Sustains

Sustained articulations form the backbone of numerous Orchestral Tools collections. These patches provide long, sustained notes that can be held over long periods of time. This section describes the available patches, how they are organized and their features.

Sustain Types

Orchestral Tools collections feature at least one sustained articulation for every instrument capable of producing one.

Sustains are mainly differentiated by the way of their note attack and release:

- Sustains Imm are regular held notes with a quick ("Immediate") attack and release

- Sustains Soft have a softer attack and release

- Sustains Acc have an accented attack (using the Sustains Imm release)

These styles are all available as Single Articulation patches with one patch per attack style. Not all collections have all these styles; refer to the respective Articulation Guide. Some collections also have special sustained notes like Fluttertongue.

Continuous Sustains

Sustained Articulations usually hold their timbre, in which case they are always looped. This means that, when the note is held, part of the sample will be repeated indefinitely until the note is released. This allows for very long lines at (especially for wind instruments) the expense of realism if unrealistically long notes are played which a real player would not be able to sustain before running out of breath. In this case, singing the line is the best way to make sure it is playable: If you can sing it, most likely the player could play it in reality.

Expressive Sustains

The Soloists Series use special sustains with baked-in expression (in addition to regular continuous sustains). The Nocturne Series in both Legato and Sustains patches play regular sustains at middle velocity. Low and High Velocity trigger special expressions, depending on the patch. These include swells, (soft to loud to soft), crescendo and decrescendo. These expressions are individual for every sustain type (2 bar, 1 bar, ...).

Woodwind Soloists Series

Woodwinds Expressive Sustains and Reverse/X slider

The Woodwinds Soloists use the keyboard velocity to determine the phrasing of a line. If you play rather soft, the notes will have a slight decrescendo; if you play with higher velocity, the script will use samples with a slight crescendo. This approach allowed us to record natural phrasing directly into the samples. Note that this cresc/decresc effect is very subtle - you won‘t hear big changes in dynamics.

The cresc/decresc switching is also available in the sustain patches.

An important part of playing BWW Soloists instruments expressively lies in using dynamic variations. This is done by extensively utilizing the crescendo/decrescendo sustains. Never just bang the keys, but use these layers carefully. Coupled with the phrasing control described before and the adaptive legato script, you can play the Woodwind Soloists very expressively.

To the right of the interface, there is a slider labeled X-REVERSE. This allows you to alter the way the script reacts to your playing: By default, low velocities result in a decresc phrasing and vice versa. Enable the slider and the script will react in the opposite way to suit your playing style. The velocity of the first note in a sequence will also be treated as usual (i.e. low velocity = decresc), but any following note with the opposite setting (i.e. cresc in this case).

Berlin Series, Metropolis Ark 2, Glory Days and Nocturne Series

Vibrato

Most Sustain patches have multiple vibrato levels. Depending on the patch, you have Romantic Vibrato, Progressive Vibrato, Without Vibrato and Strong Vibrato. Use the vibrato toggles to switch between the different vibrato types. By default, CC3 is assigned to the vibrato styles. You can reassign this to any CC you wish by changing the setting in the Controller Table.

Metropolis Ark 1

Auto Sustain

The Electric Guitar and Bass patches in Metropolis Ark 1 allow you to keep the current note playing after releasing the key until a new note is played with the Auto Sustain feature. If enabled, the instrument will become monophonic and any note will continue to sound after the key is released until either a new note is played, the same note is retriggered or the sound is stopped with the CC or MIDI Note assigned to Stop Key in the Controller Table.

Glory Days - Big Band Horns

Soft Release for Doits/Falls

Most Sustain and Legato articulations in Glory Days - Big Band Horns have special Doits and Falls that can be triggered when a note is released by holding the Soft Release CC or MIDI Note assigned in the Controller Table.