Emotional Viola - Audio software Best Service - Free user manual and instructions

Product Type	Audio Software (Virtual Instrument)
Brand	Best Service
Model	Emotional Viola
Category	Sample Library / Virtual Instrument
Plugin Formats	VST2, VST3, AU, AAX (64-bit)
Standalone Operation	No, requires host DAW
Library Size	Approx. 10 GB (uncompressed)
Sample Rate	44.1 kHz / 24-bit
Sound Engine	Kontakt Player (included) or full version
Main Features	Expressive viola samples, legato, glissando, con sordino, harmonics, and dynamics
System Requirements (Minimum)	Windows 7+ / macOS 10.12+, Intel i5, 8 GB RAM, internet connection for activation
Maintenance	Keep software updated via Native Access (for Kontakt-based libraries)
Cleaning Instructions	Not applicable (software only)
Safety Warnings	Download only from authorized sources; use licensed copy
Spare Parts / Repairability	Not applicable; product is delivered as digital download
Activation	Requires serial number and Native Instruments account
Manual Language	English

Frequently Asked Questions - Emotional Viola Best Service

What is Emotional Viola?

Emotional Viola is a virtual instrument sample library by Best Service, featuring expressive viola sounds for music production.

Do I need a full version of Kontakt to use Emotional Viola?

No, the library includes a free Kontakt Player engine. However, a full retail version of Kontakt may be required for advanced editing.

What are the system requirements for Emotional Viola?

Minimum requirements: Windows 7 (64-bit) or macOS 10.12, Intel Core i5 or AMD equivalent, 8 GB RAM, 10 GB free disk space, and an internet connection for activation.

How do I install Emotional Viola?

Download the installer from your Best Service account, run it, and follow the on-screen instructions. Activate using your serial number via Native Access if required.

Can I use Emotional Viola in my DAW?

Yes, it works as a VST, AU, or AAX plugin in any compatible DAW, such as Cubase, Logic Pro, Pro Tools, FL Studio, and Ableton Live.

How much disk space does Emotional Viola require?

The library takes approximately 10 GB of disk space. Ensure you have enough free space before installation.

What articulations are included?

The library includes legato, glissando, con sordino, harmonics, tremolo, pizzicato, and multiple dynamic layers for realistic performances.

Can I download a trial version?

Check Best Service's website for any demo versions. Not all products have trails; refer to the official site for details.

How do I update Emotional Viola?

Updates are provided via Best Service's website or Native Access. Log in to your account and download the latest version.

What if I lose my activation code?

Contact Best Service support with your purchase details to recover the code. Keep a copy of your serial number in a safe place.

USER MANUAL Emotional Viola Best Service

by Harmonic Subtones

Kontakt Instrument

Emotional Viola

MANUAL 1.0.0

Epilogue

HARMONIC SUBTONES or:

THE UNUSUAL ASPECTS OF AN USUAL SUSPECT

While we were looking at the harmonic highs and the subtonical lows of sample libraries in our daily work as composers, we realized that there weren't any solo strings on the market that were inspiring, easy to play or at least convincing - even after a huge amount of deep forensic programming. After having edited a plenty of commercial library patches to our personal liking we thought: "why not record the solo strings ourselves?"

That was the beginning which led to our first sample library, the critically acclaimed EMOTIONAL CELLO.

We were enthusiastic to create the next Instrument, the EMOTIONAL VIOLIN within a short amount of time. To push the limits of what is possible, a completely new contact script was developed and the violin was enhanced with many new features and playing possibilities.

Following the Violin conception, we now add the long-awaited EMOTIONAL VIOLA as the logical consequence. We were searching for the one specific player that perfectly matches with the sound of the EMOTIONAL CELLO and the EMOTIONAL VIOLIN to bridge the gap.

Now after hundreds of hours of recording, editing, revision, and optimizing we present you a very comprehensive virtual instrument, that can be played with ease - out of the box - but also can be tweaked when digging deeper into the functions. It can cover a variety of musical styles and a broad range of musical settings and tempos.

And most important it has that unique, one-of-a-kind, harmonic-subtones-attitude.

EMOTIONAL VIOLA is compatible with NKS

Be inspired!

Emotional Viola

The library structure:

The Emotional Viola Library consists of the Master Patch with 25 articulation keyswitches and 18 ornament - articulations. The Master Patch covers the main range of articulations. The complete library covers far over 50 different articulations and variations.

Masterpatch:

This patch unites all important styles, from a romantic sound with unique vibrato variations to nordic interpretations. Most articulations can be played directly with real legato, which automatically adapts to the playing speed.

Individuals:

Accompanying the master patch you will find the "Individuals" patches.

These are key switch patches with different articulations of the same category like sustain, shorts, trills and more.

While the master patch is a workhorse, giving you instant access to almost every playing style that you might expect from a viola performance, single patches are packed together in the "Individuals" in categories to let you select specific articulations at a time.

These patches don't offer legato functions. Some of these articulations are contained in the master patch, but there is also additional material.

Tip: Choose the single articulation that fits your needs and purge or unload the unused articulations.

Specials:

The "Specials" - patch contain some unusual articulations and effects.

The Stackable Patch contains the core articulations with standardized keyswitching in order to match with the stackable patches of EMOTIONAL VIOLIN & CELLO.

The Main GUI Page - A Quickstart:

The Master Patches contain the main articulations combined into one patch.

TIP: Every control in the GUI can be assigned via midi-learn to your individual Midi CCs.

The FX page:

There are 15 different timbres:

There are 9 different room settings:

There are 5 different reverb settings:

Detailed Information:

Masterpatches:

THE EMOTIONAL VIOLA

The Master Patch contains the main articulations combined into one patch. These articulations can be chosen by key switch or by clicking on their articulation names.

There are two types of articulations :

1. Shorts

2. True Legato

Unload / Load Articulations by clicking on the rectangle besides the key switch note name.

Customize the keyswitch notes by clicking the note name. A "Learn" sign appears and by playing the note on the keyboard the keyswitch will be set to the specific note. If a note is chosen which is already in use the latter will be deactivated.

The Load/Unload and MIDI-Learn feature works the same way for the Ornament- MKS

The Ornament - MKS:

The Ornament keyswitches are momentary keyswitches that trigger a new articulation if they are pressed.

These Momentary keyswitches are designed for:

• Blending into another articulation (like Trills, Tremolos....)
• Leading to a different ending ( like soft end, crescendo end.... )
• Re-bowing a sustain
• Crossfading to Vibrato
• Crossfading to effects (Rise, Fall, Harmonic Short.....)

There are two ways to use it:

1.) Press the MKS after you have played a note in the instrument range, and it will crossfade to another articulation. When releasing the MKS, it crossfades back to the articulation played before.
2.) Press the MKS before you play a note in the instrument range, hold it and then play a note. It starts with the MKS-artikulation and crossfades to the main articulation when released. (e.g. start with tremolo sfz-MKs and crossfade back to normal sustain)

The Legato Mode:

In Legato mode the script will automatically detect if you play legato or not. It chooses starting notes when playing non legato and legato transition notes and innerphrase sustains when playing legato.

All legato notes of the KSW except short articulations are connected with transition notes.

The Legato articulations have 3 different legato transition types :

1. Bowchange legato: Two notes were played legato by changing the bow direction while moving from the first note to the second.
2. Finger legato: Two notes were played legato by putting on / or releasing one finger on the fretboard while moving from the first note to the second.
3. Portamento: Two notes were played legato by sliding the finger up or down from the first note to the second.

The different legato styles are addressed by velocity when playing legato:

High velocity triggers bow change legato

Middle velocity triggers finger legato

Low velocity triggers portamento

The trigger switch point can be set with the faders in the transition velocity windows on the bottom left and right of the user interface:

graph LR
    A["Porta. Vel. 30"] --> B["Bow Change Vel. 86"]
    B --> C["FX"]
    D["Play portamento below ... (e.g. 30)"] --> A
    E["Play bow change legato above ... (e.g. 86)"] --> B
    F["Finger legato"] --> A
    F --> B

Portamento Velocity sets the highest velocity value of the portamento range from zero to your choice. (The lowest velocity value for the finger legato range is defined by this choice.)

Bow Change Velocity sets the lowest velocity value of the bow change range from your choice to 127. (The highest velocity value for the Finger legato range is defined by this choice.)

Tip: you can deactivate any legato transition type by changing the velocity ranges in these two windows:

• Portamento only: move the Portamento velocity slider to 127
• Finger legato only: move the Portamento velocity slider to 0 and the bow change velocity slider to 127
• Bow change legato only: move the Bow change velocity slider to 0

Legato Speed: (legato transition speed)

On the Expert Page of the GUI you will find the transition speed trimming.

There are two options:

• Legato trimming: this affects the speed of bow change - and finger legato
• Portamento trimming: this affects the portamento only

Drawing the slider knob to the left the legato gets slower

The Legato Trimming offers additional options:

There is an option to switch between polyphonic legato and monophonic legato.

In polyphonic legato the script detects polyphonic playing (with more than one voice) and will intelligently use the most logical voice leading within. This needs a perfectly accurate legato playing for the script to detect what is chordal playing and what is single note playing.

You can turn polyphonic legato OFF. Only one note is played at a time. It's the best solution for melody lines.

The articulation status monitor shows the active articulation. It will also show which legato transition is used while playing. This control is for monitoring only.

The XFade knob works as Volume control of the Instrument. In case of articulations that contain different dynamic layers it also works as crossfade control.

With the Dynamic Range Knob, you can adjust the amount of volume increase of the instrument.

Attack:

The attack Mode Area offers the opportunity to add an additional attack with round robin.

This attack is designed to only be added to notes that are played non legato.

When you have activated it in connection with a legato - articulation it turns off automatically when a shorts - articulation is chosen.

There are different attack types available:

The attack type chosen will be kept in memory for the specific articulation. It can be defined for each legato articulation.

This function generates an overlay of attack samples over sustains. Some articulations already have „attack mode on“ - these have been specially treated to avoid phasing in the sustains. Disabling the attack mode in these cases might cause strange behaviour.

The FX Page

The Sordino impulse response:

The Sordino impulse is an EQ snapshot that simulates a sordino effect.

The Timbre impulse response :

The Timbre impulse is like a mastering EQ snapshot but can also contain room information.

Timbre impulse can be turned off for the raw sound

Although it is possible to use Timbre impulse alongside the Sordino impulse, it is not recommended or should be used with care - It might change the overall sound drastically.

There are the following Timbres available:

The Room FX:

Several room impulse responses are available.

These rooms can be selected with the type knob. With Send you can adjust the amount of room to your liking.

The Reverb FX:

Several reverb impulse responses are available.

These hall fx can be selected with the type knob. With Send you can adjust the amount of hall to your liking.

Microtuning

In the Micro Tuning section you can adjust detuning of each note of the scale with the bars up and downwards.

These micro tuning effects get effective at the moment when a note is played. This cannot be controlled and changed while the note is still sounding.

Therefore there is the intonation control via pitchbend that works in realtime.

Tip:

If you use more extreme detunings you can make an offset via the amount knob. If you assign a controller to the amount knob you can change the extend of the microtuning within a phrase from note to note.

Intonation control via Pitch Bend

Pitch bend sensitivity:

You can assign the range of the pitch wheel with this slider. The highest value on the very right is offering a whole tone for pitch bending.

Tip:

The idea is to use the pitch wheel for micro tuning and intonation purposes. Therefore, the range of the pitch bend is limited to a maximum of a whole step. When the slider is set to the middle or lower you have subtle distinctions for the intonation via pitch bend.

List of „Individuals“ Patches
02 INDIVIDUALS

Emotional Viola Sustains		Contain 10 different sustain articulations
Emotional Viola Special Sustains		Contain 7 different special sustain articulations:Flautando, Nordic, Morbid, Harmonics, Sulponticello, Sul C, Undulating
Emotional Viola Shorts		Contain 13 different short articulationsSpiccato, Fliegender Aufstrich, Staccato NonVib, Angry Frog, Staccato Energico, Long Spiccato, Rota Spiccato, Brahms Staccato, Marcato Short, Ricochet, Pizzicato, Western pizzicato, Spilegno/RiccoLegno
Emotional Viola Dynamics		Contain 5 different articulationsdifferent Crescendos, Crescendo-Decrescendo, Fortepiano-Decrescendo
Emotional Viola Tremolos		Contains 4 different tremolo articulations:Tremolo Elegante Accelerando, Tremolo Soft . Tremolo Fast, Tremolo Sulponticello,
Emotional Viola Trills		Contains 8 different articulations:Trills Major & Minor: Long, Accelerando, Hook Trills Long, Short
Emotional Viola Expressivos		Contains 9 different espressivo articulations:Progressive Vibratos, Brahms Vibrato, Dynamics etc.

List of „Special“ Patches
03 SPECIALS

Emotional Viola Morbid Sustain		A very fragile sustain
Emotional Viola Flageolet Glissando FX		Flageolet Glissando
Emotional Viola Undulation Wait!		Very long sustains, that changes its colour and tone constantly (CC2 moves the sample starting point)

Stackable Patch

FOR USE WITH EMOTIONAL VIOLIN OR/AND EMOTIONAL CELLO

EMOTIONAL VIOLA TO STACK WITH VLN & VC		This Patch contains the core articulation without the legato function designed for stacking with EMOTIONAL VIOLIN and/or EMOTIONAL CELLO to create a small section. The keyswitches are standardized with the VLN & VC
		- Vibrato Sustain- Delicate Sustain- Non Vibrato Sustain- Espressivo- Soft Crescendo- Soft Decrescendo- Soft Swell- Rota Spiccato- Spiccato- Pizzicato- Flautando- Tremolo- Tremolo Sulponticello- Sordino- Harmonics