Modern Scoring Strings Manual
Modern Scoring Strings Manual
STRINGS
Version 1.0 1
The Modern Scoring Strings sample library described herein is supplied under a formal license agreement that you enter into when using Modern
Scoring Strings. Please refer to the Audiobro License Agreement PDF inside the documentation folder of the Modern Scoring Strings Library
folder.
The data contained in this user guide is for informational purposes only and may be changed without prior announcement. The contents, images,
and information in the user guide do not constitute a legal obligation by Audiobro. Audiobro is not responsible for any eventual faulty or inaccurate
information contained in this user guide. The user guide and all parts thereof may not be reproduced or hosted on a website for
commercial or any other use without the prior and explicit written permission of Audiobro. All trademarks are acknowledged as the
property of their respective owners.
The entire Modern Scoring Strings sample library is based on the performances of “real musicians” and the utmost care was taken in preserving
the human feel of these performances. It is these human “elements” (natural variances and imperfections in performance and sound) that create
the realistic sound you hear when using Modern Scoring Strings. Any imperfections in sound and performance are to be considered “by design”
and are subject to change only at Audiobro’s discretion.
© 2021 Audiobro
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Table of Contents
Welcome to Modern Scoring Strings ..5 DynSync..............................................18 Scale Playback Modes........................37
Quick Start Guide ..................................6 Dynamics Smoothing Options.............19 Tremolo .........................................38
Loading Instrument Patches ...............6 Filter (main filter knob) ........................19 Trills ...............................................39
Patch Articulation Modes ....................7 Filter Editor (main filter).......................19
Harmonics .....................................40
Conventions ........................................7 Brightness ...........................................20
Ostinatos .......................................41
Scales, Ostinatos, and Octave Runs ..7 Detune ................................................20
Aleatoric ........................................42
Batch Re-save .......................................8 Detune Editor ......................................21
Bartok Pizz. (Basses only) ............43
Speed Up Loading .........................8 Articulation Section ........................22
Switcher .................................................44
Articulations and Patches List .............9 Articulation Area ..................................22
Sidebar................................................23 Switcher (basic) .............................45
Articulations ...................................9
Articulation Settings in General...........23 Switcher Editor (advanced) ...........46
Sustains — Variable Attack Control ....9
Articulations in Detail ...........................24 Look Ahead ............................................47
Sustains (additional) ...........................9
Legato | Sustain Settings...............24 Ensemble Page ......................................48
Real Legato.........................................10
Shorts..................................................10 Legato Playing Style and Auto Divisi ..24 Stage .............................................49
Shorts (without bow) ...........................11 Volume | Vibrato ..................................25 Depth Control ......................................50
Octave Runs .......................................11 Playback (Leg or Sus) | Rebow ..........25 Stage Type and Stage Preset .............51
Scales .................................................11 Legato - Port. - Gliss. Slider ................25 Stage Editor ........................................51
Continued…
Humanization Editor............................58
Mixer .......................................................59
Mixer Channel .....................................60
Insert’s List ..........................................61
Sends ..................................................62
Automation ..........................................63
Modulation ..........................................64
Signal Path ....................................65
Advanced Template Setup....................66
Defaults .........................................66
Storing/Loading Defaults ...............66
Loading Defaults Automatically .....68
Articulation Sets (Logic) .......................69
What are Articulation Sets? ...........69
Installation .....................................70
Articulation Set Types ....................70
Loading Articulation Sets ...............71
Expression Maps (Cubase) ..................72
What are Expression Maps? .........72
Expression Map Types ..................72
Loading Expression Maps .............72
Pairing Down The Articulation List .73
CPU and RAM Considerations .............74
CPU Considerations ......................74
RAM Considerations .....................75
Specifications ........................................76
System Requirements ...................76
Supported Interfaces .....................76
Special Thanks ......................................77
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Welcome to Modern Scoring Strings
Modern Scoring Strings sets a new benchmark in orchestral and scoring string libraries and is built on our new orchestral engine. This 60-
piece multi-instrument divisi library was painstakingly developed by recording different divisi sections (1/2 section at a time)* on a trusted
scoring stage giving you unprecedented individual control of each instrument and section. The breadth of articulations was carefully chosen
to provide for an enormous range of colors and emotions in your musical productions.
From the delicate tones of a divisi section playing harmonics, to the power of a Tutti Martelé, to scales and ostinatos and everything in
between — Modern Scoring Strings is a library that fully captures the broad expressive range and diversity of the orchestral string family.
Pristine recordings and meticulous editing ensure every note of your music will shine.
• Polyphonic Real Legato: Our renowned legato, portamento, and glissando with speed and rebow control.
• Real Variable Attack Control: Real variable attack samples for all sustains – recorded on each note and at each dynamic.
• The Ostinato Engine: 2-note phrases at multiple dynamics covering the following intervals: m2, M2, m3, M3, Perfect 4, and Perfect 5th.
These were recorded starting at both the upper and lower interval for over a 2-octave range. You can simply play a chord and our
different intelligent engine options will automatically create ostinato lines outlining your notes and in your chosen tonality in your
tempo. It’s like magic!
• The Scale Engine that can intelligently play real 16th and 8th note triplet phrases at tempo all while following your chosen tonality.
• Numerous Shorts: Martelé, Staccato, Staccatissimo, and Spiccato recordings, all with numerous round robins at multiple dynamics.
• Aleatoric Recordings: Play and combine numerous aleatoric patterns that were recorded up the entire range of the instrument.
• Octave Runs: Play round robin major and minor octave runs (both up and down). They will sync to your tempo automatically.
• A full complement of articulation key switches come pre-set, but you can also build your own. Set up your articulation settings and
layers just the way you want.
• Easily build your own player ensemble or use our pre-made ensembles.
• New Audiobro engine supports Kontakt 6.04+ and NKS-enabled hardware.
• New Auto Divisi engine with all-in-1 patches.
• Independent control of divisi section tuning, humanization, and vibrato.
• Advanced Key Switching by Key, CC, velocity, and combinations thereof.
• Control Dynamics the way you prefer: CC, velocity, or a combination.
• Assignable Repeat Key makes playing double and triple tongue chords (and same-note-legato) simple and fun.
• Full manual vibrato control: By default all instruments play a natural vibrato commensurate to dynamic, but if you prefer you can enable
full manual vibrato control
• The next generation of A.R.T. (the Auto Rhythm Tool) with MIDI export, synced modes, arpeggiator, and ostinato tool.
• Multi Mic mixes including Close, Stage, Surround, and a Full mix.
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Quick Start Guide
Modern Scoring Strings is really easy to use. You can simply load a patch and play. There are a few types of patches and we’ll discuss
where you can find them, their naming convention, and how to load them.
You start by loading one the Instrument patches - located in the Instruments
folder in the Browser:
The main Instrument patches are in the root of the folder, but there are additional patches organized into additional folders:
1. Split Divisi - This folder contains each divisi section from the master patches split into separate instruments.
2. Full Mix - This folder contains patches where only the Full Mix is available. They are otherwise identical to the master
patches, but because the other zones are not present the instruments will load faster and keep your projects and template
sizes smaller. Sonically these patches are identical to the master patches when no additional mics are loaded.
Make sure you have the MIDI channels set the way you want. If you don’t see the MIDI channel information, make sure to
click on the “i” icon as seen here to show the MIDI information.
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Patch Articulation Modes
No matter what patch or snapshot you load, you can always change its articulation by clicking on the available articulation
tiles (Legato, Sustains, Shorts, etc.):
Conventions
There are various types of patches in Modern Scoring Strings as well as “Snapshots” of those patches. One thing to keep in
mind is that the Snapshots are derived from the parent patch that you loaded. For example, if you load in a default Modern
Scoring Strings patch, then all the snapshots located under the snapshots menu will be based on that patch.
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Batch Re-save
Speed Up Loading
If you find that patches are loading slower than you would like, it’s a good idea to Batch Re-save your library. In fact, we recommend Batch
Re-saving libraries whenever Kontakt libraries are first installed on your machine, or after any update that replaces instrument or multi files.
To batch re-save:
1. Open Kontakt in Stand-Alone mode (not hosted in a sequencer) and navigate to the File icon
(floppy icon) and click on it:
3. You will be prompted with this message… but don’t be too afraid:
… just click “Yes”.
4. Navigate to your Library folder (in this case Modern Scoring Strings
Library folder) and select the folder. Then click Open.
5. Wait patiently as Kontakt re-saves your instruments. After it’s done, your instruments should load
faster.
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Articulations and Patches List
Articulations
Normal Sustain A regular bowing of the note from ppp to fff. With both vibrato and non-vibrato real-time √
control.
Accented Sustain The attack of the note is accented and this is also done throughout all the dynamics from √
ppp to fff. With both vibrato and non-vibrato real-time
Crescendo Sustain The note is played with a crescendo leading into the sustain portion of the note from ppp to √
fff. This is sampled separately at each dynamic allowing for wonderful melodic control.
Sustains (additional)
Articulation Description Looped
Arco Your typical bowing played from ppp to fff. With both vibrato and non-vibrato real-time √
control. Performed as Normal, Accented, and Crescendo sustains.
Sordino Performed with a mute and played from ppp to fff with both vibrato and non-vibrato real-time √
control. Performed as Normal, Accented, and Crescendo sustains.
Sul Tasto The note is played with the bow over the fingerboard giving a delicate, warm sound. This is √
typically only really played at one dynamic (the dynamic which elicits the best sound) being
mp-ish. Performed as a Normal sustain.
Sul Pont The note is played at the bridge of the instrument giving a brighter and more strident sound √
from ppp to fff. Performed as both Normal, and Accented sustains.
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Articulation Description Looped
Tremolo The note is played by rapidly moving the bow back-and-forth from ppp to fff. √
Sul Pont Tremolo The note is played rapidly back and forth at the bridge of the instrument. √
Trills These were recorded in with both Minor and Major 2nd trills from ppp to fff. They can also √
be played in an intelligent diatonic mode.
Harmonics We have recorded both fingered and natural harmonics at the dynamic that elitist the best
sound (typically p).
Real Legato
Legato has always been a centerpiece at Audiobro. For Modern Scoring Strings we recorded Legato, Portamento, and
Glissando transitions where the user can (in real-time) change the transitions speed and volume to best suit their needs. Our
Legato engine also adapts the transition behavior to suit how fast you are playing, adding new levels of realism.
Shorts
All the shorts below are all available in real-time and can be controlled in a variety of ways: Continuous Controller, Velocity, or
playback speed. They are all located under the same articulations category “Shorts” so it’s easy to control their performance.
Depending on the section (Vlns vs Vlas), with combined divisi playing at the same time, you can have up to 256 round robins
for the violins, and 16 for all the other sections.
Articulation Description
Martelé The effect is usually produced by holding the bow against the string with pressure, then releasing it
explosively to produce a sharp, biting attack with a rest between strokes. Some violinists use it when
playing staccato notes although we opted to record these a little longer (like a longer staccato note).
Staccato Staccato notes played with both up-bows and down-bows from ppp to fff.
Staccatissimo Very short staccato notes with both up-bows and down-bows from ppp to fff.
Spiccato The bow bouncing off the sting (as opposed to an on-the-string bowing) from ppp to f. Great for very
fast and nimble parts.
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Shorts (without bow)
Additional commonly used shorts played without using the bow.
Articulation Description
Pizzicato Plucking the note with the finger as opposed to bowing. User can control the duration with the “Tighten”
knob.
Col Legno Hitting the strings with the wooden portion of the bow give your a special sound often used in
suspenseful scores. Bows can cost thousands (even tens of thousands) of dollars, so many player
bring a “cheap” bow or use a pencil for Col Legno part. We told the player to bring their cheap bow for
this articulation. User can control the duration with the “Tighten” knob.
Bass Bartok Pizzicato For the basses, we had the players pull the string back and let it slam into the fingerboard thus creating
the famed Bartok Pizz. sound.
Octave Runs
We recorded round robin Major and Minor Octave Runs in both directions: up and down. There is a smart “Diatonic Mode”
and these runs can be synced to tempo automatically.
Scales
We recorded short 3 and 4 note runs (triplets and 16ths) in every diatonic mode (Ionian, Dorian, etc.) that our engine can
intelligently stitch together in real-time providing very real-sounding scaler runs. They can be diatonic, chromatic, or whole-
tone and they are synced to tempo. Experiment with the various smart engine modes — it’s a blast!
Ostinatos
We recorded repeated 2 note phrases at multiple dynamics covering the following intervals: m2, M2, m3, M3, Perfect 4, and
Perfect 5th, These were recorded starting at both the upper and lower note over a 2-octave range. You can simply play a
chord and our different intelligent engine options will automatically create ostinato lines outlining your notes and in your
chosen tonality and tempo. It’s like magic! Or you can play any of the ostinato intervals manually using CCs.
Aleatoric
We recorded numerous different chaotic string phrases that can evoke to horror, suspense, and tension. Many articulations
were recorded up the entire range of the instrument giving you amazing control of creating your own aleatoric compositions.
The articulations can be layered or isolated giving you even more variety.
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Bass Runs
We recorded major and minor 3 and 4 note runs as sort of punctuation phrases. These types of phrases are often used in
action and thriller type scores. They are also synced to tempo.
Patch List
Modern Scoring Strings (MSS) Patch List
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Divisi Position Chart
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Default CC Assignments
CC# Explanation
CC1 Controls the dynamic layers of the patch (ppp through fff) and also the volume of those layers.
CC2 Controls the Non Vibrato to Vibrato knob (NV-Vib). The NV-Vib manual mode must be enabled to hear this effect.
This controls the various articulation faders: Sustains Legato-Portamento-Glissando, Ostinato Mode, Octaves
CC9
Direction, Scales Direction, Tremolo Legato-Portamento-Glissand.
CC11 This adds one more level of volume control for added flexibility.
CC14 Brightness knob on the Performance Page — adds or subtracts brightness to the overall sound.
Tighten knob on Shorts page lets you tighten the duration and release of the shorts. This is very useful for faster
CC15
rhythmic passages.
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CC# Explanation
Legato –– When held, you can release notes and they will hold until your next legato note transition.
CC64 (Sustain Pedal)
A.R.T. –– When set to the Shorts articulation, you can use the Sustain Pedal to invoke the A.R.T. feature.
CC48-60 Do Not Use! These CCs (including 48 and 60) are used internally by the instrument. Do not use these CCs.
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Performance Page
The Performance Page is like your “home.” This is where you may spend most of your time. We have made a concerted effort to bring the
most commonly used features and controls to this page. The most often-used real-time controls are located here and many users may not
venture much further than this page. That said, the tweakers will have plenty to dig into in our deeper editors and other pages.
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Real-time Controls
All the real-time interface controls can be assigned to a user’s choice of Continuous Controllers. However, Audiobro has already
programmed them in a logical manner and to conventional industry standards where applicable.
Dynamics
The Dynamics control is probably the most prominent real-time controller on the Modern Scoring
Strings interface. This control affects both the recorded performance dynamic and volume and is the
most critical control to achieve an expressive performance. Notice the cog icon that you can click on
to open the Dynamics Editor (to the right of the word “Dynamics”). In this library, you will see this
type of “cog” icon in various places, and in every case, it will open an editor to the associated control.
By default, the Dynamics knob is assigned to CC1. You can Right-Click (Ctrl-Click on Mac) to assign
another CC to this control if your prefer.
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Dynamics Editor
The Dynamics editor allows you to decide how you want to control the dynamics of
the library. The horizontal Dynamics slider at the top mirrors the position of the
Dynamics knob on the front page so you can see its level when the editor is open. By
default, Dynamics are assigned to CC+Vel mode, which means that the knob
position (controlled by CC1 by default) is the source of any sustained-noted dynamic
and note velocity, scaled to CC dynamics is the source of short-note velocity.
In CC mode, the dynamics knob and CC1(by default) is the sole source of dynamic
control across all articulations.
In CC Lng | Vel Shrt mode all sustain dynamics are controlled by CC and shorts are
controlled solely by note on Velocity.
In CC+Vel mode the sustained dynamics are controlled by CC. But Shorts are
controlled using a combination of CC and Note On velocity. When the Dynamics CC is
up all the way you will have full control of short note dynamics via note on velocity. As the Dynamics CC is lowered, it scales
the dynamics of your note velocities accordingly.
In Velocity mode the strength of your note ons (velocity) is the sole determining factor for your dynamic, and the dynamic is
not fluid or controllable after the value has been set.
When drawing your Dynamics curve, you can use the Shape slider to help you as well as the smoothing button to smooth out
the table. Hint: holding Cmd/Ctrl and dragging the mouse on the velocity table will create perfectly linear lines.
Volume
The Volume Knob controls the volume of the sound but does not alter the dynamic performance (p, mf, ff, etc.) of the
playback. While it does not allow for the expressiveness of Dynamics, it can be very useful as a second level of
volume control. The Volume control is assigned to CC11 by default. There is a triangle that will open some additional
controls (DynSync — see below).
DynSync
When “DynSync” is turned ON, the Volume knob will follow the big Dynamics knob (CC1). You can also use the small
knob next to the “DynSync” button to control how much affect the DynSync has on the Volume knob. This can be
useful if you think that the volumes of the dynamics don’t go low enough for you.
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Dynamics Smoothing Options
There are some additional controls available for Dynamic Handling in the “Smoothing”
section.
Dynamic Smoothing will add a variable amount of smoothing to your CC moves. Higher
values of the knob will result in more smoothing, but less immediate control. Also note that
the smoothing effect CPU requirement does scale with the amount applied. By default we
turn this off.
Volume Range allows you to manually change the volume range the instrument uses. These are set to “correct” values by
default, but there are a few reasons you might consider changing the default. If you want the instrument dynamics to work all
the way down to silence (nienté), increase the volume range all the way. If on the other hand you find the volume shifts too
pronounced and would prefer to manually control volume more independently of Dynamics, you can decrease this amount.
Upper Register Dynamic Realism scales the output volume of each instrument naturally in the higher registers. This effect
is missing in most sample libraries that normalize their samples, and is a true reflection of how these instruments sound in
real life. If you don’t want the dynamics to naturally decrease in the upper registers you can turn this knob down. By default it
is set at 100% to best represent the real instruments.
The Filter amount knob applies a user definable filter to the whole instrument and affects the sound before the
sound reaches the Mixer. Note, you can also add other filters to the sound and modulate them using Modulation
tables (see the Mixer section for this).
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Brightness
The Brightness knob gives you easy access to boosting or cutting the high-end “Brightness” component of the
sound. At 12 O’Clock, or when the Brightness power button is OFF, the Brightness knob will yield no change to
the sound. Turning the knob clockwise adds brightness, and turning it counter clockwise makes the sound darker.
This knob is MIDI-assignable by right-clicking on the knob and assigning a Continuous Controller (CC) to it.
Detune
This Detune knob detunes each divisi section of the ensemble discretely, giving you a wonderfully controllable
Aleatoric String sound. In practice, this is like telling the 4 sections of the String each to do a different pitch bend.
Great for horror scores, tense moments, and more. The Detune knob is assigned to CC3 by default.
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Detune Editor
This slider mirrors the value (position) of the rotary knob on the front of the
interface.
The divisi buttons allow you to select which divisi’s tuning controls you would
like to edit. In this example, if the Violins patch was loaded, “Divisi D” would
correlate to Violins Divisi 2A (the last divisi), On Cellos, Divisi B would
correlate to Cellos B.
Here, you can draw how each note of the octave (C to B) is to be detuned. Going
above their center line means tuning up, and below means tuning down.
Table Range – The maximum range that each table step allows tuning up or down.
Randomize – This button will automatically randomize the table for you.
This Pitch Motion section can be turned On/Off using the radio button. It assigns an LFO (low frequency oscillator) to the tables and
adds a lot of motion. It can range from very subtle to radical. The Range knob dictates how much frequency modulation there will be and
the Speed knob dictates the speed at which the modulation will oscillate.
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Articulation Section
This Articulation section is comprised of the Articulation Tiles, the Sidebar section, and the sub-articulation settings. All of the settings you
see above, as well as the sub-articulation settings for all tiles can be saved within the Articulation Presets Menu (seen above as
named “Legato”)
Articulation Area
This is the Articulation Presets Menu. It stores up to 20 presets with all the
What instrument is loaded. settings from all tiles above saved.
Articulation Tiles— This is where you can choose the articulation you want to
play.
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Sidebar
Layer — When you press this button, you can layer multiple articulations (tiles). Subsequently, clicking
on multiple tiles will layer the respective articulations. To access the controls of a layered articulation,
click on the cog within the desired tile.
Repeat Key — This lets you assign a key (it will become purple on the Kontakt keyboard) that will
repeat the last note or chord played. This is very useful for playing back rapid same-note rhythms and
same-note legato.
In each patch, the sub-articulation settings you see will depend on which articulation (tile) you have selected. Here
you can see the “Shorts” articulation settings below the tiles.
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Articulations in Detail
Legato | Sustain Settings
Legato — An articulation with smooth connections between notes/chords. Audiobro uses its own proprietary
legato algorithms to give you realistic and compelling legato transitions.
It is important to understand the relationship between the Legato settings and Auto Divisi (please also refer to
the Auto Divisi section discussed later).
In order for the legato feature to work, you must play in a certain way.
• While using the sustain pedal — You must release a note before playing the next note to trigger a transition.
Because the sustain pedal holds your notes you can almost think of this playing style as a staccato-plucked style. For
instance, hold the pedal, play a chord and quickly release. Then play another chord. You should hear all the notes
transition.
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Volume | Vibrato
Volume –– This lets you set a volume per articulation. By default, the volumes of each articulation are
set to match the other articulations. The knob value is saved in the articulation preset (user savable).
Vibrato — When turned off the knob will not be available, and the instrument will use a natural amount
of vibrato, commensurate to the dynamic you are using. When turned on, this lets you control the
amount of Vibrato you want a player to exhibit. Note: Manual vibrato control will double your
voices and requires additional CPU for playback.
Legato — This button turns on/off the smooth note connections during playback.
Rebow — When turned on, each new legato note will smoothly re-bow the note instead of using the
normal fingered slur.
This slider lets you choose whether you play a Glissando, Portamento, or Legato type transition
between two legato notes.
With the dropdown menu, you can choose to control this slider by Slider or Velocity or
Inverted Velocity:
• Slider –– You ride the slider with your mouse to change the sound, or you can assign a CC to the slider and ride it with
your hardware. By default this is set to CC9.
• Velocity –– The velocity at which you play (how hard you play notes) will dictate whether you trigger Gliss, Port, or Leg.
Use the slider bars to change the velocity ranges assigned to each attack.
• Inverted Velocity –– This is the same as velocity, but inverted. In other words, the lighter you play the more the slider will
move to the right. Use the sliders to change the velocity ranges assigned to each attack.
Note: When you select Velocity or Inverse Velocity, you will see slider “heads” that you can
move to define the velocity range of each articulation. To the left, you’ll notice the attacks
are from: Gliss (1-13), Port (14-50), Leg from (51-127) Sustain Settings.
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Variable Attack Control
Great string players have an enormous range of bow attacks possible when playing in any
range AND at any dynamic. Modern Scoring Strings includes Variable Attack Control. Most
importantly, these aren’t Frankenstein sample edits or synthetic envelopes. These are
real variable attack samples – recorded on each note and at each dynamic.
This Attack Control dropdown menu lets you choose how you want to control its associated slider (to its right). There are 3 ways
you can switch between the Crescendo, Normal, and Accent performances of the legatos and sustains (cont.):
• Slider –– You ride the slider with your mouse to change the sound, or you can assign a CC to the slider and ride it with your
hardware. By default this is set to CC4.
• Velocity –– The velocity at which you play (how hard you play notes) will dictate whether you trigger Crescendo, Normal, or
Accent. Use the sliders to change the velocity ranges assigned to each attack.
• Inverted Velocity –– This is the same as velocity, but inverted. In other words, the lighter you play the more the slider will move
to the right. Use the sliders to change the velocity ranges assigned to each attack.
Note: When you select Velocity or Inverse Velocity, you will see slider “heads” that
you can move to define the velocity range of each articulation. To the left, you’ll notice
the attacks are from: Cresc (1-1), Norm (2-69), Accent from (70-127) Sustain
Settings.
Custom Envelope
Here you can override the pre-programmed Attack, and Release settings of your sustains. Note: These setting
will not affect notes played in a legato fashion when the Legato button is ON. The “Custom” button acts as a
master on-off for the envelope. When you expand the envelope settings panel you must also turn on the power
button for any of the settings you want to alter. When turned off the attack and release use the default Audiobro-
programmed settings. These settings are saved in the Articulation Presets.
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Transition Speed | Volume
Transition Speed –– This lets you globally alter the legato, portamento and glissando transition
placement giving you faster or slower transition response. Note that this can be used in realtime.
Transition Volume –– This give you +/- 6dB of volume control of the actual legato transitions. This is
also safe to use in realtime.
Leg Speed, Port Speed and Gliss Speed –– These knobs give you
separate control over the Legato, Portamento, and Glissando transition
speeds. These knobs can be automated safely in realtimeand work in
conjunction with the Trans Speed knob (that will affect all of these
articulations) without changing the knob position (so when the Trans
Speed knob is at noon, these knobs will be at 1:1 with their position
value).
Auto Legato Speed — When enabled, the Legato transition speed will automatically be adjusted to sound best for the speed at
which you are playing. This works in addition to and is complementary to the adaptive speed scaling that is always active.
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Shorts
There are 4 different types of shorts included with Modern Scoring Strings: Martelé, Staccato, Staccatissimo, and Spiccato. You’ll
notice they get progressively shorter as you move the slider to the right.
Shorts Selection — this menu lets you choose how to switch between short durations. The options are:
• Slider –– Ride the slider to change the shorts. The slider is also CC-able and is pre-assigned to CC4.
• Velocity –– The slider changes based on how hard you play the keys. Harder = faster shorts. Velocity ranges for
each short can be customized.
• Inverted Velocity –– The slider changes position based on how hard you play the keys. Softer = faster shorts.
Ranges for each short can be customized.
• Speed –– Our algorithm will detect how fast you are playing and will adjust accordingly.
• KeySwitch Velocity –– The slider changes position based on how hard you play the assigned Short Note KeySwitch.
Softer = faster shorts. Ranges for each short can be customized.
• KeySwitch Inverted Velocity –– The slider changes position based on how hard you play the assigned Short Note
KeySwitch. Softer = slower shorts. Ranges for each short can be customized.
Tighten— Control the duration and release of the shorts. The Auto Rhythm Tool— See next
Mode will automatically adjust the release time based on your playing. section.
Volume – controls the volume of RR indicator— Shows you what round robin (version of the same note) you are
just this articulation (tile). on. Click on an indicator to turn it off if you don’t want a certain RR to play.
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Auto Rhythm Tool (ART)
Click on the triangle button next to the words “Rhythm Tool” will expand the full editor. The Auto Rhythm Tool allows you to
simply hold down a note or chord and hear those notes played back in a fast definable rhythm with accents, swing, and many
other features. Playing rapid rhythmic String phrases can be very difficult when trying to achieve a realistic sound. This is
where A.R.T. can step in and help you out.
1. A.R.T. Classic –– This behaves in a similar way to the original LASS A.R.T. script. Except that now you can draw
in your own notes and rests in musical form if desired. It is asynchronous insofar that if you play notes one-after-
the-other, they will trigger new phrases for those notes as opposed to being simply adding the note the phrase
already in progress.
2. A.R.T. New –– Here the notes you play are interpreted as part of the ongoing phrase and your notes are forced to
stay in sync with the phrase and it’s timeline position.
3. ARP –– Here A.R.T. will arpeggiate your chords using a variety of different presets.
4. Ostinato Tool –– Here A.R.T. will play customizable ostinato phrases based on the chord notes you are holding
(up to 6 notes). It’s like having a customized arpeggiator for each chord size.
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Basic A.R.T. Controls
Velocity Table Menu –– This menu lets you choose how the table bars will play your rhythms velocity. You have 4 choices as
seen in the image below.
Note: The Add/Sub table steps add +/- 25 velocity steps to your played velocity (note: a
table value of -25 will be interpreted as no note). The “Scaled” modes scale your
played velocity 0>100% (unipolar) or 0 to 200% (bipolar).
Steps In Table –– This lets you choose the length of your phrase by selecting a number of steps for the table.
Rhythm Sync Menu –– This menu lets you choose the note value of the table’s steps (from 1/64 note to a full bar). In the
Note value (1/x) and Bar modes, there will be no musical notation under the table. The table will
play back at the note value you selected. The Score and Score Sync options provide extra
flexibility:
• Score – in this mode A.R.T. will play back the table pattern based on the notated rhythm
beneath it. The Short type is chosen with the main slider.
• Score Sync — This works identically to Score mode, but will automatically change the
Shorts selection slider to the most appropriate duration, giving you a very realistic
performance especially if there are varying note durations in the phrase.
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Notation Palette –– This is only available when the Rhythm option is set to Score or
Score Sync. When the Rhythm sync menu is set to Score or Score Sync, then you will
see notation below the rhythm table as well as the notation palette. You click on these
notes in the palette to assign them below each selected table cell. As you add notes the
next note will automatically be selected. If you Option-Click (Mac) Alt-Click (Win) on a
note, you can add a rest to the cell of the equivalent length to note on which you clicked.
Here you see the notes and rests below the table resulting in the
rhythm that A.R.T. will play back.
Playback Settings
Layer Played MIDI — When ON, the user’s MIDI notes will be played
immediately in addition to those notes being added to the current ART/
ARP/Ostinato pattern.
Latch and Latch-Add — When Latch is ON, A.R.T. behaves as if you were holding down the keyboard note
after you release a note. When Latch-Add is ON, you can add notes to the phrase as it’s playing and the notes
triggered notes stay held. Otherwise, each subsequent note/chord will remove the previously latched notes.
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Ostinato Tool –– The Ostinato tool plays back held notes with a custom-sequenced pattern that is separately defined for
each chord size between 1 and 6 notes. This differs from the arpeggiator that uses preset
note sequencing algorithms to iterate over any notes held.
Record and Drag MIDI –– Once you are happy with your A.R.T. pattern (whether it be ART, ARP or Ostinato), you can record
the MIDI output your pattern and then drag the MIDI to your DAW’s MIDI track.
Record ON— When on, Record is armed and will record starting with the first note
you play. .
Drag MIDI— When you are finished recording, click on the Rec button
again and you will see this “Drag MIDI” button. Simply drag this MIDI
button onto your DAW’s MIDI track to add the A.R.T. MIDI to your
project.
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Pizzicato
Plucking the note with the finger as opposed to bowing. The user can control the duration with the “Tighten” knob.
Tighten— Control the duration and release of the pizzicato samples. The Auto Mode will
automatically adjust the release time based on your playing.
Col Legno
Hitting the strings with the wooden portion of the bow gives you a special sound often used in suspenseful scores. Bows can cost thousands (even tens of
thousands) of dollars, so many players bring a “cheap” bow or use a pencil for Col Legno part. We told the player to bring their cheap bow for this
articulation. Users can control the duration with the “Tighten” knob.
Tighten— Control the duration and release of the col legno samples. The Auto
Mode will automatically adjust the release time based on your playing.
Key & Diatonic Mode— Lets you choose the base key and when used in conjunction with the “Diatonic” button.
When Diatonic mode is enabled, the maj/min run selection will be based on the chosen key (assumed to be major).
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Scales
We recorded short 3 and 4 note runs (triplets and 16ths) in every diatonic mode (Ionian, Dorian, etc.) and our Scale engine can intelligently
stitch them together in real-time to provide very realistic scaler runs. Scaled can be diatonic/tonal, chromatic, or whole-tone and they are
also synced to tempo. We invite you to experiment with the various engine modes — it’s a blast!
In the Playback Mode menu, you will see varying options to choose from: Tuplet Diatonic, 3N H-H, 3N H-W etc:
3N = 3 note
H = half-tone
W = whole-tone
Playback Mode – Allows you yo choose from a variety of scale playback modes. The top
Key— Lets you choose the base modes use your chosen Key/Tonality whereas the bottom 3N/4N modes play back just
key and tonality to be used for that pattern regardless of key/tonality.
scale modes that automatically
calculate based on musical The Octave Runs mode will play a diatonic octave (not to be confused
modes. with the real-recorded octave runs on a separate tile).
The Start-End mode allows you to play first the start note and then the
Volume – controls the volume of just this
end note of your scale. The engine will then play your scale using the
articulation (tile).
notes in between based on the chosen key/tonality. Note that if you play a
new note during a playing run it will depart from its nearest location to
your new destination note.
The Hold modes play diatonic or chromatic scales from your start note for
as long as you hold the key.
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Scale Playback Modes
All playback modes are predicated on whether you choose Up or Down on the Up / Down slider. When you click on the
Playback Mode menu, you will see a dropdown menu like this:
3N H-H through 4N W-W-W –– these are shorthand for 3-Note half-tone to half-tone etc. For example,
if you chose the mode 4N W-W-H, and you were in the key of C Maj and you played a C, then you would
hear a C-D-E-F note phrase. C-D is a whole-tone, D-E is a whole-tone, and E-F is a half-tone. Hence: 4N
W-W-H.
Tuplet Diatonic –– the smart engine will play back triplet 8th note phrases in the key you have chosen.
16th Diatonic –– the smart engine will play back 16th note phrases in the key you have chosen.
Octave Runs –– the smart engine will construct an octave run based on the key you are in. Also handy
with the Accent Destination feature.
Start - End –– the smart engine will build a scaler run based on a low and a high note you play on your
keyboard.
Chromatic Hold –– the engine will play a chromatic phrase starting at the note you play for as long as you hold the note.
Diatonic Hold –– the engine will play a diatonic phrase based on the key you are in starting at the note you play for as long
as you hold the note.
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Tremolo
Tremolo notes are looped sustained performances of each note played by rapidly moving the bow back-and-forth (recorded dynamics from
ppp to fff).
With the exception of the Term / Sul Pont slider that replaced the Cresc / Norm / Accent slider in the Legato | Sustain articulation, the
Tremolo articulation has the same controls as seen on the Legato | Sustain Settings page:
Note:
When you select the Sul Pont Trem option, you will no longer hear any legato transitions for the Tremolos.
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Trills
There are 2 types of trills: whole-tone and half-tone. However, our smart trill algorithms will choose the correct intervals to play based on the
key you choose from the Key and Tonality dropdown menus (Half, Whole, Major, Minor).
With the exception of the combined Key and Tonality controls that replaced the Cresc / Norm / Accent slider in the Legato | Sustain
articulation, the Tremolo articulation has the same controls as seen on the Legato | Sustain Settings page :
Key menu – Choose the key you want to use when the trill Tonality Menu – This dropdown menu lets you
“tonality” menu is set to either major/minor. choose between Minor, Major, Half-tone, and
Whole-tone trills. When set to major/minor the
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Harmonics
We have recorded both fingered and natural harmonics at the dynamic that elicits the best sound (typically p).
Custom Envelope
Here you can override the pre-programmed Attack, and Release settings of
your sustains. You must turn on the power button for each of the settings
you want to alter as well as the master “Custom” button. When turned off
the attack and release use the default Audiobro-programmed settings.
These settings are saved in the Articulation Presets.
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Ostinatos
We recorded repeated 2 note phrases with round robins and multiple dynamics covering the following intervals: m2, M2, m3, M3,
Perfect 4, and Perfect 5th. These phrases were recorded starting on both the upper and lower interval note over a 2-octave range. With our
Ostinato engine, you can simply play a chord and our engine will automatically create ostinato lines outlining your notes. It’s like magic!
Or you can manually play any of the ostinato intervals of your choice using CCs and menus. These are also auto synched to your tempo.
For instant gratification, use one of the smart modes: 2nds, 3rds, Played, or Smart
Key – The key you want to use. Up / Down – Ostinatos will start on the note(s) you hold and then move Speed – Controls the
upwards or down-wards (based on your choice) towards your other chord tones. speed of playback of
Tonality — Major or Minor or any If other chord tones are unreachable, your notes will move to intelligently the samples.
of the tonal modes (Dorian, selected notes based on your chosen key and tonality
Phrygian etc.). Mode — When set to
Up / Down To – Ostinatos will start above or below (based on your choice) your Auto, the speed will
Interval — to be used with the voiced chord, usually using your played chord tones voiced higher or lower change the 2x, 1x, and
“manual Menu” option on the first (based on your choice), and will resolve on your exact played chord notes. In 1/2x speeds
slider. Choose between: m2, M2, some cases where intervals are not possible the ostinato patterns will start on automatically based on
m3, M3, P4, P5 intervals intelligently selected notes above/below (depending on your choice) your voiced your current tempo.
chord (based on your chosen key and tonality) - and then land on your voiced
Volume – controls chord.
the volume of just
this articulation (tile).
Smart – Play any chord and the engine will magically play the
associated ostinato intervals to satisfy your chord. Even 8 note jazz
chords!
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Aleatoric
We recorded different chaotic string phrases that can create darkness, horror, suspense, and tension. Many articulations were recorded up
the entire range of the instrument giving you amazing control in creating your own aleatoric compositions. The articulations can be layered or
isolated giving you even more variety.
Custom Envelope
Here you can override the pre-programmed Attack, and Release settings of
your sustains. These are a great way to alter the attack and release lengths
of the sustains. You must turn on the power button for each of the settings
you want to alter. When turned off the attack and release use the default
Audiobro-programmed settings. These settings are saved in the Articulation
Presets.
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Bartok Pizz. (Basses only)
For the basses, we had the players pull the string back and let it slam into the fingerboard thus creating the famed Bartok Pizz. sound.
Tighten— Control the duration and release of the shorts. The Auto Mode will automatically
adjust the release time based on your playing.
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Switcher
The Switcher is Audiobro’s new and advanced way of switching Articulations, Tiles, Mixes, A.R.T, presets, Tonalities, and
Ensemble presets in a very customizable and intuitive fashion. There are 2 views for the Switcher: the Basic View, and the
Advanced Editor.
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Switcher (basic)
There are 4 Switcher banks that can be assigned to switch either Articulation presets, Ensemble presets, Mix Presets, A.R.T. presets, Tile
Presets, or Tonality presets. Each Preset can be controlled by a MIDI note (Key Switching) or Continuous Controller (CC switching).
Furthermore, you can overlap Switching Banks switching assignments so that you can switch (say) an Articulation preset and an
Ensemble Preset AND a Mixer preset all with 1 key… or 1 CC. First, let’s first take a look the basic view:
Switcher type — this shows you what type of preset the Switcher will MIDI Value— this shows you the type of MIDI event and its current
switch. This is chosen in the Advanced Switcher editor. assignment. For example, here the MIDI key C0 was assigned to
the “Legato" preset.
Preset Name — this shows you the current preset’s name. These Status Lights— these little lights show you what Switch you are
presets are saved in their respective pages (ie. Articulation, Mixer, on. When lit, you are on that Switch. When outlined, you have
A.R.T., Ensemble). You can easily choose a preset from the menu assigned a preset to that switch. When dark, nothing is assigned to
here. that switch.
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Switcher Editor (advanced)
This is accessed using the cog icon next to the word “SWITCHER”.
Switcher bank On/Off button. When Switcher type — With this menu you can assign whether a Switcher
off, this Switcher bank has no affect. Bank controls presets related to the Articulation, Tile, Tonality, the
Ensemble, the A.R.T. preset, or the Mixer preset.
Switch Using — This menu allows you to choose between MIDI note
keys, MIDI CCs, or Velocity/CC Stacks. Stacks pile all the possible
presets on the velocity values of a given note of MIDI CC.
Status Lights — These little Preset Name — this shows you the current preset’s name. These
lights show you what Switch presets are saved in their respective pages (ie. Articulation, Mixer, A.R.T,
you are on. When lit, you are Ensemble). In this example the preset menu is derived from the
on that Switch, when Articulation menu.
outlined, you have assigned
a preset to that switch, when
dark, nothing is assigned to
MIDI Value — what is shown here is predicated upon the “Switch Using”
that switch.
menu. If you have Key Down selected, it will show you a MIDI note. If you
have MIDI CC selected, then you will have a CC number.
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Look Ahead
The lookahead readout reports any latency added to your playing due to engine features
being turned on. That way you can compensate for timing discrepancies in your MIDI or in
your sequencer using negative pre-delay. Because of inherent transient properties of
strings in general, you will want to compensate by ear. The millisecond readout on the
control is simply an engine reading.
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Ensemble Page
The Ensemble page which holds the Stage and Ensemble sections is where all the magic begins. That is why it is the first page button at the
bottom of the interface. It you want to understand Modern Scoring Strings’ signal flow, it generally goes from the Ensemble/Stage settings →
Performance settings → Mixer/Sends settings.
The Ensemble page is where you can place the sections in space simulations, adjust their relative volume, and set the stereo width of each
section. It is also where you build ensembles, set the Auto Divisi attributes, and access the Humanization settings.
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Stage
The Stage feature allows you emulate many different stages and locations by taking the divisi sections and arranging them on
a virtual stage. Based on the Stage Type that you choose, you can have the String sound like it is located at the back of a
cathedral, up-close-and-personal on a scoring stage, or anywhere in between. The Stage does all the work behind the
scenes, taking into account proximity, reverb, right-left placement (stage panning), microphone/ambience mix, and other
things to make each divisi section sound beautifully inspiring and realistic.
It is as simple as grabbing the rectangular divisi sections and moving them where you want on the virtual stage. You can also
move them all together using the circular Mover tool.
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Depth Control
This control turns ON/OFF the Stage feature. When ON, the Stage emulates the depth of a physical
space based on what you choose as your Stage Type and Stage Preset. When OFF, the ensembles
disappear from the stage and there will be no ambiance added to the sound. When Depth Control is
OFF, you use the Positions panner to adjust the panning of the different divisi sections.
Below are 2 different pictures. The first shows what the interface looks like when the Depth Control feature is ON, the second
shows what it looks like when OFF.
Stage Control ON
Notice the Divisi sections are gone from the stage on the second picture. However, the position control for each divisi in the
lower portion of the screen remains the same. This can be handy when 2 divisi parts are exactly on top of each other on the
stage and you want to move the one underneath. This can be achieved with the Position slider:
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Stage Type and Stage Preset
This is where you choose the “sound” of the stage you want. There are 6 different stage types to choose from:
• Scoring
• Halls
• Churches
• Cathedrals
• Small
• Effects
• Dry Simulations – This allows you to use the stage without adding reverb from the stage… great for using the stage panner.
Within those sections and contained under the Stage Preset menu, there are a combine 52 different states to choose from —
the likes of: Basilique Cathedral, Film Stage, Lucid Dream, Adagio, and 48 others.
Stage Editor
When you click on the chevron to the left of the Stage Type
caption, you will see the Stage Editor (left).
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Mic Depth Influence — These knobs control the amount of influence the stage depth simulation has over the individual
mic mixes. There are a few ways this can be used to your advantage.
First, it allows a quick mixing of the naturally recorded mics and the stage simulation. One example would be when you
like the sound of a preset but would prefer a little more of the natural sound than we’ve set up.
Second, by having discrete control over each mic’s simulation you can more carefully craft a layered mix that responds to
3D stage positioning. For instance, if using a Close sound, it might be quite natural to move that sound in 3D space with a
high level of simulation. Conversely, a Far mic recording already has considerable ambience and spacial ambiguity and
you may want to do less space simulation. The discrete controls allows you to do this with ease.
Divisi Section
This is where you can purge and load sections to help with RAM savings. For example, if you are working
on a project and you know that you won’t be needing more than 2 horns, then you can purge the rest to
save on RAM usage.
To Purge a section, simply click on the button to the left of the name.
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Volume (divisi section)
Here, you can control the volumes of each section independently. This behaves differently than the
Mixer channel volume because the Mixer channel affects the volume of a particular microphone
mix, whereas this controls the volume of the actual divisi section (regardless of mic mix).
Width
Here, you can control the stereo width of each divisi section. Great care was taken in the recording and
mixing process to maintain phase coherence when changing the width and panning of the recordings.
Position
The Position control behaves like a traditional stereo panner but also syncs with the stage panning when
depth is turned on.
If you find yourself in a situation where you have placed one or more divisi sections on top of each
other in the Stage section, you can use these Position slider to navigate the “hidden” divisi sections.
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Ensemble Section
The Ensemble Section allows you to control how the 4 divisi sections interact and whether
they will be heard. This is a very powerful section that allows balanced divisi voice
weighting when playing chords, lines and multiple note phrases. Below the Ensemble
builder are the Auto Divisi and Humanization controls (as seen later).
Ensemble Menu
At the top right you will see the Ensemble Menu. Here you can load or store the entire
Ensemble section’s settings.
Ensemble Builder
This is where you set up what ensembles you want to hear, and how they are played back.
When Auto is ON, the Solo through Quartet options are automatically updated when you load or purge different players
(divisis). So if you have only Horn 1 loaded (and the others purged), then “Solo” will automatically be chosen. We have pre-
programmed “smart” settings for you so all you need to do is click Solo, Duet, Trio or Quartet to get the desired behavior
without having to purge any divisi sections..
Custom — This button will activate when you have adjusted settings from their defaults.
Divisi Sections — choose the number of sections you want to play in your ensemble. Make sure
you haven’t purged any you want to use!
Divisi Assignment Menus — You can assign any divisi section in the instrument to the section
slots. This determines the section order for chords. If you wanted Horn 3 to be the lead player you
would assign Horn 3 in the top slot. Note that you can assign sections to more than one slot as well, though this is not
normally needed.
Transposition menu — (seen here with the word “loco” on it) is where you can transpose a section by up to 2 octaves (up or
down) from where it is being played. The term “loco” means that it is to be heard at its originally intended pitch (non-
transposed). “loco” is the default setting.
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Auto Divisi
Based on the setting of the Ensemble Builder (discussed in the previous section), this
section will let you set up how the Ensemble will interpret the chords you play.
Auto Divisi — This is a simple On/Off switch for the Auto Divisi feature.
Slow - Balanced - Fast — These are Audiobro-created Auto Divisi presets which control
how the Auto Divisi engine responds to your playing of chords:
In Slow mode the chord detection time will be larger allowing you to be somewhat loose
in your playing of chords.
For most user, Balanced mode should be ideal - offering a nice balance between response and chord-looseness.
If you are a “pianist/keyboardist and your playing is quite nimble, perhaps Fast may be right for you.
Tutti - Per Voice - Custom — This second level of preset changes the way your section responds to chords when the number of
notes is smaller than the section size.
Tutti –– This make our Auto Divisi engine playback all divisi sections regardless of the number of incoming notes. For
example, if you are playing a single note, all divisi sections will play that note. If you are playing a 4 note chord in a 4 part
divisi setting, then you will have 1 divisi player each note.
Per Voice –– In contrast to the “Tutti” setting, this setting will play only one divisi per voice. So if you play 1 note, only the first
divisi will play. If you then add another note to your first note, now a second divisi will sound… and so-on.
Custom –– This button will light up when you have adjusted advanced settings and have changed from one of our defaults.
(continued)
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Auto Divisi Editor
Although we have created presets for you (as described on the previous pages), you may also set up your own divisi “rules” in
this editor.
ON/OFF –– This is the ON/OFF button for this feature and can be assigned to a CC.
x number of notes — you can change the numbers into these two menus to dictate
that when you play “x” number of notes that a certain number of divisi sections will
play. We have already set this up for you but you can alter these settings if you wish.
Per note –– this area lets you choose which divisi gets assigned to which voice in a
chord (up to 8 notes in a chord). In this example. Divis A-D play all play on a 1 note
chord.
Navigator ––This forward arrow (and the other back arrow) will navigate you to the
different “chord with x notes” settings.
ReVoice Upon Key Release — This tells your Auto Divisi algorithm to re-analyze and
re-voice the chord when a note is released. This is set to ON by default.
Chord Window — this allows you to set the “window” in which our Auto Divisi algorithm
will interpret notes as part of a chord. When played within 30ms (in this example), those
notes will be considered a “chord” and therefore will not try to play a legato transition.
Notes played later than 30ms will be interpreted as part of the next “chord” and will
potentially trigger legato transitions.
Release Window — The release window time is the amount of note-extension added to your playing when Auto Divisi is on.
New notes played within the window will be transitioned to. So, in other words, if you play a note, release it, and then play a
second note within the 50 ms window, the second note will be played back as a legato note.
Note: Please look closely when you going through the different settings with the Navigator. At first gland it may seem
that nothing is happening, but the numbers are subtly changing values.
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Humanization
This feature allows you to add a little more of the “human element” into the playback of
the sounds. Humans do not play back in time as accurately as computers do. Some
players play a little late (behind the beat) or do not play entirely in sync with the music.
This section allows you to control how much each section will play behind the beat
(Delay) and how much randomization will be heard in their timing.
Humanization ON/OFF –– This is the ON/OFF button for this feature and can be assigned to a CC by right clicking on it.
Small - Medium - Large –– We have created 3 different humanization presets for you. Each one with increasing amounts of
delay and randomization as well as tuning variance.
Custom –– This buttons lights up when you’ve adjusted settings beyond our stock presets.
(continued)
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Humanization Editor
ON/OFF –– This is the ON/OFF button for this feature and can be assigned to a CC.
Base –– This sets the base amount of timing delay (ms) per divisi.
Flat Rand –– This slider dictates the amount of randomization tuning below (flat) the
base detuning.
Sharp Rand –– This slider dictates the amount of randomization tuning above
(sharp) the base detuning.
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Mixer
The Modern Scoring Strings mixer is unique in several ways. It allows:
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Mixer Channel
The Mixer channel is organized by microphone mix (Close, Stage, Far, Mix).
Chopper — When ON (orange when on) the Cog — Use the cog to open up the editor of the
Chopper will “chop up” the sound based on the associated effect.
time unit of your choice (ms or musical note
values).
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Insert’s List
--- Dynamics ---- AR LP2 AR BP4
Compressor AR LP4 Daft Filter — Use this AR BP2-4
Opti Comp. AR LP2-4 filter with caution. A Ladder BP2
Solid Comp. Daft LP higher resonance will Ladder BP4
Limiter Ladder LP1 cause self oscillation Legacy BP2
Transients Ladder LP2 and can yield loud Legacy BP4
Ladder LP3 pitches. You must SV BP1
--- EQs ---- Ladder LP4 SV BP2
EQ1 Ladder Filt tame the beast 😀 SV BP4
EQ2 Legacy LP1
EQ3 Legacy LP2 -- Band Reject Filters--
Solid EQ Legacy LP4 Ladder Peak
Legacy LP6 Ladder BR
--- Effects ---- Pro-53 LP Legacy BR4
Phaser SV LP1 SV Notch 4
Chorus SV LP2
Flanger SV LP4 -- Multi Filters--
Reverb 3x2 Filt
Delay -- Hi Pass Filters-- SV Ser LP-HP
Convolution AR HP2 SV Par BP BP
AR HP4 SV Par LP-HP
--- Routing ---- AR HP 2-4 Daft Filter — Use this
Sends Daft HP filter with caution. A -- Effect Filters--
Ladder HP1 higher resonance will Formant 1
--- Channel Ops ---- Ladder HP2 cause self oscillation Formant 2
Gainer Ladder HP3 and can yield loud Philter
Panner Ladder HP4 pitches. You must Vowel A
Inverter Legacy HP1 Vowel B
tame the beast 😀
Legacy HP2
--- Distortion ---- Legacy HP4
Saturation SV HP1
Lo-Fi SV HP2
Distortion SV HP4
Skreamer
Rotator
Twang
Cabinet
Tape Dist.
Jump Amp -- Band Pass Filters--
-- Low Pass Filters-- AR BP2
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Sends
There are 6 effect sends in addition to all the inserts on each mixer channel.
This gives you enormous creative latitude, mixing, and sound design flexibility.
There are 7 effects to choose from that can be assigned to the Sends section.
They are:
• Delay
• Chorus
• Flanger
• Phaser
• Convo (Convolution Reverb)
• Reverb
• Gainer (simply for gain staging)
You may arrange the Send Effects in any order you choose.
Important: In order to use the Sends, you must have a Sends insert in
the mixer channel you wish to route to the Sends (as seen at left).
You can change the Send effect to any of the effects in the dropdown
list. You are not obligated to use the order or setting with which the
library came.
Send — You must insert a Send into a mixer channel in order to route
the single to the Sends section.
Notice how the Delays and Reverb have signal sent to the sends. You
can see the available routing when you click on the cog of the Sends
insert.
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Automation
This section allows you to assign a slider to modulate any Insert Parameter. That can be a very powerful and creative tool.
With a single slider you could control a myriad of effect parameters giving you tremendous real-time sound control.
Modulation Source — As you can see Lag and Lag time — Automation Slider — This is one of 4 color
from the selected menu option “ Sld: This helps smooth out coded Automation Sliders that you can
1” (which means “Slider 1”), the slider to the MIDI slider since assign to any Insert effect parameter. Note
the right is assigned to the Frequency standard MIDI is only the blue line in the slider channel will reflect
parameter. You can assign “Sld: 1” or any 128 step. If you hear the Lag speed. If you have a really long Lag
of the 4 sliders to any insert parameter for zipper noise in your time, you’ll notice the blue horizontal line
creative real-time control. Also notice that slider moves, try trail behind the fader head.
the “Sld: 1” is color coded blue to match turning on the Lag and
the color of the Blue slider on the right. choose the lowest
This is to help you better see your setting that gets rid of
automation assignments. it.
Note that some real-time automated effect parameters will create zipper noise or other artifacts We have carefully
chose our presets to play nicely. However, if you want to create your own real-time modulation of parameters using
either the sliders or the modulators, please test whether the assigned parameter “plays nicely” with real-time control.
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Modulation
The Modulation section allows you to assign almost any Insert effects parameter to 1 of 4 available modulators. These
modulators are 100% user definable and save-able. They can have up to 64 steps and each step can be as short as a 1/32
note or as long as 4 bars!
There is also a Lag button that allows you to make the sharp nature of a step modulator as smooth as you’d like. The lag will
slow down the “jump” to a smooth transition based on how many milliseconds you want the transition to take.
On/Off — Turns the Modulator On /Off. Preset Menu — Save your presets here.
Rate — Choose how fast the modulator will Steps — Choose from 1 to 64 steps.
go from one step to the next.
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Signal Path
To the left you will notice a signal path diagram. Because of the
way that Kontakt is designed, there are some things we do not
have control over. Ideally we would have had the stage depth
feed directly in to the Mixer but because of routing limitations we
had to optimize the signal path as displayed here.
The main thing to understand here is that when you are using
the Stage Depth control on the Ensemble page (when it is
ON), the ambience/reverb will be sent directly to the outputs
while some of the non-reverberated signal that has been
processed with air absorption processing will be fed into
the Mixer.
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Advanced Template Setup
Defaults
Setting up large orchestral templates can be a tedious process and a lot of time can be spent simply getting your preferred default settings
into each instrument. This time can further be compounded by the fact that oftentimes when Kontakt instruments get updates the entire
process has to be repeated. The “Defaults” options included in Modern Scoring Strings (which are part of the Orchestra Engine) aim to help
by allowing easy transfers of your preferred settings between different instruments in the library - even after a manufacturer instrument
update. This is very useful for any instrument settings that you keep unified between multiple instruments.
Storing/Loading Defaults
There are currently three areas of Modern Scoring Strings that can be used with Defaults: the Switcher, the Mixer, and Intuition. Each can be
accessed by clicking on the “Cog” to the right of the editor in question.
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In most cases, storing Defaults is as simple as using the Save/Store options in the menu. However, due to the complexity of the mixer,
there is one important consideration for mixer defaults. Prior to saving mixer defaults you will need to first save the active mixer
configuration.
To do so:
1. Click this menu and save your current active 2. Click this menu and save your current active
mixer configuration as a preset Sends configuration as a preset
Once you have defaults stored you can then access them from ANY other instrument you have loaded by simply using the same menus to
Load your saved values.
** On disk, these defaults are stored within your library folder in the “Defaults” subfolder. Feel free to keep a backup of this folder
somewhere.
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Loading Defaults Automatically
While manually storing/loading defaults across multiple instruments can save a lot of repeated setup time, in some cases it would save even
more time to automatically load your defaults into all patches. For instance, if you always use the same KeySwitch setup or want a certain
mixer and mic setup, wouldn’t it be nice to set it up once and then have it propagate to all your instruments?
To do so, you’ll need to take a look in your Modern Scoring Strings Library folder, in the “Defaults” subfolder. You will find this:
The three files at the bottom are what you need to be aware of. Each can be opened in any
simple text editor and edited to tell Modern Scoring Strings to use the defaults automatically
upon load. Note that you can use any of these three independently, so you can always load the
Mixer defaults, but leave everything else alone if you prefer.
**Since using this feature automatically overwrites settings made in the instruments - including instruments
loaded in previous projects and templates - please be very careful!
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Articulation Sets (Logic)
What are Articulation Sets?
Articulation Sets offer Logic X users a way to integrate their software
instrument’s articulation and parameter switching directly into their sequences
in a far more elegant way than simply having key switch notes or special
controller messages littering the MIDI editors. We now include a full
complement of Articulation Sets with Modern Scoring Strings to get you
started very quickly. We offer a number of variations to suit different
workflows.
This allows for easier changing of articulations during and after recording in
your parts without the ugly extra notes appearing in your piano roll and score
editors. But taken to their full potential, these integrations also allow you to
control the most critical performance features to get a great and expressive
performance without the need for memorizing random CCs and KeySwitch
notes.
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Installation
1. Find the “Articulation Sets” folder inside your /Modern Scoring Strings Library/
DAW Integrations/ folder.
2. Copy the “Modern Scoring Strings” folder into your user account’s /Music/Audio
Music Apps/Articulation Settings/ folder
There are articulation sets included for both the main library and the
Intuition Strings instruments. The main differences between most of
the variations are the key switch ranges that are pre-set. But you
can you any articulation set with any MSS instrument.
The Master and Master(CC) sets use a MIDI note velocity stack or
single CC as input for articulation switching. These are useful for
those that have robust and dedicated key switch controllers.
Otherwise if you want to rely on traditional keyboard key switching
your can use and customize any of the others.
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Loading Articulation Sets
1. Open Logic and add Kontakt as a software instrument
3. Load the “DAW Integration” Snapshot. The regular version makes all
articulations available. The Small version omits some of the more
intensive RAM/CPU articulations (Ostinatos, Scales).
4. Now find the “Articulation Set” section of Logic’s track inspector and
click to bring up the menu.
5. Choose the Articulation Set you wish to use. If you do not see the
Modern Scoring Strings Articulation Sets folder in the menu go back
to the “Installation” section on the previous page.
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Expression Maps (Cubase)
There are articulation sets included for both the main library and the Intuition Strings
instruments. The main differences between most of the variations are the key switch
ranges that are pre-set and the Attribute vs Direction style setup that pertains to the way
Cubase/Nuendo handles articulation changes.
As a basic guide, choose a map with the starting key range that makes sense for the
instrument you are loading. Then for most purposes we recommend the “Att” or Attribute
style Expression map. This allows for the most articulation options. If you want to user
the Direction style maps you’ll likely need to pair down the articulation list. More on that
later.
3. Load the “DAW Integration” Snapshot. The regular version makes all
articulations available. The Small version omits some of the more
intensive RAM/CPU articulations (Ostinatos, Scales).
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4. Now find the “Expression Map” section of Cubase’s track inspector and open the
Expression Map Setup.
5. Load the Expression Map(s) you’d like to use by clicking “Load” at the bottom-
left” of the window. All the Expression Maps can be found in your /Modern
Scoring Strings Library/DAW Integrations/Expression Maps/ folder.
6. Next, assign the loaded Expression map to the track in the Inspector.
7. That’s it. Expression Map programming will now be available in your MIDI editors.
Otherwise you can stick with the “Attribute” style Expression Maps and bypass the controller lane.
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CPU and RAM Considerations
CPU Considerations
Although Audiobro takes the utmost care in trying to create efficient and lean patches, there may be times when one will want to further
maximize their CPU efficiency. Here are some tips to help you get the most out of your computer’s CPU.
High CPU in general — If you find that a patch or a few patches are on the edge of overloading your system’s CPU, try creating another
instance (or 2) of Kontakt and distributing the patches onto the different instances of Kontakt. The idea behind this approach is to use
multi-threading to more evenly distribute the CPU load amongst your CPU cores. Cramming as any patches as you can into an instance
of Kontakt is not a good approach when the patches require a decent amount of CPU.
Scales and Ostinatos — The scales and ostinatos in Modern Scoring Strings use a high quality time stretch algorithm and may start to
cause audio dropouts if you play more than 32 voices at a time. This is generally not an issue, however if you combine multiple
microphones in the mixer, you will more easily get to the 32 voice polyphony max.
Release Triggers — If you are using reverb, you may not need RTs (Release Triggers). Go into the Phrase Editor and turn OFF the Rel.
Trigger control. This will reduce your voice count upon release of notes (when not performing a legato transition).
Turning off Auto Divisi — One great side-benefit fro Audiobro’s Auto Divisi is that when you play chords, the notes are equally
distributed around the divisi sections… saving you voices. For example, if you turn off Auto Divisi and play 4 note chord with a 4 part
divisi patch, you will trigger at least 16 (4 x 4) voices and probably a lot more because of dynamic layering.Whereas with Auto Divisi ON,
you would only trigger 4 voices.
Modulators and Lag — When using Modulator Tables on the Mixing page, having a high lag setting (especially on multiple active
modulation tables) can raise the CPU substantially. Consider reducing the Lag to the minimum about needed.
Effects — When no signal (as in zero amount) is going through an effect, then that effect is taking up zero CPU. However, if just a tiny
little sound is running though an effect, it will make that effect use it’s resources just as much as if there were a lot of signal running
through that effect. Therefore, if you are running signal through effects that you can barely hear or is not needed, either turn those effects
OFF or reduce the amount of signal to those effects to zero.
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RAM Considerations
Modern Scoring Strings uses a smart RAM algorithm to determine what you have in your patch and load only the samples that are
necessary. Generally you don’t have to think about this. Just set up your String the way you want and we take care of the management. But
this works in a few ways that may be worth exploring if you are looking to maximize your performance:
What you are looking at — The samples for the active articulation (what you are looking at on the performance page) will of course
utilize RAM.
Articulation Key Switches — Any articulations set up on a KeySwitch bank will also require additional RAM. So if you remove the
“Scales” from the key-switch they will also be removed from RAM. This makes it simple to keep just the articulations you need loaded
and purge the rest.
Divisi Sections — Each divisi section can be manually purged or loaded decreasing or increasing RAM.
We include a very light empty startup patch that is ideal to use if you want to program your own settings without the extra RAM
usage required by our other fully-loaded patches.
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Specifications
System Requirements
Mac OS X 10.11, Mac OS 10.12 or 10.13 or 10.14 or 10.15 (latest update), i5
Windows 7, Windows 8, or Windows 10 (latest Service Pack), Intel Core i5 or equivalent CPU
An internet connection and a graphics card that supports OpenGL 2.1 or higher are required to download and activate this
product. Once installed and activated, the product can be used offline.
Supported Interfaces
Mac OS X (64-bit only): Stand-alone, VST, AU, AAX
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Special Thanks
The creation of Modern Scoring Strings was a labor of love, dedication and many, many hours of hard work. I’d like to thank all those who
participated in helping Modern Scoring Strings get made.
A special thanks to Sebastian Katz for the many days away from home you spent to help record this beautiful String library (and other
libraries with me). Thanks to your wife and kids for their patience in all of this. Also, thanks for your awesome coding capabilities.
Special thanks to all the beta testers and demo writers. You guys all rock.
And last but certainly not least… my wife and kids. A special thanks to my wife, Jennifer, for her help in the business, all that she does on a
daily basis to help me stay on task, and for her patience in putting up with my crazy scheduling of sample libraries and all that it involves. A
special thanks to my kids for keeping me humble and grounded. Love you!
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