How to play strings and pads on a keyboard

I just bought a book on how to play keyboard and it has a few pages with some advice about playing strings and pads. Advice such as long intervals, but not much more. Are there any books or online tutorials that teaches this in great detail?

Do you want to emulate an orchestra with the strings?

Pad sounds: learn chord inversions so transitions aren't jarring, and play the notes in between the progressions to make them smoother.

You want a book on arranging, like for orchestras.

You can also learn a lot by LISTENING intently to orchestras and small groups. They voice their chord way different than piano technique.

Do you want pads or strings? Pads are generally heavy on programming while strings are generally not.

I've noticed the newbies tend to play mostly the high end of the keyboard when playing strings and pads, especially strings. It sounds piercing. Remember to vary the octaves and not get into a high-end-only string-playing habit.

Dont forget about panning:

Violins on left, violas cellos and basses on right. 2nd violins and violas are nearer to the center, frist violins and cellos are wider.

Avoid "stereo" patches like the plague for strings.

Good tips about panning, but "stereo strings" aren't all bad...

When playing strings, I try to play "open chords" if I am correctly using this term. For example, I would play a "C" chord with a "C" in a lower register (using left hand) and a "G" and "E" above it with my right hand.

The term is correct.

ULtimately, one might not play ANY chords. You play lines or parts. Each line can be independent of the others. Having the violin and cello parts move together would be like having the bass drum and hi-hat together.

In midi, each part should have it's own track ideally. That forces one to think of them as individuals. Then you learn what each part does:

violin 1= usually melody

violin 2 accomps. and harmonizes with vln1 and does inner voices

viola= inner voices. Usually referred to as an "upper string". Will have more in common with violin parts than cello parts, but can go both ways. Viola parts usually fill in the holes.

cello= switch hitter. can be melodic, can be bass.

Bass=bass.

Even in a simplistic backing chart, the violins and cellos will have nothing in common. One does one thing while one does another. The fiddles can be doing the same thing in a simple song, in harmony. The viola will be largely independent, filling in chords. Bass and cello can double each other, the bass being an octave lower.

True with strings, but again, pads are a totally different animal and shouldn't be thought of like strings.

So does Stabby want strings or pads?

Seems like a good topic. Never mind the OP, let's keep it going.

Both:

-as Cygnus says--think about the line; this is counterpoint as much as harmony

-voicing so as to approximate the harmonic series has a very open, spacious quality; other voicings have varying amounts of more, ah, body

Pads:

-the best thing in the world for performing pads is poly AT; I'll whip up a quick demo and post it very shortly

demo: just sitting on C major with polyAT mapped to filter cutoff. The changes in note timbre are controlled by pushing harder on each key. (There's a bit of a pause at the beginning, please forgive.)

polypad

I know what both pads and strings are. I have synths with lots of both sounds.

I want to know how to play both so I can make something decent with them and better integrate these sounds in a track I make. I see people on Youtube playing the same strings and pads on the synths I have and I love those sounds, but when I start playing it kind of sucks.

Btw I never asked how to play both strings and pads using the same method, I know they're both played differently.

Press keys until it doesn't suck...

Strings: read Cygus64 comments

Pads: It entirely depends on the sound and the context on how best to play them. Some work well as chords some don't. Some work well holding the chord/key for a measure or two some don't. Some need tons of reverb some don't. Some require that you move a knob or other controller to make them not be boring, some evolve on their own.

first,get one of these;

then get one of these;

IMO, "pads" are kinda like figuring out what wallpaper goes with what carpeting. There are no real rules, but in general I would try to stay out of the frequency range of the lead melody or vocal.

If you want to sound more like a string quartet instead of an organ player playing a string patch:

1. The interval from the bass to tenor note shouldn't exceed an octave. The interval between the tenor to alto and alto to soprano shouldn't exceed a fifth.

2. Voice lead between sustained notes, for example, if you're holding a chord that has the note "C" in it, and the next chord has a "C" in it also, hold the C from the first chord into the second chord. You should move from the remaining (non-sustained) notes of one chord to the other chord by the shortest possible interval.

3. It also helps to think of each note you're playing as a monophonic line in each range (bass, tenor, alto, soprano), like you're playing a separate line on a cello, viola and two violins, instead of thinking of it like playing a four note block chord on an organ.

I must know what gear produced this. Both the synth and the effects unit (I'm assuming there's effects since I hear stereo. Some very wonderful smooth stereo reverb).

I heard the star trek theme starting at 1:28.

Glad you like it.

ES2, which is one of the synths in Logic Express. Some effects added--mostly "modulation delay" and "platinum reverb" which come with the package. And a MIDIBOARD for the polyAT keys.

Digital? My mind is blown. I can't get near that good of a sound from my jx8p, though my quadraverb it's paired with is a piece of crap.

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