Orchestral Tools Benjamin Wallfisch Strings & Stringscapes

The Berlin samplemeisters link up with a Hollywood film composer to create two major string collections.

Speaking in a video in November 2023 [https://youtu.be/qVvV3Hxq1q0], British film composer Benjamin Wallfisch cheerfully observed: “I spend way too much of my time sitting here playing string orchestra samples. [Join the club, Ben.] We’re very lucky to have amazing libraries now of gorgeously recorded string orchestras from around the world, but I’ve always been slightly underwhelmed at the final result. Of all the sections of the orchestra, the strings have the biggest gap between what we’re able to do using samples and the finished final performance if we’re lucky enough to record with a live orchestra. And for years I’ve been thinking, why is that?”

Why indeed? Within weeks the question was addressed when Orchestral Tools announced the release of two standalone string collections, Benjamin Wallfisch Strings (cinematic ensembles and divisi) and Stringscapes (orchestral string effects and textures). Created in close collaboration with the Hollywood composer and billed as OT’s largest sampling project to date, the project aims to give users (in Wallfisch’s words), “something that gets as close as possible to having a scoring session on your keyboard”.

The libraries feature identical line‑ups of 14 first violins, 12 second violins (different players), 10 violas, 10 cellos and six double basses recorded on the main scoring stage at Berlin’s Teldex Studios. They are not small: Benjamin Wallfisch Strings (BWS for short) weighs in at a hard‑drive challenging 501GB and Stringscapes eats up 129GB. Happily, you don’t have to download all of their numerous mic positions in one go; you can also hedge your bets by buying individual BWS and Stringscapes instruments for as little as €65 and €42 respectively.

Benjamin Wallfisch Strings and Stringscapes run exclusively on the latest version of Orchestral Tools’ Sine player, which works standalone and as a VST, VST3, AU and AAX plug‑in. You’ll need least 8GB of RAM, and as with all large orchestral libraries, the makers strongly recommend SSD storage for best performance results.

BWS and Stringscapes are among the very few string libraries to offer loop‑free sustains; instead, the players hold their long notes for 23‑25 seconds, which should be enough for most musical situations.

Breaking Convention

It transpires that one of Mr Wallfisch’s complaints about today’s string libraries is the routine use of sample loops. While looped long notes can be sustained indefinitely, the composer feels that interrupting the players’ expressive performance mid‑flow with a relatively short looped section has a de‑humanising effect. Hence, BWS and Stringscapes are among the very few string libraries to offer loop‑free sustains; instead, the players hold their long notes for 23‑25 seconds, which should be enough for most musical situations.

The Sine player’s Benjamin Wallfisch Strings GUI, showing three of the available mic positions.

BWS’s other deviations from the norm include true divisi sections, separate patches for upbows and downbows and five dynamic layers for all straight bowed artics and legatos. Another distinctive feature is a huge Atmos‑ready microphone setup comprising Decca Tree L‑R, Decca Tree centre, close, wide, A‑B (an alternative wide position), outrigger, surround, immersive front and immersive mid mic positions. Each of these has a raw and processed version, the latter featuring Ben Wallfisch’s dedicated EQ and processing effects. Designed to give you “the Hollywood sound right out of the box”, these positions include an LFE mix for the basses.

The libraries’ nine mic positions are presented in raw and processed versions, the latter featuring Ben Wallfisch’s dedicated EQ and processing effects.

Obviously having 18 versions of every sample hugely inflates the size of these libraries, but you can easily get by with just two or three positions: a mix of the default Decca Tree and close mics sound great, and if you want more room ambience you can add the distant outrigger or surround position. Personally I liked the subtle brightening effect of the processed versions, so they would be my starting point with these strings. If your project involves a large number of mic positions, you can use the Sine player’s mic merge feature to bounce them down into a single stereo mix.

Orchestral Tools’ long history of recording string orchestras at Teldex Studios has reached a zenith in BFS, one of the most sonically impressive string orchestras I’ve heard in recent years.

BWS Overview

Orchestral Tools’ long history of recording string orchestras at Teldex Studios has reached a zenith in BFS, one of the most sonically impressive string orchestras I’ve heard in recent years. The cello long notes are a thing of beauty: their hushed, breathy quiet deliveries, rich and vibrant mp range and majestic loud performances show off the library’s dynamics to great effect, and their generous C1‑G5 span means you can use them as a sketching tool. Having used the cello sustains to create a chordal passage, I doubled the chords’ root notes with basses in the lower octave and was knocked out by their tremendous low‑end presence — instant orchestral grandeur and...