso member of the symphonic family of strings. The audience can be amazed by the violin’s ability to play extremely challenging and technical passages. Since playing the violin is so challenging, Paganini was once accused of selling his soul to the devil because of how talented he was.
Numerous producers’ toolkits must include violins. Although they frequently appear as solos in orchestral music, they can also provide an achingly beautiful counterpoint to vocal melodies in pop music. Violin tones are the result of the intricate interaction of several factors, including vibrato speed, vibrato depth, bow speed, bow angle, and position.
Similar to the other members of the string family, it uses polyphonic lines to deliver a continuous range of pitches (unlike the piano, for example) (unlike the voice). Realistic performances hardly ever succeed or remain perfectly on-target. These factors make legato realism particularly challenging and excellent violin VSTs uncommon. Nevertheless, despite all of this, we were still able to locate the top violin VSTs for you.
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Output Analog Strings
To “mangle and muck up” string samples, output constructed analog strings are used. The end effect is a crazy variety of textures, from syncopated pizzicatos to somber pads.
Two samples make up each patch. Pitch, arpeggiators, and LFOs are just a few of the many inputs that can individually manipulate each sample. Any patch cannot have a plain, simple texture due to the dual-layered construction. Instead, every patch creates distinct fusions and shifting tones. The patches are divided into tape, pads, and one-shots. Tape stands out because it heavily utilizes the various arpeggiators to produce intriguing phrasings—even with single note hits.
A couple of the entries in the patches are Smokey Sticks, a wonderful plucky noise that might be the top layer of an EDM track, and Utopian Swells, which is like a violin pizzicato rendition of Trent Reznor’s fanciful tracks in Disney’s Soul. However, given its diversity, I could imagine Output Analog Strings being used in any genre.
Four macro controls, which are lengthy sliders that resemble futuristic reconstructions of biological life, are located on the main page of the user interface (perhaps a visual metaphor for the sound design philosophy). These macros’ emphasis on visuals compels viewers to look at the entirety of each patch.
You may better manage the texture by assigning them to MIDI controllers, whether the texture is produced by a rise in the timbre of the filter sweeps or an increase in the rhythm of the LFOs. These macro assignments’ musicality will serve as a wonderful source of inspiration for producers that enjoy experimenting while they write. For instance, the patch Pluckhairs switches, with the use of a single macro slider, from energizing spiccatos to throbbing synth sounds, creating the impression of moving from expectation to action and adventure. Although many VSTs use macros, it’s uncommon to see that many inputs neatly mapped to four nice controllers. The Analog Strings macros scream to be utilized. This one of the Best Violin VST Plugins in 2023.
Heavyocity NOVO Modern Strings
When Heavyocity set out to create NOVO, they had one mission in mind: “make strings new again.” It goes without saying that NOVO is a top-notch, extensively sampled orchestral strings instrument that was recorded at the renowned Eastwood Scoring Stage at Warner Bros. Studios. However, that is the extent of its resemblance to other orchestral VIs. Beyond the nearly 40GB of fully configurable sound-designed string samples, NOVO gives composers unprecedented control over tweaking, processing, layering, and sequencing. It’s a new frontier in hybrid film, game, and television music to consider the potential of mixing excellent symphonic strings with Heavyocity’s distinctive sound design. Simply put, NOVO is the best string instrument ever created for film. And it’s quite unlikely that there ever will be.
NOVO is primarily an orchestral string library with exceptional audio quality. NOVO reproduces the coveted string sound of renowned composers like Hans Zimmer and Danny Elfman using complete orchestral violin, viola, cello, and bass groups. Hollywood legends like the suspenseful theme from Jaws and the pulsating strings from Mad Max: Fury Road were recorded in exquisite detail at Warner Bros.’ Eastwood Scoring Stage. A string instrument that sets new benchmarks for beauty, lushness, and ferocity may be created when the best players in Los Angeles (Cinema Scoring Group) and renowned film score mixer Satoshi Mark Noguchi (Lion, Midnight Special) work together. Additionally, NOVO’s unmatched control comes with its unmatched sound. NOVO introduces motorized down-and-up bowing for the most realistic-sounding staccato and spiccato string performances yet heard in a string VI. with a core set of key articulations, close, room, and hall mic placements. This one of the Best Violin Plugins in 2023.
Ben Osterhouse Sospiro Strings
A Kontakt library called Sospiro Strings is used to produce languid, moving strings. It has four swells of varying lengths and three sustained articulations that were captured on the bass, cello, viola, and violin. There are two possible swell types: vibrato and non-vibrato. Although it gives the music more warmth and personality, vibrato can occasionally come off as overly theatrical. The non-vibrato is quite clear and draws attention in particular to the change in tone as each instrument becomes louder and softer. It is very useful to have a non-vibrato option because the vibrato samples might sound better or worse depending on how much they are timed-stretched.