Javelin Strings
Volume 1

The “short” version

Javelin Strings: Volume 1 is a flagship sample library dedicated solely to “short” notes.

We aimed to capture every useful note length and articulation, from a single bounce of a ricochet, right up to short expressive sustains, and everything in between.

Many of the articulations were sampled in more than one context, including static, phrase-based (aka repetition samples), re-bowed, distinct up and down bows, and with specific tempos and energy levels so that the samples can adapt to the speed and context of your music more naturally.

In addition to what will be the most comprehensive selection of ‘standard’ shorts, are a number of performative articulations, typically impossible to recreate convincingly with traditional samples. Mordents, falls, scoops, slurs, trill and tremolo bursts, all bring energy and lesser-explored colours to your work, with a particular usefulness for action and faster-paced music.

Some quick stats :

Up to 28 different articulations per section, featuring:

  • 9 different note lengths
  • 12 "performative" articulations
  • Repetition, non-repetition, and bow-change samples
  • Up and Down bow directions (with automatic switching)
  • Multiple contexts of spiccato

The backstory

Our Goals :

Raise the bar in musicality and "realism" in sample-based productions

Encourage diversity in compositions by making 'advanced' articulation options accessible and intuitive to use

Offer functionality appreciated by "power users", but easy to use for everyone

A note played “staccato” in one piece of music is not performed the same as a “staccato” in another, but when our sample libraries only offer one staccato, there are limited opportunities for sculpting a phrase in a natural way to suit different musical contexts.

Javelin Strings was designed to offer this natural variation, to not only enhance the quality of phrasing and performance in your music, but to also encourage exploration of phrase-building that will result in more colorful and engaging compositions.

For composers like myself who rely on technology to write and produce music, our tools inspire and influence what we write. This means that if something is missing from our samples, then it is likely missing from our music.

Likewise, there are established workflows designed around the idea that different articulations should belong to different categories. While there are valid reasons for this technologically speaking, it can be a hinderance to creativity, as it requires the composer to psychologically “switch gears” before considering anything outside of the current box of pieces they are working from.

As a result, there is the risk of contributing to a “sameness” and lack of musical diversity within the combined output from the industry. If you’ve ever felt like genericism is on the rise, then you know what I’m talking about.

Javelin Audio has ambitious ideas for sample libraries, especially when it comes to orchestral strings. As a brand new independent developer, our resources are limited, so in order to achieve the depth and quality of sampling we strive for, it is necessary to split up our overall goal into a modular approach. While we could have simply provided another “bread and butter” library, that would go against our passion for pursuing this in the first place.

To clarify. we are not splitting volumes by section (violins, violas, etc.). Instead, Javelin Strings: Volume 1 will be the ultimate library of short articulations.

I know, I know… that’s a big call! But here’s why I believe it’s appropriate…

Overall, Javelin Strings was approached with depth and versatility in mind – from the section sizes to the microphone positions, the articulation choices to the instrument programming – this pony knows a lot of tricks!

We’ve covered all the shorts you’d expect from a strings library, but we’ve gone a few steps further by also recording variations of each, allowing articulations to adapt to the context of your music.

We’ve also captured several extended articulations that are not typically included in a library, but are used frequently in composition, both from the concert music realm and the film music world.

Javelin Strings was recorded at Trackdown, on the Simon Leadley Scoring Stage. This is Australia’s largest and most in-demand scoring stage for orchestral film and video game scores. In recent years, Trackdown’s recording credits have included:

Three Thousand Years of Longing (Junkie XL), World of Warcraft: Shadowlands (Blizzard), Mortal Kombat (Benjamin Wallfisch), Mad Max – Fury Road (Junkie XL), Happy Feet 2 (John Powell), Peter Rabbit 2 (Dominic Lewis), Hotel Transylvania: Transformania (Mark Mothersbaugh), The Lego Batman Movie (Lorne Balfe), Star Wars: Visions (Kevin Penkin), Marvel Studio’s ECHO (Dave Porter), Marvel Studio’s “What if…?” (Laura Karpman, Nora Kroll-Rosenbaum), Diablo IV (Blizzard)… need I go on?

Javelin Strings was engineered by Craig Beckett, Trackdown’s in-house engineer, and a key component to the sound of all the projects listed above. There is nobody more qualified than Craig when it comes to getting the best sound out of Trackdown’s space and the equipment within.

The engineering decisions including microphone positions, placement/heights, microphone choice, player seating positions, ensemble sizes, and even down to how many empty chairs were left in the room during recording, all result in an impressively “expensive” yet controlled sound, that will make mixing a breeze – not only when used by itself, but even in a mix with other sample libraries or high-quality recordings.

We have every intention to record and offer our take on longs and legatos, once Volume 1 has been released. It will then be available as a separate volume, with an option to bundle with volume 1 for new customers.

MORE DETAILS TO FOLLOW SOON . . .