The Sound Board

There's a new library based on NI's string ensemble - a single unified instrument with auto-divisi and unison. If I understand correctly, there are new recordings of true vibrato as an option.



£269, update for existing owners of £89.

https://www.native-instruments.com/en/p ... na-quartet

EDIT - seems to be a bug on the store. My email says as an owner of the previous bundle owner I get it £89, but the store admonishes me that I don't qualify.

EDIT 2 - fixed.

So look, don't have a go at me anyone, but I actually sprung for this. First of all I had a voucher sat doing nothing so it was only £45. Second of all, I've grown to quite like well-scripted auto-divisi, and the thought of adding a layer of quasi-real quartet very quickly and simply appealed.

As such it's not bad at all. It doesn't have the artificial vibrato at all, so it's sort of all or nothing. But in terms of quick and dirty, I found putting the 2nd violin to vibrato and the others to nv gave a pleasing effect, semi-plaintive not too stark or too cloying. Some of the shorts sounded pretty nice.

A surprising gripe is that there's no control over the reverb - there's mid and far busses and that's it. Would have been nice to have some Raum built in for more sound-designy options. That would have been such an easy win, dunno why they didn't do it.

Post something when you get a chance, Guy. I had dismissed it out of hand but it’s quite possible I missed something,

Lawrence wrote: ↑Jan 25, 2025 12:59 pm Post something when you get a chance, Guy. I had dismissed it out of hand but it’s quite possible I missed something,

So here's an unedited very simple improv of three note chords. Deliberately didn't clean up any lumpiness so you can hear how it performs as-is. I've added a long-tailed Raum - this is the kind of use I'd imagine for the the library, not mocking up a fully realistic quartet but as a feeling-real layer that is quick to do. All the articulations are set to nv except 2nd violin which is v.

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/8opfjq8f ... g3cuq&dl=0

Not bad. The releases feel sort of abrupt and the tone a little thin, but not bad.
How’s the cello, and can the quartet perform with some agility as wel?

Lawrence wrote: ↑Jan 26, 2025 11:19 am Not bad. The releases feel sort of abrupt and the tone a little thin, but not bad.
How’s the cello, and can the quartet perform with some agility as wel?

I'll try and do another test in the next day or two - send midi if you like.

I only use key switches to change articulations so I’m not sure MIDI from me would be helpful.

Guy Rowland wrote: ↑Jan 26, 2025 6:01 am
So here's an unedited very simple improv of three note chords. Deliberately didn't clean up any lumpiness so you can hear how it performs as-is. I've added a long-tailed Raum - this is the kind of use I'd imagine for the the library, not mocking up a fully realistic quartet but as a feeling-real layer that is quick to do. All the articulations are set to nv except 2nd violin which is v.

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/8opfjq8f ... g3cuq&dl=0

Sounds good, but 99€ seems still too much for repackaging of samples one already has. With the exception of the natural vibrato…

RobS wrote: ↑Mar 07, 2025 2:49 am Sounds good, but 99€ seems still too much for repackaging of samples one already has. With the exception of the natural vibrato…

Yeah, the voucher helped. There'll be a half price sale before long...

if you still have the midi, Guy, I'd like to try and exactly match your example with the quartet. If that can be done, it'd be proof that upgrading to Ensemble doesn't make sense at all.

I think that NI should have given Cremona Quartet owners the recorded vibrato, that decision left me with a sour taste

Pablo Crespo wrote: ↑Mar 07, 2025 10:31 am I think that NI should have given Cremona Quartet owners the recorded vibrato, that decision left me with a sour taste

agreed, or at least a 20€ update

RobS wrote: ↑Mar 07, 2025 10:29 am if you still have the midi, Guy, I'd like to try and exactly match your example with the quartet. If that can be done, it'd be proof that upgrading to Ensemble doesn't make sense at all.

Sure. Here's the tiny bit of midi tempo 120 - https://www.dropbox.com/s/0fo96r8fcobm5 ... 1.mid?dl=0

Note CC1 is automation not midi cc data, so it won't be in the midi file but it looks like this:

thank you Guy!

hasty try, the natural vibrato makes a difference, though the timbre is there... Guy, the reverb you put on top of it is impossible to replicate for me. There's a moment when it's like there's a Hammond with leslie under the strings, adding harmonics and light chorusing

RobS wrote: ↑Mar 07, 2025 2:59 pm hasty try, the natural vibrato makes a difference, though the timbre is there... Guy, the reverb you put on top of it is impossible to replicate for me. There's a moment when it's like there's a Hammond with leslie under the strings, adding harmonics and light chorusing

It's NI's Raum IIRC, still be best freebie I ever got.. It's just fab.

Guy Rowland wrote: ↑Mar 07, 2025 3:03 pm

RobS wrote: ↑Mar 07, 2025 2:59 pm hasty try, the natural vibrato makes a difference, though the timbre is there... Guy, the reverb you put on top of it is impossible to replicate for me. There's a moment when it's like there's a Hammond with leslie under the strings, adding harmonics and light chorusing

It's NI's Raum IIRC, still be best freebie I ever got.. It's just fab.

oh it's free? Good to know then, thanks for the hint

RobS wrote: ↑Mar 07, 2025 4:10 pm oh it's free? Good to know then, thanks for the hint

It is! Raum was free initially, then paid but it's free again now and part of the Komplete Start bundle.

There's a lot of general moaning (not especially here but elsewhere) about how awful NI is. But that bundle is a helluva freebie, especially for the effects - https://www.native-instruments.com/en/p ... lete-start

I just checked my original session, and here's the settings which I think might be default except for wet / dry:

Fantastic, I was struggling to find the right settings… meanwhile I found the old “ultra vib” script that they made freely available years ago and it helps to get a more similar tone, will report when I’ve done something

ok, I can't really match your example, but can get reasonably close (in the little time I'm willing to spend on it) enough to tell me not to buy the ensemble for the money they ask. For like 20€ I'd get it...

www.robertosoggetti.com/KA_01-Cremona_qtet.mp3