About Hyperion Strings Ensemble
THE BIG PICTURE
Hyperion Strings Ensemble is an orchestral string scoring tool like no other, bringing you brilliant sound, expressive performance capabilities and personalized control features. It comes loaded with a vast selection of articulations, variations, dynamic expressions, runs, trills and aleatoric effects. Shape your own ideal sound, from the intimate to the astral. Whether you need human realism and detail, or deep sound design and vast atmospheric textures, this library is built for total flexibility to fit any style, project and creative need. And you’ll find it all wrapped in an efficient, sleek interface that lets you dive right in.
This full Ensemble edition of our Hyperion Strings series is the culmination of nearly a decade of painstaking development and evolution at Soundiron. We've designed and engineered every aspect of this collection to bring you a universal virtual orchestral string instrument that captures the broad range of articulations and expressions you need for general string orchestration, an extensive variety of more esoteric, intricate and creative content, our signature sound-design textures and elements, and a powerful set of sounds-shaping and arrangement tools to open the doors of possibility, all while remaining true to our philosophy of user-friendly interface design and naturally intuitive control.
There are 5 string sections contained in this ensemble, totalling 30 members: The first violins with 8 players, the second violins with 7 players, the violas with 6 players, the cellos with 5 players and the double-basses with 4 players. We chose these compact section sizes to produce a more natural divisi sound when arranging complex orchestrations. The sections can be layered thickly to produce a large symphonic sound, while allowing a more precise and immediate intimacy for chamber ensemble and tighter arrangements are needed.
The library is built for professional scoring, with quality, care and balance in every detail, but it was equally important that it feel natural and accessible for songwriters, producers and musicians of every genre and production style. From the generalized terminology and interface layout, to the flexible routing, articulation templates and preset systems, the whole experience is fluid, coherent and complete. Each bow stroke type, articulation, dynamic expression and effect is tuned and balanced to feel as seamless as possible so that you can dive in and start scoring immediately. Take a look at the complete content and feature list and see what’s in store for you.
PLAYABILITY IS KEY
Each section is fully equiped with fingered and gliss true legato for vibrato and non-vibrato sustains, a full spectrum of long and short note variants and styles, an extended catalog of modular dynamic expressions like crescendos, decrescendos, sforzandos and swells and plenty of aleatoric string effects and specialized articulations.
The True Legato presets weave together multi-dynamic lush vibrato and clean non-vibrato, recorded at piano, mezzo-forte and forte dynamics. The 1st Violins section also includes an extra “mezzo-piano” dynamic between the piano and mezzo-forte layers for added nuance. You can switch instantly between agile fingered and smooth glissando legato transition styles for vibrato and non-vibrato sustains, with speed control that adapts to the way you play when you want it to, yet gives you total hands-on control when you need it. You can use it to craft startlingly realistic and seamless performances, whether you’re playing quick slurred runs or long, silky-smooth melodies.
The SUSTAIN DYN + REACT articulation allows you to smoothly blend between vibrato and clean (non-vibrato) sustains and use the swell control to fluidly move through the dynamic range. The special PERFORMANCE articulation includes all the features of the SUSTAIN DYN + REACT one and also includes a tight attack, allowing you to easily play quick, short notes or hold the keys down for sustaining notes. The attack is selectable between TIGHT, LOOSE, or TIME based which plays loose notes as you play slowly, but automatically switches to tight notes the faster you play.
There are also continuously bowed sustains in piano, mezzo-forte and forte dynamics with a rich, naturally emotive quality. High-tension tremolo articulations include sustains in piano, mezzo-forte and forte dynamics, staccatos, and several crescendo and decrescendo variants. Each section includes fast and slow half and whole-step interval trill sustains with tempo-sync. The 1st Violins also include fast trills up to major 3rd and slow trills up to a perfect 5th. Explore our effects section for other specialty sustain types, such as ponticello, flautando, harmonics, bridge bowing and clusters.
The Short articulations make it easy to humanize your arrangements and find the perfect bow stroke or emotive expression for any musical moment. You can switch instantly between long & dotted 8th-note staccatos, 16th & 32nd-note short staccatos, 32nd & 64th-note spiccatos, all in piano, mezzo-forte and forte dynamics. We also have loose & tight pizzicatos (piano & forte), Bartok pitz string snaps (fortissimo) and Col Legno bow taps (piano). Short notes include up to 8 round-robins per note depending on the articulation, section and dynamic layer, with optional velocity/swell control, automatic time-based Loose/Tight switching refined realism and precision. Loose mode provides naturally looser ensemble cluster attacks for slower passages and a more natural ensemble sound. Tight mode provides more tightly-synchronized single attack for faster passages and a more precise sound. Time mode automatically switches between Loose and Tight modes, depending on how quickly you play new notes. This allows for a natural attack on slow passages and more precise attacks during faster passages without using key-switches.
The expressions are a selection of short, medium and long articulations that transition across dynamics, from p to f, f to p and everywhere in between. These modular dynamic Expressions allow real-time dynamically-aware release sample triggering, tempo-synching and time-stretching. From the delicate to the bombastic, we’ve captured dozens of distinct dynamic figures for various bowing techniques, so you can craft the perfect movement for every mood. Explore a complete selection of crescendos, decrescendos, sforzandos, hairpins and swells that allow you to create more realistic and emotive arrangements quite easily. They are modular and time-aligned between the sections to allow complex layering. As expressions play back, you can release notes at any time to trigger a natural and dynamically-appropriate release, to carve out any dynamic shape you need. With these tools, you can create an infinite variety of natural and fluidly real transitions and dynamic passages.
Each section includes a vast range of long and short chromatic and aleatoric effects, including harmonic sustains and staccatos, bridge sustains and staccatos, a wide variety of fast and slow trills, flautando sustains and staccatos, ponticello sustains and staccatos, ricochets, tuning, cluster sustains, cluster stabs, cluster slides, cluster skitters, cluster tremolos, bridge plucks, chromatic run ups & run downs, percussive hits and much more. The number of effects vary per section. For a complete list of available effects, refer to the articulation list.
The 1st Violins also feature a complete selection of Sordino articulations, including a variety of longs, shorts, expressions, effects, true legato and portamento. Click Here for the complete feature and content comparison chart to see the full selection of playable articulations and aleatoric effects available for each section.
INTUITIVE EXPERIENCE
We know that each artist is unique in their needs and workflow and we want you to find the sound you're after. Every feature is deeply customizable and we give you total freedom to shape the tone, balance, positioning and acoustic environment for each section. The design of our wide-format interface is clean and uncluttered, but you can go as deep as you need to. You'll find a full suite of professional tools and expert features ready at hand when you need absolute control.
Hyperion Strings Ensemble comes fully equipped with a range of intelligent performance features, including a full suite of articulations ready to load at the click of your mouse. Jump right in and play with our dynamic Performance articulation that effortlessly switches between sustains and short notes as you perform.
Let it flow with our adaptive speed and automatic response capabilities for legato and short strokes, natural vibrato blending cross-fader and automatic bow-changing mode. Move seamlessly between single and and grouped articulation layers with our instant A-B assignment and cross-fade control. Dial in your preferred Swell knob dynamic range with Niente attentuation control. Sequence live on-the-fly with the advanced Arpeggio system and Play-Assist key/mode locking and switching panel.
Create the perfect articulation map with rapid key-switch assignment, map save/load and macro functions. Save time and tie it all together with our quick preset save/recall menus located on each panel so that you can instantly share templates and settings between sections and across the whole library. Dial in your tone, body, dynamic response and sound-stage positioning and acoustic environment on the Effects and Space panels.
YOUR SOUND, YOUR WAY
We recorded Hyperion Strings Ensemble at the historic Fantasy Studios in Berkeley, CA. The four mic positions included in this library are not the typical clinical, generic and rarely-useful "just checking the box" microphone arrays you may find elsewhere. Each position is a specific blend of different microphone models and placement distances that we've carefully balanced, shaped and mastered for a distinct set of use-cases and aesthetic styles.
The star of this show is our Stage Position, with an intense presence and level of detail that you won't find anywhere else. It offers a raw woodiness, crisp bite and transparent clarity. This mix was created using extremely closely positioned large-diaphragm studio microphones (Neumann TLM 103) on each player, in order to produce a uniquely utra-present, intimately detailed character that captures every detail of each performance like no other.
The microphone type and direct placement on each instrument allowed us to keep a spotlight focused purely on the players, with the absolute minimal room coloration. Whether you need a close-up and direct sound, or want a mix that can be convolved and spatialized to fit any mix, let our Stage Position be your go-to. Though incredible-sounding on its own, this position is also exceptionally useful when layering with our other positions or even over top of other string libraries when you need to add more definition and personality to your string arrangements.
The Close Hall position offers a modern cinematic scoring tone, with tons of body, punch and shimmer, provided by an array of Neumann TLM 107s in cardiomni mode. It has a broad stereo image and unified sound-stage. This position is the one we chose for the Hyperion Strings Micro and Elements editions, to achieve a bold, clear and precise "trailer" style that would cut through the mix.
However, for this full edition of Hyperion Strings, we wanted to give this position a more natural and open quality, allowing it to breathe more naturally in orchestral arrangements. To that end, we've dialed back the pre-processing, EQ, compression, letting more of that organic dynamic and pitch variability to shine through, and intentionally allowed subtle player movements and realistic instrument performance artifacts to be present in the mix.
The Mid Hall Position is a classic widely-spaced mid-hall blend of Neumann KM 183 omni microphones with a velvety sound and smooth, satiny bloom that captures the whole room sound. It has a slightly darker character, with even dynamics and a rounded top that sits easily in classical orchestral arrangements and classic hollywood soundtrack mockups. You'll find this mix ideal for evoking the sound of the film scores and backing arrangements circa the 1970s and 1980s.
Lastly, the Far Hall Position is an absolutely lush, cavernous and dark vintage sound that weaves and flows like water. With a silky-smooth tone, deep concert hall soundfield and sensuous dynamics, this position's sonic blend harkens back to Hollywood's golden age and the sounds of mid-century pop and classical recordings from the 1920s to the 1960s. This position was captured with Neumann TLM 102 microphones for a balanced, linear response and minimal noise.
Hyperion Strings Ensemble is a well-rounded and complete workshop of playable content and advanced features to handle all of your orchestral string composing needs. It includes 78 instrument presets, 10 multi-instrument banks, over 150 thousand samples and 139 GB of total wav content.
It's available now for $549 USD, or with quick Shop Pay financing in 3, 6 or 12 easy monthly payments. All existing owners of Hyperion Strings Elements and Micro editions are also eligible for significant discounts on the upgrade to our full Ensemble edition. Click here to visit the product page.