07-08-2016, 02:47 PM
Following this discussion I decided to create a small violin section using ld1609's samples as an example of what you can do if you have a chromatically sampled solo instrument and want to fake a section sound. I realize that the sfz files themselves aren't entirely clear at a glance so let me add some brief notes on what is going on in them.
I have created three different versions of the same instrument by mapping it in minor thirds instead of chromatically. First violin starts its mapping from G, the second on G#, and the third on A. Like this:
Violin 1: G, A#, C#, E, G (etc)
Violin 2: G#, B, D, F, G# (etc)
Violin 3: A, C, D#, F#, A (etc)
The first and last samples are then stretched up and down so that all three ranges match each other.
As I felt three instruments weren't quite enough, I added a fourth one identical to the first except for that I detuned it by 6 cents (tune=-6) and added a 20 ms delay to its note start (delay=0.02). I panned the first and fourth more to the sides as to not make them clash, and kept the other two violins closer to the center. For this I used the position opcode.
For the staccato and pizzicato articulations I also created fake 2xRR by duplicating the existing sample layers and messing around with the offset and ampeg_attack values until I had something that sounded like variations of the same note.
Obviously the end result does not sound exactly like an actual four piece violin section. But it's not half bad either and with a bit of more work, like for example randomizing certain parameters like attack, release and note start by small amounts, you could make it even more convincing. This I leave to the SFZ gurus out there though, because working in this format gives me headache
I have created three different versions of the same instrument by mapping it in minor thirds instead of chromatically. First violin starts its mapping from G, the second on G#, and the third on A. Like this:
Violin 1: G, A#, C#, E, G (etc)
Violin 2: G#, B, D, F, G# (etc)
Violin 3: A, C, D#, F#, A (etc)
The first and last samples are then stretched up and down so that all three ranges match each other.
As I felt three instruments weren't quite enough, I added a fourth one identical to the first except for that I detuned it by 6 cents (tune=-6) and added a 20 ms delay to its note start (delay=0.02). I panned the first and fourth more to the sides as to not make them clash, and kept the other two violins closer to the center. For this I used the position opcode.
For the staccato and pizzicato articulations I also created fake 2xRR by duplicating the existing sample layers and messing around with the offset and ampeg_attack values until I had something that sounded like variations of the same note.
Obviously the end result does not sound exactly like an actual four piece violin section. But it's not half bad either and with a bit of more work, like for example randomizing certain parameters like attack, release and note start by small amounts, you could make it even more convincing. This I leave to the SFZ gurus out there though, because working in this format gives me headache
