CON MOTO – CELLOS
Expressive Ensemble Strings with Motion
Con Moto – Cellos is a string library recorded with motion in the sustains, legato, and attacks/releases. “Active-bow” sustains offer continuously re-expressed vibrato & emotion, via performance & editing approaches. Responsive note attacks and meticulously-timed release samples – derived from units of musical performance – morph with your playing to allow fluent note-length variation, similar to previous Performance Samples libraries. Much in the same vein as Oceania, Con Moto – Cellos continues along the path of “energetic release samples” and appreciation of performance-sourced phrase endings as a critical element of the toolkit in release-sample functionality. Bow-change legato transitions wrap it all together, and with the entire library recorded con moto and musically-restless, the result is a breathing ensemble with coherence in phrasing, vibrato, and expression.
- Six cellos (primarily soloist and 1st-chair musicians) from the Capellen Orchestra
- Three dynamic layers, from moderately soft to FFF
- Bow-change legato con moto (legato with movement in the bowing and vibrato)
- “Active-bow” sustains (non-static longs that move and evolve while simultaneously maintaining the dynamic/timbre)
- Multiple attack types (hard and soft) triggered via velocity
- Release samples that respond fluently to note-length variation*
- Recorded in an ambient hall** with multiple mic positions:
- Close 1st-Chair
- Close Section
- Decca
- Wide
- 48kHz / 24bit
- NCW-compressed, ~2.14 GB total
- Built for Kontakt 5.5.1 and above – full, retail version of Kontakt required
- Download and watermarking via Continuata
* optimized specifically for the hard attacks
** the same hall as Caspian, Fluid Shorts, Fluid Shorts II, and Pacific
NOTE ON DELAY: this library has a moderately delayed response when playing (140.1 ms) to further the musicality of the legatos and releases. The library is heavily optimized for this delay amount. All the elements of the library (legatos, sustains, attacks, releases, etc) are on the same delay.
This product was re-introduced in July 2022 by popular demand.
Attacks & Releases
This library has two types of attacks: hard and soft. The hard attacks are reasonably multi-purpose and occupy velocities 40-127. The releases are timed & optimized for the hard attacks, allowing you to vary note length anywhere from short to long fluently, via performance and programming approaches. There are also soft attacks in the library, designed mainly for opening phrases, and pad writing. These occupy velocities 1-39. Because of their performed nature, the releases are not designed to work with these softer attacks on shorter notes.
By default, the soft/hard velocities occupy 1-39/40-127. You can change these to your taste by going to the Monitor in Kontakt, typing in “soft” or “hard,” selecting the groups, going to the Mapping Editor and and making sure only zones for those groups are shown, and then changing the zone velocities.
Delay
The library is globally delayed at -140.1 ms (to the closest mic: CL-1C). Set your MIDI track to this number, quantize, and you will be on-time.
Mic Positions
CL-1C – close first-chair
CL-SC – close section
DC – decca
WD – wide
Legato/Non-Legato
There’s a keyswitch block which allows you to move between legato and and non-legato (polyphonic) playing. These can be assigned to any keys via the “KS” area on the GUI.
Patch List
Con Moto – Cellos.nki
Library Limitations
- There is some level of ambience-bleed / “bump” on the attacks if they’re played in standalone isolation or you’re using mostly ambient mics (the wide and, to a lesser extent, the decca). This is a byproduct of pulling samples from connected performances in an ambient room.
- There are CPU issues with this library in Logic AU and Vienna Ensemble Pro AU. Please see the “Logic/AU Users” tab.
Logic/AU Users
Posted as of release day. This library causes CPU spikes in both Logic AU and Vienna Ensemble Pro AU. The CPU spikes seemingly happen when Logic is in “realtime mode” while one is playing in a figure / has a track armed. Con Moto – Cellos should be avoided if you are a Logic AU user and/or Vienna Ensemble PRO AU user. However – to clarify as of 3-May-2018 at 9:50am PST – using the library in Logic via Vienna Ensemble Pro VST appears to work fine.
At this point, there are no plans for a fix, as the elements appearing to cause issues (modulators, filters, etc) are critical for the functionality of the library.
As of July 2022. There may be exploration of an update in the future to fix the issue by rebuilding the patch, although there are no committed plans as of now.