SOLO STRINGS UNTAMED

$199

SOLO STRINGS UNTAMED

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Improvised, expressive and human solo strings

Human, raw and expressive solo string instruments featuring; Violin, Viola, Cello and Double Bass. We’ve recorded over 1000 unique, improvised performances over the four instruments. Instantly playable by just playing harder or softer on your keyboard. From breathy and fragile murmurs to absolutely wild and manic bursts of chaos.

Not for the traditionalist, and not for the faint of heart. This is for fans of alternative scores and inspired by composers like Jóhann Jóhannsson, Hildur Guðnadóttir, Jed Kurzel and Jonny Greenwood.

There’s also our unique and powerful STORMS articulation, can create crescendos from a solo performance to a frenetic ensemble. As well as all of the this, there are many other classic long and short note articulations which complement the sound and character of all the instruments.

Highlights

4 solo strings
Over 1000 improvised notes
4 microphone positions
Kontakt FULL 5.6.8 or higher

WALKTHROUGH

See it in action

Play

Listen to Solo Strings Untamed

Reviews

“Solo Strings Untamed is awesome. Often times I’m looking for a playable solo library that isn’t so pristine and “perfect” – one with character and humanity that’s able to make something haunting or beautiful (or hauntingly beautiful) – It’s definitely one of my secret weapons.”

Brett Detar
THE BOY 2, THE PUNISHER, DAREDEVIL, THE DEVIL INSIDE

“Wow. You guys nailed it. For real! This is what thinking outside of the box sounds like. Can’t wait to layer this with more traditional string sounds, it sounds great – and I’m saying this as a violin player!”

Omer Vexler
YouTube

“I absolutely adore the concept and always find inspiration using them! Works very well with my avant-garde approach to making music. And I feel like I’ve barely scratched the surface.”

Nate Johnson
VI Control

This isn't a swarm,
it's a storm.

Storms allows you to fade from single fragile notes to a frenzy of strings.

Great for creating tension before launching your score into a chaotic crescendo.

Hear it in action on the Viola

Hear it in action on the Bass

SSD drive recommended as the Storm articulation uses multiple samples simultaneously within Kontakt.

"I wanted to create a library that is alive, human and felt like you were writing with players in front of you."

Rob Hill

Founder, Westwood

Subwoofer not included

Included in all of the instruments is a trick we’ve been using for a long time with strings; sine waves. Adding a simple sine wave thickens up the natural sound of strings. We call this Glue as it fills in the gaps and cements the mix.

To give this the Westwood edge, we sampled every pitch of a sine wave across the entire range of each string instrument through 1″ reel-to-reel tape. This takes away the sterile nature of a pure sine wave and makes it feel more organic. There’s two versions to use; one at the regular pitch and an “8vb” version, which pitch shifts the wave an entire octave down.

Pulse

To add movement to an otherwise static signal, the Pulse section brings a sense of underlying motion.

You can control the intensity of the pulse and the rate which is synced to the tempo to your composition.

Effects

We’ve added a low pass filter which you can use to smooth off the top end for a deeper and more subtle sound.

Use the “Grit” control if you need to roughen up the sound.

Dynamics

Control the dynamics independently or with the expression so the level rides in tandem with the main performance.

There’s also a master volume control so you can precisely blend in the amount you need.

Behind the recording

Recorded at The Nave, one England’s finest recording studios; a converted church with the most beautiful sounding live room. Engineer Tom Orrell used a set of classic microphones and vintage outboard to tailor the perfect sound for the strings.

For the spot position, a single Brauner VMA Valve mic and RE20 mic does a great job of providing a very detailed, dry and hyped sound. Neumann KM184s capture a close stereo perspective; lively but still intimate. For the room position, we used a pair of AKG C414s, creating a more typical tree-style position and will give you a well balanced and open sound. Lastly, high up in the gallery were a pair of omnidirectional Oktava MK-12s. The secret weapon among engineers for their excellent detail, these will give you the full natural studio sound and allow you to hear the beautiful decay of The Nave.

We collected this really wide range of perspectives for you to mix exactly the sound you need. Everything was recorded through through Neve and API preamps, an AMEK Rembrandt desk and captured using world-class Apogee AD16X analogue to digital convertors.

SOUNDS & SIGNALS

What's included?

Articulations

Violin

Improvisations A1
Improvisations A2
Improvisations B1
Improvisations B2
Improvisations C1
Improvisations C2
Storms
Glue
Glue 8vb
Normale
Flautando
Sul Pont
Tremolo
Circular Bowing
Spiccato
Pizzicato inc. Bartok

Viola

Cello

Improvisations A1
Improvisations A2
Improvisations B1
Improvisations B2
Storms
Glue
Glue 8vb
Normale
Flautando
Sul Pont Soft
Sul Pont Grit
Tremolo
Circular Bowing
Spiccato
Pizzicato inc. Bartok

Bass

Improvisations A1
Improvisations A2
Improvisations B1
Improvisations B2
Storms
Glue
Glue 8vb
Normale
Flautando
Sul Pont
Tremolo
Spiccato
Pizzicato inc. Bartok
Ricochets

Signals

Spot

A mono position that’s super dry, super hyped and super detailed.

Close

This stereo pair is intimate but lively, allowing the sound to breathe just enough.

Room

A typical tree-style position, plenty of real room ambience and nicely balanced.

Gallery

High up and widely spaced to get the full natural reverb tail of the studio.

Multis

There are several Multis created from multiple instruments loaded into one Kontakt instance. They’ve been created for immediate gratification and perfect for quickly getting your ideas down. There’ll also show you some combinations and sounds you won’t have thought of and spark off an idea.

All The Improvisations
Circular Textures
Empty Room Pizzicato
Quartet Improvisations
Reverby Flautando
Studio Spiccato
VaVaVaVa
Viene La Tormenta

TECH SPECS

Good to know

System Requirements

Kontakt FULL
Mac OS 10.9 or higher
Windows 10 or higher
All major DAWs supported
29 GB download size
Downloads using the free Pulse app

Kontakt

This instrument is compatible with the full version of Kontakt PLAYER 5.6.8 and above.

It will not work with the free Kontakt Player.

User manual

Watermarking

Every copy of Solo Strings Untamed is automatically watermarked for each customer with unique identifying information which we use to track piracy.

Any questions?

I'm trying to re-create Four Seasons, will this do the job?

First of all, don’t try to re-create anything. You’re more original than that. But if you really want to reproduce Vivaldi’s finest accomplishment, this probably isn’t the right sound for you.

Will this work in the free version of Kontakt?

You need the full version of Kontakt 5.6.8 or above. It will NOT work in the free Player version of Kontakt.

Please make sure you have the correct version before purchasing. If you need help, we have a fully-loaded guide to Kontakt which you can read here.

Can I use this in commercial releases?

Yes! What you can’t do is repackage the individual samples or re-release them as another sample library, but you can absolutely use them to make the next score to a film about how to murder a king to take the throne yourself.