Acousticsamples VWinds Double Reeds

SAMPLING MEETS MODELING, AGAIN & AGAIN

After the VHorns Brass section and VHorns Saxophones, we’re delighted to be introducing the latest addition to the VSeries - VWinds Double Reeds!

We sampled/modeled 2 Oboes, 2 English Horns (/Cor Anglais), 2 Bassoons and 1 Contrabassoon, each performed by different world-class musicians. The two versions of the Oboe, Bassoon and English Horn are separately recorded individual instruments, to offer variety of tone and colour.

Just as with VHorns, our core goal was to make these instruments easy to use right out of the box, without the need for key switches or multiple CCs, and controllable with just the air flow.

Thanks to our work on a hybrid technology blending recorded samples with modeling techniques, we were able to incorporate into these Double Reeds the very best of both worlds: impeccable, authentic-sounding instruments which are easily and immediately playable.

The VWinds Double Reeds also employ H.A.T. (our proprietary Harmonic Alignment Technology). This leading technology allows for a hyper-accurate reproduction of the timbre of each instrument, covering the full dynamic range across every articulation, combined with highly customizable, beautifully expressive performance techniques, such as legato transitions and vibrato.

The combination of real recorded samples with modeling techniques means that VWinds Double Reeds weighs in at only ~100Mb per instrument (retina graphics and presets included), while truly sounding like a real live instrument being recorded with all of its imperfections, alongside fully continuous response with unparalleled playability.

We are confident in saying that to our ears, and hopefully yours too, VWinds Double Reeds are the most realistic and easy-to-use instruments of their kind available today.

7-Instrument Bundle
The VWinds Double Reeds contains 7 double reed instruments:

• 2 Oboes, 2 English Horns, 2 Bassoons and 1 Contrabassoon.

The sound of double reed instruments depends very much on the player and the reed they use - no two instruments sound the same - so we recorded two of each of the first three performed by different musicians, in order to offer a variety of tone and color. If you would like to purchase the instruments individually, both versions of the instruments are included.

VWinds Oboe - VWinds English Horn - VWinds Bassoon - VWinds Contrabassoon

The H.A.T. - Air Flow Control
Thanks to our proprietary H.A.T. (Harmonic Alignment Technology), VWinds Double Reeds is not just another heavily multisampled instrument - you can play articulations yourself just like a live player would, with just a MIDI controller (or even by simply drawing the automation in!). There are no complicated keyswitches involved to play staccatos or fast legatos or anything else - it's just a case of playing it live as you think it should sound.

All you need to do is play a note and adjust the air flow, and that's it! Vibrato is automated by default, and this can be customized or even just controlled manually.

Authentic Vibrato
We carefully measured the different parameters that change when a player uses vibrato, and we combined everything into a hyper-realistic and extremely adjustable vibrato, specifically tailored for each instrument.

There are multiple ways to control the vibrato: automatic, automatic depending on time, and completely manually. Vibrato can also be replicated to an extent by using just the air flow, in order to replicate the diaphragm movement of a live musician.

Legato Transitions
We spent considerable time and effort carefully extracting every minor detail of recorded transitions in order to give a variety of customizable legato transitions, and to help make the Double Reeds indistinguishable from a live performance.

These transitions range from lightning-fast changes to extremely slow bends, with and without extra attack. We made sure to cover all of this, and you’ll see that this is all controllable in the interface. The legato behavior can even be randomized to help give a more human-like performance.

Multi Microphone Recording
Recording a woodwind instrument can be done in various ways and at different positions. We used 3 different microphone positions so that you can get the exact sound you want, as if you had chosen the microphone placement yourself.

This can produce even better results when using the "virtual space”, detailed below.

You can apply reverb and EQ to mix it completely to your taste.