Never before has a virtual instrument been able to play with such a level of expression!
Emotional Cello from Munich-based developers Harmonic Subtones is a virtual instrument with a powerful and emotional sound that opens up unknown dimensions of expressiveness. Whether it’s film scoring, pop production, songwriting, classical music, or modern, avant-garde cello composition, Emotional Cello shines with a variety of built-in articulations, direct and clear sound, and unusual gameplay and shimmers.
Contextual Sampling – As with other instruments in the Emotional series, the Munich-based developers have chosen to stay true to their concept of contextual sampling, in which all samples are always recorded in a musical context to capture the natural performance and expressiveness of real instrumentalists. With this approach, recording real vibrato plays an important role as it is always more inspiring and organic than adding artificial vibrato.
Articulations, patches, real legato – Emotional Cello was created from over 100 articulations and variations. Through a thoughtful and intelligent scenario, countless articulations are linked to each other so that they follow the user’s play style. The library contains three master patches, including “Emotional Cello”, “Sulponticello” and “Harmonic Cello”. The Master Patch contains most of the recorded articulations that are logically linked and deliver an elegantly aligned sound, thanks to the “real Legato”. Three different types of transitions were captured in several sessions and simulate, among other things, realistic changes in bow direction or passionate portamento during play. The user simply controls the speed – the tempo of the pitch transitions automatically adapts to your DAW! In addition to the patch master, Emotional Cello also contains a custom patch, which is a collection of key switch patches with different articulations of the same category such as sustaines, shorts, trills, and more. The dedicated patch offers some unusual articulations and effects, and the compound patch contains basic articulations with standardized key switching to match the composite patches of the Emotional Violin & Emotional Viola libraries.
Choice of play styles – Spiccimo & frog, Stacc, Fast Spiccato, Frog Madness, Pizzicato, Delicate, Delicate fast, Proud Vibrato
Hero Vibrato, Martele half NV 8RR, Martele half Vib 4RR, Pickup, Fortepiano, Vivid, Paganini Run, Moderate 2, Sustain Non Vib XFDe, Expressive XFDe, Pastorale, Pastorale slow, Tremolo, Trill HAT,
Trill WT.
Ornament Key Switches – The Ornament Key Switches are another great feature. Unlike key switches for articulation, they are transitional and allow you to change an already selected articulation. By pressing one of the Ornament Key switches, the current playing style can be converted to a different articulation or variations can be generated. Last but not least, Ornament MKS offers typical effects such as glissando, harmonic and many others.
Effects – To customize the sound of the cello according to your wishes, you can use effects specially designed for the instrument. These include a 3-band equalizer, switchable mute and tone function. The latter contains 15 convolution-based presets from renowned and experienced sound engineers for simple and distinctive modulation of the main sound.
For use of the cello as a 1st row cello in an orchestral environment, there are also timbre equalizers that place the cello in its correct position in the orchestral space. The finishing touch is provided by the “Room” and “Reverb” modules, which use professionally recorded convolutional reverb presets to reproduce the sound of real-world environments, and can also be configured separately.
You are an artist! – The “Attack” function allows you to add an additional opening sample, regardless of the currently selected articulation, to allow short notes to flow as you play legato or simulate harsh opening notes. “Micro Tuning” option available
Recording – Emotional Cello was recorded at Mastermix studio near Munich, in a wood paneled room with high ceilings and as far away from the wall as possible. For the greatest possible flexibility of use, two Neumann microphones, type KM184 and U87, were used for close-up recording. Thus, the room was quite elusive, and you can create the sound you want with your own effects. However, you can also use the built-in convolutional reverb.
