Some easy bichords do not play in some articulations with Stradivari Cello

blblblbl

Hi,

I've recently bought Stradivari Cello (1.3.0, sitting on Kontakt 7.10.5).

With some articulations, there are easy bichords that just refuse to play - either one note or the other is played, and the position diagram only displays one of the strings being played.

Setting a position preference does have an impact here, and some arbitrary position choices enable improvised workarounds.

Replication:

• G3+E4 (easy major 6th on the D and A strings)
• easier to replicate with a small MIDI file (easier to "note on" at the same exact time) - obviously replicates live with a MIDI controller and a well-timed double key press as well
• the bichord works e.g. with the detache bowed articulation - aka at least both notes can be heard (but the diagram shows only one)
• the bichord does not work with e.g. virtuoso or sustain bowed etc. - only one note can be heard
• even with the working articulations, the position diagram never seems to show the two strings being played at the same time for the G3+E4 bichord
• this does not seem to only impact the G3+E4 bichord, but it's the easiest to replicate
• most bichords, e.g. G2+E3 work and display correctly in the position diagram with pretty much any articulation

Workarounds:

• weirdly, this can be somehow worked around by setting the position preference to high string (only tried with the G3+E4 bichord - could be different with other problematic chords) - however the position preference should have nothing to do with this chord (afaict there is hardly any choice of suitable strings here), and notably, the issue still replicates with the "smart" preference or the lowest string preference, making very little sense in how that setting would be relevant
• the only alternative I found to switching the preference when ever a bichord is buggy, was even worse - i.e. just to not use those articulations when playing the chord

Can anyone replicate?

If so, have you found any workaround better than the ones illustrated above?

Thanks in advance for your time

Jeremy_NI

In what DAW is this happening? Can you share a small project where the issue is coming up, or even a MIDI file? So we can quickly try a repro.

blblblbl

@Jeremy_NI thanks for having a look. As mentioned already in the original post, you don't need a DAW to replicate, just open the instrument in standalone Kontakt as a barebones means of replication. This said, I work with Ableton 12.

As also mentioned in the original post, you can replicate with any MIDI controller of your choice, or you can play a small MIDI file with the G3+E4 bichord (just one example, other bichords in that range will replicate the issue with most available articulations). I trust you don't need an attachment to replicate a single bichord?

All the best

Jeremy_NI

@blblblbl Sorry for not getting back. This was forwarded to the Kontakt Instruments team, they're filing the bug.

blblblbl

My internal support ticket has been closed after 2 months of no useful feedback and no bugfix.

I guess this tells a lot about development and support quality here.

If anybody lands in this thread while assessing whether to buy the instrument, strongly suggest you refrain from it as it has bugs and they are not getting fixed / instrument is not getting maintenance.