The other philosophy behind SE, and one of its greatest strengths, relates to how it's meant to be played. This approach ensures that the end result is as organic as possible. The basic idea is that the samples are meant to be used as performances, as opposed to raw data to be manipulated into sounding natural. The manual, written by Miroslav himself (for better or for worse), is essential reading if you want to grasp the potential of the library. There's a concept behind SE, and it needs to be understood. Why would a string library boast the subtitle 'Composer's Dream'? I didn't spend a lot of time thinking about it and dived right into the patches. I have to admit that I was a little confused about this library when it first arrived. It runs in both stand‑alone and VST, RTAS and AU plug‑in modes. Its basic interface bears a resemblance to NI's Kontakt, which made it seem familiar enough to make using Engine comfortable straight away. Engine, while not being as ubiquitous as some sample-player plug‑ins, is a robust piece of software that contains very powerful editing features in its Pro Edit section, as well as flexible mixing and routing options. As I mentioned before, SE uses Best Service's Engine sample player plug‑in (powered by Yellow Tools Technology) to interface with the library. Installation posed no problems, so in a matter of minutes I was face‑to‑face with the interface. The Mixer section of the Best Service Engine software. Various articulations and approaches are provided for each instrument group. Miroslav Vitous String Ensembles, in essence, contains two string ensembles: the Large Ensemble (24 violins, 14 violas, 12 'cellos, and nine basses) and the Chamber Ensemble (14 violins, eight violas, five 'cellos and four basses). After all, this is a string section, not an entire orchestra. Some modern‑day composers may feel that unless they spend a day feeding their computer discs and having to use a new hard drive for each library, they're being short-changed, but I'm totally cool with SE's smaller footprint.
Miroslav may be a master at getting the most out of small sample sizes but in 2010, that's still a little light, right? However, the Best Service Engine Player (more on this later) decompresses the samples on the fly, so in fact you're getting 35 to 40 gigabytes of data. Well, here's the thing: after it's transferred to your hard drive, the library weighs in at around 6.5GB. After all, for its retail price, I would expect SE to be so massive that it would ship on a hard drive or at least a half dozen discs. The entire String Ensembles library (SE from here on in) ships on a single DVD. Were my expectations met? Am I, in fact, sockless? Read on. For the last month, I've been testing String Ensemble's features, challenging it against the other top players in the field and using it in professional productions. Miroslav's name alone evokes so much integrity that his new string library promises to raise the bar. With Miroslav's latest release, String Ensembles Composer's Dream (to give it its full title), I couldn't help but expect to have my socks knocked off. Fast forward a decade or so to the present day and Miroslav's original library is still being employed by composers and producers, for its simplicity and, more importantly, for its great sound.
His original orchestral sample library, which I own in Akai format, was the source for convincing orchestral mock‑ups. The name 'Miroslav' is nothing new to any musician who uses samples in their productions. Does this brand-new library live up to it? The Vitous brand has a great reputation in the world of orchestral samples.