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Pacific Strings - user demo thread

I finished the whole mockup. Strings are Pacific only (including the solo cello from pacific solo strings)



Oh, and I used that bonus room noise sample from the library to match the old recordings. So out of the box, they are not that noisy.

Whoa, how did you make it sound like the 70s? I've been looking on how to do that and people say to use Vinyl but I find that's not enough
 
Whoa, how did you make it sound like the 70s? I've been looking on how to do that and people say to use Vinyl but I find that's not enough
Most importantly i increased the volume of the noise floor by adding the room noise samples that are coming with Pacific Strings. And than i used a neve channel strip to overdrive the input gain on the loudest part so you get that analog clipping from the preamps. Cut some of the lows and boost the highs until it sounds destroyed enough 😅
 
It does and has a big effect on the legato, go into you midi edit and play your piece then move your velocity tag up and down you can hear the difference
?

It will be a few hours before I can test this myself.

Proof or it didn’t happen. 😆
 
Just to clarify here, velocity does NOT have an affect on the legato scr

That makes me wonder what exactly Blakus did when he demonstrated how one could avoid unwanted portamento occurrences in this video?

 
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I know, but I didn't notice that he was in the lower dynamic range when he demonstrated that. Will check again.
If that's the only way, I hope they implement a way to bypass portamento when needed (eg. with a pedal or velocity=1). I don't mind having that portamento on when I play, as long as there's a way to go through the MIDI recording afterwards and bypass it.
 
I know, but I didn't notice that he was in the lower dynamic range when he demonstrated that. Will check again.
If that's the only way, I hope they implement a way to bypass portamento when needed (eg. with a pedal or velocity=1). I don't mind having that portamento on when I play, as long as there's a way to go through the MIDI recording afterwards and bypass it.
My recollection is that he said with Pacific he uses a lower value on the modwheel than he would on most libraries and saves the upper part of the modwheel for special usage. So basically he is avoiding using the top layer legato transitions to reduce the portamento.
 
My recollection is that he said with Pacific he uses a lower value on the modwheel than he would on most libraries and saves the upper part of the modwheel for special usage.

Yes things calm down around 80. If the uppermost third doesn't contain any unique samples, that could actually have a positive side effect.

Also – maybe the legato transitions from the lower dynamic range could be used in the upper register, with some Kontakt tweaking? Having said that, the easiest is of course if they have all the samples they need in order to offer an update with manual portamento control.

If not, maybe even the legato transitions in Vista could serve as some not-so-syrupy transitions in Pacific too, when portamento isn't needed? I have nothing against Pacific's portamento or maple syrup of course, I just miss a simple way to play without much thinking – without ending up to with too much portamento.
 
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If not, maybe the the legato transitions in Vista could serve as some not-so-syrupy transitions in Pacific too, when portamento isn't needed? I have nothing against Pacific's portamento or maple syrup, I just miss a simple way to play without much thinking – and to not end up with portmentos that feel misplaced.
Honestly, it seems a bit of a weird decision, seeing the pushback it's receiving. Even if one was going to implement portamento in the basic dynamic framework, it seems like restricting portamento to CC1 above say 120 would make more sense than bringing it in at the levels the library ships with. Or as someone else suggested, portamento could be put on a velocity trigger. The question I guess is whether there is a legato interval with enough intensity to pass to the high intensity sustain without making the legato sound bumpy. From my working with the library I think there is, and I understand that developers use fewer dynamics for legatos than for the sustains quite often, but I also haven't done that kind of audio editing and scripting, so I don't know all that's involved.
 
39 pages if posts later, and I'm still on the fence about getting Pacific. Not because I don't think that it's a great library, but except for the whisper sustains and the unique harp sound, I think that I can replicate its sounds with my existing libraries. I have CSS, CS2 Vista, Soaring Strings, and Anthology/Adagio/Adachi. The thing that is nagging me the most is that when I play Vista legato along with the Pacific YouTube demos, the tone is almost indiscernible! Can anyone who has both confirm this? If It didn't have Vista already, this would be an "insta buy" (but then again, it would be much more expensive). I'm so confused.
 
39 pages if posts later, and I'm still on the fence about getting Pacific. Not because I don't think that it's a great library, but except for the whisper sustains and the unique harp sound, I think that I can replicate its sounds with my existing libraries. I have CSS, CS2 Vista, Soaring Strings, and Anthology/Adagio/Adachi. The thing that is nagging me the most is that when I play Vista legato along with the Pacific YouTube demos, the tone is almost indiscernible! Can anyone who has both confirm this? If It didn't have Vista already, this would be an "insta buy" (but then again, it would be much more expensive). I'm so confused.
I don't find the tone the same at all. I mean they are similar to some degree, same part of the world, same engineering etc, but one of my gripes with vista was the nasal midrange it can have. particularly the cellos. Partly because they are smaller groups of players, and partly because of the different room. But I don't know how you could think the two sound the same tbh. Con moto is far more similar, but even in the same room, they sound different enough that I'm still using both. SSS and SCS have the same SF sound, but also sound distinct from each other.

The other thing is that 95% of this thread has been focused on the legatos. To me the big deal is every other articulation. That's where the detail is, and where it's lightyears ahead of the competition in terms of detail and nuance. Precisely-edited, large sections in a spacious hall, now with more dynamics than ever at a great value. As long as you like the lively raw sound that is.
 
I think it's more that Pacific can do "Vista, but big". And I have had the experience, with at least some Pacific demos, of feeling that they sound like something that might have been done in Vista, but with a dab of "extra bigness" colour splashed on it, and thinking: "well that's a nice new shade of extra bigness colouring alright, except that I'm perfectly happy the existing vista colour" (I paraphrase).

But there are other demos that really lean into Pacific's capacity for orchestral grandeur (for instance), @jbuhler channelling Williams, for instance.

And then I feel we're in starting to head into territory that Vista will never take you to.
 
I don't find the tone the same at all. I mean they are similar to some degree, same part of the world, same engineering etc, but one of my gripes with vista was the nasal midrange it can have. particularly the cellos. Partly because they are smaller groups of players, and partly because of the different room. But I don't know how you could think the two sound the same tbh. Con moto is far more similar, but even in the same room, they sound different enough that I'm still using both. SSS and SCS have the same SF sound, but also sound distinct from each other.

The other thing is that 95% of this thread has been focused on the legatos. To me the big deal is every other articulation. That's where the detail is, and where it's lightyears ahead of the competition in terms of detail and nuance. Precisely-edited, large sections in a spacious hall, now with more dynamics than ever at a great value. As long as you like the lively raw sound that is.
Precisely. I remember when the first demos of the pizz, staccato, tremolo, whisper sustains and marcatos came out. People were losing their shit about it.

But now that it’s out most people are focusing on the legato. Which is fine IMO.

However, the dynamics and juiciness of the pizz, marcato, trem, sordinos and so on truly make the a difference and so much more alive than most of my other libraries.

Including BBC PRO, MSS, CSS, etc.

To me the best symphonic shorts and pizz, and have the vibrancy that I feel like abbey road 2 has compared to other sections that size etc.

Anyways, I’ll still use a lot of what I have depending on the context but pacific is def going to be my main library mixed with css (love css’s fast runs and sfz long shorts).
 
I think it's more that Pacific can do "Vista, but big". And I have had the experience, with at least some Pacific demos, of feeling that they sound like something that might have been done in Vista, but with a dab of "extra bigness" colour splashed on it, and thinking: "well that's a nice new shade of extra bigness colouring alright, except that I'm perfectly happy the existing vista colour" (I paraphrase).

But there are other demos that really lean into Pacific's capacity for orchestral grandeur (for instance), @jbuhler channelling Williams, for instance.

And then I feel we're in starting to head into territory that Vista will never take you to.
Yes I think that’s correct. I would say that’s because it’s the performance samples house sound, alive and full of movement. Same way SF has their sound. so as long as we’re talking just legato, then preferring vista is largely a tonal choice. Although, aside from the top fff dynamic, pac is less slurred than vista and has less vib, which makes it more appropriate for most lines. There are many demos in this thread that are overusing that esppressivo dynamic, but the lower legatos can be very nimble and do great back and forth playing. If you listen to the official walkthroughs and Blake’s one, no one ever had a problem with it being too slurred. I think it will just take a bit of time for people to get used to how pac operates.
 
Precisely. I remember when the first demos of the pizz, staccato, tremolo, whisper sustains and marcatos came out. People were losing their shit about it.

But now that it’s out most people are focusing on the legato. Which is fine IMO.

However, the dynamics and juiciness of the pizz, marcato, trem, sordinos and so on truly make the a difference and so much more alive than most of my other libraries.

Including BBC PRO, MSS, CSS, etc.

To me the best symphonic shorts and pizz, and have the vibrancy that I feel like abbey road 2 has compared to other sections that size etc.

Anyways, I’ll still use a lot of what I have depending on the context but pacific is def going to be my main library mixed with css (love css’s fast runs and sfz long shorts).
I got so fed up of having to mix and match artics from different libraries to get the full palette that I desired. Now I have them all under one library, and to a higher level than I did before. My vast strings template has now been reduced to pacific + sss (just for niche artics.) and a couple of alternate things like SF App or Con Moto. My workflow is much more streamlined and fast now
 
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