"Instrument Overview
The modern, polyphonic string synthesizer was invented in 1970 by Ken Freeman, a British keyboard player and engineer who discovered that if you layered a note with another detuned and slightly modulated version of itself, a pleasant ‘chorused’ sound resulted.
Even though Ken's invention wasn't the first instrument of this genre to be commercially released (That honor fell to the Eminent organ company with their 310 Unique organ) there's little doubt that Ken's vision contributed immeasurably to electronic music over the next few decades in the guise of over 100+ different models that followed from a huge variety of manufacturers.
The VSM is an intuitive but highly powerful Virtual String Machine which captures many of the sounds from this genre of instrument, containing a wealth of sounds from a small mountain of classic and rare string machines. These range from the first commercial string ensembles (Eminent 310 & Freeman String Symphonizer) through to the highly lauded Solina, Elka Rhapsody, Logan String Melody, Korg PE2000 and many more.
With the sheer amount of instruments captured within the VSM, it's simplicity itself to recreate all those golden string machine tones from yesteryear. However, with the VSM's comprehensive, yet intuitive feature-set, plus a two-layer option it's now possible to create your own hybrid instruments taking these sublime vintage tones into hitherto unchartered territory."
GForce Software
Update: Looks like the Yamaha GX1 will be added as well. Macaixa in the comments noticed this image and the following blurb after clicking through.
"?
A teaser of something that should appear in a VSM add-on pack. This instrument is a true rarity and something that we were truly privileged to play, let alone record."
If you look at this post you will see it's the programmer for the GX1.
"?
A teaser of something that should appear in a VSM add-on pack. This instrument is a true rarity and something that we were truly privileged to play, let alone record."
If you look at this post you will see it's the programmer for the GX1.
Is this the Matrixsynth site or KVR?
ReplyDeleteMy Hardware String machines here (Rhapsody, the Logan, the Eminent 310 and the Crumar Multimann) do sound very different from the demos available online.
ReplyDeleteThe sounds are nice. But not all sounding 1:1 like the real things. So why do they label these sounds with those great names of the string machines then? I think more of this software as a more universal string machine.
keep on turning these knobs
Till "Qwave" Kopper
Thanks regarding the KVR comments. I don't want to go overboard with the soft synths so I'm glad some others feel the same way. I try to only put up the stuff that stands out or intrigues me in some way. I have GMedia's impOSCar, M-Tron and Oddity. All are great sounding soft synths so I thought I'd put this one up considering.
ReplyDeleteAt the bottom of this page http://www.gforcesoftware.com/ins_vsm_origins.php they show "A teaser of something that should appear in a VSM add-on pack." That's a GX-1 programmer sitting atop the middle of the 40 preset tone selector buttons. They credit Gordon Reid as being of assistance during the research; he has a GX-1. Am I adding 2+2 and getting something other than 4? I don't think so!!!!!
ReplyDeleteI ordered this today. Unlike analog sounds I like to get my hand on the real things, these types of sounds sit in the background of my music and are perfect for this type of instrument to cover lots of sonic ground.
ReplyDeleteThanks Macaixa. Nice catch! I updated this post and put a new one up.
ReplyDeleteMatrix i dig the occasional soft-synth reference, especially when they're gonna be dope!
ReplyDeleteLike i'm gonna go out and buy 17 different string machines...i mean, i sold my Omni II for a reason...don't they all have bugs and rodents living in them?