Tokyo Scoring Strings

Welcome to our flagship orchestral string library, Tokyo Scoring Strings. Introducing the distinctive sound of Koichiro Muroya Strings, the top Japanese session string ensemble, heard on countless world-famous anime and game soundtracks. A well-rounded studio string library that holds its own across all genres, especially — but not limited to — Japanese-inspired music, Tokyo Scoring Strings features a powerful lookahead mode, incredible agility, expressive vibrato, and five identically-sampled string sections for you to easily realize virtually any score.

$449

$449

16 in stock

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    World-Class Support

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    Loyalty
    Program

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    World-Class
    Support

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    Loyalty
    Program

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    Authentic and
    Realistic Sounds

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    Deep Customization
    for Power Users

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    Authentic and
    Realistic Sounds

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    Deep Customization
    for Power Users

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    Inspiring
    Presets

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    Easy-to-Use
    Interface

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    Inspiring
    Presets

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    Easy-to-Use
    Interface

Audio Demos

  1. Ikigai (Board Mix) Ben Hicks 2:25
  2. Sunrise at the Bramble Ian Dorsch 2:11
  3. Partum Artifex - Part of the Creation Fredrik Häthén 1:40
  4. 199 Henning Nugel 1:45
  5. Vagrant Story - Staff Roll Hitoshi Sakimoto (mock-up by Wilbert Roget, II) 0:46
  6. Kouyou (v2) Andrew Aversa 0:59
  7. A Celestial Promise (Lookahead Demo, Dressed) Nabeel Ansari 2:32
  8. Sacred Memories Andrew Aversa 0:31
  9. Grave Sarah Mancuso 0:49
  10. The Story, Part 1: Overture Jeff Ball 1:44
  11. Tangledeep (v2) Andrew Aversa 1:13
  12. Polyphonic Cello Legato Henning Nugel 0:46
  13. Flowstone Battle Andrew Aversa 1:13
  14. The Story, Part 4: Finale Jeff Ball 1:27
  15. Short Showcase (Dry) Andrew Aversa 0:31
  16. The Story, Part 2: Allegro Jeff Ball 1:21
  17. The Story, Part 3: Adagio Jeff Ball 1:52
  18. Sato's Journey Steven Cravis 3:21
  19. The Story of Tokyo Scoring Strings (Complete Score) Jeff Ball 9:15
  20. A Celestial Promise (Lookahead Demo, Naked) Nabeel Ansari 2:32
  21. 199 (Naked) Henning Nugel 1:45
  22. Paper Boat Journey Jeff Ball 0:47
  23. Ikgai (Close Mics, TSS Only) Ben H 2:25
  24. Ikigai (Close Mics) Ben Hicks 2:25

Product Info

Content

Five orchestral string sections

8 violins 1, 6 violins 2, 4 violas, 3 cellos, 3 basses

Four mic positions in a legendary space

Pristine 24-bit, 48kHz samples (downmixed from 96kHz) captured at Sound City: Close, Room, Decca, and Surround

Mitsunori Aizawa's board mix

Custom, pre-mixed sample set that delivers Aizawa’s personal sound out-of-the-box

All crucial playing techniques

Sustains, pizzicato, staccato, staccatissimo, spiccato, spiccato secco, tremolo, harmonics, trills (whole-tone, half-tone), long & short decrescendo and sforzando

Expressive dynamics, legato, and vibrato

Two legato and portamento types, multiple speeds, three vibrato levels (senza, con, molto), and up to five dynamics per articulation

Violin Player Closeup

Features

Elegant and streamlined UI
Groundbreaking lookahead mode
Total articulation control technology v3
Deep editing for power users
CONSOLE modular FX rack and mixer

Requirements

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84GB disk space

7200 RPM hard drive or solid state drive recommended. Note that mic positions can be moved or deleted individually.

8GB of RAM minimum

16GB recommended for loading all sections with the board mix. 32GB recommended for all sections with the All Mics patch.

Apple M1, Intel i5 or equivalent CPU

A faster CPU with more cores will allow you to play more simultaneous voices.

Kontakt Player 6.7.1+

This library will run in the FREE Kontakt Player.

Kontakt Requirements - Mac OS

Intel Macs (i5 or higher): macOS 10.14, 10.15, 11 or 12 (latest update).
Apple Silicon Macs (via Rosetta 2 & natively on ARM in Standalone or in hosts that support it): macOS 11 or 12 (latest update)

Kontakt Requirements - Windows

Windows 7, Windows 8, or Windows 10 (latest Service Pack, 32/64-bit). Intel Core i5 or equivalent CPU. Graphics hardware support for OpenGL 2.1 or higher. Windows 10 strongly recommended.

Tutorials

Full Walkthrough

Articulation System

Lookahead Mode Tutorial

Behind the Scenes Story

Sonic Overview

Teaser Reveal

Details

The sound of Japanese strings is both captivating and highly unique. What makes it so distinctive? Smaller ensembles recorded in focused studio spaces lend themselves to more agile playing, and a focus on perfection leads to incredible accuracy. These strengths make Japanese ensembles equally capable of delicate nuance and sweeping emotional performances that move listeners to tears. For many of us who have admired Japanese soundtracks for years, this sound has long been a source of inspiration, but it’s been out of reach for most composers outside of Japan — until now.

Our goal with Tokyo Scoring Strings is to give you the orchestral string sound featured in so many world-famous Japanese productions. This project has been a dream come true for all of us at Impact Soundworks, and we’re thrilled to have worked with some of our musical heroes to bring it to life. But we weren’t satisfied with just capturing this remarkable sound; we also sought to deliver an outstanding, inspiring UI, flexible editing, beautiful legato, and recording depth to rival any other industry-standard string libraries.

Our Japanese Partners

We are honored to have partnered with an incredible team of musicians and collaborators in Japan:

  • Koichiro Muroya Strings, led by Koichiro Muroya. The most in-demand session ensemble in all of Japan. Their exquisite playing can be heard on many of your favorite soundtracks.
  • Mitsunori Aizawa, Japan’s top engineer, responsible for mixing and recording hundreds of world-famous scores.
  • Sound City, an incredible recording space with over 60 years of history. This choice of studio gives Tokyo Scoring Strings a tighter, more focused sound that lends itself extremely well to more agile playing and mixing with external reverb.
  • Renowned anime & film composer Masaru Yokoyama, who brought his experience recording scores around the world through his companies Plugnote and MiracleBus.
  • Crypton Future Media and SonicWire, our Japanese distributors who have helped with the project from the very beginning.

Tokyo Scoring Strings features five independently recorded sections (Violins 1, Violins 2, Viola, Cello, Bass) in a typical Japanese ensemble size (8/6/4/4/3) suitable for small and large productions alike.

Tokyo Studio Strings includes a well-rounded set of articulations recorded in superb detail. We have paid particular attention to delivering outstanding legato as well as the agility and crisp short notes that are such a strength of smaller Japanese string sections. You’ll be able to easily write and mock-up sweeping melodies, intimate legato, and aggressive agile passages.

Note: All articulations below are true, unique recordings, not created by re-pitching or processing other samples!

Articulations

  • Arco (Sustain) – 5 dynamics, 3 vibrato levels (senza, con, molto)
  • Bowed Legato – 3 dynamics, 2x rr
  • Slurred Legato – 3 dynamics, 2x rr
  • Bowed Portamento – 3 dynamics
  • Slurred Portamento – 3 dynamics
  • Rebow – 3 dynamics, 5x rr
  • Staccato – 5 dynamics, 6x rr
  • Staccatissimo – 5 dynamics, 6x rr
  • Spiccato – 4 dynamics, 6x rr
  • Crisp (Secco) Spiccato – 2 dynamics, 6x rr
  • Sforzando – Dotted eighth & dotted quarter lengths, 3x rr
  • Decrescendo – Dotted eighth & dotted quarter lengths, 3x rr
  • Pizzicato – 3 dynamics, 4x rr
  • Tremolo – 4 dynamics
  • Trills – 2 dynamics, whole tone & half tone
  • Releases – natural, excited, and staccato
  • Harmonics

Console: Modular FX Rack and Mixer


Console is a fully-featured mixer, modular effects rack, and pedal board, designed to give you full control over your mix. Effects include multiple EQs (digital and analog-style), compressors, spatial FX, modulation FX, amps, distortion pedals, reverbs, and more.

Each mic channel can be loaded with up to 8 FX in any order, plus another 8 slots on the master channel, with support for send routing as well. The new “Galois Reverb” added in Kontakt 6 Player sounds fantastic as an alternative to our included custom IRs.

Download the Console manual here to learn more!

Reviews

stars
Testimonial – Hiroyuki Sawano (Attack on Titan, Kill La Kill, Seven Deadly Sins)

“I was curious about TSS because my work friends, Mr. Muroya and Mr. Aizawa were involved in the project. It was recorded in a studio that I often use for my string recording. I have enjoyed using this library as its sound presence and moderate ambience is unique and different compared to overseas recorded libraries that I usually use. I think it can be used effectively in a wide range of genres, not only for epic sounds, but also for rock, pop and dance music.”

stars
Testimonial – Yasunori Nishiki (Octopath Traveler)

“It sounds exactly like what I’m used to hearing, Muroya Strings x Sound City x Mitsunori Aizawa! The staccato and pizzicato reverberation in particular gave me a sense of Sound City’s unique reverb, and I felt like I was in the Sound City control room. The sound definitely has the sense of Japanese strings and studio, making it easy to use for any kind of music. I believe this library delivers the sound of Japan to the world!”

stars
Testimonial – Satoru Kosaki (Lucky Star, Monogatari, Beastars)

“I feel proud that a library made by close representative members of the Japanese soundtrack industry will be released. I played back MIDI data from one of my past compositions which was eventually recorded with the exact same team, and it sounded astonishingly similar. I was also impressed by how easily I was able to produce their sound without having to adjust or mix any details such as the space size, instrument balance, and legato speed, etc. I would absolutely recommend this library to anyone who wants to replicate the sound of Japanese soundtracks, and personally, I feel it will prove to be crucial in my arrangement process as it will be so much easier to imagine the final recorded result.”

stars
Tokyo Scoring Strings – Kevin Kuschel

“But when it comes to smaller section-sized string libraries with a great legato, TSS has become a valid, new contender here that also brings a whole lot of workflow power to the table. If you want that JRPG tone with a smaller, focused ensemble size, for telling musical stories in a big context, then TSS is for you.”

Kevin Kuschel (12/21)

stars
Tokyo Scoring Strings – StrongMocha

“Tokyo Scoring Strings is the answer to any composer’s dreams of having a world-class strings library in their arsenal. It’s also perfect for those who’ve never used such an instrument before because it has everything from deep-sampled playing techniques and expressive scripting that will take care of all the work of creating the perfect sound for you…not limited to just movie soundtracks or anime themes, as they could also fit well with anything from jazz, rock & roll, or even heavy metal!…The library is so much more than I ever could’ve imagined. It does seem like a magical palace, and it’s perfect for people who love to compose and produce.” (5/5 stars)

Thorsten Meyer (StrongMocha)