The Sound Board

From Tempest Audio, Minim strings is designed for "expressive repetitive legato and minimalist motion that doesn’t immediately collapse into machine-gun repetition".

The core of the library is 8x round-robin legato sampling across the ensemble:
• Violin I — 8 players
• Violin II — 6 players
• Viola — 5 players
• Cello — 5 players
• Bass — 3 players

Additional specs:
• 4 mic positions (Close / Mid / Room / Mix)
• 8x P and MF legato round robins across the majority of the library
• 4x sustain round robins
• 4x release round robins
• NKS compatible
• Requires FULL VERSION of Kontakt 7+

Alex has previous worked on Embertone libararies. The library is "coming soon" - no pricing details yet.

https://tempest.audio/minimstrings/

Back from hibernation... thanks for posting this, was unaware. Don't hear much that is to my liking in that brief clip; the back and forth figures sound rather flat and unconvincing to me, almost stale and with little flow. I'll be curious to hear more when it gets closer to release time.

Luke wrote: May 13, 2026 2:58 pm Back from hibernation... thanks for posting this, was unaware. Don't hear much that is to my liking in that brief clip; the back and forth figures sound rather flat and unconvincing to me, almost stale and with little flow. I'll be curious to hear more when it gets closer to release time.

Feels like it needs more swell, doesn’t it? As if the demo was done without (or with only minimal) expression.

The tone sounds like it could be nice. Further demos may help.

Lawrence wrote: May 13, 2026 4:38 pm

Luke wrote: May 13, 2026 2:58 pm Back from hibernation... thanks for posting this, was unaware. Don't hear much that is to my liking in that brief clip; the back and forth figures sound rather flat and unconvincing to me, almost stale and with little flow. I'll be curious to hear more when it gets closer to release time.

Feels like it needs more swell, doesn’t it? As if the demo was done without (or with only minimal) expression.

The tone sounds like it could be nice. Further demos may help.

Yes, Larry, you're right. It's that sort of "wavy" feeling that comes from the movement of the one note to the other. Tone is pleasant enough indeed. I'd certainly welcome something that can flawlessly do this type of figure, as it's not easy to pull off at all. I seem to remember Performance Samples Vista Legatos doing a good job of it.

Lawrence wrote: May 13, 2026 4:38 pm

Luke wrote: May 13, 2026 2:58 pm Back from hibernation... thanks for posting this, was unaware. Don't hear much that is to my liking in that brief clip; the back and forth figures sound rather flat and unconvincing to me, almost stale and with little flow. I'll be curious to hear more when it gets closer to release time.

Feels like it needs more swell, doesn’t it? As if the demo was done without (or with only minimal) expression.

The tone sounds like it could be nice. Further demos may help.

Agreed. Could be very interesting as an additional string layer. With Vista II sitting at $179, I’m curious where the pricing for this lands.

Mike Marino wrote: May 14, 2026 8:59 am

Lawrence wrote: May 13, 2026 4:38 pm

Luke wrote: May 13, 2026 2:58 pm Back from hibernation... thanks for posting this, was unaware. Don't hear much that is to my liking in that brief clip; the back and forth figures sound rather flat and unconvincing to me, almost stale and with little flow. I'll be curious to hear more when it gets closer to release time.

Feels like it needs more swell, doesn’t it? As if the demo was done without (or with only minimal) expression.

The tone sounds like it could be nice. Further demos may help.

Agreed. Could be very interesting as an additional string layer. With Vista II sitting at $179, I’m curious where the pricing for this lands.

I'll have to try Vista II (provided you mean the String Ensemble Lite, as it currently is named?) for this. Doesn't initially strike me ideal for it, but then, I haven't attempted using it like this yet. The original Vista, with that smooth legato and flow, might work, on the other hand.

Luke wrote: May 14, 2026 4:14 pm

Mike Marino wrote: May 14, 2026 8:59 am

Lawrence wrote: May 13, 2026 4:38 pm

Luke wrote: May 13, 2026 2:58 pm Back from hibernation... thanks for posting this, was unaware. Don't hear much that is to my liking in that brief clip; the back and forth figures sound rather flat and unconvincing to me, almost stale and with little flow. I'll be curious to hear more when it gets closer to release time.

Feels like it needs more swell, doesn’t it? As if the demo was done without (or with only minimal) expression.

The tone sounds like it could be nice. Further demos may help.

Agreed. Could be very interesting as an additional string layer. With Vista II sitting at $179, I’m curious where the pricing for this lands.

I'll have to try Vista II (provided you mean the String Ensemble Lite, as it currently is named?) for this. Doesn't initially strike me ideal for it, but then, I haven't attempted using it like this yet. The original Vista, with that smooth legato and flow, might work, on the other hand.

Ah, I think I’m getting the Vista libraries mixed up.

Here’s a demo utilizing faster tempo and more movement:

And another demo as part of a bigger production

Hey Soundboard,

I have some colleagues in here (Hey Mike!), so as I was poking around and noticed that our little release was mentioned on the forum. It's now out, priced at $149 INTRO thru June ($199 after that).

I have to work on my video production skills, but as I improve that, this walkthrough should convey super clearly the idea and sound behind our efforts... Have a great week and ask any Q's! Oh and also, no need to sugarcoat reactions and criticisms, we have thick skin

-Alex

Walkthrough:

For what it claims to do I think this is a great addition to my toolbox. Just from a very short look after purchasing it I think for this repetitive legato phrases this is unparalled. The demos don't show a lot of dynamics but it can be done and the sound of the recordings is very well I find.
But of course not the next bread and butter string library.
Something similar with detache and shorts could be nice I think.

I've gotten that complaint from a few people already (dynamic width is too narrow)... Luckily there's a control for that, and I will put it to FULL next time I make a video (meaning that P dynamics will be much quieter). Just made this when a VIC member challenged someone to try it, calling it a "library killer". After avoiding this kind of writing with VIs for so many years, it's fun to finally be able to program something like this!!