Performance Samples
Fluid Shorts by Performance Samples Review
2025
Fluid Shorts by Performance Samples Review
Strings libraries are becoming one of the most commonly sampled attractions, and there are more available than most people can keep track of at any given time. Performance Samples has an interesting offering for composing with staccatos, aptly named Fluid Shorts, which we’ll be looking at today.
Performance Samples is well known in small circles as providers who offer orchestral libraries with high functionality and no bells or whistles. Many (if not all) of their samples are taken from recorded performances and repetitions, which gives their libraries a noticeable movement or lifelike quality. Fluid Shorts is solely derived from short note performances, covering violins, violas, celli, and basses. For more on Performance Samples see also your review of Oceania and Caspian.
Installation
The library is easily downloaded via Connect and auto-installed to your folder of choice, and being a full Kontakt library, there’s no registration needed.
Sound
Fluid Shorts, like other Performance Samples libraries, is offered with the close, decca and wide mic positions, which allows control over the dryness or wetness of the samples. While the close and decca mics sound decidedly more masculine and bold, the wide perspective sounds much lusher and typical of a classical concert hall arrangement.
The staccatos themselves are very straightforward and focused, without any added expression, and the note lengths can handle strong staccato passages as well as shorter, more frantic passages. It all sounds just how you’d expect, so you get exactly what you pay for in this case.
User interface & Usability
The GUI only cares about functionality, so there are no ribbons or lace to be found here. The interface essentially functions as a container for the samples and scripts, so rest assured knowing that the library doesn’t care about looks – just sounds.
The patches themselves are provided in three different ways for each section – normal length, which contains the audible tail-end of the note performed prior to the staccato you’re playing (it sounds like a pre-echo) which can be useful for playing repetitive on-the-note phrases because you’re hearing actual repetitions being performed.
What most composers will feel comfortable playing with is the “tight” patches, where the staccatos sound and feel like any other library you’ve played, which is good for general composing. The “ultra-tight” patches are made even shorter, so fast and detailed playing can be performed with these.
Overall, Fluid Shorts isn’t exactly the kind of library you’d drool over – it’s a tool at its core, rather than a toy (and us sample collectors love our toys) – but functionality is present in abundance here. The library does exactly what you want it to and nothing more.
Rating: Three out of five stars
Don’t get me wrong here – Fluid Shorts is in no way an inferior library. If you like short notes, in my opinion, Fluid Shorts is one of the very few libraries I consider to have highly useful and well-balanced staccatos, which is nothing to be sniffed at.
Fluid Shorts earns every one of its three stars, but at the end of the day what you’re essentially getting is one articulation, thus the library is aptly priced with this in mind. I say if you have the spare cash on hand and you like nifty tools for composing, by all means, add it to your collection and it’ll do the rest for you.
ANGRY WOODWINDS PRO
Angry Woodwinds Pro is a loud (ff-fff), bare-bones solo woodwinds library, recorded in the same space as Oceania, Oceania II, Angry Brass Pro – Ensembles, Angry Brass Pro Soloists, Vista Strings, the upcoming Voyage, and others. It consists of five leans, yet energetic instruments – solo flute, solo piccolo, solo bassoon, solo clarinet, and solo oboe – with the capability to vary note lengths fluently from a tongued staccato to a longer marcato.
- Five individual soloists: solo flute, solo piccolo, solo bassoon, solo clarinet, and solo oboe
- Multi-functional, looped patches with up to 5 RR on the attacks and releases, featuring performances derived from phrases
- Two speeds of release samples which react to note length
- Loud (ff-fff) dynamic, with EQ modeling on CC1/mod-wheel (based on recorded dynamic references)
- Recorded in a hall* with close and Decca mic positions
- 48kHz / 24bit
- NCW-compressed, ~742 MB total
- Built for Kontakt 5.8.1 and above – full, retail version of Kontakt required
- Download via Continuata
All of the instruments feature round-robin attacks and releases, the latter of which comes with two speeds to aid with note length flexibility (particularly for shorter notes and, as the flute and piccolo highlight best, measured tremolos). The library is intended for thematic, aggressive-leaning passages contextualized within an orchestral setting (as opposed to exposed, lyrical functions).
ANGRY WOODWINDS PRO is available now for $99 NORMAL INTRO (through March 25,2021)
If you own Caspian, Vista, Oceania, Oceania II, or Angry Brass Pro – Ensembles (NFRs don’t count), you can use code AWPLOYALTYINTRO to bring the intro from $99 to $69. Your purchase may be subject to verification.
Virtual Instrument Library
Tutorial on Layering Sample Libraries: Performance Samples Vista and Cinematic Studio Strings
2025
Performance Samples Vista and Cinematic Studio Strings
In this video, we are going to not compare sample libraries but getting into the process of layering them.
Let’s get into the process of layering Performance Sample Vista and Cinematic Studio Strings.
We will also talk about further processing such as reverb, mixing, and mastering. In this example, I am using Audio Ease Altiverb, Seventh Heaven and also Slate Tape Machine, the Shadow Hills compressor, and the Stealth Limiter by IK Multimedia.
Performance Samples’ Vista Strings
Vista is a legato strings library featuring a larger-than-life, romantic chamber sound, four dynamics (from a true PP all the way up to an intense FFF), slurred legato, same-note bow-change repetition samples, multiple attack types, and more. This library is perfect for composers looking to add a dramatic and emotional touch to their compositions. Vista stands out from other string libraries with its rich and expressive sound, making it a top choice for those looking to create evocative and powerful musical pieces. Its unique features and attention to detail set it apart from other true legato sample libraries on the market.
Just like Con Moto, the sustains, legato, and other assets were recorded “in motion.” The sustains specifically use an “active-bow” approach (employed on Con Moto and others) which offers continuously re-expressed vibrato & emotion, via performance & editing processes.
Vista features 5 violins, 4 violas, 3 cellos, and 3 basses. There are some bonuses, one of which is a basic full strings patch (created from the individual sections), useful for sketching and pads.
Also included is an overlay patch featuring 3 violins playing sustains and legato with heavy vibrato at FFF, useful for layering on the main 5 violins patch for more legato gel and detail. Lastly, there’s a harp, with notes recorded in repetition so that it can do repeated notes fluently.
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