Interactive Keyboard

The keyboard is divided into three sections: Style Phrase Selection, Bass Note and Play Range. All strings play pre-defined parts so every Style Preset is like a small composed music piece that interlocks the Low and the High strings layers.

Interactive Keyboard

 

Style Phrases

Style Phrases

Keys in the C#1-B1 range play phrases of the currently selected Style. There are 6 phrases plus 4 additions in each Style.

Stop Key

The highest key of the Style Range – B1 – is the Stop key. In Latch mode, pressing this key will stop playback.

References: 

 

White keys: C, D, E, F, G, A	Phrase 1-6
Black keys: C#, D#, F#, G#	Addition 1-4
Black key: Bb	Ending
White key: B	Stop

 

Note: Symphonic Elements STRIIIINGS lets you switch phrases in real-time without interrupting the performance. That’s a great way to create dynamic and interesting phrasings of your own by quickly switching phrase keys.

Bass Notes

Bass Notes

The “Bass Notes” range of the MIDI keyboard (C2 – B2) allows you to play bass notes independently from the chord played in the Play Range. This way you can play so-called Slash-Chords:

 

D/F# for D-Maj with F# in the Bass.

C/G for C-Maj with G in the Bass.

In Symphonic Elements STRIIIINGS, the Bass Note range will control the Low Strings section, while the Play Range still controls the High Strings.

Play Range

Play Range on the Interactive Keyboard

The right section of the keyboard is the one that actually starts and stops the strings performance and determines the chords your STRIIIINGS player will play. 

Chord Recognition

The built-in chord recognition will map the notes or chords you play to the ones available in Symphonic Elements STRIIIINGS. If the chord you play is not available, it will map it to the closest musically correct replacement.

Playing only one key results in a major chord. But you can play different triad-combinations and STRIIIINGS will understand them:

 

• maj, min, sus2, sus4, 7, dim
• some phrases/sections only play roots and sometimes fifths so not all chords make a difference
• when it's ambiguous the lowest note or bass note decides e.g. between Csus2 and Gsus4

 

Chord Fingering Scheme

Here is a reference of the chords supported by Symphonic Elements STRIIIINGS and how you play them when “C” is your root note:

Cmaj	C, E, G or just play C
Cmin	C, Eb, G or just play C and Eb
Csus2	C, D, G
Csus4	C, F, G
Cdim	C, Eb, Gb
C7	C, E, G, Bb or just play C and Bb

PitchWheel and Modwheel

The two standard wheels on many MIDI controllers give you a lot of dynamic control over the performance of Symphonic Elements STRIIIINGS.

 

 

PitchWheel and ModWheel 

PitchWheel

The Pitchbend Controller or Pitch Wheel lets you crossfade between Low and High Strings in realtime. Its range is limited by the Crossfader setting.

ModWheel

The Modulation Controller or Modwheel creates a decrescendo effect. Use it to tone STRIIIINGS down in breakdowns or softer passages.

Style Selector

Here you choose a STYLE – the selection of phrases accessible via the Style Phrases range on the keyboard.

 

                                                             Style Selector

A STYLE in Symphonic Elements STRIIIINGS is a collection of phrases that you “tell” your strings player to play. Styles are the “rhythmic vocabulary” of Symphonic Elements STRIIIINGS.

You can select styles by either clicking the arrows of the Style Selector to skip to the previous/next style or by clicking the name of the current Style to bring up the full list.

Style List

Every Style is a set of 6 phrases plus 4 additions. 

Phrases are ordered by intensity/density from left to right, with white keys playing the actual phrases and black keys adding extra riffs.

SYNC

Symphonic Elements will always play in sync with your DAW, but you can select between two ways of it reacting to your playing:

• In “Note” mode, whenever you play a note on the MIDI keyboard, it will immediately trigger a phrase. This is more intuitive when trying out phrases, but will hardly make it possible for you to play in time with a song while the DAW is running.
• In “Beat” mode, after you hit a note, Symphonic Elements STRIIIINGS will wait until the next beat (quarter-note). This way the performance is always perfectly in sync with your song, but it will take you a while getting used to playing notes slightly ahead of time. 

DAW Track Pre-Delay

If you load an instance of STRIIIINGS initially the sync mode is set to Note. If you record STRIIIINGS to your playback, quantize the MIDI afterward, and play it back the STRIIIINGS sound rather late - which is what real strings also do, because it takes time for the bow to start the string moving.

Film composers using high-end sample libraries compensate for this by setting a negative MIDI-delay per track. You can do this to STRIIIINGS as well if you want them to sound tighter to super-tight. We recommend a negative track delay of -30 ms.

Note that in Beat sync mode, phrase playback is automatically adjusted 30 ms early to sound tight to the beat. But you must ensure chord and phrase selection notes are sent before the phrase note you want to change has started playing - either with a negative track delay or playing the notes early and leaving them unquantized.

 

KEY

Key Selector with menu

The Key parameter forces any note you play on the keyboard to notes of the selected scale. This comes in particularly handy when you use pad controllers to play STRIIIINGS, or when you are not a prolific keyboard player.

• Click between the arrows or on the current key denominator to change the key.

 

Micro Timing Parameters

 

Timing Menu

• On the right of the interactive keyboard above to the “Key” and the “Sync” selector, you will find the micro timing menu. 
• Click it to open a selection of Timing parameters that you can use to adjust your Symphonic Elements STRIIIINGSs performance to your song.

Speed

The Speed switch lets you halve (0.5x) or double (2x) Symphonic Elements STRIIIINGS’s tempo relative to the song tempo. 

Swing

This function, often also called “Shuffle”, delays the off-beats. Symphonic Elements STRIIIINGS will automatically switch the Swing resolution to 8th or 16th note depending on the selected Style. 

At maximum position, the off-beat will have the same timing as the last note of a triplet.

Use this control to match the timing of Symphonic Elements STRIIIINGS to a shuffled or triplet-based song.

 

Latch 

Latch

When Latch is activated, once you press a key in the Play Range, Symphonic Elements STRIIIINGS will keep playing until you press the Stop key. 

When Latch is off, Symphonic Elements STRIIIINGS only plays as long as you hold at least one key in the Play Range. Latch is convenient when testing or setting up sounds, and is more practical if you build a track by manually entering notes into your MIDI track. 

You can use an optional Sustain Pedal as a temporary Latch. Lifting the sustain pedal unlatches any notes that are no longer held, even if the Latch switch is still on.

Note: Latch behaves differently in Instrument Mode. Please read on!