CSW Legato Tips - Sustain and Marcato

0:00 Intro 0:21 CSW Legato Timings (slow, med, fast) 1:25 Track delay 2:28 Tools 2:35 Other options 2:52 On Time 3:15 Humanization 3:42 Marcato 4:20 Summary The consistency of the Cinematic Studio Series is one of its primary strengths. Consistency makes it a great tool for a composer because after we learn how to use it, we’re not fighting with the recorded samples – instead we’re able to write what we want to express. Let's look at the CSW legato and how to take advantage of it. The legato engine in Cinematic Studio Woodwinds has three speeds: slow legato transitions take approximately 220 ms, less than a quarter of a second; medium legato transitions take approximately 130 ms and fast legato transitions take approximately 90 ms, or less than a tenth of a second. This means quantizing all notes to the grid while triggering legato transitions of different speeds (which is accomplished using MIDI velocity values) will make some legato transitions sound late. Using Marcato with legato, every velocity triggers the same legato transition speed. In fact for the Woodwinds, which work differently from the strings in this respect, the velocity of the Marcato does not affect the sound at all. Zero or 127 makes no difference. In Cinematic Studio Strings the Marcato velocity changed the sound subtly, even when Spiccato overlay was off, and it did this independently of the mod wheel, giving you several more nuanced levels of control. In CSW the velocity has no effect. Unless the overlay is on, in which case it controls only the overlay, never the legato speed.