Audio Impressions creates high definition sample libraries backed by groundbreaking music technology for composers working under extreme deadlines.
Their primary purpose for founding Audio Impressions was to create sample libraries that deliver the performance and sound of live musicians in ways that have been overlooked. Moreover these libraries had to enable composers to create mock-ups of live orchestration that actually translate directly to fully accurate and playable scores. To accomplish this goal Audio Impressions had to create multiple new technologies.
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DVZ® is the first real-time subtractive polyphony process that divides notes into their proper sections just as occurs in a live performance.
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SPACE® is the first Decca Tree and microphone cross-bleed process that transforms individually recorded instruments
into a single live performance.
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AudioPort™ is the first Mac and PC compatible, high-quality digital audio over LAN process.
The result is truly stunning, in the words of Rodney 'Darkchild' Jerkins "DVZ Strings are incredible! I've worked with some of the best programs in the past and have seen the progression over the years. In my opinion Chris Stone (Audio Impressions founder) has really set the standard. I finally found something that brings that authentic orchestra sound right to my fingertips!"
Rodney has written with and produced acts such as Mary J. Blige, Beyonce, Madonna, Jennifer Lopez, Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Toni Braxton, Britney Spears, Cher, Janet Jackson, Destiny's Child, Natasha Bedingfield, and written and produced scores for "Honey," "Scary Movie 3," "Blue Streak," "My Baby's Daddy" and "Rush Hour 1 & 2.
DVZ Strings is divided into the “perfect world” standard number of instruments per section:
18 Violins I
16 Violins II
14 Violas
12 Celli
10 Basses
That’s 70 string instruments total, 10 of which are solos (the first two players in each section are solo, the remaining instruments are selectable as two-instruments stands or “players”). Included are every possible playing style and effect for every instrument, not just for some. All possible combinations of ensembles and playing styles are available immediately upon launch, at your fingertips, with full automation capability.
Audio is sent to your Mac or PC sequencer via Gibabit Ethernet using our included proprietary AudioPort technology. SPACE, also included, allows you to adjust to any size room and place individual players anywhere within the virtual environment.
What is DVZ?
DVZ® refers to Audio Impressions’ patented groundbreaking Divisi technology that gives you the real-world, real-time, section balances that previously have only been possible with live musicians. DVZ functions on multiple levels. At the highest Orchestrator level, DVZ I handles distribution of the indivdual notes of a chord to entire sections of instruments. Within a given section, DVZ II controls the allocation of multiple instruments to the individual notes handled by that section. And for string instruments, DVZ III also handles allocation of the individual strings to the particular notes played by each instrument. All this occurs seamlessly and automatically in real time.
Automatic Allocation of Instruments to Notes Played Optimizes the Sound Power and Harmonic Structure With conventional libraries, each added note increases the number of total players, and increases the sound level; the harmonic structure also "thickens" and the sound becomes muddy and over-modulated. With DVZ powered libraries the number of players and the sound level remain constant no matter how many notes are in the chord, just as occurs with live players.
The same kind of logic used to allocate played notes amongst active instruments (players) is also applied to allocating played notes amongst sections. For example, a chord can be orchestrated in real time, distributing its notes across the first and second violins, violas, celli and basses.
The important point is that you are able to produce realistic-sounding compositions. Audio Impressions’ Patented DVZ technology maintains a natural orchestral balance. Regardless of how few or many notes you play, the orchestral balance will always be maintained and the sounds will remain clear and distinct.
Audio Impressions’ SPACE process gives you highly realistic live-recorded sound by employing patent-pending, never-before-available room mic and spot mic cross-bleed simulation. Ai’s SPACE is designed to once-and-for-all eliminate the overdubbed sound that has characterized sample libraries of the past. Ai’s SPACE provides you with three Decca Tree array presets, continuously variable spot mic balances, and multiple user-adjustable room characteristics.
A Whole New Kind of Sonic Processor - Does What Reverbs Cannot Do Ai SPACE™ includes a rich set of features and controls that allow you to tailor the virtual sound stage – the acoustic environment – in terms of size and ‘liveness’ as well as other characteristics. It also lets you position each of the players in the library anywhere you want from left to right and front to rear within the virtual sound stage. As you can see from the GUI illustration here, you have many potential choices. You also have separate level controls for each of the section stems so you can quickly establish a pleasing mix balance without having to go to your DAW.
We have made it easy to get started by saving a variety of quite useable configurations as factory presets that you can select in an instant with the pulldown menu. However, you can change just about every one of the parameters to fine-tune the setup so it suits your purpose and taste, and you can save the new setup as a ‘user preset’ for global access or simply for use with the particular project.
You’ll notice the ‘instrument placement grid’ (IPG) which uses various colored dots to represent each of the players in the library. Click and drag the dots to position the players where you want them. This becomes particularly useful as you ‘dial down’ the number of players and wish to tighten up the seating arrangement of those players who are active while reducing the size of the environment. In this way you can actually shrink the 70 piece DVZ string orchestra down to a chamber group in a suitably smaller stage, or even down to a string quartet for that matter AND have the sonic environment be appropriate… all without loading any new samples.
What is AudioPort?
AudioPort™ is Audio Impressions' proprietary system for enabling sample computers to send up to 32 channels of digital audio over Gigabit Ethernet, or any high-speed TCP/IP connection to the Sequencer computer. AudioPort is also cross platform, sending audio from its Windows XP based VST host to an AU or VST AudioPort plug-in on any Mac OS-X or Windows XP/Visa sequencer. Standard Ethernet connectivity is always required so that MolCp3 can provide MIDI communication; it's also useful for advanced tech support and for downloading software and updates. To ensure that the network is fast enough to provide glitch-free, low-latency audio delivery, we require that you use a second Ethernet port (or "NIC") dedicated to AudioPort - using its own set of Cat 6 or Cat 5e cables and Gigabit switch. If the computers don't have and cannot be fitted with a second Ethernet port, you can use any of a number of inexpensive plug-in adaptors that work with FireWire or USB 2.0 ports.
AudioPort also includes a hosting environment to allow Native Instruments' Kontakt 3 software to play Audio Impressions' encrypted Realtime Instruments DVZ libraries.
Depending upon the library size, the chosen sample rate (DVZ libraries ship at 48 kHz, and 44.1, 96 or 192 kHz can be ordered), and upon the actual computers used (their particular CPUs, motherboards, RAM and hard drive speeds), it may be necessary to run multiple sample players in addition to the sequencer computer. These computers transfer digital audio via AudioPort, and the libraries are controlled from a single graphical user interface (GUI) on one of the sample players.
There's no need to have a separate GUI and audio output card on each sample player. No matter how many sample players you use for one of our Realtime Instruments libraries, you need just one audio output.
Click image to enlarge 
Click image to enlarge 
