Question for any user of Vienna Symphonic Library. VSL does not have a separate 2nd violin section. Does anyone ever use Orchestral Violins for 1st violins and Chamber Violins for 2nd Violins? (Or Appassionata for 1st and Orch for 2nd?) Seems logical (if not perfect) since 2nd Violins make up a smaller section and this way you will have different samples. I am doing this right now on a County Pop song with Orch for 1st Violins, Violas, and Celli, and Chamber Strings for 2nd violins. So far, it sounds good. The Chamber legato does not sound as good as Orch to my ears, but in this piece, it is OK (and maybe this is a problem with my technique). I am also going to overlay a solo violin for some descant lines. (I know you are thinking, "This is for country?" but my music doesn't fit a genre well.) Thanks.

There's a similar situation with EWQLSO in that there are no dedicated 2nd violins, but the software does offer a smaller bank (11) of first violins in addition to the main bank.

Does VSL offer anything similar?

Hey Bristol. No smaller bank of Orch violins in VSL, but since Chamber is smaller, I was using that as a work-around. Not a big deal, though. Hollywood Strings has separate 1st and 2nd violins, but in a mix they don't sound very different.

Actually, if your library is up to date, There are 2nd violins hidden away in the patches (not the matrices) in the appasionatta strings. They are different from the 1st violins. Also there is a 2nd solo violin. These are hidden gems. :)

Konrad,

VSL included a reduced 2nd violins sample set not so long ago along with the release of their newer VIP player. You should not expect it to sound noticeably different to the 1st violins, but since the sample set is different, one should have no issues with phasing, for instance. Look for those samples in the VIP browser.

However, your approach to use the Chamber violins is perfectly valid, and many people just do that. Keep in mind the Orchestral Violins are a choir of 14 players, and the Chamber Violins are 6 chairs, while a traditional romantic-size orchestra would have 10 second chairs instead. But in the world of samples, this normally can go unnoticeable by most people in a mix.

Just saw Blogman post, with similar comments.

Thanks, all. I do not have Appassionata strings except for the limited sample set that was packaged with the ol SE and SE+ collections (packages no longer offered). I do not have VIP but will download since I understand I am missing out on several features by not having it.

I'm afraid that using VSL without VIP is like driving an F1 car in San Francisco...

VIP is the best sample library player technology in the market right now. Not open to other developers though as a, for instance, Kontakt. Get it, you won't regret it if you're willing to spend time maximizing your VSL libraries potential in VIP. It does take a bit of time investment.

By the way, just to clarify, you'll find the 2nd violin addtl' samples also in your Orchestral String library (assuming you got the non-SE library, that is, and you sound like you do).