Afflatus intonation

VST & Plugins
1

Why did they have to name it that?

I’m looking to supplement my library a bit. I’m kind of on the fence - and what I’ve been thinking about is, since I have a lot of fiddly (pun) detailed string libraries, I feel like something a little simpler and closer-to-there would be good.

I’d be adding to SSO, OT Berlin Strings and the MetArks, Adagio, VSL Cube, SampleModeling and AudioModeling. I don’t turn QLSO or HS on anymore.

Looking at CSS with CSSS, which sounds pretty good intonation-wise - except for a few eye-peelers in the solo strings - but then Afflatus started drawing me back in. Poly legato, lots of different ensembles - nice. But it doesn’t feel as in control as CSS - it feels like the pitch is swinging a little wide in places. CSS lacks Afflatus’ character but sounds very consistent, and allows for unfettered splitting out. Afflatus allows divisi splits in some patches. And the play-it-in-and-done promise seems good with it, but I’d like to hear from some users here about how much that actually works out in practice.

As an aside, when I got Berlin Strings, I had a bit of setup to do - quite a bit. The individual patches are often better than their corresponding bits in the multi-patches, but lack some of the capabilities (like adding legato to anything or like being in a single patch that one can make adjustments to covering multiple articulations at once), and not all individuals are available in the multis. Really too bad. So I had to lay it all out in a way that allowed for a mixture of that, and also had to move keyswitches for different sections so they were all in the same octave if I needed to layer and be able to KS. I very much like how it sounds, though I often want to dial the tree back and add close or a/b mics and am looking forward to the new engine so I can make my own mixes folded down to a stereo voice. It’s things like all of this that make me want something quick - full-keyboard patches like Afflatus, or the quick load-the-whole-library scenario of CSS.

All thoughts welcome.

2

Mikael, can you share your experience with Afflatus’ intonation, and especially as regards the first chairs?

3

I haven’t really used the first chairs that much. I love the tone of Afflatus Strings, and I haven’t noticed any intonation problems that was obvious to me at least.

However, I guess all sample libraries will have a few inconsistencies in notes, whether that is intonation, timing or background noise.

4

With a few notable exceptions, some of that VSL stuff is great for intonation, if a bit lifeless without prodding. But that was fine until I started using libraries that spoke more. In any event, because I’m on a series right now, I’m sticking with the Berlin stuff even with its unevenness, because a lot of it really speaks. Maybe the next one will find me buying Afflatus to get through some scenes more quickly, but the only thing I can see adding now is the CSS and CSSS because they sound good but aren’t too pointy. (By that I mean they are uniform and in a good way homogeneous.). Seems like you could get them to get along with anything else, and maybe Afflatus has too much personality to get along with another library like OT or Adagio or something.

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