Emotional Viola is the third member of the Emotional Strings series by Harmonic Subtones, following the cello and violin. This long anticipated and logical addition represents a comprehensive virtual instrument that is easy to play, and offers numerous possibilities for individual customization.

Not only does the Emotional Viola harmonize excellently with the cello and the violin, it is also highly valued as a solo instrument. Emotional Viola has a direct and unadulterated sound, plus a variety of essential to extraordinary articulations, as well as true legato and rebowing.

Emotional Viola is the first choice if you are looking for the perfect instrument for film scoring, pop music, songwriting, and classical or modern, avant-garde viola compositions.

Contextual Sampling
As with the other instruments from the Emotional series, the Munich-based developers decided to stay true to their concept of contextual sampling. All samples are always recorded in a musical context to capture the natural bowing and expressiveness of real instrumentalists. The recordings of a real vibrato play an important role, as they are always more inspiring and organic than adding an artificial vibrato.

Articulations, Patches & True Legato
Emotional Viola was created from over 50 articulations and their variants. By means of an elaborate and intelligent script, countless articulations are linked together, so that they follow the user’s style of playing.

The Emotional Viola Master Patch contains most of the recorded articulations, which logically interlock and provide an aligned sound, thanks to True Legato. Three different transition types have been captured in several sessions and simulate realistic changes in bowing direction or passionate portamento while playing. The user controls the velocity, and the tempo of the tone transitions automatically adapts to your DAW.

In addition to the Master Patch, the Emotional Viola also contains an Individuals Patch. This is a set of key switch patches with different articulations of the same category such as sustains, shorts, trills and more. The Specials Patch offers some unusual articulations and effects. The Stackable Patch contains the main articulations with standardized key switching to match the stackable patches of Emotional Cello and Emotional Viola.

Ornament Key Switches
The Ornament Key Switches are another great feature. Unlike the articulation key switches, these are temporary and allow variations of the already selected articulation. By pressing one of the Ornament Key Switches, the current playing style can be faded into another articulation or variations can be generated. Last but not least, the Ornament MKS offer typical effects like glissando, flageolet and many more.

The Effects
To customize the sound of the viola, you can use effects specially designed for the instrument. These include a 3-band EQ, a switchable sordino and a timbre function. The latter contains 15 convolution-based presets from renowned and experienced sound engineers for easy and characteristic modulation of the basic sound.

For the use of the Viola as 1st chair viola in an orchestral environment, there are also timbre EQs, which place the viola in its correct position in the orchestra room. The final touch is provided by the "Room" and "Reverb" modules, which use professionally-recorded convolution reverb presets to reproduce the sound of real rooms. These can also be adjusted separately.

You Are the Artist
The interface of the Emotional Viola has some advanced features to make it easier for you to play the library. For example, Poly Legato recognizes whether you are playing a bound melody line or a chord. Legato Trimming allows you to manually adjust the speed of legato and portamento transitions.

The Attack function allows you to add an additional start sample independent of the currently selected articulation. This lets short notes flow in during legato playing or simulates harsh starting notes. Correct tuning is also taken care of: Using the Micro Tuning Option, the most popular tunings can be applied to the viola, and completely new tunings can be created.

The Recording
Like the cello and violin, the viola was recorded in the Mastermix Studio near Munich, in a wood-paneled room with high ceilings and the greatest possible distance from the wall. For the greatest possible flexibility of use, two Neumann microphones, type KM184 and U87, were used for close recording. The room was kept quite subtle. You can create your desired sound with your own effects or use the integrated Convolution Reverb.