Crow Hill: String Murmurations (intro £149)

[Guy Rowland]

Dammit.

I really wanted to dislike this. Just because all the teases and glimpses grate on me and lead me to near-violence, and I know it's never going to end with this lot. But nonetheless, here's the first Crow Hill Company proper release (non-subscription) to actually evaluate: String Murmurations. It's not a regular sample library, and it's not phrases either, some kind of attempt to use your input as a starting point and run away with it.

Now, I KNOW. I know what pretty much everyone here will think as they read that, and I thought it too - oh GOD. Flowery nonsense to enable people with no musical skills to sound good. And let's be honest - I think it absolutely will do that. But I think it actually sounds phenomenally good, and - this is the bit that sticks in the craw - I think it produces results which regular sample libraries - or phrase libraries cannot do. So...

Dammit.

For some reason the main video doesn't seem to be sharable, so you're going to have to actually click a link and see what you think - but do watch it all through to the end, it's not a one-trick pony, it is at least a three-trick pony. What I really need is a proper walkthrough - enough of the smoke and mirrors, show us what the content is precisely and how it works. Will it be a limited bag of cool tricks, or is it more extensive than that?

https://thecrowhillcompany.com/string-murmurations/

Intro price £149, RRP £199.

I know for many it will be a non-starter because you can't do conventional composition with it. But anyone else out there intrigued nonetheless?

[GR Baumann]

Next:

AI in Logic 2024 will render it superfluous.

*just a hunch*

[Kohima]

Yes pretty good for certain application. Good to see Christian is using my old copy of Walter Pistons Orchestrations. Haha!

[Lawrence]

I have a feeling this may be a one trick pony, but it seems to be a heck of a trick.

[Guy Rowland]

I see there is a proper walkthrough coming, or maybe some YouTuber will fill the void.

[doctoremmet]

[Malachistos]

I don't know what it does, but it all sounded very samey to me. Like a cloud of semi random legato intervals.

[Guy Rowland]

Yes, a slightly frustrating walkthrough-that-isn't-a-walkthrough. None of the shorts (which definitely sound different), and still few clues as to what is really going on. Just want single notes to hear what they do.

I thiiiink from clues on the keyboard you are constrained to writing in a scale (with the gestures), I think that's the only way the harmonic intervals could work. Likely those melodic transitions aren't triggered by every note either or else it would be a clumsy mess. I think the constellations are normal and chromatic. Not sure about the blurs, which don't feature here at all.

See, I'm bloody doing it, aren't I? I'm trying to figure out what it actually is. Even when they release something, it's all smoke and bloody mirrors, all opaque oohs and ahhs and teases and majesty and mystery. Sod all that, we're composers not the audience, just tell us what it is and how it bloody bloody works.

[Kohima]

I don't know what it does, but it all sounded very samey to me. Like a cloud of semi random legato intervals.

I think the sound through this laptop is pretty darn good. The only issue is I feel like I'm stuck in some sort of Mahler loop. Maybe there is more in there on another walkthrough

[Lawrence]

Yeah Guy,

It’s like “as long as you’re going to play something heartfelt and warm, don’t worry your pretty little head about how much control you have over the actual notes.”

[Guy Rowland]

For my sins, I even looked at the manual Larry. Consellations are straightforward playable patches, Blurs are fast phrases by any other name and CC1 switches between up and down. As for gestures, this is all we get:

Pull up a gesture preset, play a long sustained chord using just the “in key”
notes on your keyboard controller.

...and thats it.

All the white notes tend to refer to the key of C a happy primary colour, or Amin
a sad primary colour. With various “modes” which contain more nuanced and complex
harmonic colours. Gestures will work in any key or mode you like. Just simply
adjust the key or mode with the “shift” function. Just adjust relative major scale
accordingly.

Clear as mud, and still awaiting a proper walkthrough.

[ZeeCount]

Pull up a gesture preset, play a long sustained chord using just the “in key”
notes on your keyboard controller.

...and thats it.

All the white notes tend to refer to the key of C a happy primary colour, or Amin
a sad primary colour. With various “modes” which contain more nuanced and complex
harmonic colours. Gestures will work in any key or mode you like. Just simply
adjust the key or mode with the “shift” function. Just adjust relative major scale
accordingly.

Clear as mud, and still awaiting a proper walkthrough.

The gestures are all prerecorded loops with very unhelpful names about what they are actually playing. The phrases are based on what note in the key you've played. For example, on the Launch Pad preset, playing a C major chord, the C and E both initially go up a 3rd, while the G goes up a 2nd. You can specific which key you are in, though it doesn't seem to be automatable. If you play a note not in the specified key, it just plays one of the sus samples (which usually have a swell in and out on loop).

For what it's worth, the instrument sure is a lot of fun to just plonk on, though I don't know how usable it will be in a larger orchestration. It seems like a logical extension of the evo grids that Spitfire were doing, with a larger focus on using the scale division to set what the loops do.

[Guy Rowland]

Thanks ZeeCount, that's definitely the clearest description by far. I'm still mildly intrigued - at the risk of saying the most obvious thing, a demo would be nice.

I understand the CP is Codemeter - do you know how many authorisations?

[The Saxer]

Next level auto accompaniment keyboard. Really nice legato transitions except those you actually play (as far as I can see). The sound is beautiful. But it doesn't look like the performance is following any voice leading. It sounds more like "oh, a new chord, lets play it from there".

[ZeeCount]

Next level auto accompaniment keyboard. Really nice legato transitions except those you actually play (as far as I can see). The sound is beautiful. But it doesn't look like the performance is following any voice leading. It sounds more like "oh, a new chord, lets play it from there".

Yup that's exactly what it's doing. Just with some cleverly curated and orchestrated parts. I can see this being very useful to quickly score a part and add movement/emotion to it.

[Guy Rowland]

Yup that's exactly what it's doing. Just with some cleverly curated and orchestrated parts. I can see this being very useful to quickly score a part and add movement/emotion to it.

Yes, absolutely.

As someone who has championed Symphobia's multis since 1.0, these tools can be godsends. The devil is always in the detail - I'd guess 2/3rd - 3/4 of the Symphobia range multis aren't very useful because they are not properly playable and / or too restrictive. It sounds like SM is very playable in the sense that it's designed that you can't make it sound bad, but also you can affect it meaningfully - it's great you can set the key, add single notes that aren't in the detected chord and they won't trigger yet another swoop or whatever, that's vital. But of course there are big limits on what's possible.

My hunch so far is that they have hit a sweet spot here. If you can get in and out of using it easily, then it will be useful. And let's not forget it does sound lovely, it provides an instant rich mood that doesn't sound canned - in fact it sounds more real than conventional sample libraries at what it does. Like everything, we'll get used to it quickly and will likely be able to spot it as we hear it in the coming years in productions (I hear those Noire particles patches everywhere) but that's unlikely to be a problem for producers or audience.

But perhaps the final point worth making here in the context of me finding their relentless teases and quirks irritating - they are nevertheless capturing something that our conventional tools are not good at. In that sense, comparing with Christian's Corporate Ex, they are heading in a more interesting direction than just redoing things again and again. I'd far rather see someone aim to bring something different to the table than another 500gb of Much The Same Thing.

[Kohima]

For what it's worth, the instrument sure is a lot of fun to just plonk on, though I don't know how usable it will be in a larger orchestration.

I think you'll hear quite a lot of cinematic piano over the top of whatever is played on this library. Not quite drones, but close.

[playz123]

For what it's worth, the instrument sure is a lot of fun to just plonk on, though I don't know how usable it will be in a larger orchestration.

I think you'll hear quite a lot of cinematic piano over the top of whatever is played on this library. Not quite drones, but close.

Actually, I ‘hear’ other solo instruments on top as well, and also feel this new release can provide an excellent string bed as well as do many things on its own.

[GR Baumann]

I feel like I'm stuck in some sort of Mahler loop.

V2: Stravinsky -ish

[Guy Rowland]

In amidst this new video there's more detail on what is actually going on (I suggest jumping in at around 6m 40s if you want to get to the meat of it). The main thing is - the gestures are triggered by key velocity, so you can control the amount of them fairly easily.



CH has said they're in listening mode for features, so here's my contribution:

For me to buy (in the absence of a demo) there's a few things I'd really want added feature-wise.

1. Keyswitches to change key (rather than that awkward drop down menu). Either right at the top of the 88 note keyboard, or off the bottom (set by the user).

2. Load patches into keyswitches. Load up the ones you want to switch between, and set the range. It would be useful to have a full 12 note octave, but even having 3 set to below bottom middle C would be handy too.

3. Speed control on the gestures. I hear the "freedom from the tyranny of the metronome" which sounds all very William Wallace Braveheart, but these have to fit into pieces with a time sig and a meter at some point. Being able to control the speed (automatable) might give us a fighting chance.

4. Shorts. Maybe there is a companion library planned, I don't know, but some basic shorts - even just a single staccato - would help integrate this.

These changes would, imo, change it from "interesting" to "compelling".

[tack]

Christian's argument is that straight, simple samples lose the richness and texture of a group of players performing together struggling with complexity and timing where the outcome is blurry and wonderful, using Hedwig's theme as an example. It's hard to disagree with that, but solving the problem with what's admittedly a very nice execution of fundamentally prerecorded phrases and textures isn't particularly novel.

I can see the audience for this -- and from a workflow perspective I agree with all your suggestions Guy -- but I do long for a true disruptor in the VI world where we can have our cake and eat it too: namely having full control over the composition while also getting believable sonic results without spending 90% of our time on programming heroics.

We're seeing major disruption in the photo generation and video processing space unfold now. Is virtual instrumentation too niche a market for this same investment in innovation, I wonder?

Best of luck to CH and his new company. For an inaugural product, this is a pretty good first showing.

(I wonder what's the story behind the fact that two of the company's directors barely lasted two months, and that directorship transferred to CH's wife at that time.)

[Kohima]

For what it's worth, the instrument sure is a lot of fun to just plonk on, though I don't know how usable it will be in a larger orchestration.

I think you'll hear quite a lot of cinematic piano over the top of whatever is played on this library. Not quite drones, but close.

Actually, I ‘hear’ other solo instruments on top as well, and also feel this new release can provide an excellent string bed as well as do many things on its own.

Yes Frank. Solo cello, solo violin, vibes ect. It's endless. But the underlying similarity of the beds is what worries me.

[tack]

Oops, String Murmurations uses Codemeter. I wish I had noticed Guy's comment before I bought it. Buyer's remorse even before striking the first note.

[Guy Rowland]

Christian's argument is that straight, simple samples lose the richness and texture of a group of players performing together struggling with complexity and timing where the outcome is blurry and wonderful, using Hedwig's theme as an example. It's hard to disagree with that, but solving the problem with what's admittedly a very nice execution of fundamentally prerecorded phrases and textures isn't particularly novel.

I can see the audience for this -- and from a workflow perspective I agree with all your suggestions Guy -- but I do long for a true disruptor in the VI world where we can have our cake and eat it too: namely having full control over the composition while also getting believable sonic results without spending 90% of our time on programming heroics.

We're seeing major disruption in the photo generation and video processing space unfold now. Is virtual instrumentation too niche a market for this same investment in innovation, I wonder?

Best of luck to CH and his new company. For an inaugural product, this is a pretty good first showing.

(I wonder what's the story behind the fact that two of the company's directors barely lasted two months, and that directorship transferred to CH's wife at that time.)

Agree with all this.

With Companies House, it might be something very trivial. IIRC sometimes you have temporary directors right at the company's founding to get things set up, before passing on to people who will do the ongoing work. I'm pretty sketchy on this though, I could be talking rubbish again.

[ZeeCount]

Update just came out which, among other things, has added CC control for key, time stretching, and the mic sliders. Good to see they are listening to feedback from their customers.