The Duality Principle: The two string ensembles were sampled at once, playing in separate rooms at Vienna Synchron Stage. While the larger ensemble played in the famous main hall, Stage A, the smaller ensemble was recorded in the relatively dry Stage B. Both ensembles performed together, with the conductor on the podium in Stage A also directing the ensemble in Stage B via video monitors. And that’s where the magic happens! With the musicians’ ability to hear each other from different rooms, all musical aspects of every performance are perfectly in sync, such as volume, timbre, vibrato, note length, and phrasing, for every articulation. Seamlessly blend the resonant sound of a full ensemble with the close, personal touch of a smaller group.

Short notes

• Spiccato normal and tight

• Staccato normal and hard

• Détaché normal, marcato, soft

• All with bold and agile attack variants

Long notes

• Sustains with soft and strong vibrato, normal/soft/fast/sfz attack

• Espressivo

• Swell

• All except no vibrato with normal, soft, and very soft release

• Sustains without vibrato, normal and fast attack

Performance legato

• Legato normal and agile, soft/strong vibrato and espressivo (normal only), normal/fast/sfz attack

• Slurred legato, soft/strong vibrato and espressivo, normal/fast/sfz attack

• Portamento, soft/strong vibrato and espressivo, normal/fast/sfz attack

• All with normal, soft, and very soft release

*The Double Basses have no 3rd trills and lack measured tremolo at 180 BPM.

To capture the spectacular ambience of Stage A and the signals in the dryer sounding Stage B, our engineers employed separate phase-coherent microphone configurations that were recorded simultaneously to provide a broad range of room options. All sections were recorded separately at their designated positions.

The Dark and Bright microphone signals of Stage B consist of a mix of two pairs of mics, respectively:

• Dark Mics: Royer SF24 + Sennheiser MKH 8040

• Bright Mics: Neumann M149 + Ehrlund EHR-M

The additional Ribbon L/R microphones that come with each Full Library add an extra warm, low-mid layer to the transparency of the Decca Tree in Stage A, for an even lusher string sound.

The main surround microphone settings may also be used instead of the main stereo room mics in order to achieve a wider and more ambient mix. Blending surround signals with the other microphone signals creates a denser, more lush overall sound, even in stereo applications.

Room Mix Presets feature an excellent mix-down to stereo from the Decca tree and surround mic positions for a CPU and RAM-saving sound that’s perfectly balanced right out-of-the-box. A host of Mixer Presets is available in the categories of “Decca Tree Multi-Mic”, “Surround to Stereo Downmix”, and “Surround”.

Due to the comprehensive selection of discrete audio channels you can mix your string sound in stereo, 5.1 surround or even Dolby Atmos (or any other immersive audio format, such as 9.1 Auro 3D).