What's new

Tokyo Scoring Strings: How good is it?

Tokyo Scoring Strings has a very specific sound that other string libraries do not.

Some people seem not to hear this, and it sounds to them pretty much of a muchness with other strings.

I suspect if you are familiar with anime the difference will be more striking.

To me, anyway, it sounds distinctively East Asian. That means it breaks new ground, unless there are other libraries doing this that I don't know about. [Edit to add: this paragraph doesn't make much sense. It's groundbreaking because of how it sounds to me? I'm pretty sure I'm not the appropriate criterion! I hope you get the idea, though...]

On the technical side... Pretty different and special there too. I don't know if the end results are marked improvements on skilled use of some other libraries though.
It struck me when listening back to my video at 7:35, seeing the Zelda overlay in the background and hearing the TSS demo at the same time. It just sounded familiar, in a good way.
 
In a focused experience video, you can never cover all aspects of a library. For that you'd need to compose pieces in various genres, go ham with the deep editing options that the library features and do a review after perhaps half a year to really have mastered it.

Those content creators who do 2-3 hour streams even can't even explain all facets of the library. Even though, 2 or 3 times I mentioned CSS, I'd assume 90% of the video are about TSS, and TSS alone. Personally, I think a catch-phrase is good for grabbing attention, but shouldn't be taken too seriously :)

Another content creator from a different background might compare it to another Impact Soundworks product from a technical standpoint (the evolution of the TACT engine etc.). And it will be also valid, but also very selective and not paint a *complete* picture.

A content creator from Japan might give other insights yet again. Someone compared it to LA scoring strings for example. With all these perspectives and slices of insight, one can build a more complete picture themselves. For entertainment purposes, education, or as a purchase decision.
Yes it's both valid and interesting to see this through your own lens - not being a Japanese anime composer.


okyo Scoring Strings has a very specific sound that other string libraries do not.

Some people seem not to hear this, and it sounds to them pretty much of a muchness with other strings.

I suspect if you are familiar with anime the difference will be more striking.


And knowing very little about anime myself, it's challenging my own aesthetic sensibilities. Sometimes it does sound to my ears much of a muchness. But at other times, carefully listening is rewarded and I do here something completely new (to me) here,not just in tone but more importantly in an expressiveness that can be composed to (and not just another riff on a western variant of the high romantic).

So videos like this are very welcome in helping all of it come together. Though I'd love to see more from Japanese and/or anime composers also.
 
Last edited:
Also, so many posh words!! Let's go for the spiccato seccoooo with the seeenza vibratooo. It's probably the most Milano of all Tokyo strings out there.
 
Also, so many posh words!! Let's go for the spiccato seccoooo with the seeenza vibratooo. It's probably the most Milano of all Tokyo strings out there.
Would you please do with a legato "senza vibrato" too,,, :-p
Thank you.

Edit: your video 03:52 is there, thanks!
 
I’m trying it right now on a musical, so more on the pop side.
It behaves well, the strings are cutting through the mix. Still a lot of work to blend them well but it’s promising.
So, it’s probably a great product for pop strings too.
 
@Loïc D
I think next to the focused orchestral J-RPG style (recommendation: Bricasti M7 style reverb like Seventh Heaven), TSS was actually also advertised as being great for pop use (recommendation: no reverb). Great to see someone trying out the more pop-related use case, as I think most people are focused on the orchestral work for TSS.
 
I keep listening to TSS reviews trying to find out what the fugu people mean by "This library sounds distinctly East Asian" or "This is perfect for anime or J-RPG scoring." The section sizes is nearly the same as VSL Elite and several others. I hear pizzicatos, staccatos, sustains just like any other string library. I hear Vn, Va, Vc, Vb just like any other string library.

The musicians and engineers were Japanese. The studio was in Japan. Somehow the strings themselves now sound Japanese?
 
I keep listening to TSS reviews trying to find out what the fugu people mean by "This library sounds distinctly East Asian" or "This is perfect for anime or J-RPG scoring." The section sizes is nearly the same as VSL Elite and several others. I hear pizzicatos, staccatos, sustains just like any other string library. I hear Vn, Va, Vc, Vb just like any other string library.

The musicians and engineers were Japanese. The studio was in Japan. Somehow the strings themselves now sound Japanese?
And I can't fathom how some people can't hear it!

Of course it isn't the strings, the sections and named articulations! It's partly the recording but mostly the performances. This is a western string section played in a Japanese style.

Of course, if you don't hear the Japanese anime style, you likely won't want it. So I wouldn't let it bother you!
 
I’m already strung out i have so many underused string libraries…………..
I’m not into doing mockups so for me a string library has to bring something really different to the table mainly for coloring.
My next string library purchase will probably be Threnody. I’m waiting for Sonnicouture to finally start discounting it more toward a price point I’m comfortable with. In the meantime I have so many string libraries that don’t get used enough.
 
I’m already strung out i have so many underused string libraries…………..
I’m not into doing mockups so for me a string library has to bring something really different to the table.
My next string library purchase will probably be Threnody. I’m waiting for Sonnicouture to finally start discounting it more toward a price point I’m comfortable with. In the meantime i have so many string libraries that don’t get used enough.
Was 50% off last month not good enough for you? I don't think they would go lower than that!

I'll trade you Threnody for Ark 2. I'll even throw in Vektor.
 
Was 50% off last month not good enough for you? I don't think they would go lower than that!

I'll trade you Threnody for Ark 2. I'll even throw in Vektor.

Shit I must have missed it,I don’t even remember Threnody being discounted 50%! 😱
I would be buying now if it was even discounted by 40% but the present sale price is meh.
I was hoping for a good discount during the XMas sale but for some reason Sonnicouture doesn’t want to get my money.
 
Shit I must have missed it,I don’t even remember Threnody being discounted 50%! 😱
I would be buying now if it was even discounted by 40% but the present sale price is meh.
I was hoping for a good discount during the XMas sale but for some reason Sonnicouture doesn’t want to get my money.
I could be mistaken but I swear I remember resisting 50% off prices across all the Soniccouture libraries.
 
@Bee_Abney
Thare were so many BF bargains I might have had my blinders on and missed it. Not a real problem I already have enough underutilized string libraries! 😂
 
the auto articulation is pretty ground breaking imo. It's tech that I often dreamt about - not sure how good it is in practise tho.
It's pretty much flawless. I draw everything in, edit velocities, (or if the part isn't difficult, I'll play it in) fine tune articulations with an Expression Map in Cubase (because that's what I'm used to, I hear Easy Artic is working well too though) and quantize everything. Then once I hit playback, it does everything it's supposed to do, the legato triggers without any hickups (even on really fast passages), etc. So yeah... pretty ground breaking indeed!
 
It's pretty much flawless. I draw everything in, edit velocities, (or if the part isn't difficult, I'll play it in) fine tune articulations with an Expression Map in Cubase (because that's what I'm used to, I hear Easy Artic is working well too though) and quantize everything. Then once I hit playback, it does everything it's supposed to do, the legato triggers without any hickups (even on really fast passages), etc. So yeah... pretty ground breaking indeed!
I've only used *everything* activated (including Easy Artic) so far. Good to know that the more free approach of picking the articulations yourself but still having Lookahead mode assist you works well, too.
 
I bought it and had my first time with it yesterday. It's exactly what I needed. It won't substitute for Vista for the emotional intensity because it's more constrained style. But it's ideal for the focused elements (up front in the mix) of pieces that are more modern rhythmically, such as for accompanying guitar instrumentals. For me it was a better alternative than the VSL libraries because of the no nonsense workflow, and it provides me an accurate ensemble, with rhythmic agility and that "cutting thru the mix" string sound that I guess VSL libraries also provide. To boot, I got it on a very gracious rewards + sale price offer.

I should mention that I liked it's demos online better than what I hear from VSL Duality Strings for example. For some reason I haven't taken to any VSL string and horn demos - I don't know what's up with that but it could just be an EQ'ing and sound space choice thing.

Most importantly it's amazing how well the 1-second Look ahead system functions for a visually impaired person like myself. (after all, you can simply line up the notes with no overlaps, and everything is on the Grid. I did some work with some other libraries (no legatos but other plugins with a hefty amount of plugin delay compensation needed by the mixer section of my DAW) and had no trouble keeping every part of the project on the grid. Nabeel has made some very good implementation decisions. Apparently (I'm about to test it) with the full ensemble patch you can use the simplified workflow to do an entire nice sounding string mockup on a single track using the ensemble patch.
 
Last edited:
Top Bottom