Review: Viola da Gamba by Cinematique Instruments

Viola da Gamba recontextualizes a now-rare Baroque-era instrument as the source for many modern and current sequencing and textural possibilities. If you’re searching for a broadly-familiar sound with a yet-distinct element of je ne sais quoi, look no further than this offering from Cinematique Instruments.

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Review: Viola da Gamba by Cinematique Instruments

Cinematique Instruments’ Viola da Gamba merges a beautifully-captured six-nylon string instrument with a simple-yet-powerful UI, providing a coarse and organic sound to be used in hybrid, quirky, or intimate productions.

Viola da Gamba sells for €90 from Cinematique Instruments

Thoughts

Thanks to Mr. Jimmy Page and other cutting-edge sonic explorers, to play the guitar with a bow is now a fairly ubiquitous extended technique, culminating in the construction of guitars – acoustic and electric – made specifically for that purpose. Bowed, fretted 6-string instruments have been around for far longer, though: for instance, the viol, aka the viola da gamba, common in music of the Renaissance and Baroque periods.
Unlike the similarly-named modern viola and other instruments in the violin family, the viola da gamba (like other instruments in the viol family) has six (though sometimes less) strings of gut (in modern times, nylon), flat backs, sloped shoulders, “c” holes, frets, and tuning setups of fourths and thirds. Compared to the refined sound of the modern violin family, the viola da gamba has a raw, edgy, almost uncouth edge, belying its early origins.
To capture this earthy, now-uncommon string sound and translate it into the needs of composers of the modern era was the goal Cinematique Instruments had when they set out to create their virtual Viola da Gamba, and in this task they have succeeded admirably. Take, for instance, the UI:

A clean, contemporary sans-serif typeface clearly delineates the function and status of the minimalist knobs and articulation selector, while the instrument name cleverly incorporates the appositional “c”-holes into the “o” of its title. And, in case there is something unclear, clicking the question mark in the bottom-left of the patch window reveals a very useful help-screen:

Very tasty. Moving on to the articulations of Viola da Gamba:
Spiccato: brisk and scratchy, yet full, with an artificially-reduced release tail (to the point of sounding like it could be a one-shot-style articulation). 12 round robins.

Staccato: still scratchy and full, a bit more leisurely in attack and release, and the overall length of the waveform is dependent on the length of time between the note on and note off. 12 round robins.

Pizzicato: in tone, somewhere between a cello pizzicato and a nylon guitar pluck. Very fat, warm, and pleasant, and takes a delay effect (including the built-in one) very well. Like the staccato, the overall length of the waveform is dependent on the length of time between the note on and note off. 12 round robins.

Arco: a poly, bowed articulation with CC1/ModWheel controlling dynamic level. There seems to be little if any vibrato. Attack is very slow; do not expect to perform quick passages with this patch, but I suppose layering in the Spiccato or Staccato might provide the biteyness such a passage might demand.

The Arco also reveals some of the few flaws of Viola da Gamba: longer sustains reveal a nice (and realistic) rebowing, but even longer sustains can reveal loop points which may “pop” in unpleasant ways. Why the rebowing is not the loop-point, I do not know – it seems like a wasted opportunity. Also, there are two dynamic layers, “soft” and “hard,” each with 3 round robins, which do not line up in loop points or even – occasionally – blend in tonality very well, so Arco-heavy passages will need to be written with this set of limitations in mind. It is obvious to me that this articulation is not the focus of this library.

The first four articulations are fairly bread-and-butter; it is hard to imagine any self-respecting “orchestral string instrument” library without them. However, the next two articulations showcase the modern vision of Cinematique Instruments:

Hammered: an extended technique, in this short articulation xylophone mallets are used to hit the strings. This ends up sounding something like a dulcimer with a head-cold, but in the best way possible. Because of its organic, percussive nature, this articulation is incredibly “sequence-able,” an attribute aided by its 12 round robins.

Fragile: a very sound-designey, organic, rough, unpredictable sustain sound. CC1/ ModWheel controls overall volume. A little “+” appears next to the articulation name if it is selected, and if the plus is itself selected, additional textures are added into the patch sound:

These additional textures could be a non-tremolo-to-tremolo-and-back-again sound or a very drunken vibrato, and though these textures are obviously stretched across broader key ranges than the traditional articulations’ samples are, there is not a sense of lost realism or increased “sampley-ness” – these are incredibly well-recorded and processed, and could give a lot of mileage to a textural score.

The “Solo/Trio” section to the left of the articulation list does just what it says on the box: Solo is the single instrument, and trio multiplies its sound (but not its volume) by three, via a time offset. This can add some nice ensemble thickness to any of the sounds, although the previous issues with the Arco loop points become even more apparent.

The effects on the left of the UI are similarly straightforward:
Tone (including knob): by default at 12 o’clock, moving the tone knob counterclockwise darkens the tone by controlling a 2-band EQ which boosts low mids and cuts high mids; likewise, moving the tone knob clockwise brightens the tone with the opposite EQ motion.
Drive: Engages Native Instruments’ “Skreamer pedal” effect for a slight volume boost and mild overdrive distortion.
Amped: Engages Native Instruments’ “Brit 60s” amp cabinet simulation.
Chorus: Engages a stock chorus ensemble effect.
These effects can be further manipulated on the back end by clicking the wrench at the top-left of the instrument UI and expanding the “InsertEffects” tab:

Finally, the time-based effects on the right of the UI, Delay and Reverb, are each controlled by a level knob. Their qualities (rhythmic value of delay, or convolution style of reverb [of which there are 9]) can be selected by clicking the current values located under their respective knobs.

Because of the beauty and simplicity of the UI, these effects can all be used and tweaked in combination with the articulations, especially the shorts (which each have 12 round robins!), ensuring very cool sequencing and textural metamorphosing capabilities.

If you are looking for a standard solo orchestral string instrument, no, obviously not: as we’ve covered already, any viola da gamba is going to stand out as being an “other” to the violin family.

If you are looking for a period-accurate viola da gamba sound, then maybe. It is well-recorded and, other than the loop points issue in the Arco patch (which are very easy to work around), well-scripted. The instrument is a joy to use thanks to the careful planning and execution of the UI.

Where this instrument truly shines, in this reviewer’s opinion, is in the modern: wonderful, deeply-sampled shorts, some very useable extended techniques, all with a left-of-center vibe, that could exist equally well in a pop arrangement as a hybrid orchestral piece.
If you consider yourself a cutting-edge twenty-first century composer, take a strong look at Cinematique Instruments’ Viola da Gamba.
After all, what is old is new again!

Facts

Approximately 1200 samples, downloads at 600 MB compressed. Tuned to Baroque standard of 415 Hz. Requires Kontakt 5.6.8 or higher.

Viola da Gamba can be purchased from Cinematique Instruments for only €90 (~ $97 USD at the time of this writing)

Viola da Gamba sells for €90 from Cinematique Instruments

Demos of Viola da Gamba by Cinematique Instruments

Videos of Viola da Gamba by Cinematique Instruments

Contributor Kent Kercher reviews Viola da Gamba by Cinematique Instruments
“Viola da Gamba recontextualizes a now-rare Baroque-era instrument as the source for many modern and current sequencing and textural possibilities. If you’re searching for a broadly-familiar sound with a yet-distinct element of je ne sais quoi, look no further than this offering from Cinematique Instruments.”