Awesome comparison. I own string instrument packs from both of them and complete pack from AM.

Excellent work. It’s readily apparent to me (and I own both of these) that there are strong points in both but that the difference is in each company’s implementation of the instrument’s characteristics, and you demonstrate this very well here. The clicky note transitions, curious IR’s for body resonance and odd math of the attacks in AM’s string instruments have made them mostly unusable to me, whereas SM’s programming indicates a slant towards a beautiful sound and a musical approach. AM are to be commended for representing so many aspects of the instruments’ sounds, but it seems as if they don’t care how they work together - and this focus is observable in the demos the company puts forth - more of the whiz-bang aspect of “see, if you wobble this knob the sound changes” and less of really good performers who understand how they modeled instrument behaves. And they don’t seem to be bothered by the synthetic character. It’s funny - in the moment that the “bow” touches the “string” there are parts of the AM sound that really capture this abrasive and chaotic moment on a microscopic scale - but the end result while perhaps correct in a mathematic way doesn’t yield such a great result. I should say, however, that I rely heavily upon AM’s woodwinds. Perhaps the modeling of those instruments is more straightforward and their behaviors easier to recreate with simpler controllers (like the TEControl), whereas one would need something like your custom controller and your obvious knowledge of the instruments to make a stringed instrument truly sing. I recently finished a season of an animated series in which I used SM strings for my principal orchestral string sound. I was never disappointed. Once I placed the dry ensembles in an appropriate space using scoring stage IR’s from Altiverb and Virtual SoundStage 2, they were allowed to shine in the way modeled strings do - absolute agility. They go where you tell them to. I’m also a fan of SM’s brass. I enjoyed playing with the AM brass and some aspects of them - the Tuba and the ability to tweak mutes among them - but in the end I continued to use the SM ones. Thanks again for this singular and most effective demonstration.

glad I finally bumped into this - very cool and informative side by side test - thanks for sharing your work!

Excellent presentation. And great playing. Kudos!

Amazing performance!

Excelente comparativa. Creo que estas tecnologías están para quedarse y complementan muy bien a las pesadísimas bibliotecas de sonidos cargadísimas de samples, pero que al final ocupan demasiado espacio y requieren una capacidad de ajustes muy grande. Uso las bibliotecas de Samplemodeling y las de Audiomodeling y las técnicas de modelado físico junto a samples, a día de hoy me parecen una opción con una relación calidad precio excepcional.

I agree that the sample modeling cello sounds a bit metallic in the higher registers. Someone once commented on VI Control that there were problems in the lower registers (I don't recall if he was referring to Audio Modeling Cellos). I have Sample Modeling Strings (love 'em so far) and I'm about to upgrade to the new Audio Modeling Cello. Your work is inspirational!

Great work indeed. Can you please indicate which version of the VSTi you are using ? Thanks.

I love SM, but I find the main problem with them being the harmonic overtones for individual notes. Essentially, the lack of any noise except bow noise and lack of ability to tweak individual notes' harmonics. Obviously this is easily fixed by scripting a plugin, but it's just something I wish SM implemented internally considering they already implemented overall harmonic balance control.

Fun fact: these companies do not rival eachother, if I recall correctly. In fact, SM’s G. Tommasini and AM’s S. Lucato collaborated with Gary Garritan to create a Kontakt library, ‘the Stradivari Violin’

@iretional8697

2 жыл бұрын

I didn't know that! It's very interesting that Stradivari Strings have that kind of story.

@mr.hashundredsofprivatepla3711

2 жыл бұрын

@@iretional8697 I’m actually talking about this library kzread.info/dash/bejne/c2h_lbaYnbPQmJs.html

Tremendous presentation. Thank you very much. According to my looking into AM versus SM, AM would require some good skills at the midi controller [midi learned] sliders. Having Nucleus from Audio Imperia and some Vienna Libraries and wanting to expend further my horizons I still don't know whether or not I should give AM [SWAM] a try - I wish SWAM had a small demo version.

@iretional8697

3 жыл бұрын

Thanks for your interest. SWAM and Samplemodeling products are both adequate for being used by a breath controller which I've used in this video, and by a expression pedal. Or leap motion or Touchè is also proper. Besides, AM and SM share similar way of playing techniques. However, playing SM or AM with sliders and faders is not a good idea. Slider, mod wheel, fader are old tech and adapted to conventional libraries like Vienna symphony, Cinamatic Studio, Spitfire. It is very hard and awkward to make any good sound by using them for SM and AM. I guess the best option is for you to buy a single SWAM violin in a discount period and try it.

@QuantumPulse20

Жыл бұрын

Contact the Swam support, they do provide a demo if you ask

@Chu_the_Master

Жыл бұрын

@@iretional8697 Would you suggest using SWAM along with Expressive E Touché SE?

@iretional8697

Жыл бұрын

@@Chu_the_Master I've been currently using Touche SE with SampleModeling and Swam and It's quite recommandable.

@Chu_the_Master

Жыл бұрын

@@iretional8697 Thanks so much for your advice!

what version of SWAM did this demo use?

This is a great video cause with black Friday coming up... I'm trying to decide which one to get ! That said @iretional which one do YOU like the most... And why? Many thanks !

@iretional8697

Жыл бұрын

I currently prefer Sample Modeling's

@now_im_here3698

Жыл бұрын

@@iretional8697 care to share why? Is it because they give you chamber and symphonic too? Or is it the sound? Or the playability? Please do tell :)

@iretional8697

Жыл бұрын

@@now_im_here3698 Audio Modeling's playability is outstanding but sound quality and natrualness feel less than Sample modeling products. It'd be better to see everyone's opinion on this matter. There are community posts wrote by various digital music enthusiasts including myself about Sample modeling and Audio modeling products. vi-control.net/community/threads/audio-modeling-vs-sample-modeling-strings-comparison.108560/#post-4807971

Nice job! I like the sound of the Samplemodeling strings better in my own humble opinion. I suppose one's preference is determined by what the perfect stringed instrument sounds like to their own ears.

@ettiennelane9173

3 жыл бұрын

Agreed. The legato sounds funny with AM.

Soundwise, I like the SM Violin and Viola. But the Swam Violins and Violas don't sound terrible. I hear the "synthyness" pop out here and there, but I've heard real violinists pay notes that sounded synthy here and there. In an ensemble setup similar to Rohan De Levera's setup, I would try using both AM & SM strings, with the SM strings being more dominant in the mix. I bet that would produce an amazing sound. Of the cellos, the AM is the clear winner for me. But, with a few tonal adjustments/different IR the SM cello might sound just as good. If these instruments are out-of-the box with no tweaks, the AM cello sounds much better. I'm wondering about the differences in performance data for each set. Some of the SM passages sounded less realistic than the AM because certain notes were exaggerated, but I'm thinking that can be fixed by tweaking the midi data? I would think that with the instruments being modeled, you can produce almost identical performances by tweaking. Of course the timbre would still be different.

@iretional8697

3 жыл бұрын

Yes. Tweaking midi will solve artificials. Sounds in the video were purely recored with my keyboard and custom midi devices with no post midi editing. As I mentioned at the description, My purpose of using AM and SM VSTs is to minimize after tweaking process, maximizing real-time capabilities. The video shows some frustrating issues and I've been eager to solve them since getting many excellent feedbacks including yours. As for a real-time midi input method, I've currently found some great improvements available for everyone. Though I'm gonna make some vidoes about it, in short, conventional keyboards nor midi guitars are not quiet appropriate for these kind of instruments. The mechanism of keyboard often causes unnecessary artificial effects and control mistakes, which leads to a need of inevitable midi data modification. I'm looking forward to show something helpful soon.

@dr-musictech5108

3 жыл бұрын

@@iretional8697 Looking forward to it!

@ileryon4019

2 жыл бұрын

@@iretional8697 then that's not a fair comparison. Unless this is an out of the box sound test.

@iretional8697

2 жыл бұрын

@@ileryon4019 What do you mean by that?

steady ,SM is more suitable for oriental violin, while AM ​​is more suitable for orchestra

AM strings sound more like an eletric violin/viola/cello to me than a real one. Still cool though.

@iretional8697

3 жыл бұрын

That also means, in the other word, Audio Modeling SWAM is excellent at simulating electric string techniques.

@francismcfadden3305

3 жыл бұрын

@@iretional8697 SM is definitely better for real strings. Some constructive criticism though, it would be nice to hear it without the over use of the harmonic overtones because to the people who don't understand the tech it might sound like SM just has weird sustain or something. I feel this was unintended but just pointing it out.

@iretional8697

3 жыл бұрын

@@francismcfadden3305 You're right. I've seen the listners' recognition of overtone and harmonics is mainly varied by acquaintance with strings. In this demo, just like you mentioned, the overuse of overtone is noticeable. So I've currently adjusted an overtone activation mechanism of my custom midi controller from digital to analog, which means It now lets me decide the exact amount of midi CC for overtone, consequently resulting more refined and natural outcomes. Thanks you for sharing your insight. I'm always looking forward to hear good opinions from pros.

texture of sample modeling way better than audio modeling,

It sounds like the same midi track data has been applied to both instruments. And I think it shouldn't be this way. Maybe I'm wrong.

@iretional8697

2 жыл бұрын

no. it's not same data.

SWAM of course