To simulate strummed chords on fretted instruments, use very short single notes played in order tightly with only a slight time delay after each note, with a sustain used to ensure the notes continue to ring out until the next chord or as necessary.
![garritan personal orchestra 5 modulation automation garritan personal orchestra 5 modulation automation](https://d29rinwu2hi5i3.cloudfront.net/article_media/8ceb456b-2bb5-4153-abe0-f6f9a526ae1b/00_title_image.jpg)
The Orchestral Tools developer have also taken this approach, whereby the company releases a large, ‘main’ library first and follow that up with smaller ‘expansions’ of additional articulations and performance methods.Īs demonstrated in the composer survey, the top influencing factor in choosing a sample library was that of the articulations included, followed closely by the playability of the library which indicates the importance that composers place on these two aspects of a library. Instead of releasing products which are aimed at containing all articulations and performances, the developer releases sections or articulation groupings separately, with all recorded in the same recording space using the same mics and techniques so as to allow users to pick and choose which specific ensembles or performance articulations they require and seamlessly combine the separate libraries together.
![garritan personal orchestra 5 modulation automation garritan personal orchestra 5 modulation automation](https://wpmedia.garritan.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Additional-Strings-in-Garritan-Personal-Orchestra-5.png)
Spitfire Audio, in their recent iterations of libraries, have deviated slightly and taken the ‘modular’ approach of orchestral libraries. This approach is very different to how the early pioneers of sample libraries sold their wares typically by releasing an ‘all encompassing’ library such as EastWest’s Symphonic Orchestra or the much older but pioneering Garritan Personal Orchestra. Indeed, such is the wide breadth and depth of articulations performed by any given instrument, yet exemplified by a typical orchestra arrangement, that developers such as Spitfire and Orchestral Tools have taken to recording and releasing libraries separately, either section by section or by different iterations containing more articulations.
![garritan personal orchestra 5 modulation automation garritan personal orchestra 5 modulation automation](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/dI2GuJpogGk/mqdefault.jpg)
One area that has consistently grown in later years compared to the earlier days of sampled instruments is that of articulations and performance techniques. Given the ever-expanding computing power and memory storage, it is unsurprising that sample library developers are continually adding and expanding the content of the libraries they are creating.