Ah man, I wish I could play violin (or cello)

Except for poor Adele. I always knew she was off somehow, and that turned me off. This kids not always on perfect key but it actually works to the advantage of the sound as a whole, like a little dissonance before the resolve. It’s perfect.

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The “problem” with voices is that they’re very unique, and that makes the matter even more subjective than most instruments. And of course, instruments are subjective as well; some prefer the cello, some prefer the violin, and… no one likes the viola - because they’ve never heard a good viola, played like a proper solo instrument. :wink:

But, from an objective point of view, the human voice is definitely the most emotionally expressive instrument of all, part because it can be controlled with a level of detail not matched by any instruments, part because we’re wired to respond instinctively to human voices.

Well, synths could beat even the human voice in theory, but that’s a moot point, as we still can’t play them properly. MIDI controllers are mostly cheap rubbish rubbish (check the prices of professional level violin bows for some perspective), and the art of playing them properly has not yet evolved. I’m certain this is a solvable problem, but it doesn’t seem like good business sense to have a go at it. Maybe if someone else takes the financial risk… :smiley:

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When a child cries I just wanna hold my ears shut :sweat_smile:

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Well, I suppose that’s kind of the point, though - extremely painful and annoying sound, which is probably “intentional” in order to make it impossible to ignore. :wink:

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Absolutely. Of course there’s people saying the exact same thing about violin too :sweat_smile:

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Can sort of understand them, though! That E string tends to be nasty on violins in the “mere mortals” price range, and most players don’t seem to know (or care) about helix or wound E strings… :smiley:

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Do you have any advice when it comes to strings on a violin. I´m going to turn my violin in to Västerås vilolinateljé for fixing. I got it as a gift and it´s not so bad, worth around 10000sek

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Well, I’ve only tried Tonica and Timbre on the new violin, and the student violin isn’t responsive enough to tell much about strings… :smiley: Either way, it comes down to the violin, and personal taste. Advanced (or picky) players often mix different models or brands to get a nice balance. The E string can be particularly “interesting” due to its tendency to whistle and/or sound unpleasantly metallic.

I did not like the ever so popular Dominants at all on my student violin; easy to play, but kind of sounded the same no matter what on that violin. They seem to work well on proper instruments.

Many seem to like the new Dominant Pro strings, even claiming they’re comparable to Evah, but I haven’t tried them yet.

Evah Pirazzi Gold seem to be a rather safe bet; great sound, powerful, forgiving, offer plenty of color - but they’re pretty expensive, especially considering that they don’t seem to last more than 2-3 months tops for most players.

Warchal Timbre are really nice, not as forgiving as the Evahs, but seem more expressive and “sophisticated” somehow. Unfortunately, they’re REALLY expensive - but OTOH, they seem to last many times longer than Evah’s. I have them on both the student violin (still on there; played them for 6 months without obvious degradation) and on the new one.

Pirastro Tonica seems to be hard to beat on price/performance. Most of the Corilon violins (new and antique alike) come with them, and I can see why…! Worked very well on my new violin, and lasted at least 3 months (don’t remember exactly) before they started demonstrating some minor issues.

All in all, the differences between these strings are not obvious until you start trying to play extremely loud, or very soft and mellow, so I’d probably start with Tonica or something, and see how that works out. If the balance is not right (one string too bright, another string too mellow; that sort of stuff), there are reviews and info out there comparing the tone of different strings, so you can get a rough idea what you might want to try.

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Thank you for this detailed answer. I’ll sleep on this.

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Oh! Almost forgot: Michael at Fiddlershop runs a video series where he makes detailed reviews of strings, all on the same violin, with spectrum analyzers and all. Still won’t tell you what your violin needs, but by comparing the strings you have to others in the tests, you can guesstimate which ones to try next.

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Right… Figured I’d throw in another teaser. :wink: This girl plays various genres (classical, pop, VGM, ambient improv, …) on violin, viola, and electric violin (with various effects); occasionally other instruments. https://www.twitch.tv/theviolinhabit

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Not seeing the link David. The forum software will always try to embed if the link is on its own paragraph, so make a text link instead in the first paragraph.

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Fixed! There’s no way to have it “unembed” if the site refuses to respond? Apparently, Twitch blocks embedding attempts somehow…

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I am not sure, but that text link approach is the best way to solve this. YouTube and SoundCloud embeds fine btw.

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