• Audiobro
• La Scoring Strings

• Software >Sound Library

Audiobro LA Scoring Strings 2.0 - unofficial 16bit version 9.34GB Starting from version 2.0, Audiobro stopped supplying 16bit samples and replaced them with 24bit only. In this instace, 24bit is a waste of space, since all samples are normalized and their noise level is far above -90dBFS. Find the latest Figure Skating news, information and video from NBC Sports.

LA Scoring Strings hopes to set itself apart from the competition with clever devices that make it both more realistic and more user‑friendly.

LASS is a deep sample library. Fortunately, a fair amount of information is visible from each instrument's window and is specific to that particular articulation.

'You wrote that?” my wife asked, after hearing the results of my toying around with LASS for about half an hour. 'That sounds really good. Did you really write that?” she added. In a way, that sort of sums up my experience with LASS, but since Sound On Sound doesn't print two‑sentence reviews, I'm going to have to elaborate.

Background

LASS is the brainchild of Andrew Keresztes, an accomplished film composer who was frustrated with the current crop of string libraries and decided to do something about it. While most of us would sit back and wait for technology to catch up with our ever‑increasing demands, Mr Keresztes hired a string orchestra, booked time at an LA film scoring stage, and created a string library that overcomes many of the limitations of other libraries, while implementing several innovative ideas of its own.

LA Scoring Strings, or LASS (thank heaven for acronyms), is installed from six dual‑layer DVDs, takes up about 40 gigabytes of hard drive space, and uses the ubiquitous Native Instruments Kontakt player. Now 40GB of samples is a good chunk of hard-drive real‑estate, but when you take into account that it includes both 16‑ and 24‑bit versions of the library, it's actually a pretty efficient usage of samples.

The manual for LASS is in PDF format, is well written and explains LASS's unique features quite capably. I would have liked a hard copy to peruse away from the computer, or at least a chart with the MIDI controller info and possibly quick how‑to guides. I ended up copying and pasting excerpts from the manual to create my own version of a one‑sheet reference to print out. While this is a minor issue, in view of LASS's price tag I think something more substantial than a PDF is in order.

Divide & Conquer

LASS employs several features that differentiate it from other high‑end string libraries. The first and most noteworthy of these is its true divisi implementation.

Composers working with string libraries have had to compromise their arrangements to some degree due to the fact that divisi sections have, up until now, not been available. But why does it matter? Well, suppose your first violins are divided into two groups, each group playing a different note. If you play two notes on duplicate violin patches, the whole section will play each note, effectively doubling the section size. That is not the composer's intention, but the workarounds are not usually worth the effort. Mixing libraries can yield decent results but may require serious tweaking. Using smaller sections (provided in some libraries) seems like a solution, but not when it is the same two sections. While your notes‑to‑players ratio is intact, it's not the same as two separate groups of players.

LASS overcomes this dilemma by providing separate sub‑sections within each instrument section. For instance, the first violins patches are divided up as follows: 16‑player full section, eight‑player section, two different four‑player sections, and a first-chair section leader. The divided sections are recorded separately in their own physical position, with different players. This array of sub-sections makes it possible to divide your section in a very realistic fashion.

Wait, There's More

Whether you're dividing the sections into sub‑sections, as pictured, or using the full instrument patches, instantiating multiple Auto Rhythm Tools add a tremendous amount of movement and colour to your string arrangements.

LASS's use of legato is truly outstanding. Typically, legato passages (notes tied together with no space between them) contain varying amounts of subtle portamento and glissandi between the notes. LASS handles this wonderfully, and achieving realistic legato playing in LASS is essentially effortless. If a note is held down while the next note is played, LASS adds either portamento or glissando, depending on the velocity of the second note. Very cool! If the time it takes you to reach your second note is not to your liking, no problem: just use MIDI CC (Continuous Controller) 83 to control speed.

When I first read the manual and saw that there was no keyswitching but instead lots of MIDI CC numbers to tweak, I was worried that I wouldn't have enough knobs on my controller to get the most out of LASS. My fear was allayed when I noticed that it was the same series of controllers being used for the different articulations. The six knobs on my keyboard controller were quite enough.

Another unique element of LASS is the first‑chair solo player in each section. While Andrew Keresztes is quick to point out the distinction between a first‑chair player and a soloist, many users, including myself, have been using it as a solo instrument, with fantastic results. One of the benefits the first‑chair player provides is the ability to amplify and add expression to a section in a realistic way. In my test arrangement of only the smallest sections of each family of strings, the first‑chair player added a subtle yet evocative element to each section. The inclusion of the first‑chair player is both unique and highly practical. It also adds string quartet to LASS's feature list.

So many great film scores get their eeriness from strings playing harmonics, but most libraries overlook harmonics, or include a throwaway patch or two. Each LASS section (and sub-section) contains very usable harmonic patches. The same can be said for its sordino (muted strings) patches, which offer yet another palette of sound.

ART Imitating Life

ART (Auto Rhythm Tool) is another of LASS's secret weapons. When short articulations like spiccato, staccato and pizzicato are loaded, pressing on the sustain pedal initiates ART. While sync'ing to your DAW's tempo, ART plays your notes in rhythm with varying accents. You can choose between eighth‑note, eighth‑note triplets and sixteenth‑note rhythms. There's also a 'Double‑time' option. I believe many users will have the same reaction that I did when playing LASS with ART engaged: 'Wow!' Tight action-movie backgrounds are so easy to create that you almost feel like you're cheating.

There are 10 groups of rhythmic patterns to choose from (actually, the rhythm is the same but the accents are different) but as making your own is pretty effortless, creating them on the fly is a good way to go. Of course, if you create a pattern you'll want to use again or apply to another instrument, you can save it via the drop-down menu.

I believe there are potential LASS owners out there who don't view first-chair players and true divisi as big game-changers. For them, the Auto Rhythm Tool may be reason enough to purchase LASS.

The ART would not yield realistic results unless LASS used a round-robin pool of samples. LASS, however, goes one step further, providing random round-robin sample playback. Instead of triggering samples in the same sequence, LASS has the ability to randomise sample playback, ensuring an even more realistic performance.

LA Scoring Sound

This is probably a good time for me to address the big question and let you know how LASS sounds: exceptional. I was glad to hear that the library has a dry overall sound without much ambience, allowing for more definition in phrasing. The strings themselves sound pristine and smooth, while the shorter articulations possess a slight grit to their attack. I own a few string libraries, but I don't think I'll be using any of them in the foreseeable future. LASS covers everything very well, even as a solo instrument. The other major libraries have some big things in the works, but they would have to really hit it out of the park to touch LASS, which is outstanding and ready now.

I had to adjust how I set up my composing template while using LASS: since it doesn't use keyswitching (you can set up keyswitching easily enough in Kontakt), I needed to load more tracks than I normally would. I used LASS to, quite quickly, write thriller‑sounding movie music. I also used it to write soaring romantic cues with tremendous results.

One of the side effects of LASS's true divisi is that you start to think more like an orchestral composer. I haven't always given much thought to how I would divide a chord in a section, and now it's something I ponder way too much.

Summing Up

The great thing about LASS is that in spite of it doing so many complicated things — and doing them so well and with incredible control — it is very easy to use. If you've read any of my past reviews, you'll know that I can get a little overwhelmed with a lot of options. But with all of LASS's control features, the learning curve is more like a speed bump.

I'm not a gusher when it comes to sound libraries. There's typically a ratio of how good it sounds to how easy it is to use that determines my rating. But I have to gush about LASS. It sounds fantastic, it's easy to use and best of all, it inspires to me to compose.

If string writing is a major — or even a minor — part of your music production make‑up, and you can afford it, get LASS. You will not be disappointed. If you can't afford it... figure something out and get LASS. You won't be disappointed.

Alternatives

LASS's biggest competition may come from East West/Quantum Leap Hollywood Strings, which wasn't available at the time of writing but may be by the time you read this. Hollywood Strings will be aiming to take over as the go‑to string library for film composers, but at the moment LASS is still king. However, EWQL Gold and Platinum, which are full orchestral packages, include extensive string-section capabilities.

True Divisi: A Holy Grail?

Audiobro

When I first heard about LASS and that its big claim was true divisi at last, I had to chuckle and roll my eyes a bit. Most of the composers I know don't care if the string sections are dividing accurately or not. Many of them load up a string patch and play chords. For them, bigger is better, so having more notes on a divisi is excellent. But then I thought about it for a minute. Yes, your divisis are bigger, but now your unisons are smaller in relation to them. That's not ideal.

The other case for true divisi: film composers need to play accurate mock‑ups for directors before they record an orchestra, so that there are no surprises on the scoring stage. That's a fair point. However, the trend nowadays is to record orchestras in sections and, in many cases, overdub the strings once or twice or three times. So your true divisi is irrelevant, right? Not so fast. It all comes down to ratios and if the composer wants half the cellos playing Bb and a quarter of the cellos playing D and the last quarter playing G, then that's how the notes need to be distributed, no matter how many times the section is doubled.

But the great thing about true divisi is this: before LASS, if I wanted my violas, for instance, to all be playing an F, I would call up the viola section and play F. I might add some nuance with expression, and that would be it. Now, however, thanks to LASS, I load up the two three‑player sections and the six‑player section and do the same thing as before — only this time to each sub-section — and the part really comes alive. Add the first chair and you're all set.

Verdict: true divisi is not a trivial matter.

Pros

• Incredible-sounding string library.
• Easy to use.
• The Automatic Rhythm Tool could be a game changer.

Cons

• No hard copy of the manual or printable cheat sheet.
• It's quite pricey.

Summary

Whether you're attracted to the true legato, the real divisi, The Auto Rhythm Tool or the first-chair players feature, LA Scoring Strings is currently the king of the hill when it comes to string-section libraries.

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Test Spec

• LA Scoring Strings v1.1.
• Apple Logic 8.02.
• Apple Mac with dual quad‑core Intel Xeon CPU (2 x 2.8 GHz), 6GB RAM, Mac OS 10.5.7.
• Samples streamed from internal serial‑ATA drive.

• Software >Sound Library

Innovative 'remote control' adds new creative dimensions to a leading orchestral strings library.

LASS 2.0's new Audiobro Remote Control (ARC) pages include global control of all loaded patches: any adjustment of a control on an ARC page causes the same change to occur in every patch. User‑definable keyswitch sets may be globally repositioned by adjusting the note displayed in the small window underneath the vertical 'keyswitch keyboard' graphic, to the left of the screen.

Since its release in July 2009, Audiobro's LA Scoring Strings has become a byword for accurate, high-quality orchestral strings emulation. One of the library's strengths is its flexible section sizes: ensembles are presented in a choice of full, half, quarter (two versions) and solo instrument formats, making it easy to create anything from a string quartet to a large‑scale, 46‑player arrangement. The option of smaller sections also enables authentic divisi part allocation, as used in real‑life orchestrations. True legatos, glissandi and Bollywood‑style portamentos are also key selling points. For more details, read the original Sound On Sound review, at /sos/apr10/articles/lascoringstrings.htm.

Upon LASS's completion three years ago, its creator Andrew Kerestzes announced that new patches created for his own scoring projects would be posted on Audiobro's forum, thereby making this an evolving, 'living library'. The evolution gathered momentum, and, partly in response to user requests, the piecemeal patch‑tweaking approach eventually intensified into a major 2.0 upgrade. In this review, we'll look at the new features introduced in LASS 2.0 and delve deeper into some of the library's workings.

New Patches

An immediately obvious benefit of the upgrade is that the patch list has been simplified: in place of multiple sustain, legato, portamento and glissando options, you'll now find simplified, all‑in‑one 'Legato Sustain' patches incorporating all four articulations, which can be played individually or jointly in one instance of Kontakt. Although the legatos are essentially monophonic (as is the norm in orchestral libraries), an intelligent built‑in script tracks your playing and automatically switches to polyphonic mode when you play a chord. If you'd rather stick to straight sustains, you can turn off the legato mode remotely with a CC command.

The Set‑up page is where you tell the ARC which programs you've loaded. Once you've selected the names, the information is automatically passed on to all the other control pages.The new legato/sustain instruments now include both non‑vibrato and vibrato samples, which can be crossfaded via the CC2 controller; this is a nice expressive feature. Non‑vibrato samples can be quickly unloaded from a patch, or turned on and off on the fly to conserve polyphony. The NV‑Vib option doesn't extend to the basses or solo instruments, but since the soloists greatly vary the amount of vibrato between their quiet and loud dynamics, you probably won't miss this facility.

Moving into the realm of the unpredictable, enjoyable new 'aleatoric' patches make it easy to create dissonant effects for 'tense score moments', such as those endured by myself and fellow Chelsea fans in the recent Champions League penalty shoot‑out. The patches' three divisi sections can be individually detuned and pitch‑modulated, allowing the creation of anything from a mildly disturbing pitch creep to a mind‑blowing, apocalyptic freak‑out. My experiments quickly yielded soundscapes reminiscent of a swarm of angry locusts, a helicopter fleet fly‑by and a ring modulator operated by the bloke out of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Conclusion: these aleatoric patches are a fun, quick and easy way of generating scary sound-design textures.

Tremolos (played by all instruments) and trills (played by violins and violas only) now benefit from integrated legato, portamento and glissando articulations, making it easy to create colourful effects such as sliding up to a high trilled note. Although not a new feature, a very cool 'Trills Script' automatically creates trills that fit the scale of your music: select (say) D-major, by hitting the corresponding keyswitch, and a D note will trill on an E, an F# on a G, and so on. These in‑key trills are particularly effective in chords, but if you prefer the old‑school approach, global semitone or tone trills can also be selected via a couple of keyswitches.

For added flexibility, the 2.0 upgrade also introduces additional 'second chair' solo instruments derived from the first‑chair samples and programmed to avoid phasing issues with the first‑chair instrument. This effectively increases the solo instrument count to three violins, two violas, two cellos and two basses, which is particularly useful when programming small string groups.

Audiobro Remote Control

The new Stage & Colour page allows you to position your instruments in a virtual surround setup, as well as choosing overall tonal colour and reverb settings for all your patches.

The Audiobro Remote Control (aka ARC) is the most striking new feature introduced in LASS 2.0. This powerful script allows you to control multiple patches from one place; for example, you can globally purge or load samples, turn vibrato/non‑vibrato on and off, set up Auto Rhythm patterns, and so on, without having to scroll down and individually perform those operations on each patch. As well as being a big time‑saver for programming multi‑patch setups, the ARC also introduces several important new features, which we'll examine below.

La Scoring Strings

Since many orchestral samplists rely on keyswitches to perform articulation changes, the absence of patch keyswitching in the original library was a surprise. That omission has been rectified in LASS 2.0: users can now set up their own keyswitches, which is good news for those who want to integrate this library into their existing orchestral templates. Using ARC's 'Set‑up' page (the details of which are explained in the 'It's A Set‑up' box), you can create a set of up to 12 keyswitches, which can be globally shifted up or down in pitch simply by adjusting the bottom note.

The beauty of this system is that you can play the patches individually on their respective MIDI channels, or keyswitch between them on a single, user‑defined channel. Any mod wheel or CC data you use will automatically be passed on to all the keyswitch patches by the ARC. The system allows you to layer multiple patches on one keyswitch, and also supports Kontakt instrument banks of 128 patches, which should be enough for even the most demanding power-user!

Another prominent ARC feature is the 'Stage & Colour' page, where you can adjust the overall tone colour, stage position, reverb and delay effects of all your loaded patches in one fell swoop. 'Sonic profile' presets inspired by famous film scores provide a handy starting point. Two that caught my ear were 'Fellowship Ring' (what film can they possibly be alluding to?), featuring a lush, concert‑hall‑style reverb based on new impulse responses created by Audiobro, and 'Sul Ponticello', a highly effective simulation of the 'on‑the‑bridge' bowing, which gives a fabulous, tinselly shimmer to violin tremolo patches.

The 'Colour' control tends to take the sharp edge off the timbre and impart an overall mellow, unifying, 'recorded' quality. This can be blended with the dry signal, so you can have as much or as little of it as you want. Stage positioning includes conventional left‑right panning, individual instrument stereo-width control and a clever, front‑to‑back 'proximity' setting which damps high frequencies as you move an instrument towards the virtual 'back' of the stage, thus simulating the naturalistic attenuation effect of distance on sound. There are individual controls for stage position, colour and reverb, and an 'FX' knob for slap‑back delay.

Also Appearing...

Legatos, glissandos and portamentos are now incorporated in easy‑to‑use single patches. Setting the portamento velocity range to 0‑127 bumps the other two articulations out of the race, enabling you to play Bollywood‑style pitch slides over the full dynamic range.

Introduced in version 1.5, LASS's Auto Arranger software is now combined with 'Delay and Humanization' programmable timing variations on the clunkily named but exceedingly potent 'AA & DNH' page. The Auto Arranger aims to take the sweat out of arranging by automating part‑allocation and voice‑leading: for example, you can allocate four‑note chords to (from the top down) first violins, second violins, violas and cellos. You can also make the basses track the cellos an octave down, or first violins double the seconds at the octave, without having to edit your MIDI notes.

While this is a convenient way of generating a realistic string arrangement from a keyboard part, it gets a bit stickier when you vary the number of notes in a chord within a passage; programmable range limits and an 'advanced edit' page containing various user‑definable sub‑rules help you determine which instrument will play what note, so, with a bit of head‑scratching, you can pre‑determine instrument allocations for anything from a single note to a 12‑note chord! The big attraction is that you can set up auto‑arrangements on one page, and save them as keyswitchable presets.

Other new features in LASS 2.0 include a micro‑tuning page (a boon for users who work with non‑European scales and tuning systems), an enhanced MIDI CC (Control Change) table enabling fine control and shaping of mod‑wheel (CC1) dynamics, and a visually‑enhanced EQ page featuring three‑way parametric equalisation with adjustable 'Q'. An honourable mention should also go to the excellent Auto Rhythm Tool, a splendid generator of urgent spiccato rhythms that was rightly singled out as a major selling point in the original SOS review.

Somewhat counter‑intuitively, it turns out that the so‑called full version of the library (LASS Full 2.0) is not actually full: an additional volume called LASS Legato Sordino 2.0 adds muted legato articulations played by full, half‑sized and quarter A/B ensembles. These sound very nice indeed, but the extra expenditure may be a bridge too far for the uncommitted.

In Conclusion

LA Scoring Strings has long been hailed by cognoscenti as one of the elite string libraries, and the new functions, sound‑shaping options and simplified patch system introduced in its 2.0 upgrade can only enhance that reputation. It could be argued that the Audiobro Remote Control pages will go over the head of newbie sample‑users, but since the library works perfectly well without the ARC, anyone used to working with Kontakt libraries can use the patches in the normal way and get to grips with the control pages at a later stage. Either way, Audiobro's 'onwards and upwards' approach shows commitment and ingenuity, and the LASS 2.0 upgrade has undoubtedly made an already powerful library stronger, more capable and more musically flexible.

Alternatives

Other large, pro‑quality orchestral strings libraries include (in chronological order) Sonivox (formerly Sonic Implants) Symphonic String Collection and Vienna Symphonic Library Orchestral Strings and Appassionata Strings. Kirk Hunter Studios Concert Strings 2 has a similar array of different section sizes, while the desk‑by‑desk recording of Audio Impressions 70 DVZ Strings offers ultimate flexibility for ensemble‑building. If you need the added advantage of multiple mic positions, EastWest/Quantum Leap Hollywood Strings is a leading player and Cinematic Strings 2.0 a worthy contender.

LASS 2.0 Overview

Instrumentation/section sizes (46 players).

• 16 Violins (16 / 8 / 4a / 4b / 1).
• 12 Violas (12 / 6 / 3a / 3b / 1).
• 10 Cellos (10 / 4 / 3a / 3b / 1).
• 8 Double basses (8 / 4 / 2a / 2b / 1).

A set of virtual 'Second violins' patches has been created from the violin samples. These are programmed to avoid phasing issues with the first violins and panned to a Second violins' orchestral stage perspective.

Designed for divisi use, the 'a' and 'b' sections were individually recorded and feature different players. All sections have first‑chair and virtual second‑chair solo instruments performed by the section leaders.

LASS 2.0 is available as a download only and runs on the free Native Instruments Kontakt 5 Player (not supplied with the library), and on the full version of Kontakt 5. The samples (now all 24‑bit) are presented in NI's NCW lossless compression file format, which means that they require only about 16.4GB of disk space.

It's A Set‑up

LASS 2.0's ARC script has one minor wrinkle: before using it, you have to open its 'Set‑up' page and select patch names that correspond with your loaded patches. Drop‑down menus containing the instrument names, section sizes and articulations make this very easy, but you might wonder (as I did) why it's necessary. The maker's answer is: 'Kontakt does not allow bi‑directional communication from the patches to the ARC script, but the script can communicate with the patches.” In other words, you have to tell the ARC what the active patches are, then you're ready to rock.

Pros

• New 'Audiobro Remote Control' pages introduce many useful and time‑saving features.
• Patches have been streamlined and simplified.
• Now includes user‑definable keyswitching.
• As in the original, different section sizes and solo instruments offer great musical flexibility.

Cons

• The ARC may be a little daunting for the inexperienced.
• As in the original, there are no true second violins.

Summary

A top orchestral strings library famed for its flexible section sizes has acquired a host of useful new features that enhance its musical and technical capabilities. Although the 2.0 upgrade contains no new samples, existing users and newcomers alike will enjoy the expanded sound options and increased ease of use, while more experienced samplists can look forward to exploring the innovative Audiobro Remote Control pages.

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