Realistic solo violin

[mtelesha]

The violin is usually considered to be the hardest instrument to play, so hoping to emulate it with samples and using a keyboard or whatever is a pretty impossible task.

As a clarinet player I would like to state that I think it is actually harder to master

Out

Do you also play the violin so that you can compare the difficulty levels ?

Well my grandfather was a professional Jazz Musician who played Violin and well he would possibly argue differently now that I'm an adult, but he use to tell me it was the hardest when I was a child.

[BERFAB]

I liked the pieces posted, and agree with others here that if these popped up on a classical radio set (or in a movie soundtrack) they would not be out of place in the least.

I do not, as a rule, compose or perform classical music, but I use elements of it from time to time. I own a couple of higher end orchestral plugs, which I didn't purchase specifically (they were part of larger packages) and I rarely use them. However, with some expressive playing and minor FX tweaking, for my purposes I find the most satisfying solo violin/viola sounds can come from off-the-shelf plugs like Halion and Kontakt. YMMV, of course.

[enroe]

AS a banjo player, I think it is actually harder to master too.

The jaw's harp is very hard to master!

[jancivil]

'I'm not a classical music person really but I agree that classical music people would not find this out of place.'
ok then.

[mediumaevum]

'I'm not a classical music person really but I agree that classical music people would not find this out of place.'
ok then.

Jancivil... I asked you a question a couple of days ago.

If this is not classical music, what are your arguments against it being classical? And what constitutes classical music?

I've read all your comments, but not a single one of them have you replied to my question.

[jancivil]

Just for the qualia of it all (the 'what it's like', the experience of), I should probably post the actual violin compo since I posted it on banjo.
Not to set an impossibly high bar for the thing, just this is really a solo violin on a fairly live stage, and since Perlman does get a lot of sound out of this Strad, this is what that's like

As to a story about who would notice the difference on classical radio, I have one. Once I was in the car with my mother and I put on this cassette of me and my friend doing Beethoven Moonlight Sonata, I was doing drums on my Yamaha box ca 1987 and the recording was done w. a Walkman Pro of that era; and so it wasn't straight really and SB was pushing some of the harmony into modernity if you get my drift, let alone the cheap sound. And my mother asked what station this was, 'this is the classical station at UNCC?'. Yeah, no. I had been a musician for some 20 yrs by then, but no. How would she know the diff really.

https://youtu.be/kKQ_GyelRsc?t=77
cued up to 1:17. "Our Radio 3 lunch hour"
1978.
I played this thing in '78 on guitar, which seems very poorly advised today but I wasn't jailed for it or anything.

[mediumaevum]

Jancivil... This is really annoying, really. You repeatedly refuse to answer my question. Everytime you comment, I read this damn thread, read your entire comment and yet you still haven't addressed my original question. It's just above this comment above of yours...

Your original comment was my music "isn't orchestral music". And I'm asking: What is orchestral music, then? Which rules should I abide, in order for you to recognize my music as classical/orchestral?

Why do you ignore my question?

[jancivil]

But quite a lot of what I did write addresses that, the stuff regarding how things behave in a space... stuff you could listen to but you don't appear to be interested in. So, fine, why would I interrupt your internet validation when you aren't receptive. Got it.

You wanted me to address a question regarding something I never said.:
I didn't say, nor does this interest me in the slightest, 'this isn't classical music'.

I did say it isn't 'orchestral' music as it exhibits another behavior; and the character, the qualia of <orchestral> is just missing. Which I said a fair amount about. There's something you just don't get here, and it's not my fault.

I have been very generous with you but that's over. I consider you a talented guy, but you're too obtuse to try and convey ideas to, and this has been constant in our exchanges. You appear to need a bit more of a massage than I'm into.
This annoys, you, fine, why am I bothering, it feels stupid to if you're going to be a dick about it.

[mediumaevum]

But quite a lot of what I did write addresses that, the stuff regarding how things behave in a space... stuff you could listen to but you don't appear to be interested in. So, fine, why would I interrupt your internet validation when you aren't receptive. Got it.

You wanted me to address a question regarding something I never said.:
I didn't say, nor does this interest me in the slightest, 'this isn't classical music'.

I did say it isn't 'orchestral' music as it exhibits another behavior; and the character, the qualia of <orchestral> is just missing. Which I said a fair amount about. There's something you just don't get here, and it's not my fault.

I have been very generous with you but that's over. I consider you a talented guy, but you're too obtuse to try and convey ideas to, and this has been constant in our exchanges. This annoys, you, fine, why am I bothering, it feels stupid to if you're going to be a dick about it.

Sorry I must have misunderstood your answers and comments then. Sorry about that!

[an-electric-heart]

Sounds pretty damn good to me.

I reckon when composing violin with samples, the key to realism isn't so much the notes, but getting right in there and getting fussy with the velocities of each note... but I can tell you already know that.

[jancivil]

For the rest of the room, orchestra has loomed large in my life to the extent that had I better maths I'll have studied acoustics seriously, and beyond that I organized my life around studying it. I took it seriously. Some people, I recognize this, are just not like that, but in the current era where all kind of people take these things like it's supposed to just happen for them and it's on that level, I give into the temptation to want to elevate the awareness. It's a mistake in certain environs, and I'm no diplomat.

[funky lime]

Nice change of pace to hear this kind of virtual-orchestral music around here.

I wouldn't take the snobbery too seriously; the internet is full of us opinionated randos with poor social skills. Yeah, some of the spatial aspects could use work; that flute at the end of 'Hymn' kind of jumps out as being in a separate space from the rest, for example. Or the same deal in 'Impromptu' where the violin is just a bit too forward and it kind of throws everything else out of whack because it seems like the rest is just there to support it at times.

I like the 'Medieval' piece, but there is definitely a stark contrast between the almost "mechanical" tightness of the ostinato and how the violin seems to lag consistently behind in a way that, at times, seems more erroneous than expressive. But on second listen, I actually kind of like that about it now, so...

Anyway, thanks for sharing, I enjoyed listening.

[folderol]

Sounds absolutely fine to me. I'm not an expert on how anything should sound, but am very aware that environment is actually 90% of the final 'filter'. Good work