Native Instruments’ ‘Stradivari Violin’ uses tones captured at Cremona’s Museo del Violino in January 2019

The c.1727 'Vesuvius' Stradivari

The c.1727 ‘Vesuvius’ Stradivari

In January 2019, all roads around the Museo del Violino in Cremona, Italy, were closed off to preserve silence for an innovative recording project. The sounds of four instruments by Antonio Stradivari were captured by 32 hyper-sensitive microphones, in order to preserve the samples for posterity. Now, one of the instruments - the c.1727 ‘Vesuvius’ Stradivari violin - has been used to create a piece of software designed to allow users to recreate the instrument’s sound on computer.

Native Instruments’ ‘Stradivari Violin’ features chromatically sampled notes, phase-aligned velocity crossfades, 20 articulations and mixable mic positions. Different kinds of vibrato were captured in the recording, which can be accessed via the software. Examples can be found here.

Read: Stradivarius instruments recorded for posterity

Read: A tour of the Museo del Violino

Read: Cremona hosts Cremonese treasures on loan from the US

The possible articulations are: Sustain, Marcato, Detaché, Short, Sautillé, Single, Spiccatissimo, Spiccato, Staccato, Pizzicato, Expressive, Tremolo, Trill, Ricochet, Sautillé, Dynamic, Crescendo, Diminuendo Short, Diminuendo Long, Special, Sul Pont, Sul Tasto, Harmonics and Col Legno. There is also a ‘Virtuoso’ option, ’which intelligently combines multiple articulations depending on the velocity, note, and pitch bend information you generate through your MIDI controller performance’, according to the makers.

The sound samples were recorded at the Auditorium Giovanni Arvedi between January and February last year. The makers also plan to release a quartet version in the autumn.