“Embertone’s Intimate Strings are, hands down, the most realistic and human-sounding alternatives to the real thing. The realtime control and nuances you can imbue into the performance are fantastic. I’ve had the pleasure of recording many of the musicians from the library in my own studio for different projects. Intimate Strings is a jaw-dropping recreation of these wonderful players.”
– Jason Graves (television/film/video game music composer, 2016)
RALEIGH, NC, USA: next-level virtual instrument developer Embertone is proud to announce availability of its Intimate Strings Solo Bundle — featuring all four products from its now-completed Intimate Strings Solo series as a significantly-discounted bundle — as of March 17…
Embertone’s self-explanatory Intimate Strings Solo series started life with the well-received release of its flagship Friedlander Violin, an incredibly realistic 44.1kHz/24-bit stereo virtual violin for Native Instruments’ industry-standard KONTAKT PLAYER platform (5.3.1+ now required). Updated in June 2014 to include over 800MB of new sample content, this 3.5GB release features 4000-plus samples; true legato programming with true portamentos; neighbour-borrowing round robin option; custom, genius KONTAKT scripting by Andreas Lemke; flexible (and moveable) key-switching; bow change and slur ‘true’ legato; full vibrato control; four dynamic layers; and more besides. Setting out to create a virtual violin with malleable, intuitive controls, and an authentic, living sound, Friedlander Violin also succeeded in setting the production standard for future realistic-sounding releases from Embertone.
Eventually Embertone added a virtual cello and viola to the Intimate Strings Solo series, starting with Blakus Cello — collaborating with Australian composer/cellist extraordinaire Blake Robinson, resulting in a true cello sampling odyssey. Blakus Cello is a huge (5GB at 44.1kHz/ 24-bit stereo sampling resolution) set of samples with expressive sustains, visceral harsh attacks, pizzicatos, and tremolos, together with a carefully prepared model for sul ponticello — bow kept near the bridge so as to bring out the higher harmonics and thereby produce a nasal tone — and con sordino — with the use of a mute — with scripted legato, all designed to add an expressive edge to music, and, hopefully, bring some joy to music-maker’s lives!
Later, Fischer Viola, an ultra-advanced solo viola for KONTAKT PLAYER 5, marked another major milestone for the company, moving onwards and upwards in terms of technology and musicality. More than a year in the making, Embertone deployed deep scripting and went ‘under the hood’ to produce a leaner and meaner instrument, weighing in at 1.38GB when installed at 44.1kHz/16-bit stereo sample resolution (rising to 2.1GB at 24-bit) with an improved vibrato engine and huge CPU/RAM improvements.
Interestingly, Leonid Bass completes Embertone’s Intimate Strings Solo series as a deeply-sampled adventure of an amazing upright bass built in Italy way back in the 1700s and played by accomplished bassist Leonid Finkelshtyen. By sampling Lenny with a depth and precision unparalleled in the company’s history, more detail and articulation content has been captured than in past releases in its most advanced string instrument release so far. Fittingly, Leonid Bass also marks the first Embertone release to support NKS®, Native Instruments’ extended plug-in format allowing third-party software instrument developers to directly address hardware features in its KOMPLETE KONTROL S-Series and MASCHINE systems, showcasing the company’s commitment to cutting-edge technology.
To quote company co-founder Alex Davis, a composer and improviser with a passion for the process of discovery, “What makes these instruments stand out is a combination of realism and control. Often you’ll find virtual instruments with an impressive out-of-the-box sound that fall flat when you try to blend them to your music and phrasing. There are a handful of amazingly controllable instruments that just don’t sound real. Our entire existence as a company is to bridge that gap!”
Get all four incredibly realistic virtual instruments from Embertone’s now-completed Intimate Strings Solo series at once, then, by buying the significantly-discounted Intimate Strings Solo Bundle and using them individually as expressive solo instruments in their own right or activating ENSEMBLE MODE to create a virtual string orchestra. Either way, it’s a done deal for anyone seeking a bundle of music-making joy at an attractive price!
The Intimate Strings Solo Bundle can be ordered online and directly downloaded from Embertone at an attractive sale price of $375.00 USD — representing a 25% saving over buying Friedlander Violin, Fischer Viola, Blakus Cello, and Leonid Bass individually at $125.00 USD — from here: http://embertone.com/instruments/issbundle.php (Note that these virtual instruments are made for Native Instruments’ KONTAKT PLAYER platform, meaning that there is no need to purchase any additional software to load them.)