Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ 5/5 Stars
As explained in my SOS January 2024 review, VSL’s Synchron Duality Strings unites a large symphonic string section with a dry chamber‑sized ensemble simultaneously performing identical articulations, giving users a perfectly synchronised double string orchestra. The two groups are acoustically isolated, so you can switch from a cinematic ambience to a smaller studio acoustic, or layer the two for maximum lushness.
Having established that this mad idea gives excellent musical results, VSL have added three new titles to the series. Synchron Duality Strings: Sordino replicates the main library’s artics, this time played ‘con sordino’ (with mutes). Each sordino articulation was recorded immediately after its non‑sordino counterpart, thus ensuring continuity of expression between the regular and muted performances.
Obvious uses for this softer, warm and more intimate timbre would be emotive quiet chord pads and gently expressive lead lines, but this large library (225.8GB installed) gives you much more: racy tight spiccatos, sfz attacks, espressivo and swell long notes, fluid legatos, ‘Bollywood Strings’ portamento slides, glissandos and a large selection of played legato and détaché major‑scale runs. The ‘snap pizzicato’ style is omitted and the basses skip a few non‑essential styles, but the articulation menu remains impressively comprehensive.
The 62.3GB Synchron Duality Strings: Colors library introduces two additional bowing styles, the super‑quiet, ethereal flautando and the multi‑dynamic sul ponticello. Crossfading between the two creates intriguing timbral shifts from hushed and feathery to hard and glassy. Artics include long notes with a choice of vibrato strengths, flautando legatos (which the violas perform beautifully), tremolo, trills and biting ponticello spiccatos. A bonus set of Tutti Pianissimo Colors features the 52‑player ensemble playing in octaves across its full range, a wonderful big symphonic string sound.
While Colors (hate that spelling) offers opportunities for vivid tonal shifts and textural movement, Synchron Duality Strings: Virtuoso is all about action and drama. This exciting 69.9GB collection contains hard‑hitting martelé short notes, bouncing‑bow ricochets and a set of hugely dynamic crescendos and diminuendos. Supplementing these single‑note artics are normal and tremolo glissandos (featuring some great, cartoon‑like saltando slides) and leery semitone rises and falls which kick in at note‑off.
The arpeggios are also available as loops, a quick way of generating a rich, stirring mobile strings texture.
Also included are brilliantly executed legato and détaché chromatic runs played over a fifth, minor third and major second range, and fast up and down chordal arpeggios with a pizzicato variant. The arpeggios are also available as loops, a quick way of generating a rich, stirring mobile strings texture. Fully deserving of the library’s name, these performances are a masterclass of strings virtuosity.
As in the main Synchron Duality Strings library, the samples are presented as separate first and second violins, violas, cellos, basses and programmed ‘tutti’ ensembles, and can be purchased as a discounted Standard Library which omits a handful of surround and immersive mic positions.
From €295.
From €295.