The Sound Board

INTRODUCING - DOLCE: Romantic Chamber Strings AVAILABLE April 21st |

https://www.audioimperia.com/

$499 | $349 intro pricing (until June 3rd)

22 Piece Chamber String Orchestra - 7 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 3 Made for Kontakt Player

Capturing the sweetness and softness of a Chamber Strings section has long been a dream of ours. Recorded in collaboration with our friend Jasper Blunk from Performance Samples, we have now made that dream a reality.

Dolce is our definitive romantic Chamber Strings library, with 7 1st Violins, 5 2nd Violins, 4 Violas, 3 Celli, and 3 Double Basses.

We selected our favorite players all of whom we've worked with on many other projects and recorded a large selection of articulations to really offer something that will be a well-rounded tool in your arsenal.

With meticulous attention to detail, we've created a truly wonderful tool that offers a rich and romantic sound, perfect for capturing the finer nuances of your compositions.

Dolce was recorded in the same room as Fluid Woods, Fluid Brass, and Performance Samples’ Pacific series, and captures the same warm, romantic signature that sits perfectly between the symphonic and grand sound that you get with Pacific, and the more pointed and lush Hollywood type of sound that you get within our our orchestral range.

With 4 mics and 2 mixes, as well as all 5 individual sections of the ensemble available plus a complete set of ensemble patches, Dolce provides ultimate dexterity and ease to your writing process.

Watch the Teaser here:

Not much information is available yet. The library is said to be 80Gb in total.

The trailer alone doesn't tell me much. Strangely enough, I hear very few details. The trailer sounds big and cinematic. The strings are pushed back into the room and quite far away for a chamber setting. I would associate a more intimate sound with Chamber Strings. Let's see what the mic options have to offer. The shiny, polished mix here sounds good. But it's also a little generic. I can imagine achieving a similar sound with Hollywood Strings. We will have to wait and see what distinguishes this library from the existing ones.

Linos wrote: ↑Apr 08, 2023 3:31 am(...) The trailer sounds big and cinematic. (...)

Very first thought that went through my mind as well: what a big, sweeping sound. But I don't hear a chamber string section at all. At least, not in the way one does, instantly, when listening to, say, Light & Sound, BML Sable or the new Pēteris Vasks Chamber Strings from Orchestral Tools. Those are all unmistakably chamber strings, whereas 'Dolce' sounds like it could well be a full-sized section of which a few members called in saying they were ill and wouldn't be able to make it to the sessions.

Not implying that this diminishes the appeal of 'Dolce' of course. Sounds pretty good in that trailer. Just not very chamber-y. But that might be contradicted when more, and more detailed, demos are being released.

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I would have to agree - the trailer sounds beautiful, but not what I think of when I think of a chamber ensemble. I hope that reverb in the trailer is not baked in!

Audio Imperia have posted some examples of short articulations on Instagram. If you don't have an account on Instagram, you might be able to listen to them here:

https://imginn.com/stories/audioimperia/

Hmm.

Maybe this library could be amazing.
But, those snippets did not really tell me anything.
A bit... uninspiring sadly.

I hope PVS has enough on this to keep me going for now. I like the tone/mic variety of PVS more so far.
Lets see when they are both released.

'Dolce' has been released at an intro price of 349$:

https://www.audioimperia.com/products/dolce



The walkthrough video did not convince me that I need this library in my toolbox. The pizzicati sound really nice. Otherwise, what I hear leaves me cold. All but the close mic sound washy to me. Even the AB-mics sound mushy and make short notes loose all definition.

These strings don't sound like chamber strings to me, and they don't sound like symphonic strings either. It's a bit of neither, with no clear identity. Was the goal of Audio Imperia to produce a lush-sounding library? Then why record with the smaller section sizes? Or did they want to produce a chamber strings library, as the title suggests? Then why did they record in such a way that the chamber music sound characteristics don't come into play? I can't see clearly what the purpose of this library is.

It's odd. Usually, when a new string library from a respected developer is being presented, there's always at least a few moments during the presentation or walkthrough that excites me enough to start imagining the possibilities of the library in my music, often followed by me moving the mouse pointer towards the purchase button -- it happened quickly with the OT Peteris Vasks strings --, but in this case, any such thoughts never ever even crossed my mind. Not suggesting that "Dolce" sounds manifestly bad or anything, no, it's just that, somehow, I don''t hear anything in the walkthrough or any of the demo's that sounds special or unique enough to contemplate a purchase.

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